Friday night saw the A’s take over sole possession of first place in the West as Barry Zito won his eighteenth game.

More importantly, the Mariners let one get away in Cleveland, the Angels ran into the best pitcher in baseball, Pedro Martinez, and the Red Sox look like they may have some life left in them after all.

Expos manager Frank Robinson brought back the squeeze play to beat the Giants, the Dodgers dodged another bullet in LA, and the Cards continue to give hope to the Astros.

Saturday poses a challenge for the losers last night to turn things around.

The A’s startring pitcher won for the tenth straight time, a mark last achieved by the Baltimore Orioles in 1974.

Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Ross Grimsley and Dave McNally led the Orioles staff that August and September.

The ’74 Orioles and the 2002 A’s compare on many fronts.

First, the Orioles had been 63-65 and trailed Boston by eight games in the East before their streak started.

The Orioles ended the season winning 28 of their last 34 games to win the division.

During the 10 game streak from August 29-Sept 7, 1974, the Orioles threw five straight shut outs. Grimsley and Cuellar beat Boston twice on Sept. 2nd. Palmer shut them out on Sep.4th. McNally and Cuellar shut out Cleveland on Sept. 6th.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it. Hudson, Mulder, Zito and Lidle are pitching like the pennant winning staffs of the O’s, Yankees, Indians, Braves, etc. You get the idea.

The Orioles beat the Yankees by two games in winning the East, giving them the right to meet the two time defending World Champion A’s in the playoff. The A’s wiped the O’s out in four games and went on to record their third World Series title in a row, this time over the Dodgers.

Good teams win in September when it counts, the A’s are doing it right now. The AL Central is no match for Oakland, similar to the run through the NL Central in interleague play when the A’s swept the Reds, Pirates, Astros, and Brewers.

Today, the A’s send Tim Hudson out against Jose “Lima Time” Lima. If the A’s can stay away from the Tigers late game closers and get into the Tigers middle relief, the game looks very similar to last night’s 9-1 win.

Lima gives up hits and homers in bunches, so be ready for some fireworks in Detroit.

The Angels send Kevin Appier out in Boston. Appier is banged up along with the rest of the Angels team. Orlando Palmiero is hitting third, not a good sign.

Boston is showing some life and needs to win three of four here before meeting the Yankees next week. Funny, but the Red sox may have a better chance of catching NY than the wild card.

Even with the West splitting their September games, if the Sox don’t win over the Yankees they may not have enough games left with the also rans in the East to make a difference in September.

If they sweep the Yanks now and play well in September maybe they can catch NY.

Just a thought about Boston, they need to turn it up now and not wait for the favorable schedule change in September because they are the Red Sox and you know what always happens to them at the end of the season.

John Burkett has not been effective lately, this one may be a game of bull pens with lefty Alan Embree for the Sox getting the job done once again. Embree looks like he could be closing for the Sox along with Ugeth Urbina before too long. Embree always threw about 97, but now he knows where the ball is going.

Seattle isn’t hitting and now must be concerned about not falling three or four games behind the A’s. Lou Pinella doesn’t have many options available in changing his line up. The big boys are just not hitting with any consistency and the pitching has been lackluster to boot. Jamie Moyer needs to get the job done today against Danys Baez or else the Mariners face the prospect of losing the series and more ground to the A’s.

Montreal played well last night. The Giants don’t hit and got out hustled by the young Expos. Tomo Ohka is consistent, a sure plus for any young pitcher, plus he put down a great two strike squeeze bunt at a critical moment. Frank Robinson told me Vladimir Guerrero reminds him of Roberto Clemente and you know what, he is right. Guerrero hit a laser off the right center field wall and flew around the bases getting a triple with flair of Clemente. Robinson said Vlad should be a 50 homer guy some day once he gets plate discipline.

Bartolo Colon goes for combined win number 17 today against Livan “Please throw a fast ball” Hernandez. Runs are tough to come by at Pac Bell anyway, but with another cold foggy day forecast, the score should be lower than normal. The Giants better hope Livan brings it, because they will have a tough time scoring off Colon.

Houston can pick up a game today on St. Louis as Wade Miller has a better chance of beating sliding Cincy than Andy Benes does of derailing the suddenly hot Phillies. The best thing the Cards have going for them today is the home field since they used six relievers last night and you know Benes will need help after five innings or so.

It’s tough to win back to back games on the road no matter who you are.

That is, unless you are the A’s.