June 17, 2007
Ron Flores
OAKLAND -- It is said that baseball is a game that can bring families together, and for the Flores family, that couldn't be any truer.
Growing up playing baseball together, brothers Randy and Ron Flores didn't get to play with or against each other in organized baseball because of a four-year age difference.
When Ron was entering El Rancho High School in Southern California, Randy had just graduated. When Ron got to USC for college, Randy had just graduated and been drafted.
Only one time had the two of them met on the same baseball diamond and that was at Triple-A in 2004, when Ron, the A's lefty, was in Sacramento and Randy, the Cardinals lefty, was in Memphis.
Now, thanks to Interleague Play, they are on the big stage together with the Cardinals paying the A's a visit for a three-game series.
"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work, and the timing is something that is making this really unique for us," Randy said. "It's a little surreal, it feels like old times just hanging out and playing ball."
The two spent 20 minutes before Friday's series opener in the outfield just talking and feeling like they were kids hanging out again.
"It's crazy and it didn't really sink in," Ron said. "It felt like we were at a barbecue in the park. We had lunch with our family and we just took a deep breath and soaked it all in."
Their parents, who live in Las Vegas, came into the Bay Area for the weekend series as well as some aunts and uncles.
It will be Father's Day during Sunday's matinee game and their parents will be in the stands hoping to see both of them see time on the mound.
"I am sure that would do wonders for our parents' stomachs, seeing us both warm up to come into the game," Randy said.
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