Game 86 Recap, Aug 26: I Like Winning
‘Outstanding Oakland’ dominates all facets, beats PaddleHeads 17-5
by Joe Horton with additional reporting by Roberto Santiago
Tyler Petersen said it best from the booth, having called the dominating performance and watched the players’ high five and fans stream happily out of Raimondi Park: “It was all working tonight for Oakland…the defense was outstanding, the hitting was outstanding, the pitching was outstanding. It was all three facets of their game today, a complete performance from them.”
This season, there have been games for the Ballers (20-18 second half, 42-44 overall) where nothing quite worked, something worked in the foreground of something else actively on fire, and even a few tilts where everything worked just-almost-but-not-enough to get a win. That happens; baseball is a devil; but coming off a dream championship season, those nights were felt more acutely.
On Wednesday, everything worked all the time against another good Missoula team (26-12, 50-35) about to make its sixth consecutive Pioneer League playoff appearance at Oakland’s expense. We are well into miracle territory for the B’s to make the postseason this year, but this Ballers team in late August is a joy to watch. They have a chance on Thursday to take another late season series from a playoff-bound team, and that would make consecutive series wins against three of the four that will likely vie for the trophy. So I’ll echo one more voice who said it better than me, the night’s bobblehead man himself, manager Aaron Miles, from Sunday: “I wish we could start the season all over with a lot of the club that's here right now.”
Thinking of all the games this season where the B’s have put themselves down early, Wednesday gave the opposite omen: it took starter David Thomas just five minutes to get through the top of the first. Thomas has been a tremendous asset on the mound for Oakland in the second half. In his prior start at Modesto last Thursday, he set a team season-high with nine strikeouts, and tonight he needed only one to go 6.0 and give up only three runs.
I asked Thomas what the difference was when he throws two great games, yet one with tons of contact and one with lots of punchouts…and whether he preferred one to the other? “Today I didn’t feel my best,” he wrote. “I didn’t have the best feel for my off-speed pitches and they are also a good hitting team that doesn’t strike out much. Had to rely on my fastball and trust my defense will make plays behind me and they did, so it all worked out. And I like winning—so however I need to do it that day.”
Offensively, the team jumped on Missoula starter Mason Martinez, who lasted only three innings, giving up seven runs on five hits with five walks. In their postgame, Petersen and Gareth Kwok surmised that the B’s had a good scouting report on Martinez, and it sure seemed that way: they scored two in the first and three more in the third. The big inning was the fourth, however, when Esai Santos doubled and Tristan Moore and Noah Blythe homered as part of a six-run inning to make it 11-2. When the PaddleHeads clawed back two in the sixth, fans could have been forgiven for thinking they were in for another race to the finish, but the Ballers quickly slammed the door on any comeback, scoring four more in the bottom of the frame on one more Moore homer and a Nick Leehey smash to put the game out of reach at 15-4 and start the mass substitutions on the Missoula side.
Seven Ballers had hits, led by Player of the Game Moore, who had four, two of them homers, on his way to five RBI. Moore got stronger as the night went on—his only out came in his first at-bat; he singled in his second, homered in his second and third, and capped off with another single. I asked him after the game if he relaxes at the plate once he gets that first hit.
“I would definitely say once I get that first hit I do relax a little more,” he wrote. “It definitely does help me feel a lot more confident and ready for my next at bats as well. I would say that my main focus is just still trying to hit the ball hard and do whatever I need to do to help the team win.”
Dispatches reporter on the scene Roberto Santiago asked after the game what Moore is looking for at the plate. “I'm just trying to see the pitches up and be on the fastball and react to any offspeed.”
And Little League to now, what are the best offensive games he’s had? “Ooh, that's a tough one. I mean, this one's definitely up there. I've had a few in college, but this one's definitely the one that I can remember. This one is pretty memorable.”
Jeter Ybarra, who still holds the league’s home run lead over Idaho Falls’ Justin Trimble and the PaddleHeads’ Xavier Casserilla, did everything but leave the yard, going 3-for-5 and driving in three. Blythe was 2-for-5 with a homer and another three RBI.
Defensively, it was yet another game where Brendan O’Sullivan shone at shortstop. Roberto asked O’Sullivan after the game about having such success taking over for all-world Tremayne Cobb after his injury. “I feel really good right now defensively. I've always been a pretty good defender in my eyes, so I love going out there and making plays, and I’ve been seeing it pretty good on defense, so I'm going to keep trying to make as many places as I can,” O’Sullivan said. “I've always been ready to play every day, wanting to play every day. I love being able to move around as well, so I'm comfortable playing anywhere, and short's my go-to, so now that I'm playing short most every day, it's pretty great for me.”
And what about that season-highlight-reel barehanded play? “The one up the middle, the barehand, that's my most memorable of the night. I got a good bead on it early, and I thought I was going to go get it without DT touching it, David [Thomas]. David touched it, I saw it, I saw it really well and I just reached out, grabbed it, and threw it across.”
As if the evening needed any more feel-goodness, Blythe once again was called upon to pitch in a game that had gotten out of hand. But, for this evening, it was the good kind of rout, and Blythe relished the opportunity. “It’s always a lot of fun when I get to pitch, and tonight was the first time I got to come in with the lead, so I was trying to throw strikes and get three outs as quickly as possible.”
Roberto asked Blythe if he was trying to throw a particular pitch out there. “I have a knuckleball. I throw that sometimes, but pretty much I just use gravity. Sometimes I’ll throw it in there at like 60, and sometimes I'll throw it in there at like 48.”
And when was the last time he pitched before this season’s (ten!) appearances? “Last time I probably pitched, I mean, like, seriously, it was probably high school. I didn't really pitch anytime after that.”
I asked if—like another current and very famous two-way player—he would consider being known by just one name. Say, just Blythe? “I like Blythe! A lot of people already call me that now so I’m good with it.”
Odds & Ends
It was the aforementioned Aaron Miles bobblehead night, so make sure to check out the team’s lovely highlights package from his career, and the quotes from our interview with Miles after Sunday’s game about his bobblehead. Miles was also asked about the big win on his night of being honored in small-neck, big-head form: “Great day all in all to be honored and have everybody out here to come and get a bobblehead of mine, and it just feels great. I'm just full of gratitude towards the owners, the fans, everybody. Obviously, the players last year for doing it on the field. I wouldn't be the manager of the year without the players and feels good to win a baseball game.”
It was also a night showcasing Oakland School for the Arts, with art, creativity, and performance on display all evening, and in a season full of great National Anthem renditions, this was surely one of the best.
A new series in the making? With Tristan Moore’s success at the plate, Roberto asked what would be his go-to board game? “[The Game of] Life. I’d say Life.” Moore’s certainly winning at it right now.
Your Moment of Zen: Head Groundskeeper Anthony Alejandrez gives us a little peek at that late-night diamond-tending peace.
Photos from Dawn Pieper and Darrell Lavin Photography.
Video recap by Ben Verhoek.
Additional reporting by Roberto Santiago.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
