SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, while folks across the nation were watching football in various degrees of bundled-up, 3,521 fans gathered for baseball’s last hurrah for 2009 at the ballpark in downtown Scottsdale.

It was the winner-take-all championship game for the Arizona Fall League.

The Peoria Javelinas, with minor leaguers from the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox, would be playing the Phoenix Desert Dogs, with players from the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays.

The blue sky, the green grass and the warm sun left little doubt what we had all come to the ball park to see — baseball in November. For an old Oakland A’s fan like myself, the prospects were excellent.

There were three A’s in the starting line-up, and before the afternoon was over, two more Oakland hopefuls would come out of the bullpen to pitch an inning apiece. Five of the Dogs’ seven green and gold guys would figure in the game. It couldn’t get much better than that. At least I thought it couldn’t until the league’s director made a pre-game appearance having to do with the league’s Most Valuable Player for 2009.

“Grant Desme,” the director announced, “performed far beyond his experience during his six weeks in Arizona this fall. For a young man who has yet to face Double-A and Triple-A competition as a professional, his success against an array of the game’s top prospects was remarkable.”

Holy Toledo! It’s our boy Grant, right out of the Oakland pipeline. I knew he was having a good year, but I didn’t know it was going to put him at the top of the heap.

I had had a chance to visit with Grant earlier in the week.

“I was born in Bakersfield (1986) and attended Stockdale High School,” he told me. “ I played ball at San Diego State one year and then transferred to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.”

During his junior year at Cal Poly, Desme was named to the Rivals.com All-American Team for his play in the Mustang outfield. He hit .405 for the year with 15 home runs and 53 runs batted in.

“I signed (with the A’s) at the end of my third year,” he continued, “and played at Vancouver part of that year (2007). I was hurt for all of 2008, but am fine now.

“Last year I played the first half at Kane County. At the All-Star break I moved up to High-A Stockton, where I finished the year.”

Desme played in 28 of the 32 games on the Dogs’ schedule. He led the league with 11 home runs averaging one home run every 10 trips to the plate. He was tied for the lead in extra base hits with 16. He was second in three categories: runs scored with 30, slugging percentage with .667 and runs batted in with 27. He finished fifth with 34 total hits.

“It’s been fun to be around so much talent, guys who have a lot of success in the game,” he said. “It helps you get better and better. I’ve enjoyed coming to the park every day.”

I wondered how all this attention would affect Grant’s performance in the game, but I didn’t have to wait long to find out. He led off the second inning and ripped a single through short. In the fourth, he hit a towering home run into the trees on the top of the grassy hill beyond the left-field fence.

Actually, Desme’s bomb turned out to be the high point of the Oakland players’ contribution to the game.

Corey Brown, who had an All-Star year at Double-A Midland (Texas), had a terrible time at the plate. Jemile Weeks, who also finished the year at Midland, was a bit better with a double into the corner. However, the Javelinas’ pitchers had his number, too. Mickey Storey, who managed to pitch this year at every level in Oakland’s farm system, allowed one hit and no runs in the fifth, and Justin Friend, who had an equally well-traveled year, pitched a scoreless seventh.

It was a high-caliber game with all the stuff you go to the ball park to see: great plays, home runs and even a couple of crowd-pleasing triples.

The score was always close, and the game was not decided until the bottom of the eighth when the Javelinas’ second baseman, J.C. Retherford of the Chicago White Sox, sent another ball into the trees in left field with a runner on. That made it 5-4 Peoria, and that’s the way it ended.

We sat in the sun most of the afternoon where Little Red Riding Hood would have found it not “too hot” and not “too cold” — just right for baseball in November in Arizona. Of course, as the announcer was wont to say several times throughout the afternoon, “Spring Training is just around the corner — March will be here before we know it.”

Until then, have a good winter. Happy Holidays!!

Napa Valley Register correspondent Harrell Miller can be reached at harrell.jan.miller@gmail.com.