Here's todays sports news...

Here's todays wrapup of sports news...

This afternoon beneath overcast skies at McAfee Coliseum, the 2006 Oakland Athletics continued to defy expectations by smacking the Minnesota Twins 8-3 in a fashion befitting a potential World Series team. The entire game was a literal composite of the A’s season: solid pitching, timely defense and amazing clutch hitting. ...

The Oakland Athletics this afternoon showed why this year’s team is infinitely grittier and more determined than playoff teams of years past. This collection of misfits and guys barely above the legal drinking age simply know how to win. They’ve outplayed and out-executed the Twins in the Metroblob, and showed the baseball world why they’ll go deep into the playoffs. Instead of Frank Thomas hammering the Twins into submission this afternoon, it was the likes of Nick Swisher, Marco Scutaro and Mark Kotsay running the Twins ragged. The 5-2 final score doesn’t reflect the way the A’s controlled this game. Boof Bonser, the Twins starting pitcher, never really had a chance against the highly selective, pitch-conscious A’s batters. They nitpicked the poor guy like vultures picking at an animal carcass. And in the end it came down to the basics: hitting, pitching, defense and the big play (something the Twins were touted as superior to the A’s). Esteban Loiaza, a man we’ve called out in the past, pitched like he’s been sipping on stud juice—he was simply outstanding before running into a couple of homerun blasts. It was also Swisher making adjustments and not swinging for the fences, but using that crappy dome for less glamorous doubles. Smart move, Swish! And it was Mark Kotsay’s brilliant inside-the-park homerun that sealed the deal on this little affair in Minneapolis. ...

“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. ...

One of our favorite sites to go to when we're really bored is On the DL. It's kind of the baseball equivalent of Popbitch if Popbitch was written by a bunch of baseball groupies (real baseball groupies). The site is a fun place to go if you want to find out what really nasty rumors are out there concerning your most hated ballplayer or just for fun pictures of baseball players enjoying the perks of being baseball players. Oh, to be young, good looking, rich, and throw 95 MPH again. ...

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. ...

The All-Star break, which ends when games start today, is a time for the players to give back to the fans (or some such nonsense). It's also a time for baseball writers to fill inches with reflections on the half-season in the books, and with hopes and dreams, if not predictions, for the half-season that arrives in Oakland Thursday night. The first half ended on a high note for the A's, who swept a......

Some might suggest that the A’s only took two of three at the Coliseum this week from the of-all-things-still-major-league-leading Chicago White Sox because the Sox played two games like a Little League team whose coach missed the draft. They would probably go on to suggest that the two wins, which evened the home team’s record out at 11-11, don’t mean much with respect to its April slide, because again: major league baseball players aren’t......

Previously, on SFist: Giants fans got to attend a home opener. On Monday night in Oakland, it was Kirk Saarloos (1-1, 5.59 and still looking like a solid fifth starter) giving up six runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. Going into the game, the A's sat at three wins and three losses after series against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, and we'll take that. For now. The promising new and/or young players have so far......