Those Amazin' A's

Don’t believe my baseball prognostications. Towards the end of June we went down to Oakland to watch the A’s play the Giants. Since both teams were well below .500 at that point I figured the game didn’t have much significance, since it seemed highly unlikely either team would be making the playoffs.

Ah, but the Oakland A’s have been on an amazing tear since the closing weeks of May. Today they moved into first place in their division, beating in a game at home their rival for that spot the L.A. Angels 5-4. I checked on the score during the 7th inning, saw that the A’s were down 4-0, and thought oh well. Later in the afternoon I looked again, and saw that the A’s had won on the strangest of plays.

The A’s had tied it up 4-4 in the 7th, and the game stayed tied until the bottom of the 9th. Two outs, the A’s had runners on 1st and 3rd, and Eric Chavez was at the plate. After the first pitch was called a ball, the catcher tossed the ball back to the pitcher Francisco Rodriguez. The pitcher failed to catch it. Seeing the ball glance off his glove, the runner on third, Jason Kendall, alertly broke for the plate and scored. End of game. The A’s take over the division lead. Wow.