Carlos' Corner: 'I'll have this forever'
Walkoff homer caps rookie's dream-like night
By Carlos Pena / Special to MLB.com

Carlos Peña, a 23-year-old rookie heralded as one of the top young
prospects in the game, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason
in a six-player trade with Texas. He's replacing Jason Giambi as the
A's first baseman and is providing for MLB.com an exclusive daily
diary for the 2002 season.

Peña, who on Monday went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Opening
Night, went 2-for-4 on Tuesday, including a walkoff homer to open the
bottom of the ninth and beat the Rangers 3-2.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oh, man! Where do I start? This has been an
incredible night for me and my head is still spinning. I guess I
should start from the beginning, because the first inning kind of set
the tone.

On the first play of the game I made a diving stop on the line, and
that really got me going. It's like, BANG, let's go -- this is my
kind of game. High energy, high intensity. I think a play like that
early helps everyone, and everything just flowed from there.

The next inning, another backhand. Not as tough, but still a nice
play, and that got me even more into it. And even better, I felt like
I was helping Tim Hudson out. He pitched an incredible game tonight,
and I'm just glad I could be a part of it.

An inning later, my first hit with the A's. It was just a little
chinker, and when I got to first base my hands were in 25 pieces
because it was so cold out there. But Raffy -- Rafael Palmeiro --
says to me, "Hey man, that's a line drive in the book." And he's
right. Nobody cares what that first hit looks like. All that matters
is that it comes as early as possible, because that's what gets you
going.

The rest of the game is kind of a blur to me right now. Except the
end, of course. Huddy pitched a great game, and I thought Billy Koch
did his job, too. The hit that tied the game, Gabe Kapler's single in
the ninth? Billy broke his bat. What are you gonna do?

Anyway, when the last out of the top of the ninth was made, as I'm
running in I knew that I was leading off. And right then I had this
random, childish thought. I think to myself, "What if I hit a home
run and win the game? That would be awesome!"

It's ridiculous that I had that thought, because nobody goes to the
plate trying to hit a home run. But every once in a while you turn
into that little kid in the backyard. And that's who I was at that
moment in time.

Dan Miceli was on the mound for Texas, and I know that he throws very
hard, so I'm expecting to see fastballs. I got three in a row. The
first one was outside; ball one. The second one was outside, too, but
the umpire called it a strike. So, OK, here comes another fastball,
right where I was looking for it -- middle-in.

As soon as I hit it, I knew I crushed it. But I also knew that the
ball wasn't carrying tonight, because David Justice's triple would
have been out of the park for sure during the day. So I'm just
running and watching, running and watching, hoping to see it
disappear. And then it goes over the wall.

I couldn't help it. I had to pump my fist. I never want to show
anyone up, and I certainly don't want to show up my former team. But
this was my moment, my time. I had to let it out.

And then my teammates let it out. All over the top of my head. They
mobbed me at home plate, slapping my helmet, punching me. But I was
happy to take it. That's the best kind of beating possible. And
later, when I was doing a TV interview on the field, Barry Zito got
me with a shaving cream pie, right in the middle of a sentence. It
got all in my mouth and everything. Don't try that at home, kids.
It's not healthy.

Now that I'm done with all of my interviews and have had a chance to
think about what's happened, I still can't believe it. I'm still
dreaming, I think. Hopefully this is the start of something big, but
no matter what, I'll always have this. I'll have this forever.

Carlos Peña's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the
Oakland A's for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.