The Demons of October

Hello all! I know it's been too long since I've last posted. I'd love to tell you why I haven't been posting but believe me, I have a legit excuse. Some day in the future I'll tell you why.

So the A's won their 16th division title on Sunday and I was there in attendance, my 38th game of the year. It was a wonderful celebration that was a lot more business-like compared to last year's cocktail party of the century. This post however, is not a happy post by any means. It's a tale of my childhood and the disappointments during the month of October. I hope this doesn't ruin your night, and I apologize if I do but it's time these memories get posted.

To provide some background, I'm 20 years old and wasn't alive during the Haas family's wonderful reign as A's owners where we won our 4th World Series title and won 3 straight pennants in the late 80s. My first memories of baseball were during the 2000 season where Jason Isringhausen's big curveball gave us our first division title since 1992 and started what hoped to be a glorious era of A's baseball. Sadly, that era ended every October in disappointment and thoughts of what could've been.

If you've seen the movie Moneyball, you have a taste of what those disappointments felt like but not the whole candy bar. From 2001-2003, the A's had the best team in the Major Leagues, there's no doubt in my mind. We had the best pitching staff with the big three: Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. We had wonderful young players from Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez. And each year they couldn't get over the hump of the ALDS. From 2000-2003 the A's lost in the first round in 5 games, they could never put away their opponents and this post will lay out all of the demons of October. For A's fans reading this, please bare with me.

Demon #1: "Slide Jeremy Slide"

Yankees fans call it "The Derek Jeter Flip Play" while to A's fans it is simply known as "Slide Jeremy Slide." It was game three of the 2001 ALDS, the A's were up 2-0 after winning two brilliantly pitched games by Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson in the Bronx, Barry Zito looked to slam the door on the three-time defending champion, New York Yankees. I was 7 years old at the time had just come home from my neighbor's house where I saw Barry Zito hang his curveball to Jorge Posada who hit a solo home run into the left field well to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The A's were struggling to string hits together  against Mike Mussina but Terrence Long's hit down the line into the corner seemed to be the play that would ignite the momentum in our favor, then it happened. The throw from the outfielder missed the cutoff man and suddenly a figure came into the picture out of nowhere and what happened next was my first devastating moment as a sports fan. The figure flipped to the catcher Posada and Jeremy Giambi who thought he was going to score easily was tagged out and the air in our house suddenly was taken out. That play would change the momentum in that series, I attended game four where Jermaine Dye broke his leg on a foul ball and game five was where the A's made 3 errors that would complete the Yankees comeback. I couldn't believe what had happened, watching the play now it's clear that Jeremy Giambi was safe but should've slid because he would've been safe by a mile and who knows what would've happened from there.

Demon #2: AJ Pierzynski, Billy Koch and the "Curse of the Closer"

It's hard to pick any one moment from this series to define it all but this one is probably the best, I couldn't find the picture of what I wanted. Which is where Pierzynski taunts A's catcher Greg Myers as he crosses home plate but this will do. This was the series shown briefly in Moneyball where they showed game 5 being played at night rather than when it actually was played which was during the day. It was the win or go home game, there are many faults to this series. The main one for me was the handling of the rotation, it should've been Zito, Hudson and Mulder so Zito could pitch in game 5 but sadly that didn't happen. It was the top of the 9th, 2-1 Twins was the score and A's closer Billy Koch served up a predictable first pitch fastball that was launched out for a 2-run back-breaking home run. What Pierzynski would do after would cause two bench clearings in their meeting the next season. David Ortiz would add on a run in that inning making it 5-1, not even Eddie Guardado could screw that up. Mark Ellis hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 9th but the A's would fall short and once again our "season of destiny" abruptly ended. Billy Koch would end up being traded in the offseason to the White Sox. When the season was over, I turned to my dad and said, "We have to go through yet another long season don't we?" Clearly I was already frustrated. And it wouldn't end.

To explain the "Curse of the Closer," is something that spans over several years. The A's are fortunate to have had two of the greatest closers to ever play this great game: Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley. Whenever they came into the game, it was over. Everyone knew it. 

Caution A's fans, the first appearance of the "Curse of the Closer" is extremely traumatizing and I urge you all to please be careful.

It hurt to even post these stupid pictures and I wasn't even alive for it! This was game one of the 1988 World Series and the A's had a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth thanks to a blistering grand slam by A's MVP slugger Jose Canseco to dead center that dented the center field camera. That should've been the image of that game and maybe the series, unfortunately it wasn't. When Eckersley walked to the pitcher's mound in the 9th inning, everyone thought it was over and so did Dodgers fans with Eckersley retiring the first two batters. Then came the hobbling Kirk Gibson, the count was 3-2 with Alfredo Griffin on second base and Gibson drilled a backdoor slider that ended up being a painful moment for A's fans all over. The Dodgers would go onto win the series in 5 games despite clearly being the inferior team (and anyone who thinks otherwise is totally delusional) that home run was what the Dodgers needed to stun Tony La Russa's team. My mom to this day is still scarred by that home run and I've never had a conversation longer than 2 minutes with her about it. Many kids were scarred by this moment in the East Bay, I'm convinced. This was the birth of the "Curse of the Closer" it would be four years before it reared it's ugly head.

Eck called it "Gibson 2," and luckily I wasn't alive to see this awful moment either. This was game 4 of the 1992 ALCS and the Toronto Blue Jays had a 2-1 lead in the series going into game 4, the A's were poised to lock it up at 2 games apiece. The A's jumped to a 6-1 lead after 7, then came the 8th where the Jays pulled 3 back to make it 6-4, La Russa already brought in Eckersley who gave up 2 of the Jays 3 runs. Eck pitched once again in the 9th, his normal role and he gave up a 2-run game tying home run to Robbie Alomar that tied the game. And opened the door for the Jays to win the game in the 11th. Dave Stewart would save the A's in game 5 but Mike Moore couldn't do the same in game 6 and the A's were eliminated.

Every closer has their awful moments, Eck has Gibson and Alomar. While Mariano Rivera has Sandy Alomar Jr., Luis Gonzalez, and the 2004 Red Sox. I'm in no way tarnishing what Eckersley has done for our franchise but as you will see from these next few demons, the "Curse of the Closer" is quite spooky.

Demon #3: Eric Byrnes, Miguel Tejada, Keith Foulke's "Curse of The Closer" and Derek Lowe's "Crotch Shot"

There is no one demon in this series. There are many demons you can point at, so I had to include all of them. The series began with the same song and dance, the A's jumped to a 2-0 series lead after Ramon Hernandez's squeeze play won the game during extras in game one. Barry Zito shut the door and the A's pounded Tim Wakefield in game two. The plane ride to Boston would be one where the course of the series would change in an instance during one flurry of plays in the top of the 6th of game three. This was the sequence.

The A's were down 1-0 in the 6th when a rally got them going. A wild pitch appeared to have scored Eric Brynes who hobbled away after sliding into home but the umpire mysteriously didn't signal and Jason Varitek made a heads up play and tagged out Byrnes in a bizarre sequence that had my family up yelling and screaming. During our scolding of the tv, the A's got a base hit that drove in one run but then Miguel Tejada was jumping up and down and screaming at the umpire before being tagged out mysteriously. Apparently, Miggy was clearly interfered with by Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller but no umpire saw it happen, that quelled the A's rally and opened the door for a Trot Nixon walk-off home run in the 11th off Rich Harden and the series was now 2-1. What happened in the days leading up to game 4 was quite odd, Tim Hudson was scheduled to pitch game three and he went to a Boston bar with Barry Zito and was caught up in a bar fight. Ironically, Hudson had to be relieved in the first inning of game 4 due to a strained oblique, A's manager Ken Macha said that the bar fight had nothing to do with it but many believe otherwise. Irregardless, the A's bullpen pitched valiantly and the A's held a 4-3 lead and were 6 outs away from advancing to the ALCS. Keith Foulke was brought in the 8th for a possible 6 out save and ironically he'd be pitching against the team who he'd close out the "Curse of the Bambino" with the next year. Foulke would give up a David Ortiz two run double after Ortiz was hitless all series and that would end up being the game winner. That would be Foulke's only contribution to the "Curse of the Closer" since he only spent one year with the A's (he would return several years later but not for a playoff contending A's team). Definitely hard to fault Foulke, getting a 6 out save against what was the best statistically hitting team in some time was already a hard task, but he still has to be mentioned.

Then came the last of the demons in that series, game five.

It was game five, I was in fourth grade and my mom surprised me when my dad brought me home that she bought tickets for game 5 and I was excited yet nervous after all those other game 5's. It would be Barry Zito on the mound for Oakland vs Pedro Martinez for Boston. Sadly, this would be the last playoff game where the Coliseum would be used to it's full advantage with capacity. As Lew Wolff would buy the team in 2005 and tarp the upper decks. The A's would fall behind thanks to home runs by Jason Varitek and Manny Ramirez but the A's would chip away and going into the 9th, it was 4-3 Red Sox and the bases were loaded. Then came the move that we all could feel was going to be the dagger, Boston's closer by committee was used once again as Grady Little brought in Derek Lowe to face Adam Melhuse and Terrence Long. Lowe would strikeout both Melhuse and Long, and Lowe would do a crotch grab and point it at Miguel Tejada in celebration to make the defeat even more sour. Once again, we were eliminated when we had no business losing that series.

Demon #4: Kenny Rogers' Magical Clump of Dirt, and Huston Street's "Curse of the Closer"

To start this demon out, I have to acknowledge some of the good moments that happened before this awful nightmarish demon. The 2006 ALDS was one that was inconvenient for all A's fans, the games were all during the day (and usually starting at 10 am PST since the Twins had homefield advantage) and all during the week. All the so called "experts" were picking the Twinkies and who could blame them? The A's were so snake bit in the playoffs, that we all had some doubt in our minds. Something about it felt different, and while I was at school I heard about how Frank Thomas took Johan Santana to the woodshed with two monster home runs that gave the A's a big win in game one. In game two, the A's were caught in a back and forth clash that saw Mark Kotsay being the hero in what is the only play where Torii Hunter has actually helped the A's (being a huge A's killer), Kotsay had an easy single that Hunter tried to make a diving catch on and failed, the ball rolled all the way to the wall and Kotsay ran all the way around the diamond for a two-run inside the park home run that would give the A's a 2-0 series lead leaving the Twin Cities. I was far from optimistic heading into Oakland, I was well aware that history was not on our side and we had to get a huge monkey off our back.

Once again, I wouldn't be able to watch the majority of this game. The game started with Eric Chavez a  

man who was much aligned for his poor postseason stats came through with a 2-run jack and Milton Bradley followed up with a 2-run homer of his own to make it 4-0 A's, it would then turn into the Marco Scutaro show. Yes Giants fans, Marco Scutaro was being the boss for the A's long before he was with the Giants. Scutaro would have 4 RBIs in the game including a 3-run double that would make it 8-2 with 6 outs away, surely the monkey was off our back. The Twins would pull one back but that would be all, the A's had swept the Twins achieving payback for 2002's rubbish. Only one problem remained, we had to wait around for awhile before the ALCS.

The Tigers would be the team we'd play in the ALCS and we would have to be without our sure handed second baseman Mark Ellis due to a broken finger. This would play crucial as his replacement D'Angelo Jimenez would make several errors that proved costly.

Before game one, the news came in that former A's pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in a plane crash. Lidle was on the 2001 A's and our starter for game one, Barry Zito was struggling with the loss. It was certainly something that created an uneasy feeling for this series. Zito (in what would be his last game as an Oakland A) would not pitch like his usual self and gave up home runs to Brandon Inge and Pudge Rodriguez. In game 2, a young Justin Verlander would get the win as the A's could not keep the Detroit offense at bay in an 8-5 loss. Down 0-2, the A's would have to try and become the first team ever to win a League Championship Series after losing the first two at home. Then came the demons that put us away.

The picture on the left is a picture from game 3 of the 2006 ALCS, the one on the right is a picture from the 2006 World Series. News started to come out after game 2 about Kenny Rogers' mysterious "clump of dirt" on his hand. There were whispers of pine tar usage since the weather was so cold he couldn't grip the ball. What pissed me off was that the same clump of dirt was seen on Rogers' hand in his game 3 start against us as well as his game 4 start in the ALDS against the Yankees. This may have had no effect on the result since Kenny Rogers had long been an A's killer since leaving the A's especially when he was with Texas. Rogers allowed two hits and no runs as the A's were shutout and now down 3-0.

The Curse of the Closer, Huston Street had been reliable during the postseason as well as during the stretch run. It was before the playoffs had started that my brother Gavin mentioned the "Curse of the Closer" for the first time. He said he was worried about Street, and ironically it happened to close the series. The A's had actually come alive in game four and took an early lead but that wouldn't last as the Tigers quickly erased the A's 3-0 lead with a rally that included a Magglio Ordonez tying home run. Moving to the 9th inning, Huston Street was called on to keep the Tigers scoreless in the 9th. Then came the hanging slider, Ordonez killed it and just like that we were eliminated. All that happiness that I mostly didn't get to see was erased, just like that. The A's had once again found a way to come back to their losing ways. Huston Street would be traded after the 2008 season in the Matt Holliday deal. He's just one more name on an ever increasing list of closers who were so dominant yet failed in crucial postseason moments. It'll be interesting to see if Grant Balfour can defy history and end "The Curse of the Closer." This demon would sting the longest because of all the bad A's teams that followed the 2006 season, from 2007-2011 the A's were prolonged by mediocrity and these demons were lingering in our minds. Now that the postseason is about to be here, I can tell you that this is why I dread the postseason, it's not fun. It's not a fun ride, it's a grueling and usually heartbreaking event and that's why I'm often pessimistic about any A's team that makes the postseason, I'm always looking for them to screw up because that's just what I'm used to, this is how the A's fan who was born after 1989 feels and I'm no different.

Last year was a wonderful run, we were happy to be there and there was no real "curse of the closer" moment. Though you could argue game 2 was that but with how Coco Crisp played the rest of that series you just simply can't do that. This year, the A's will be trying to extinguish all these demons that linger in the A's fans memories. The demons that prevent some A's fans from watching Moneyball for fear of reliving those October demons that cloud the mind. The only way you can get rid of demons is by winning the whole "F*CKING THING" as Tom Berenger would say in Major League. Unless we win it all, more demons will be born and deep down I fear that our window for winning in Oakland is closing. We simply have to win, it's bigger than baseball, it's my family, it's the city's crown jewel, all that is at stake and winning will only enrich that legend that others have helped build. For those of you who aren't A's fans, or hell even if you're not OAKLAND A's fans you just simply wouldn't be able to understand this situation because our team is in a fight for something bigger than a championship, it's SURVIVAL and a 5th ring would certainly help that fight.

Addressing Those Who Search Stalk On Twitter

I know it's been a little while since I posted something on here. And my last post produced quite an outcry of laughter from the accounts I've heard. I called it a "pipe bomb" and honestly in many ways it definitely was. To be honest, I could've ruined many people's lives with that post but instead I made it unscathing and it still came off as quite interesting to the many readers.

Tonight's post is in an awkward state because honestly, it's hard to follow the act of the Cleat Chaser Pipe Bomb but this one will be scathing and in many ways another pipe bomb. It may not be nearly as funny but here goes.

What I'm addressing tonight isn't anywhere near as simple as the last post. This is another twitter issue that time and time again seems to cross into my timeline. The term I've created for this act is called "Search Stalking" and it's the act of a twitter user who searches their name on twitter to see what everyone is saying about them. It doesn't cause any trouble but often these people go crazy on people who say bad things about them as if they were searching for trouble in the first place. It's something that I've seen a lot of on twitter and I'm going to first talk about the people who are offenders of this and then I'll do a quick analysis.

Most of the offenders of this twitter sin are either one of two things: athletes or their girlfriends. For example, when a starting pitcher is having a terrible start there's often a lot of frustration coming from fans who are live tweeting about the game. And the girlfriend of that particular starting pitcher is often very anxious and is checking twitter. Often this particular girlfriend will type the name of her boyfriend and go onto bitch out all who say "bad things" about that boyfriend.

I know MANY people who have been victims of this. And I've even found out that companies will search stalk particular terms and confront twitter users. I think we've all seen it happen from time to time whenever a fan and a WAG (wife or girlfriend of an athlete) go a it, this is usually the cause. I'm here to tell you that in no way shape or form is the WAG right to participate in this behavior. Many players' WAGs on the A's have done this and automatically I judge them for it.

Whether they care to admit it or not, WAGs are public figures just like their significant others are. And with that comes plenty of responsibility. And part of that responsibility is remaining calm and professional when fans are frustrated. Now when fans litter that WAG's mentions with hate and all that it's fair game for the WAG to respond, let's make that clear. I have no problem when they defend themselves when people mention them but when they openly search for trouble they are in the wrong.

Other offenders of this sin include minor league ballplayers who search their name because they're looking for "twitter tale" since it must be hard to get lonely going to god awful towns that no on one would willingly go to. So I guess understand the minor leaguers who search stalk any broad who says something about them. (LOL)

Now the question is, why do they do it? I've been told that some of them do it to inflate their giant ego and see what great things their legions of fans are saying about them. And others are just so insecure that they have to confront every jackass who wants to use their first amendment rights. Why they are that dumb to engage with morons like that is beyond me.

Now what's your story? Has this happened to you? Leave a comment.

Memories From The Days At The Diamond

There's nothing more exciting than being apart of a walk-off, no matter the level of baseball. It's something you'll never forget because moments like that create the type of joy that doesn't come around very often. The joy is the type where hugging the person next to you, no matter who they are, becomes something that is okay to do. The moment seems to go by so fast and your mind loses control of how you celebrate.

For any little leaguer, this is one of their first experiences of triumph in their young lives. This is the type of stuff that doesn't happen often in soccer, football, or basketball. Baseball is the one sport that regularly hands out this type of emotion.

The video at the top was shot by Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF) better known for being one of the residents of section 149 at the Coliseum and one of the biggest A's fans there is. I'm in there as well with my crazy awkward rally cap that Sam Ligosky (@samligosky) talked me into wearing. Lastly, there's the woman who invited me to this game, Vanessa Demske (@vdemske). We were all there for "The Champ" who is the son of Omar Gutierrez who also happens to be the manager of the team (@omar01). The Champ's team was in a do or die elimination game in his little league season and we decided to make the journey from all over the Bay Area to the South Bay where the big game was taking place.

During the game, the four of us reminisced about our days in little league, and how could we not? At one point, that was us out there and little league is something you don't forget about. That's what inspired tonight's post. I felt I should expand on my reminiscing of my days as a little leaguer.

The Champ's game ended up being a nail biting contest with base runners coming at a premium. As you can see from the video at the top, the game ended in the bottom of 7th with a walk-off single. Lots of excitement poured through everyone there especially from the kids.

It brought me back to a few times, speaking from the perspective of Coach Omar, I was immediately brought back to my days during my junior year of high school where I coached a soccer team around the same age and saw the same emotions on Omar's face that I had a few years back. There's something about coaching a team for several months and teaching them the fundamentals of the game and at the end of the year, finally seeing it all come together. It makes you feel real warm inside. As long as the parents aren't hounding you about playing, it's about as fun as it gets. And judging by Coach Omar's remarks about having a total of 9 pitchers on his team, I'd say that's far from a problem.

The first thing I saw when I got to the diamond was myself out there on the field, little Wes back in the day. I always found that as a kid learning the fundamentals and finally "figuring it out" on the field was one of the most gratifying things as a kid. It really taught you good lessons for life on how to master something, which is why team sports is such a great thing for kids.

I take you back to when I was 12 years old. My team was in last place in the standings and we knew we were up against it playing the league leaders. The game started off not so well, since our ace pitcher gave up a 2-run jack when he threw his change-up that never worked. We were still hanging in there though, and that's what we were happy about. The opposition let us hang around and we had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 6th. Down by two runs, I came up to the plate with two outs in the inning and honestly, I was just trying to get on base since we desperately needed base runners. I ended up drawing a 5 pitch walk.

What made this game so big for myself personally was that the opposing team's coach was my former coach who I absolutely hated for many reasons. I can honestly say he was the only coach I hated. It had  everything to do with how he constantly favored his son who sucked the whole season and held me down while I had a big season as soon as I made the adjustment to the competition. Ironically, his son was batting 3rd in the order that day and ended up doing nothing, as usual.

Sitting on first base, I was just hoping we could get to the only guy on our team who could hit one out at any given time and he was two batters away from me. The next batter hit a fly ball to the outfield, but somehow the outfielder made a fielding error on the play which must've been a case of nerves or something because at that level, lazy fly balls to the outfield were usually put away, but not this one. I hustled over to third on the play since I was running on contact. Then came the next hitter, a kid who had been slumping over the past several weeks and was definitely "due" for a big hit. Everyone knew he had the power to knock one out but since he hadn't done it, there was plenty of doubt. He took one pitch over the plate for a strike, but the next pitch he took a big swing on it and it connected, I took one look at it and everyone on that field knew it was gone, we had won the game on a walk-off home run.

While touching home plate, I remember jumping up and down and going absolutely insane. As the home run hero touched home plate we mobbed him and it was the best feeling I can remember. It was such a joy for so many reasons and even in a season that was not a good season, team-wise, that game was a good way to look back on the season. That year ended up being a big year as I ended up making the All-Star team that season and absolutely loving every minute of it.

A's fans often bring up the saying, "How can you not be romantic about baseball?" and it's so true. Stuff like that is something you just can't make up and it still sends chills up my spine to this day. If you're ever invited to see a little league game, I definitely recommend it. If you played little league in the past, you will immediately remember what being a kid was like and I think that's always worth it.

Mark Appel: My Thoughts Seeing Him Pitch In Person

It's not often that a guy like Mark Appel is in your backyard. For those who don't know him, Mark Appel is projected to go no. 1 overall in this year's MLB Amateur Draft in June. Mark is originally from Texas and the Houston Astros are expected to bring him home with the first pick. Now, this was the first time I had seen Mark Appel pitch at Stanford but it wasn't my first encounter with him.

Yes I know, that is Mark Appel wearing high tops instead of spikes. Not only is Mark Appel a great pitcher, he was also a pretty good basketball player. How do I know this? Well, luckily for me Mark Appel moved to the Danville/Alamo area and graduated from my high school, Monte Vista. Mark was a two sport athlete for the Mustangs and was a great shooter on our basketball team during my freshman year. At 6'5" and with his athleticism, he was a big part of our team (which is considered by many as the best Monte Vista basketball team in school history) with some other great athletes as well.

Yes that is Zach Ertz, a second round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles and he as well was a Stanford star. Mark and Zach were great friends in high school and I'm sure they still are today.

That's right, one high school basketball team with two future pro athletes. I was lucky enough to watch that team take us all the way to the Nor Cal Final where we lost by 3 to McClymonds High School.

Those were my first memories of Mark Appel as an athlete. Everyone at school was aware that his sport was baseball and was going to Stanford but I don't think any of us thought he would be where he is today. Right now, Mark Appel is the most sought after amateur athlete in America and the fact that he is a Monte Vista graduate like myself is special.

Now for my thoughts on the night he had last night, it was a beautiful evening at Sunken Diamond. I hadn't been to my father's alma mater in a few years and it was my first time seeing a game at the legendary Sunken Diamond. Many great ballplayers in the past have played there like Mike Mussina, Jed Lowrie, Carlos Quentin, Jeremy Guthrie, Ryan Garko, Drew Storen, John Mayberry Jr, and Sam Fuld. Mark Appel has the potential to be better than all of them.

When he took the mound in the top of the 1st, the first thing I seemed to notice was his presence on the mound. He seemed to resemble a giant out there on that mound. Now I as well stand at 6'5" but I guarantee you that I wouldn't have that type of presence out there. Mark Appel has that presence because of his stature and his reputation. Going into that night, Appel needed one strikeout to break the all time Stanford strikeout record.

It was going to be a tough task for even Appel to get his team the win that night going up against the number 8 team in the country, UCLA. The unranked Stanford Cardinal haven't had the season they thought they would have and are unranked. The first batter he faced immediately felt the wicked stuff that the big right hander has in his arsenal. The first pitch was a high 90s fastball that was at the knees and on the outside corner, the UCLA Bruin let the pitch go by since it was absolutely impossible to hit. The next pitch was a devastating slider that broke at the belt and died at the knees on the inside corner for strike 2. The batter once again watched it go by since his front foot froze with surprise. The third pitch was another slider that was just as devastating but this time Appel attacked the outside corner of the plate and all the opposing batter could muster was a check swing that went around and that was it. Mark Appel had become the all time Stanford strikeout king. The next two UCLA batters fared no better as Mark Appel struck out the side in 10 pitches.

Appel only had trouble in one inning and that was third where the Bruins got a leadoff infield hit off Appel that Mark was quite unlucky about, the next batter squared around to bunt and took a Mark Appel fastball in the chest. Shockingly, the kid kept running to first and just like that the Bruins had runners on first and second with no one out.

The next batter executed a well played sacrifice bunt down the third baseline that advanced both runners. Stanford manager Mark Marquess decided to keep the corner infielders in and the middle infielders back. The next batter hit a soft chopper to the shortstop and that brought the run home. That's all the offense the Bruins would muster that night as Appel was very Scrooge like from there on.

In a 1-0 ballgame, the Stanford lineup needed to get the run support Appel needed in order for him to get his 10th win of the season. That was done in the bottom of the 5th when the Cardinal top of the order started with a Justin Ringo double, followed by an Austin Slater triple, and then a Brian Ragira (who is also supposed to be taken rather early in this year's draft) sacrifice fly, which ended up being the difference in the game.

Now with the lead, Mark Appel seemed to get stronger and he'd finish up only allowing one walk and three hits. Appel would end up throwing 8 solid innings of 1 run ball with 9 K's. Mark Appel was certainly on his game last night. The closer Garrett Hughes K'd two in the 9th to end the night and a 2-1 win for the Stanford Cardinal (or the Stanford Indians if you're talking to my dad).

Overall, I was very impressed with Mark Appel. His fastball is as good as advertised as it's just immaculate. Not only is it clocked in the high 90s but it also comes downhill and has some downward sink to it, he can locate the pitch as I saw last night, the pitch never was elevated and it was complemented by a straight up nasty slider that forced many Bruins' "swings and misses." Scouts don't rate his slider or circle change as high as his fastball but his slider is definitely a good pitch that I think will only get better with time. His change of speed circle change is decent as well and produced a few swings and misses when thrown. As for my verdict on the Monte Vista grad, he's everything as advertised and more. It's a shame he's gonna be in our division for the next several years but anything that raises the profile of my high school is something I'll take at that expense.

This was Appel's last game at Sunken Diamond more than likely since it doesn't look like Stanford will be hosting any regionals in this year's NCAA Tournament. I have to thank Megan Benveniste (@sportypants38) and her cousin Mikaela for inviting myself and Adam (@DKJinthe_148) to see this game since I had a lot of fun not only at the game but also at Cheesecake Factory after the game which we stayed at until 12:45 am I believe.

Having No Phone: A Blessing And A Curse

For a full month, I haven't had a cell phone (well technically I do but you I can't text on it). It was I believe, after the 1973 A's World Series Reunion that my phone's touch screen stopped working. Since then, I really have only talked to people on my iPad, or twitter.

To be honest, it's really been nice not having that damn phone that always seems to buzz at the most inopportune times making my ADHD go crazy. Seemed like I was texting a lot of people before it broke and to be honest I should've been more important things than texting people. No offense to those people but it was the stretch run of school and I didn't need anymore distractions.

A cell phone is in many ways an albatross, it just seems to hold us down and it bugs me whenever I'm hanging out with someone and their head is down the whole time texting someone. I could just have some self-esteem issues but it makes me say in my head "Oh you're talking to some people, then what am I chopped liver?"Seriously though, not having a phone sure takes a lot of the burden off my shoulder. Those feelings of "OMG I HAVE TO TEXT BLAH BLAH BACK!" are gone and as a result I can spend my time on other things. Who would've thought that the cell phone would be the cause of so many problems? Nowadays, we all have to be in constant contact with each other, WHY?! I feel like it's made me cut out some great people simply because I got tired of them.

Overexposure is a powerful thing, and it's alive and well. I'm sure everyone has those friendships or relationships that simply ended because of that very same thing. I have a hypothesis that this is because of texting. Prove me wrong, but it just seems right. Sure I love talking to people, don't get me wrong but at some point it becomes detrimental.

Now lately since I've gone back to my home in Danville, I've noticed that I don't really have a whole heck of a lot to do since I'm still looking for a job and I don't have a phone. I really want to hangout with my friends out here but it's such a pain to get a hold of these people without a phone and part of me isn't in the mood to hear about everyone's issues again. That always seems to be the issue when you see people you haven't seen in forever, isn't it?

You know what though? My problem is this, the A'S NEED TO COME BACK HOME NOW! Seriously, I'm dying out here. The A's seem to make me happy that my phone doesn't work and then when they go on the road I start wishing I had a phone, it's weird. Now I'm starting to think the A's are the most important thing in my life right now, and I'm not sure any girl is gonna want to date a guy with  that kind of a problem!

The Struggle: How I Survived My Freshman Year

For the first time in probably a year, I'm actually tired at 11:25 pm. If this were a tweet I'd end it with #CollegeStudentProbz. Like any other college student, my body clock certainly took a beating. That's not the only thing that was a struggle, you already knew about the roommate problems that seemed to never go away. So the question is, how did I survive?

There's a lot of people I have to thank for helping me survive but we'll get to that later. Getting started in school faces the same problems, adjusting to new living quarters, new friends, work load, etc. but each struggle is different. Mine for example wasn't as bad as some people's since I was fortunate enough to be close to home but I guess everything evens out with bad roommates, or whatever else you need.

At the beginning of the year I started out as a kid trying to execute a long distance relationship with my high school girlfriend, and trying to hold onto my guilty pleasures (music, TV Shows, and whatever else I stumble on). It didn't take long for me to morph into a kid who was single and someone who stopped caring about new music and only cared about Monday Night RAW (Yes I love wrestling, bite me), and Suits (which thankfully is a summer show) as well as all my sports team who I could never be away from.

In this way, I didn't change for college, college molded me. That's basically what needed to happen and I accept that (plus the new music is trash anyway, dubstep in every song? TRASH!) other things had to happen to keep me in check as well though. I met some great people along the way who made my year awesome. I'm now going to thank you, some of this might be a group thank you but I'm sure that's fine.

All my twitter followers- You guys definitely kept me sane during those long nights in lounge or those nights in the atrium. Whenever I was going through a tough day, you guys seemed to always pick me up. Thank you for putting up with my crap since I was pretty bitter at times especially when I didn't get enough sleep, which seemed to happen a lot (Thanks Kevin).

Danielle (@sillydani225)- Danielle was one of many great hall mates who I had the pleasure of living with for this school year and she was everything that you could ask for as a friend. She kept me level headed and I'd like I did the same for her. Many nights in the lounge with her telling stories or talking about nothing was usually a formula for success in the long term. And if any guys are trying to get at her on twitter, she has a boyfriend (sorry). Danielle currently holds the title of being the only girl I've ever taken to a Warriors game and that was my birthday present to her since she luckily likes basketball.

Nick- For those of you who aren't familiar with Nick, he's the guy who I brought to Josh Hamilton Appreciation Night/19 inning game. Nick, like just about everyone at USF is a Giants fans but he's one of the few cool ones so it's all cool. If anyone knows me well, they'll know that I basically have to have a certain quota of sports talk each day or I will crawl into a corner and eat low fat ice cream (luckily this has never happened), so Nick was the guy who'd fill that quota as he listened to me rant about the Raiders or how terrible George Kottaras (aka KottarASS) is at baseball. Nick's a fantasy sports junkie and he invited me into his 20 team dynasty baseball league which has given me a huge tool to stay sane. The bleacher guys seemed to like Nick at that 19 inning game and for good reason, Nick's a class act and quite hilarious, always a good combination.

Eat 24 (@eat24)- Before you say, "Wait Wes, that isn't a real person," you should know that this app saved my life during those long study hours. I recommend this site to anyone who needs food at 12 am or the wee hours of the morning "eat24hours.com" is your ticket to a late night meal and extra motivation for whatever your work or school throws at you. They deserve all the credit in the world for helping me out since I needed them especially down the stretch last semester. Unfortunately my "go-to restaurant," Freddie's went out of business at the beginning of second semester (which was really sad since their meat lover's calzones were legendary) and we needed several restaurants combinations to pick up the pace. Places like "Royalty Pizza" and "Sparky's" saved my life with their various choices. Sometimes cafeteria food just doesn't cut it for a guy like me.

The Fanily- You guys were something else during the second semester, whether it was bowling nights, and the WBC day. You guys always made sure I had something to look forward to, I met some great people that I'm happy to call friends. You all know who you are, you guys made sure I didn't go insane being all cooped up at school. And thank you for making sure I got back to campus, many of you helped me with that especially when BART closed.

GJD Family- Thank you to Adam (@DKJinthe_148), Jess (@RedBottomCleats), and Hailee (@Hailee_Miguel) for giving me a new outlet for a hobby. You guys are the best and I always have fun with you guys.

That's all for now, not the greatest post but I was having some issues with it and finally got it done. I'll have something more interesting to write about tonight.

Danville: The Place I Call Home

It's always a good day when the A's win especially the way they did tonight. This post is dedicated to the place I've grown up in. Hopefully it won't be too boring for all those reading this but maybe you'll find something interesting about it.

My mom and dad moved me out of the Redwoods Heights district of Oakland when I was 8 months old and took me deeper inland into a place that is known by many as "The Bubble."More on that later but Danville for those of you who don't know is between Pleasanton/Dublin and Walnut Creek, and is flanked by: Pleasant Hill and San Ramon out in the East Bay.

It was where Randy Wynn, Mark Madsen, Nate Schierholtz, Chris Wondolowski, Zack Ertz, and Mark Appel grew up, to name a few athletes. It is where the rapper E-40, the lead singer of Motley Crüe Vince Neil, Captain Sullenberger, Larry Allen, and Gary Payton currently reside. That's just some of the background on Danville.

When an outsider talks about Danville, it's usually about how affluent we are or how stuck up we are which is apparently why my neighborhood known as "Blackhawk" inspired the song "Salvation," by the punk band Rancid. Danville and its residents have always seemed to have an unfortunate label attached to them, some for good reason, and others not so much.

The picture that you see on top of the page is Blackhawk Plaza which was a hangout spot for me and my friends for years. It's nothing special, a Starbucks, a nice burger place that is really good, overpriced stores that seemed to come and go, and a movie theater.

Now onto the people, let me paint the picture of a typical "Danville girl," a girl with platinum blonde hair, Coco Chanel sunglasses, yoga pants, and uggs. Describing her body, usually she make look pretty appealing, she'll be really skinny and perky boobs because every guy needs to see what she's working with. This is what I grew up around, and let me tell you about their personality. You can already probably guess but they were usually the real fake, stuck up type with that incredibly annoying fake laugh and fake giggle voice. Some of them were cool even with all that stuff others were complete bitches who weren't worth anyone's time of day.

As for the guys, they're cool until they start grown up where they turn into douchebags that think they know everything even though they've never been anywhere in their lives. Most of them have the same haircut and wear the same douchebag clothes, and if you ask what those are, it's whatever the "douche" clothing that's in style is.

Now let me tell you why I'm grateful for these people, sure I didn't like most of them. What these people taught me is that looks are only so important. They taught me the importance of character and the number one thing that they taught me was to keep your standards high for not only the girls I date but the people I bring into my life. I'll be honest, not many have fulfilled these expectations and all eventually disappoint me at some point but I wouldn't change anything about this approach. Many girls who I told about these standards never really figured out what these standards are and honestly they'd be pretty surprised if they knew.

This is the reason why I don't have many relationships and I have a small circle of close friends. It's how "The Bubble" shaped me.

Describing Danville as a bubble is definitely a good way of doing so. The residents are consumed with their own self-absorbed ways and have no concept of what's going on 10 miles away from them. I don't know why this is but that really is how many residents here are. In this sense, Danville is another stereotypical suburbia.

Now that I have graduated from high school, I can honestly say I enjoy coming back to Danville because I have no obligations to the people here anymore. Sure I still have friends here but for the most part, I'm no longer a part of this town.

I enjoy the slow pace that seems to relax the mind vs the city quick pace that seems to drain you by the end of the week. I enjoy long hikes up Mt Diablo which has numerous trails and is a must for any hiker in the area. The pretty lawns are always a sight on a clear spring day and the seeing the stars is a wonderful blessing. These are great parts of Danville and I wouldn't trade this real beauty for anything.

People have asked me about whether I'd live in Danville during my adult life and I always answered one way, "Definitely, when I'm settled down with a family." Maybe deep down, Danville will never leave me. Something about it will always keep me attached to it. Nowadays, driving around the ville, I start reminiscing about things from my past and I can give you a story for every street I pass.

If you're thinking about visiting Danville, please do. There's definitely some great things about this place but don't date any girls from here unless you let me give her a once over (I'm serious). Hope you all enjoyed this post and learned something about where I'm from.