News
Ellis' homer gives A's walk-off victory
Second baseman lines two-out shot in ninth inning
By Adam Loberstein / MLB.com
08/16/09 7:45 PM ET
OAKLAND -- Maybe the A's should pretend it's 1929 every day.Mark Ellis' two-out, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth gave the A's a 3-2 win over the White Sox on Sunday.
"I thought it was going to be a double," said Ellis, whose A's honored the 1929 World Series champion Philadelphia Athletics by wearing cream and blue throwback uniforms. "I was surprised, but obviously happy as well."
Manager Bob Geren donned a navy pinstripe suit in Connie Mack's honor before the game to present the lineup card. He went with a fedora over Mack's trademark straw hat for a bit of a gangster-esque look, though.
He ditched the suit and hat for the game. Only uniformed personnel are allowed on the field, and Geren wanted to be able to make his own pitching changes and argue calls, if necessary.
Good thing he changed, because he needed to argue in the ninth. Twice.
Geren came out when Jayson Nix was ruled safe at first after grounding to Bobby Crosby at short. Nix then stole second. Crosby got the tag down, but Nix was ruled safe, so Geren stormed out again and was ejected.
"[Second-base umpire Gary Darling] felt Crosby pushed him off the base," said Geren, who sat down in his office in just enough time to see Ellis' shot on TV. "He tagged him the way he was supposed to."
Crosby did his job, then Andrew Bailey did his. Bailey sent Scott Podsednik down swinging to strand Nix on second.
"I'll take my chances with Andrew in that situation any time," Ellis said.
It's easy to like Ellis' chances these days, too. He's hit safely in 17 of his past 19 games, batting .405 over that span.
Trevor Cahill did his best Lefty Grove impression for five innings, holding the White Sox to two hits.
He ran into trouble in the sixth, though. Cahill gave up a leadoff double to Mark Kotsay to open the frame. After a sacrifice bunt, Podsednik tripled Kotsay home. Jim Thome later scored Podsednik with a sacrifice fly to center.
"I started off good with some quick innings," Cahill said, "but I got into a little trouble when I was going through the lineup for the second and third time. I'm happy I kept the team in the game."
"He threw the ball well," Geren said. "We've been working to get him to incorporate his slider a bit more, make it more of a finish-type pitch. ... I thought he did a very nice job."
Cahill allowed another leadoff double in the seventh, this time by A.J. Pierzynski. Alexei Ramirez then singled to chase Cahill. Jay Marshall entered and picked up the pieces, stranding both runners.
"Jay won the game right there," Ellis said.
White Sox starter John Danks allowed two runs over 7 1/3 innings.
The A's had something going against him in the seventh. Nomar Garciaparra singled to start the inning, then Crosby doubled to move him to third. Ellis brought Garciaparra home with a sac fly to center, but that's all Oakland would manage.
Rajai Davis, who earlier extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games with a sixth-inning single, hit a one-out double in the eighth to show Danks the door. He later scored on a double by Scott Hairston against Octavio Dotel.
Adam Loberstein is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
