The Athletics pitchers have the Yankees number. The A’s have beaten the Yankees five of seven times this season, and the Yankees have yet to bust loose against Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, or Barry Zito.

Last night, Hudson threw seven excellent innings, continuing the A’s starters streak of contributing outstanding pitching to this team.

The game turned on the arm of Yankee set up man Armando Benitez. His two out walk to Scott Hatteberg following a clutch single by unheralded Mark Ellis, allowed Miguel Tejada to reach the plate in the eighth inning. Benitez broke Tejada’s bat, unfortunately the A’s shortstop hit a tricky grounder to Alfonso Soriano who did everything but treat the ball like a hand grenade, kicking the ball for an error while Ellis scooted home from second base with the tying run.

With the score now tied at 2-2 the A’s turned the ball over to closer Keith Foulke who shut the Yankees down, matching Mariano Rivera pitch for pitch.

Tenth inning, enter Antonio Osuna for NY, who we affectionately call “The soona they bring him in, the soona we go home”. Two outs, Tejada has a beautiful at bat culminated by a home run to win the game 3-2.

Just another A’s Yankee game in Oakland.

Click below for moreWith an 8-1 record Foulke is looking as good as any closer in the league. He consistently gets ahead in the count and finishes the batter off with either his change up or a fastball on the fists.

I still say the acquisition of Foulke may be Billy Beane’s best trade. Everything they said he would do, Foulke has done and more.

Jose Guillen will hurt pitchers who make mistakes, good pitchers will work him away and make him chase.

In the heat of the season Guillen will help, in the playoffs against top notch pitching I wonder how effective he will be. See the cases of Tejada and Eric Chavez for comparison, they both have disappeared in October when the pitching is tougher.

Guillen did show a gun from right field, almost throwing out David Delucci at the plate. In fact the throw was so strong that Ramon Hernandez never was in position to make the tag at the plate. Blocking the plate is one of Hernandez’ weaknesses, he doesn’t like contact and frequently is out of position. A small price to pay for Hernandez’ other contributions, but an annoying one in crucial big game situatuions.

Today, Barry Zito who has handled these Yankees numerous times against Jeff Weaver who does just enough to lose. The interesting part of this game will be the bull pens. Foulke and Rivera probably won’t pitch although I wouldn’t rule Foulke out (he’s a gamer), so when the screws tighten in the eighth as they always do, it will be the Chads, Bradford and Harville against Benitez and Chris Hammond.

Should be another terrific game as the A’s take another step closer to Seattle and Boston.

No one seems too concerned in SF, but at some point the injuries to the pitching staff and the age of the key players will show over the next two months. The Giants will make the playoffs no doubt, but they may be limping in unless the GM picks up some decent reserves.

If the team needed to fight to get into the playoffs I would worry about the effectiveness of Sidney Ponson, but with two months to get ready for October the big guy should be just fine. He is entertaining.

Dan Wright comes back for the White Sox today against Ryan Franklin who got torched by Texas his last start. The Sox have caught the Royals who are heading south faster than Canadian geese in December.

Tampa Bay keeps hitting and now they are a threat for two wins in a series instead of the one win I keep predicting.

Pat Hentgen is one smart pitcher. After his arm injuries the former Cy Young award winner for Toronto had to reinvent his game. Now a soft tosser, Hentgen has thrown well. Last night he completely shut the Red Sox down in Baltimore. The Red sox like many teams don’t play as well on the road. That fact makes the A’s quite optimistic since they are chasing Boston and get the Sox in Oakland beginning on Aug 11 thru Aug 14th.

The Marlins fell to Houston and Tim Redding 2-1. Jeff Kent had a big homer and then the Astrro bull pen did its magic. Today it is Carl pavano the Miami fifth starter against Jeriome Robertson, one of the top rookies in the league. Good game.

The Phillies finally got the game they were looking for from Kevin Millwood as the righty completely shut San Diego down, Today the Phils play two against the Padres in the Vet with Randy Wolf, perhaps their steadiest pitcherr going against tough Jake Peavy in game one.

The Cubs are outhitting the Diamondbacks, probably the only team they can outhit, and with three amazing innings from Antonio Alfonseca, they sent everyone home happy from Wrigley last night.

The Cubs are hanging around in the Central and today throw Shawn Estes against Miguel Batista. Estes usually goes five and flies, so the Cubs bull pen will be taxed once more today.

Kyle Lohse threw his best game in weeks as Minnesota stayed three and one half back in the AL Central. Keep yor eyes on the Twins who are far from out of this thing. Shannon Stewart is a great pick up, every time I look in the box score, he has two or three hits. With some decent pitching the Twins become very much alive.

The Tigers are willing victims lately and with Mike Maroth against Rick Reed the Twinkiies can pick up a game today if someone ahead loses.

The teams who quit in August and they are out there for the picking, can give immediate impetus to a pennant push if you are lucky enough to have them on your schedule.

Keep close watch on Toronto, Detroit, and Cleveland for the August fade.

The A’s can pitch to the Yankees, but can the A’s hit the Yankees pitching. Other than Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina the A’s get their hacks off the rest of the NY starters.

Bases on balls and poor defense at a critical moment did the Yanks in Friday night, probably see more of that today.

A’s Yankees playoff caliber baseball in August.