With some breathing room between themselves and their pursuers for a playoff spot, the A’s invested some innings and the game last night, to see if Ted Lilly could help them in the post season.

The Angels won the game 5-2 and Lilly looked like a pitcher who has a sore shoulder.

Now, the A’s will have to make a decision on whether or not Lilly gets another start this Sunday against Seattle. Lefthanders are important to the A’s staff, if things go well the rest of the week for Oakland, Lilly might get one more chance to show Art Howe that he can help him, either out of the bull pen or as a spot starter in October.

Cory Lidle matches up with Angel’s rookie John Lackey on Wednesday night.

As we reasoned yesterday, Kevin Brown is a shadow of his former Cy Young self and the Giants put him away early Tuesday night.

Today is another story, click below.Hitting is contagious, slumps can jump up and grip a team for a week or ten days at a time. The A’s are not crushing the ball right now. Tonight’s game will be a barometer to see if the hitting will bounce back or if this offensive slide will continue for a few more games.

The big guns Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, and Jermaine Dye fuel this attack. When they are not producing, it is unfair to look to David Justice for the big hits. Teams will work around Dye to get to Justice in the post season, the A’s will have to put runs on the board before Justice comes up because Justice doesn’t hit the tough pitchers with consistent authority.

He will see plenty of tough pitchers in October, A’s fans should be glad with whatever production Justice gives them and not moan when he doesn’t come through. He has had a fine season, better than I thought he would.

Ricardo Rincon didn’t have his dominating stuff in the 8th inning last night. Rincon is showing that he is less effective when used in back to back appearances. Micah Bowie or Lilly will be in the picture soon, in order to not use Rincon on successive days. This situation bears watching tonight.

Lidle has been spectacular over the last six weeks, he has two no decisions against the Angels this season, giving up 6 runs in 12 innings worked. Greg Myers hit the game winning homer off Troy Percival in Lidle’s start in April.

This looks like another tight game, with the relievers either saving the win or being a big part in the outcome.

The Giants face one of their unflappable foes today in Hideo Nomo. The Japenese pitcher is a pleasure to watch, he is strong and never changes his expression on the mound.

Kirk Reuter has pitched extremely well all year, this is a big game for LA, (not getting swept), and I would expect some more offense from the Dodgers, on a nice fogless afternoon in SF.

Matt Morris came through his first test last night quite well. The game also saw the return of Jason Isringhausen from shoulder miseries. Izzy’s physical struggles are typical of what the A’s put up with for two seasons, and the main reason they didn’t want to sign him to a long term deal. Izzy will need plenty of help to get through the playoffs without blowing out his shoulder or arm again.

Curt Schilling won number 23 yesterday. The voters should just declare a tie right now for the NL Cy Young between Schilling and Randy Johnson. I wrote earlier in the summer that these two needed to win 50 between them , to insure the Diamondbacks’ 2002 division title, they still might win 50.

Amazing work for the two pitchers.

Seattle lost another tough one in Texas. Joel Pineiro stayed in for 123 pitches before giving way to Arthur Rhodes. The Mariners again left too many on base and didn’t get the big out when Rhodes came into the game.

Kenny Rogers held Seattle in check for six innings and then the bull pen brought home the win. I’ll say it again, if Texas concentrates on building a bull pen over the winter, this team will be back sooner than most people think.

Today, it’s Freddy Garcia against rookie Colby Lewis. Once again Seattle turns its lonley eyes to Garcia to lead them out of the wilderness. Garcia hasn’t delivered for two months, but Lewis shouldn’t pitch well enough to shut the Mariners down. This one will be wild.

Pedro is back tonight. Barry Zito’s Cy Young hopes are rising, and I think Zito should get it, short of Pedro throwing a no hitter over the next two weeks.

Tonight, it’s time for the A’s MVP Miguel Tejada to make his presence known, this is what MVP’s do in September.

You can count on it.