brainwagon

It’s kind of a sad day for this Athletics fan. The A’s have been busy on the trading block, and have dealt two of my all time favorite Athletics in separate deals. Submarining right hander Chad Bradford was traded to the Red Sox for outfielder Jay Payton. Bradford has been on the DL for quite some time, so we haven’t seen a lot of him lately, but I loved to see him come into a game and through that ground-scraping dipping breaking ball that shoots up from the ground and then bends away. I saw more than a few major leaguers just leave the mound shaking their heads after seeing that one come up at them, only to dive away.

Having acquired another outfielder, it is perhaps altogether unsurprising that the trade that As fans were dreading came shortly after: Eric Byrnes has been traded to Colorado for pitchers Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick.

Sigh.

The image that I will carry forward of Brynes is of a brilliant, flat out horizontal leap he made during the June 25th game against the Giants. I was sitting in left field, and a ball was hit into the gap in left. I thought for sure Byrnes was beat, but I remember seeing him go flat out, I saw his cap fly off and the bottom of his shoes flying away, and then watched as he bounced off the ground, only to bounce up with an ice cream cone. Later in that game, he ran down a hit by Ray Durham that bounced him hard off the wall. Great fielding, exciting fielding, and an enthusiasm for the game.

Chad and Eric, you guys both gave Oakland fans some terrific baseball moments. I expect that when/if you make your way back to the Colliseum, you’ll get warm and heartfelt ovations.

Great stuff.