Last night when I got home from the ball park, I took advantage of DirecTV’s free weekend of the MLB package to catch the end of the Minnesota-Oakland game, as the A’s rallied from ten runs down to win, 14-13.  The final play perplexed me, as Michael Cuddayer was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second base on a Michael Wuertz wild pitch – obviously safe, but ruled out by the umpire (which in turn led to a nice rant today by manager Ron Gardenhire).

Fast forward to tonight, as a similar play happened in the eighth inning of the game, as Salem-Keizer took a 6-5 lead and with one out and the bases loaded, Caleb Curry hit a roller to Greg Rohan at third, who stepped on the bag and fired high across the diamond to Justin Bour, who tagged the runner on the helmet for the final out (which was confirmed by replay from our friends at Fiberpipe) – however, base umpire Aaron Roberts did not see the tag, ruling Curry safe…setting off a frenzy between Bour, George Matheus, pitcher Danny Keefe, and eventually skipper Casey Kopitzke, who was ejected after the confrontation.

What people need to realize is that the one call – whether it was right or not – did not make or break the game.  S-K already had the lead when it happened, although it may have been different for Jose Casilla and Drew Bowlin to pitch with a one-run cushion instead of three in the last two frames.  However, the Hawks poor base-running in the first three innings were as much of a rally killer than anything late in the game – Jae Hoon Ha getting picked off of second to close the third, and Jose Valdez over-running third base on a Hak-Ju Lee single in the second.

THE BACON: Following the game tonight, pitcher Joe Simokaitis was promoted to Advanced-A Daytona to help in their bullpen…of the 14 hits by the Hawks, the first 13 were singles, followed by a ninth inning double from Brett Jackson…Logan Watkins extended his hit streak to 13 with a first inning single, while Lee extended his hitting streak to eight…

ALUMNI NEWS: Two former Hawks squared off in the big leagues tonight, as Sergio Mitre made his New York Yankees debut against the Orioles Rich Hill…Mitre was the winner, Hill the loser, in a Yankee 6-4 win…at AA, 2008 Hawk Andrew Cashner had his best performance as a professional, allowing just one hit in six innings, striking out five, as Tennessee beat Mississippi, 3-2.