Oakland Athletics Breast Cancer Awareness Day 9-5-10

So, still in the process of "catching up" on my blog entries.  I'm trying to go in chronological order of my various outings and decided that today would be a good day to post this one since Dan Haren pitched against the A's today.  And he was high on my priority list when I made it a point to attend this game.

The highest priority was, of course, Breast Cancer Awareness. 

An acquaintance of mine - who is one of the most sweetest, most beautiful human beings I've come across - is currently fighting her battle against this horrible disease.  She is young, has three young children and no family history of breast cancer.  She's gone through the surgery, chemo, etc., and is now on the road to recovery.  My prayers go out to her and her family. And to all those affected by this disease.

The A's were playing the Angels - unfortunately now the team that my Danny Haren calls home.  Yuck.  So I got there pretty early because I wanted to be sure to get into the park early (and get my giveaways) and I was glad I did since I was treated to PITCHER'S WORKOUT!  This used to be one of my very favorite A's photo opportunities back in the day when we had the hottest pitching staff on the planet.  They're not so hot now; but they've got great personality!  But I digress...  Pictures!

   

I was really glad to see so many guys signing for people.  It really seemed in the spirit of the day. 

And even an Angel signing...

Couple interesting things...  One was Andrew Bailey and his joined-at-the-hip-bestest-friend Craig Breslow conducting an interview.  They were very engaged...I think it helped that the reporter was hot.

And poor Brett Anderson...he was walking to the dugout and a fan started yelling "Cahill!  Cahill!"  But Brett handled it well. He just looked at the guy and said, "Sorry. I'm not Cahill."  LOL!

Oh Matt Carson.  I love Matt Carson.  He does boneheaded things like running full speed into walls (stay for the replay...you won't regret it):

But he always plays so hard and he's actually really cute, although he always looks like someone kicked his puppy, and he's 29 and been mostly in the minors. And I just like him. 

So, of course I have pictures of Danny.  Mucho pictures.  I luvs him. 

The pre-game breast cancer awareness activities were very well done.  They had a parade of survivors come out on the field where they were greeted by some of the A's and some of the wives/gfs. 

They formed the Ribbon, but I couldn't really capture it.  They also released some doves, which was really cool.  I tried to take a picture of the doves circling the stadium, but they were all blurry.  It was really, really pretty though.  Then the survivors all released their pink balloons (which I wish they wouldn't have...it's bad for the birds).

Then Cliff Pennington and his wife - along with Geren's wife (I think) - presented an oversized check of the funds raised and donated for the day.

Time to start the game.  Was lucky enough to have fantastic seats...just 3 rows behind home plate in the blazing sun.  Sweet! This was the view towards the visiting dugout/clubhouse tunnel. 

Vin Mazzaro was pitching and it was definitely not one of his better outings.  In fact, he was sent down to AAA the same day. 

Chavvy sighting!!    Eric Chavez was in town with the team...mainly for solidarity purposes.  Long done for the  year and possibly for his career, it was really nice to see him.  He'll always be a favorite of mine, and hopefully all A's fans will remember him fondly.  Crappy picture, but it was the best I could get due to the net and angle.

Well, the Angels won.  Yuck.  But it was a wonderful day.

  

I luvs my new A's/BCA tote and will use it proudly.  These are the goodies I came home with.  I had to buy the visor because it was so bloody hot and bright.  Oh, and I already had the cat...that's Eric Chavez.  Better known as Chavvy - wondering what the hell is going on.  LOL

And here is my scorebook (because sometimes, I love to keep score although I tend to miss things).  Thanks to a wild and crazy game, it was a bit of a mess by the time I finished.