Game 2 of 30 – Oakland A’s O.co Stadium
After a hectic day of arriving into the Bay Area, it was time to relax and enjoy some baseball. Too bad the home team A’s were playing the White Sox. At least we were definitely rooting for the home team in this one.
We arrived early enough to the game to maneuver through the parking lot pretty rapidly, passing the most professionally dressed parking lot enforcer we’ve ever seen on our way to the box office. Standing in the middle of the parking lot, ushering cars with a wave of his hand; a man was dressed in a full suit next to a co-worker dressed in the classic jeans and brightly-colored penny that most parking lot attendants wear. It wasn’t hot outside, nor cold, it was just strange. We came to the conclusion that the A’s take their parking seriously! Good thing we only need to worry about our bicycles!
We ran to the box office, each with a bag of sunflower seeds in our hand, to once again be sure that we made first pitch. We didn’t have tickets lined up this time, so we quickly grabbed the cheapest ones available. $9 for deep center field bleacher seats. Sold! We knew we weren’t going to sit there anyways and were going to spend most of our time checking out the rest of the park, so getting us in the ballpark for $9 was a good deal.
We saw the home team take the field for the first time and Tommy Milone deliver a strike to Alejandro De Aza. Game 2 of our thirty game trek across the country had begun!
After that moment, the excitement slowly drained for the next seven innings of baseball. There were 4 hits total, 2 a piece for each team, as we entered the 8th frame. Not that great of baseball. It picked up a bit with a single from the White Sox in the top of the 8th, but then he got caught trying to steal second base, so that was over. Apparently it lit a small fire under the A’s.
Kurt Suzuki delivered the ultimate punch in the bottom half; a pinch-hit double down the left field line to give the A’s a 1-0 lead. That dreaded run that seems to happen a lot in baseball just before the visiting team is about to take their last swings at the plate in the next top half of the inning. The A’s went on to add another insurance run and went to the 9th leading 2-0. On to the 9th and the fun part!
To preface, after the 6th inning, the B4B team meandered over to Section 149 in right field. This area is famous for some of our B4B’ers because of the Royals and Jeff Francouer’s generosity towards these great fans. These fans in right field are great hecklers. Very clean with their language, very baseball proficient and the acoustics in the O.co stadium seem to carry their voices all the way to the other side of the Bay. Whoever is in right field as a visiting player, is sure to get an earful all game. Francouer loves it. He buys them pizzas. He throws them an autographed ball with a $100 bill attached to it. He has become their official sponsor of Bacon Tuesdays. Thatta boy Jeff!
Well these guys deserve it. They are inventive with their cheers (they have this arm waving dance they do for the closer as he runs in to shut the door in the ninth, it’s insane, hilarious and unique), inventive with their props (they painted a gnome with an A’s jersey to pass around when Johnny Gomes comes up to the plate) and are constantly generating great crowd noise for their beloved A’s (Drummer Boy with the beat while the rest of the crowd chants “Let’s go Oakland”).
It was great to be a part of what I can only see as becoming a bigger following for the fans of Section 149. And what’s more, the A’s brought home a win for them! It was much easier to get a team picture after everyone was about to go home happy. 
So we’ve been to two games now. We’ve seen the Oakland A’s play twice. Once, on Opening Day versus the Mariners and now once against the Chicago White Sox. Both games have been well pitched shutouts by the A’s. Crazy!
Overall, Oakland’s ballpark is massive. It’s home to the Oakland Raiders too, so it fits ~80k for those games. Problem is, it leaves many empty seats for baseball games. So the place looks pretty empty. No matter though. We enjoyed it, because it seemed like everyone that was at the ballpark was there to watch their favorite team. Not just to have something to do on a Tuesday night or because their parents took them on a family night out. People were there because they wanted to see the A’s, and they showed it. Good baseball conversation and a lot of green and gold jerseys were found wherever there were fans at the stadium. My one qualm was that they don’t sell postcards at the stadium, which is just silly.
Good game A’s and it was great meeting everyone at the stadium tonight. We’ll see you on the road soon!
Gm 1– 4/13 @ Safeco Field – Oakland A’s @ Seattle Mariners
Oakland wins 4-0 (WP – Colon, LP – Hernandez)
Gm 2 – 4/24 @ O.Co Stadium – Chicago White Sox @ Oakland A’s
Oakland wins 2-0 (WP – Milone, LP – Floyd, SV – Balfour)