Chris Young points to his family after his game winning 3-run homer in the top of the 9th. (Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

The story of this game was very much the same as the previous games in Arlington, many opportunities to score  runs, many opportunities missed.  The Athletics had Erik Bedard on the ropes in the top of the 1st inning, loading the bases with nobody out, but they would only be able to deliver two runs.  Bedard would allow just those two runs in his 5 innings of work.

Meanwhile, Tommy Milone would cruise through the first four innings of the game, allowing a hit here and there, but suffering no damage.  The 5th inning would be an entirely different story.  After getting the first two outs without incident, the Astros got on the board when Matt Dominguez homered to left to make it a 2-1 game.  Ronny Cedeno hit a well placed pop up that neither Eric Sogard or Chris Young were able to get to, and the inning began to snowball from there.  An infield single and an RBI single by Jose Altuve would tie the game at 2.  The big blow came off the bat J.D. Martinez in the form of a 3-run home run to put some distance between the Astros and the A’s at 5-2.  Other than that inning Milone was very good tonight, and a couple of well placed balls go the other way and this inning never happens.  Milone would last 7 innings, and his line of 8 hits, 5 ER, 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts doesn’t do justice to how well he really did pitch overall.  He would get a no decision.

The A’s would inch closer when Seth Smith deposited a home run into the left field bleachers to the opposite field to make it a 5-3 game.  Pat Neshek would give the A’s a scoreless 8th inning and get the win tonight.  The real activity would come in the 9th inning.

John Jaso pinch hit for Adam Rosales to lead off the 9th inning, and he would draw a walk against Veras, Coco Crisp followed suit with a walk of his own, bringing up Chris Young with 2 runners on.  Young’s home run was a surprise within the game, but it really should not have been considering Young’s past at Minute Maid Park.  Young is hitting .418 for his career with 7 home runs and 27 RBI in 19 games there.  Each time he plays there are somewhere around 50 friends and family members in the stands to cheer him on, and they could be heard.  Without a doubt he loves playing for them.

With the pinch hitting of Jaso for Rosales in the top of the inning, the A’s were forced to do some rather unorthodox shuffling defensively in the bottom half.  Jaso had to play first base, Brandon Moss moved to third, and Josh Donaldson shifted over to shortstop.  For Moss and Donaldson, it was their first career appearances at those positions.  The A’s are pushing the limits of the term versatility to say the least.

This marks the fourth straight series in which the A’s have won the first game, and they have won the previous two after taking game 1.  The A’s will send out A.J. Griffin (4-3, 3.59 ERA) against Lucas Harrell (3-5, 4.63 ERA).  Griffin has been strong this year overall, and this will be his first ever start in Houston.

RT to wish #40 Bartolo Colón a happy 40th birthday! twitter.com/Athletics/stat…

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 24, 2013

After a rough start to the month of May the Oakland Athletics have found their winning stroke. The A’s will be in Houston for the weekend to take on the Houston Astros – a team that the A’s have a perfect record against this season. The Astros, who were moved to the AL West this season, have lost all six games they have played against Oakland. Yes, I am sure that Oakland have enjoyed welcoming Houston to the AL West due to their perfect record against the team. And I am sure the A’s have no problem playing them 19 times during the season. Well, the A’s have a chance to continue this winning streak against Houston over the weekend in a 3-game series.

May 12, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher Tommy Milone (57) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The Athletics will send Tommy Milone to the mound for game one of the series. Milone is coming off of his first win in his last six games. He lost five games in a row before beating the Kansas City Royals on May 18. Tommy Milone is 4-5 with a 3.47 ERA with 49 strikeouts.

Erik Bedard will go to the hill for Houston to oppose Milone and the A’s. Bedard has received four no-decisions over his last four starts. He has a whacky 0-2 record over seven starts this year. He also has a 6.00 ERA on the season.

Probable Starters 

Saturday, May 25, 4:15 PM PDT

A.J. Griffin (4-3, 3.59 ERA) vs. Lucas Harrell (3-5, 4.63 ERA)

Sunday, May 26, 11:10 PM PDT

Bartolo Colon (4-2, 4.31 ERA) vs. Dallas Keuchel (1-1, 4.93 ERA)

This is the only time Hiro Nakajima has been spotted in an Athletics uniform, Opening Night 2013. (Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)

The A’s universe immediately fell in love with the guy.  He was a big hit at the FanFest event in January, and his beaming smile radiated throughout Spring Training in February and March.  There was just one problem, he never hit during Cactus League play.  Be it that his timing was off, or the fact that he was facing a number of pitchers he had never seen before, or if he was having  trouble adjusting to life in the United States, we don’t know what caused his struggles.

He was injured at the tail end of Spring Training, what turned out to be a fairly severe hamstring strain.  Nakajima would be placed on the 15 day DL and the Athletics were spared having to option him to Triple A Sacramento at the end of the spring.  His hamstring appears to be more or less healed, and he has now appeared in 13 games for the River Cats.  Today the Athletics announced that they were activating him from the DL, and optioning him to the River Cats.  All this means is now he is no longer on a rehab assignment, he’s a minor leaguer.

In the 13 games he’s played, he’s posted a .265/.316/.347 line in 57 plate appearances.  It’s not a line that will pop out at you, but it’s certainly an improvement over his spring numbers when he couldn’t buy a hit.  But with the emergence of Jed Lowrie at shortstop, there is no longer a sense of urgency to get Nakajima to Oakland.

With Lowrie entrenched at short, and Eric Sogard and Adam Rosales occupying somewhat of a platoon at second base, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of room for Hiro.  But the fact of the matter is the A’s made a two year commitment to Nakajima and they still don’t know exactly what they have.  The chances that he can provide more offense than either Sogard or Rosales are fairly high.  They both have had their moments, but neither of them are truly worthy of being everyday players.  Nakajima may still be, we simply don’t know.  He’s been working out at second base, at third base, maybe he’s even been secretly catching bullpen sessions for all we know.  Either way, he is working diligently to make himself as useful as he can to the Oakland Athletics.  He may not be in Oakland any time soon, but I believe the chances are high that at some point he will play an important role with the Athletics.