The A’s started a new winning streak behind lefthander Mark Mulder, the Angels continued their streak (9 in a row), and Seattle hit the ball hard in Kansas City.

The Giants proved that September baseball can be exciting with their win over Arizona, Houston got the best of LA, and John Smoltz recorded his 50th save for the Braves.

Sunday baseball in September may be the best of all.

Barry Zito goes for number 20, the Rocket tries to inch closer to 300, and Anaheim throws Jarrod Washburn against the Orioles and Pat Hentgen.

Let’s look at the games.Mulder pitched his finest game in over a month against Minnesota. The Twins are a different team against lefties, losing 10 of their last 11 at home against southpaw starters. The only one they beat in the Dome, going way back to June, is Glendon Rusch.

Barry Zito is better than Glendon Rusch.

The A’s played a solid game against the Twins shutting them out 2-0. Ray Durham laid down a great sacrifice bunt on his own to move an insurance run into scoring position in the 8th, Scott Hatteberg singled the run in, and even though he made a couple of baserunning blunders (not drawing a throw as Hernandez scored, then not going to third on the next single to right), Hatteberg came up with a clutch hit again.

David Justice singled in the first run and Mulder held the fort the rest of the way. Even Billy Koch looked more under control in this game than he had in his previous five save attempts.

The team is now back to playing normal solid baseball and not worrying about the streak.

The A’s have the arms, and that is the key to the stretch drive. Oakland hits just enough to win and Tejada still is the best shortstop this side of A Rod.

Eric Milton pitches Sunday for Minnesota with Johan Santana in the wings ready to bail Milton out after about five innings. Milton, still recovering from knee surgery, shouldn’t be out there past the mid point of the game.

Zito needs to learn from Mulder’s game and keep the lefty heavy Twins on their front foot, while chasing his curveball.

With Anaheim next, the A’s need a win on Sunday.

The Angels throw Washburn against Hentgen who is making his first start of the year. The Orioles have won once in the past two weeks and won’t change the pattern Sunday.

Here’s the interesting part of the game. The Angels will get Washburn out as soon as the game is in hand, so they can bring him back on three days rest Thursday against the A’s.

I don’t think the Angels want to match up Mickey Callaway against Mulder in the finale of the four game series. Mike Scoscia likes to surprise the A’s with his moves, I expect to see Washburn slipped in on Thursday.

Seattle is enjoying their time in KC. Bret Boone, Edgar Martinez, and John Olerud are hitting the ball and Mike Cameron is stealing bases. Absent from the offensive resurgence is Ichiro, who may be dog tired from trying to carry this offense all year.

Ismael Valdes should be sharp enough to keep his team in the game because Jeff Suppan has basically been throwing batting practice in his starts over the last month.

Texas is next up for Seattle who will be rooting big time for the Angels to close the gap with the A’s, while the Mariners do their usual winning against Texas.

The Giants are playing clutch baseball. They are keeping the heat on LA, and now trail the Dodgers by 2 games in the Wild Card.

Unfortunately, Giants fans think this team should win the West by ten games and can’t appreciate the tremendous race the team is in with LA.

Russ Ortiz is a much better pitcher than Brian Anderson and as bad as the Giants hit (other than Bonds and Kent) I think their offense is better than Arizona’s.

Roy Oswalt goes for number 19 against Ishii in LA. The Astros are barely breathing in this race and need this game badly.

St. Louis has their favorite team at home Sunday, the Cubs. The Cards have won seven of eight this year in Busch over the Cubs and 26 of the last 33 played there between the two teams.

Even Kerry Wood, who dominates St. Louis, will have trouble breaking that streak of bad play. Jason Simontacchi, who the Cubs have kicked around this year, is back for the Cards, who have too much heart to lose this division and the game, even though the match up favors Chicago today.

John Smoltz is amazing. First, a Cy Young as a starter and now 50 saves as a reliever. An absolutely exceptional pitcher.

Texas bears watching. Chan Ho Park threw another excellent game. Today, Benoit goes against Tampa Bay and this young man threw 7 no hit innings against the Orioles last week. Dennis Reyes also pitched well in his last start. Even the Tin Man, Kenny Rogers can be dangerous. Texas just might cause some havoc in the West.

With four Sunday’s to go in the season, these games are now for real, one misstep can cost you the flag.

Watch the scores tonight, someone will surprise you.

Who do you think it will be?