Described as a pitcher having a below average fastball and a decent breaking ball, Justin Duchscherer showed the scouts the one thing they forgot to put in their scouting reports: he knows how to pitch and isn’t afraid to throw the ball over the plate.

Displaying an excellent breaking ball (not in Zito’s class, but not bad) when he needed an out, the rookie’s night became infinitely calmer after the A’s put four runs on the board in the third, then four more in the next inning, to ice their 8-1 win.

Where does Duchscherer go from here? He certainly deserves to pitch against Anaheim next week. He reminds me of a younger version of Gil Heredia. He moves the ball around and needs impeccable control to survive.

Eric Chavez made a sensational play in the field to bail Duchscherer out of a bases loaded jam when the game was scoreless. Chavez and Miguel Tejada had big offensive nights, but perhaps the best sign for the A’s was the emergence of Jermaine Dye’s bat from its season long slump.

Dye homered, the ball leaving the yard in a blink of an eye (only he hits them like that on this team), plus his single got the first four run rally going. Big night for Dye. Erubiel Durazo batted second and drove the Angels nuts with his take, take, take approach getting two walks and an off field double, always ahead in the count.

All in all a positive night at the park for Oakland that also got a welcome boost from the Rangers and Rafael Palmiero.

Click below for more!Seattle let a game get away when its bullpen (there’s that word again) blew a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning losing to Texas 5-4 in 10.

Armando Benitez gave up Palmiero’s three run homer to tie the game, but Arthur Rhodes couldn’t get his man out either. Shigetoshi Hasegawa got the loss, a heartbreaker for the M’s.

One of the obvious differences between Oakland and Seattle and Boston is in the bullpen. The A’s rarely ever let a late lead get away, the other two make a routine habit of it.

Texas got five innings of two hit relief, plus lefty Ron Mahay got John Olerud out with the lead runs on base in the eighth on a short pop to left.

Joel Pineiro (he hasn’t won since July 31st) comes back tonight for Seattle against the Rangers best pitcher, John Thomson who Oakland will miss this weekend in Texas.

Seattle doesn’t hit homers, they have trouble night after night on offense, then to have a bullpen meltdown (Palmiero hit a 2-0 fastball from Benitez with two on base), leads to the inevitable: a clubhouse players only meeting after the game, we’ll see if wakes their bats up tonight.

By the way, it looks like the A’s will see Ryan Drese, Joaquin Benoit, and Tony Mounce beginning Friday in Arlington.

Pineiro hasn’t pitched a good game in a while so all eyes are on him tonight. Seattle juggled its rotation last weekend, skipping Pineiro so he will pitch twice against the A’s later this month, a team he has handled this year.

The White Sox are putting the Twins away as expected. Torri Hunter misjudged a routine out (for him) in the first which set the stage for the Sox’s initial rally. Mark Buehrle beat Minnesota again (10-4 lifetime) as the White Sox pulled two games in front.

Tonight might be the Twins most important game to date as they look to young lefty Johann Santana to close the gap. Chicago counters with its fourth starter Jon Garland and an expected host of relievers.

With Esteban Loaiza looming tomorrow, Minnesota better get its act together tonight in Comiskey where magic things are happening for Frank Thomas and the boys.

Boston pounded Damian Moss (someone knew what they were doing trading him twice within one year’s time), and rode Derek Lowe to the win. With Pedro up today the Sox can hope for another off day for the bullpen. David Ortiz may be their best hitter right now, he homered again last night his 26th. Bill Mueller had three hits and is leading the league in batting average once again.

Jason Johnson knows how to pitch, but Pedro holds the key to this game, if he is on (no guarantee), it won’t matter what Johnson does.

The Cubs got a nice game from Carlos Zambrano once again and Moises Alou got another big hit in their win. Livan Hernandez is well known to Dusty Baker and will pose a difficult challenge tonight with the inconsistent Matt Clement on the mound for Chicago.

Houston pulled one out of the fire last night and closed with Brad Lidge and Billy Wagner as usual. Ovtavio Dotel has a strain in his side and that is not good news for Jimy Williams and the Astros. The good news is that they have another game with Milwaukee tonight.

Houston has games left with St. Louis and the Dodgers which will decide this thing. If the Cubs continue to dominate the weaker teams, they just might sneak away with the Central while Houston and the Cards fight it out.

St. Louis got pounded by Colorado, tells you how badly Dan Haren must have pitched if these guys can hit you on the road. Tonight it is Brett Tomko on the hill. The Cards have dug a nice hole for themselves this past week.

The Phils made life easy for Randy Wolf scoring 18 runs against the Braves. Still, the lefty beat Atlanta, not easy to do. Vincente Padilla has pitched extremely well lately and he faces Horacio Ramirez tonight. If the Phillies can sustain the offense, things could get bright in the wild card race for this troubled team, but that has been the hope all year and it hasn’t happened yet.

The Marlins remind me of the Cubs, great pitching almost every night, then search for runs. Ugueth Urbina and Braden Looper seal the deal from the eighth inning forward, which should not be overlooked.

Tonight it is lefty Mark Redman against strike machine Jae Seo for the Mets, who just don’t hit enough right now.

The Dodgers are still here. What is Randy Johnson’s future? It is clear the big lefty doesn’t have it this season. the bullpen might be his eventual role if he can’t regain the life on his fastball and slider. Nomo didn’t make his start last night, but you know what, Wilson Alvarez has pitched so well for LA, he just might pick it up for this team.

Doug Waechter won again for Tampa Bay, I can’t wait to see him pitch against the Yankees and Red Sox, the games coming up shortly.

Minnesota has its back against the wall tonight. In a way, so does Seattle as they try to stop the bleeding (40-42 over its last 82 games, that’s not a short slump).

The A’s can use another solid game from Ted Lilly because Jarrod Washburn is capable of stopping the Oakland bats. Jermaine Dye is worth watching tonight to see if he can sustain his resurgence as a righthanded bat in this lineup.

If you are a White Sox, Athletic, Cub, Marlin, Phillie, Red Sox, Yankee, or Dodger fan you had a good day yesterday, but as I always say the baseball season unfolds very slowly, and every day we read another chapter in this story which is rapidly coming to a close.

Let’s see who steps up today.