“Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything..." Gregg Eaterbrook A's 5, Angels 4- Marco Scutaro hit an 0-2 pitch from Angels relief ace Francisco Rodriguez to score Bobby Kielty in the 12th inning to lead the A's to victory over the Angels. The A's magic number is now 2, as in can clinch the division today with a win. How about that? Very quietly, the A's vs. the Angels has become one of the best rivalries in sports and this game was another one to add to it. The game was tied 3-3 going into the 8th when Milton Bradley hit a solo-home run to take the lead. Houston Street came in to pitch the ninth, his fourth straight appearance, and made it to two outs before giving up a double to Maicer Izturis that Jay Payton had but lost after making a diving attempt to catch it. Itzuris got to third after a throwing error by Street (fans around the East Bay must have been dying about now) but Street got Orlando Cabrera to strike out to end the inning. Phew. more ›

Shards of what remain of Barry Zito and the rest of Oakland A's pitching staff are still being recovered after yesterday's 14-0 threshing at the hands of the Texas Rangers. We're certain the Arlington faithful are downright giddy about their latent power display, as well they should be. This beating reminded everyone that there is-indeed--a real pennant race fomenting in the AL West. However, the Rangers should take a very hard look at the all-encompassing big picture scoreboard-the Athletics won that series by dominating the small things. And they beat Texas by going toe-to-toe with one of the best offenses in the American League. Moreover, the real battle was won in the trenches-through superior bullpen action, sans Joe Kennedy, Scott Sauerbeck and the rest of the DL boys, a smothering defense and timely hitting from Jay Payton, not through caveman-like hacking at off-speed pitches that Ranger batters have mastered. more ›

Frank Thomas has hit 448 home runs, and has hit .307/.427/.568, over his 16-year career. That's pretty impressive, but in the last 2 seasons, Frank Thomas has been mostly injured: he's appeared in a total of 108 major league baseball games. Whatever Frank Thomas does in the 2006 baseball season, he'll do in the uniform of the Oakland A's. Thursday, the A's signed Thomas to a $500,000 contract, which reportedly includes $2.6 million in health- and plate-appearance-based incentives. He'll be a DH, and bat in the middle of the lineup. If he stays healthy. more ›

The Cubs and Dodgers both lost last night, but, in one of the most painful games of the year, so did the Giants. To make matters worse, the Astros won, thereby giving themselves the lead in the NL Wild Card race. more ›