A's!

The Oakland A's have beaten the Houston Astros in a game of baseball this afternoon! The A's scored a run in the third of nine innings, and then the Astros scored two runs in the sixth inning. This made the score two runs for the Astros and one for the A's. And then Houston scored another run in the seventh inning. At this point, the score was 3-1, in favor of the Astros. Oakland failed to score any runs during its at-bat in the seventh or eighth innings, but, fortunately, Houston didn't score any more runs, either. So the game went to the bottom half of the ninth and final inning with the score still 3-1 in favor of the Astros, and then here's what happened:

-- Josh Donaldson hit the ball into right field, and he made it to first base before being thrown out. 

-- Adam Dunn hit the ball sharply into center field, but the Houston player in that position was able to catch the ball before it hit the ground. Donaldson remained at first base, and now there was one out. The A's would need to score two or more runs before they made two more outs, or they would lose their fourth-consecutive baseball game!

-- Derek Norris was next up for Oakland, and he, too, hit the ball into center field. But, unlike his teammate Dunn, Norris hit the ball in such a way that it scooted along the ground out to center field. This allowed Norris time to run to first base before the Houston outfielder could throw him out, and Donaldson ran all the way around to third base. 

-- At this point, the managers of the two clubs got into the action. Oakland's manager replaced Norris with a faster runner named Billy Burns, and the Houston manager replaced his pitcher.

-- Alas, the strategy of Bob Melvin, the Oakland manager, worked out better than did that of Houston's, in that the next A's batter, Josh Reddick, slugged a ball so far into left field that he was able to run right on by first base and advance to second for a double. Furthermore, not only did Donaldson run home from third (making the score 3-2, still in favor of Houston), but also fleet-footed Burns raced all the way around second and third base and came home himself! Suddenly, the score was tied at three runs apiece!

-- Oakland fans like me could afford to breathe a sigh of relief now, because, even if Oakland quickly made two more outs, the game would still continue for at least one more inning. BUT NO! Jed Lowrie, though he would've been out had he made just one more strike, swung and hit the ball into left field. Reddick ran around third base and to home plate, and that gave the A's four runs to the Astros' three!

And there you have it! It's a Saturday afternoon; the Oakland A's and Houston Astros played a game of baseball; the A's won; I got to keep up with how things were going in Oakland, Calif., from my home in Madisonville, Ky.,  and I am very thankful for all of it!