Rally Possum returns to Oakland ... but doesn't help A's
When Josh Donaldson stepped into the batter’s box at O.co Coliseum in Oakland as a visitor for the first time on Tuesday night, the former A’s star was greeted with a standing ovation by an appreciative crowd.
"I've really never been put in that position before, so it was kind of a new experience," he would tell the media after the game. "But I'm very grateful."
But the Blue Jays All-Star got the best salute of all in the visitors’ bullpen in the ninth inning. And it was from a marsupial.
You see, back in August of last year, a possum showed up in extra innings of a tie game between the A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays. The home team would win the game and the legend of the Rally Possum was born.
The animal would return less than a week later near the end of another A’s win and his status as team icon was cemented.
On Tuesday night, a possum (no official word on if it was the same possum … nor will there likely ever be one) reappeared, this time getting some air time with the Jays leading 7-1 and looking the close the lid in the bottom of the ninth.
Alas, there would be no rally for the home club as the Blue Jays won by that 7-1 score. As for Donaldson, he went 2 for 5 with an RBI.
Maybe he should smuggle the possum back to Toronto.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report
