Oakland A S Baseball Team

Jason Kendall is playing in his first pennant race after nine years of losing in Pittsburgh. Despite a playoff-starved career and months of frustration with his production at the plate, Kendall keeps contributing big hits. Kendall, the Oakland Athletics' first-year catcher, hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the A's rallied from a three-run deficit for a 7-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

Eric Chavez and the Oakland Athletics wasted no time in reviving their playoff push. Chavez homered twice and Oakland's first five batters got hits as the A's broke out of their slump with a 12-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. It was a big victory for the Athletics, who had lost their previous two games, dropping out of a tie for first place in the American League West. The A's remained two games behind the division-leading Angels.

It sounds like a nightclub, but it sure doesn't look like one. From the speakers all around the room, a pulsating, techno-pop tune with eardrum-busting volume travels in waves and bounces off the wooden lockers in the Oakland Athletics' clubhouse. If someone ever thought to record a collision between a bus loaded with drums and a concrete wall, this would come close, and it's brought to you courtesy of the maestro, outfielder Mark Kotsay.

Four home runs and a baserunning gaffe by the Baltimore Orioles enabled the Oakland Athletics to take a wealth of momentum into their showdown with the Angels. Nick Swisher and Mark Ellis homered off Jorge Julio in a five-run 12th inning, and the Athletics completed a four-game sweep of the Orioles with a 10-5 victory Monday. Jay Payton and Dan Johnson also homered for the A's, whose sixth straight win extended their lead in the American League West to one game over the idle Angels.

The Kansas City Royals lost their 19th straight game Friday night, moving within two defeats of the American League record, and Jay Payton homered to help the Oakland Athletics end a four-game skid with a 4-0 victory. Rich Harden (10-5) pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings to win for the first time in four outings since a four-start winning streak. He didn't give up a hit until Mike Sweeney's one-out double in the fourth.

Sammy Sosa's 25-foot run-scoring single highlighted a wild rally by Baltimore, and the Orioles ended Barry Zito's eight-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory over the Athletics on Monday night. The Orioles came back with five runs in the seventh inning thanks to several misplays by the A's, including two hit batsmen, two bases-loaded walks and a throwing error by shortstop Bobby Crosby, who ended a 35-game streak without a home run in the first inning.

Vladimir Guerrero received the Barry Bonds treatment Thursday in Oakland, where the Angel slugger was walked intentionally three times, leaving him powerless to prevent a crushing loss to the A's. Friday night in Seattle, Guerrero gave the Mariners the Barry Bonds treatment.

Barry Zito took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Jay Payton hit a two-run homer on his first swing for the surging Oakland Athletics in a 7-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. After Rich Harden took a perfect game into the eighth inning of an 81-pitch two-hitter Thursday, Zito (7-8) was stellar until Kevin Mench homered with one out in the eighth. Eric Chavez hit a three-run homer and Nick Swisher also connected to back eight innings of two-hit ball by Zito.

Rich Harden tried to make small talk between innings and nobody would cooperate. He asked rookie Joe Blanton about his truck and received a one-word response. Nobody dared jinx what Harden had going on the mound. Harden carried a perfect game into the eighth inning Thursday night, finishing with a masterful two-hitter in the Oakland Athletics' 6-0 victory over the Texas Rangers. "Yeah, I'd say that was probably the best I've felt," Harden said. "Complete games are pretty rare for me.

There was the fellow who said Oakland Athletic General Manager Billy Beane should be a heart surgeon because he "tears the hearts out of A's fans." Even the wife of the executive who engineered the controversial winter trades of pitchers Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder had difficulty comprehending the moves. "It wasn't fun being me for a week or so," Beane said at the A's fan-fest in February. "My wife woke up one morning and said, 'I can't believe you did that.' I got grief at home too."