Three teams relying on their pitching got a boost Tuesday night from their starting pitchers.

Mark Mulder beat the Orioles on the road.

Miguel Batista and Jason Schmidt hooked up in an old fashioned National League pitching duel for nine innnigs.

It’s been a long time since I saw Mulder pitch a good game, I’m not as excited about his performance last night as everyone else seems to be.

Batista and Schmidt seem to be the real deal right now.

I’ll tell you why I’m still concerned about Mulder.As is my usual custom when the A’s are on the road, I get to watch their game on television from the comfort of the visiting clubhouse at Pac Bell Park.

I know, Mulder says he felt like his old self on the mound. Certainly taking the game into the 7th inning would support that conclusion.

I just have a difficult time watching this power pitcher throw 71-75 MPH curve balls when he is in trouble. The old Mulder would bust a 93 MPH cutter on the hands of a righthanded hitter.

This Mulder nibbles and bites the corners with off speed stuff when he needs an out. After throwing his “junk”, he comes back with an 89-90 MPH pitch, which catches the batter off balance.

At least it did last night.

The Orioles had runners on base all night long, but couldn’t deliver the clutch hit when they needed it.

Don’t get me wrong. Mulder was more in command on the mound last night than any of his previous three efforts.

My opinion is, I have yet to see the Mulder of 2001 .

If he can be successful with this new style of pitching, more power to him.

I think the A’s and their fans are hoping for the best when evaluating Mulder’s game last night as opposed to fairly, objectively analyzing his performance.

Kind of like that fable I heard when I was a kid about the Emporer’s new clothes.

All the subjuects in the kingdom praised the Emporer’s new clothes, trouble was the king wasn’t wearing any clothes.

The subjects just were being polite to the king because he was king and they wanted to believe they saw clothes, when in reality they didn’t see anything.

I think the A’s are going overboard to praise Mulder simply because they are desperate to have the “King” back amongst the big three in the rotation.

The fable ended when some youngster yelled out “Hey, the King is naked, he’s not wearing any clothes.

Only then, the subjects admitted the truth.

We’ll see in his next start.

I hope I’m wrong for the sake of the kingdom.

I wouldn’t get carried away with Mark Mulder just yet.

To me, he looked more like Jamie Moyer than Mark Mulder.

On the other hand, Migel Batista threw the stuffing out of the ball last night for Arizona. His pitches had amazing movement.

Sliders away, fast balls up and in, never giving in to the hitter. True power pitching.

Arizona needs Batista to come up big in the third spot in the rotation, since this team only wins when Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson go to the hill.

Batista pitched one of the best games I’ve seen in years last night.

Jason Schmidt matched Batista pitch for pitch. Schmidt hit 95 on the gun in the eighth inning. He came up big for the Giants Tuesday night.

An ace, if I ever saw one.

The Giants are in a tough race with Arizona for the NL West lead. The Giants don’t hit a whole lot. They rely on pitching and defense.

With Russ Ortiz, Livan Hernandez, and Schmidt leading the way, all of a sudden the Giants are a threat to win any series they play.

Arizona lost the game because lefthanded relief specialist Mike Myers failed to retire Barry Bonds in the tenth inning of a scoreless game.

He walked Bonds on a 3-2 pitch.

Managers would rather walk Bonds than pitch to him no matter what inning it is. Trouble is Jeff Kent comes through more often than not, in moving Bonds along the base paths.

With Bonds running last night on an 0-2 pitch, Kent singled to left.

Now runners on first and third, infield in, and Benito Santiago up.

First pitch, single to left, game over.

Giants win a thrilling game 1-0.

If I’m Mike Myers, and my only job in baseball is to get lefthaned hitters out, I want to get Bonds and not walk him.

After the game, manager Bob Brenly seemed OK with the walk, because he had envisioned Bonds homering to win the game.

Brenly reasoned the walk was the safer of the two alternatives.

Huh?

The Diamondbacks traded for Myers this winter for one reason, to get Bonds out in that situation.

Myers failed and the Giants won the game 1-0 slicing the Arizona lead to 1/2 game in the West.

Three pitchers: Mulder, Batista, and Schmidt, each will have a major impact on their teams chances of making the post season.

Two were superb, one I want to see again in five days.

I didn’t see Mulder’s new clothes.