Al Leiter maybe felt some heat because of his usually plodding starts and pitched seven good innings, but it was the rook Escalona that delivered the winning hit in a great comeback win. Mariano has been touched up lately, but that's to be expected from time to time as he was saved by the team for a change to get the dramatic win.
Major props to Bernie for coming through again with a big hit in the eight to bring us even at 3-3. I thought Matsui was playing way tooooo deep on Reed's ninth inning single that scored Hudson with the go ahead run in the top of the ninth as his throw was a hair late, but he crushed Batista's low slider for the tying hr in the bottom of the inning.
With this win we kept pace with the surprising Indian's for a tie in the wild card as the A's lost again and are a game back now.
Sturtze is reverting back to his Devil Rays days and if he doesn't start to perform better I don't think Joe is going to keep giving him the ball late in the game even with Gordon out.
Update- I heard Joe after the game give Sturtze praise for getting out of the jam even though he created it so it looks like Joe will continue to use him late in games. I for one am getting tired of his inconsistency and maybe Torre's little moral boost will help him. I don't hink so, but I can always dream.
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