A's rolling into division showdown
BALTIMORE - Four home runs and a baserunning gaffe by the Orioles enabled the 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 Oakland completed a four-game sweep 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 West to one game over the idle Angels. The teams begin a three-game series tonight in Anaheim.
"We battled to get in this spot, and we've got to feel proud about what we've accomplished," Swisher said. "We just want to keep it going right now; we just need to keep riding that wave."
Oakland's runs all came on homers. Payton hit a two-run shot in the first and Johnson connected with two on in the sixth. The A's have 18 home runs in their past six games.
Kiko Calero pitched two perfect innings to seal Oakland's first four-game sweep in Baltimore since the A's moved from Kansas City in 1968.
The Orioles had a chance to break a tie at 5 in the eighth, putting runners at the corners with no outs against Justin Duchscherer, but pinch-runner Luis Matos held at third when Sal Fasano hit into a double play. Brian Roberts followed with a groundout.
The A's were amazed that Matos didn't break for home as soon as Fasano's grounder headed toward shortstop.
"We felt like we were playing with house money when they failed to run home on that ball," third baseman Eric Chavez said. "That was definitely miscommunication on their part. We got lucky; they had a brain cramp on that play."
Orioles interim manager Sam Perlozzo, who spent 14 years as a third-base coach, was quick to acknowledge that Matos should have been running on the play.
"That's normally an automatic situation that you go, and obviously we didn't, so I guess that comes back to me," he said. "In that situation, you pretty much want to stay out of the double play no matter where the ball is hit."
Third-base coach Rick Dempsey, who moved from first base shortly after Perlozzo took over for Lee Mazzilli on Aug.4, took the blame.
"It was bad judgment on my part," Dempsey said. "It wasn't (Matos') fault at all. It was 100 percent my fault. He did exactly what I told him to do. I have to live with that."
Said Matos: "The third-base coach tells you to stay, you stay. I don't want to look like a bad runner."
Baltimore tied it at 5 in the seventh when Javy Lopez drew a two-out walk and scored on B.J. Surhoff's double.
Oakland finally took advantage of the mistake in the 12th.
YANKEES 7, MARINERS 4: Jason Giambi hit two homers and drove in four runs as visiting New York rallied from a four-run deficit for their fifth straight win.
On Sunday, Giambi had two homers and seven RBIs in a 10-3 victory over Kansas City at Yankee Stadium.
In this one, Mike Mussina had his second straight poor outing, and the Yankees needed Giambi's power as they won after trailing by four runs for the second time in three games, the eighth time this season.
INDIANS 10, TIGERS 8: Jhonny Peralta, Coco Crisp and Ben Broussard drove in two each as Cleveland kept up its late-season surge.
The Indians overcame a five-run deficit in the first by scoring six in their first at-bat and improved to a major-league-best 19-7 in August.
RANGERS 7, WHITE SOX 5: Rookie Juan Dominguez allowed seven hits in eight innings and Mark Teixeira had three hits and two RBIs to lead Texas. Mark DeRosa and Kevin Mench homered for the Rangers, who have won five of seven on their 10-game homestand after a 1-12 trip.
TWINS 3, ROYALS 1 (10): Nick Punto hit a two-run double in the 10th, leading visiting Minnesota. Kansas City's Emil Brown had a two-out run-scoring double to tied it at 1 in the fourth.
Source: http://www.sptimes.com/
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