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ekansekans's blog: "df"

created on 10/29/2012  |  http://fubar.com/df/b351055

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Brandon Moss still had remnants of a whipped-cream pie splashed across both sides of his beard in the clubhouse. When someone pointed out the smears, Moss plucked the rest from his face and licked his fingers clean. "Last time, I didnt eat any," he said. "But this time, I ate a lot of it. I left my mouth open." Winning sure taste better in a late September playoff race. Moss hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning after Josh Donaldsons tying two-run shot in the ninth, and the Oakland Athletics gained ground on the first-place Texas Rangers with a stunning 7-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. "Epic," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Its a pretty dramatic win, maybe as dramatic as all." For a low-budget ballclub that has had its share of you-have-to-be-kidding-me moments this season, thats quite a statement from the manager. After what Melvin had just witnessed, perhaps its hard to blame him. Coco Crisp singled off Oliver Perez (1-3) leading off the final inning for his fourth hit. Stephen Pryor entered with one out and walked Yoenis Cespedes on four pitches. Moss hammered the first pitch against Pryor well over the wall in right for his 21st home run, sending Oakland (90-68) streaming out of the dugout to celebrate its major-league leading 14th walk-off win. The As are 2 1/2 games back of Texas in the division and 2 1/2 ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the final wild card. The Angels-Rangers game Saturday in Texas was postponed by inclement weather, and the teams will play a doubleheader Sunday. Tampa Bay also is three games behind Oakland. Oakland hosts Texas in the final three games of the season starting Monday. If the Angels lose the doubleheader and Tampa Bay falls in its finale at the Chicago White Sox, the As could clinch at least the wild card with a win Sunday. "Our mind is still focused on trying to go after the division," Donaldson said. "Every game out there is the biggest game of the year for us. Thats the way its been for the last month." Considering the way the As have played since the All-Star break, no goal seems silly anymore. Donaldsons drive off Tom Wilhelmsen in the ninth landed just over the wall in centre field for his ninth home run to start Oaklands latest rally. Grant Balfour (3-2) pitched a perfect inning to earn the win. With each game becoming bigger than the last, the As have shown no signs of a young team overwhelmed by the pressure. Players tossed a football around during batting practice. Right fielder Josh Reddick even wore a camouflage shirt and punted the ball in flip-flops. The laid-back approach carried over again -- just not right away. Dan Straily allowed four runs, four walks and three hits in 4 1-3 innings while striking out three, though he ended up jumping over the couch in the clubhouse watching Donaldsons homer, admitting he was so excited "I have no idea how I got there." His bullpen backed him up, though, with five relievers tossing scoreless ball. John Jaso walked leading off the second inning and took advantage of a pair of errors for Seattles first run. Justin Smoak grounded out to Moss, who stepped on first base and threw the ball into left field. Cespedes tried to throw out Jaso at third and instead sailed the ball into Oaklands dugout, allowing Jaso to score and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. "It almost hit our Purell container in the dugout. That would have bothered me," Melvin could joke later. "I use that quite often in the dugout. It just hit the water cooler. That would have been really devastating if it knocked over the Purell container. We can take a run there, we just dont want to lose that." Kyle Seager hit a solo shot over the wall in centre and Michael Saunders lined a two-run homer to right to put Seattle ahead 4-0 in the fourth. It was the 19th home run for each this season. Cespedes singled and scored from first on Moss single in the bottom of the inning. Cespedes was stealing second on the play, and his hesitation around third base fooled right fielder Casper Wells just enough to slide in safely and slice Seattles lead to 4-1. Once again, Jason Vargas quieted the As. He struck out seven and walked none in seven innings. The lefty is 2-1 and has allowed only 10 runs in six starts against Oakland this season. Moss also doubled in the eighth against Wilhelmsen to score Crisp and Stephen Drew was waived home from first by third base Mike Gallego. Second baseman Dustin Ackleys relay throw from Wells in right easily got Drew out at home to end the inning and leave the possible tying run stranded at second. Moss made a diving grab to rob pinch-hitter Jesus Montero for the final out of Seattles ninth to save at least a run and set the stage for another thriller he would finish. "Those guys are feeling it over there," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. "The fans are feeling it. Obviously the players are feeling it. You can sense the excitement in the air." NOTES: As LHP Brett Anderson (4-2, 2.57 ERA), who strained his right oblique Sept. 19 after a strong return from last years Tommy John surgery, played toss from 120 feet before the game. He will pitch a bullpen session as soon as Monday, and could be back if the As make the playoffs. ... Oakland slugger Jonny Gomes received the 2012 Dave Stewart Community Service Award from the former As pitcher during a pregame ceremony. ... Lefty Tommy Milone (13-10, 3.74 ERA) starts for Oakland opposite Mariners RHP Erasmo Ramirez (1-3, 3.42 ERA) in Sundays series finale. Cheap NFL Jerseys . LOUIS -- Robert Griffin III had his moments. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale . "I want to apologize to my family, the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL and the 12th Man for the negative attention resulting from my recent actions," Lynch said in a statement released by the team. "This is not the type of community leader I have been over the last two years or the one Im striving to become. http://www.bwjerseys.com/ . Trent Ouellette, Adam Rossignol and Marc McCoy scored as Regina (12-18-4) ended a seven-game losing streak. Morgan Klimchuk and Lane Scheidl had two assists each.CHICAGO -- Dusty Baker and the Cincinnati Reds moved one step closer to the NL Central title on Tuesday night, thanks to another solid September start by Homer Bailey. The right-hander pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Ryan Hanigan hit a three-run double to lead Cincinnati to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. "We had just enough offence to win," Baker said after his 3,000th game as a big league manager. "That was a big double by Hanigan. Just a big victory for us, back to 30 over and one step closer." The Reds (89-59) have a magic number of four to clinch the division championship over St. Louis. The Cardinals beat Houston 4-1 on Tuesday night. Bailey (12-9) took a two-hit shutout into the eighth before Darwin Barney had his second single of the night and pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair hit an RBI double to make it 3-1. Sean Marshall then came in and hit pinch-hitter Dave Sappelt before getting a strikeout and grounder to end the threat. Jonathan Broxton worked a perfect ninth for his third save in five chances with Cincinnati, which acquired him in a July 31 deal with Kansas City. The big right-hander has recorded 11 consecutive scoreless appearances, allowing just five hits and converting each of his three save opportunities during the streak. Bailey allowed four hits, struck out four and walked two while improving to 2-0 with a 1.55 ERA in four starts this month. He is 3-0 against the Cubs this season and 5-2 for his career. "Once we scored those three runs, I really put a lot of effort into putting up some zeroes," Bailey said. "Really wish I could have finished that eighth. I threw a pretty good pitch, LaHair just went down there and got it. Nothing you can really do about that." Cubs starter Justin Germano was working on a shutout before he was pulled after he walked the first three batters in the sixth -- Joey Votto, RRyan Ludwick and Jay Bruce.ddddddddddddManny Corpas came in and Hanigan hit a drive to right-centre with one out that cleared the bases. "I had bases loaded, let it come to you in that situation. Just trying to put the ball in the outfield and fortunately it got over their heads," Hanigan said. "It worked out." "You got three quality veteran hitters up there and after seeing him that was their third time, I think they kind of waited him (Germano) out," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "We got the out and just couldnt get the ball on the ground with Corpas. Hanigan obviously put a nice swing on the ball that changed the whole game around." Germano (2-8) lost his sixth straight start. He gave up three hits, walked five, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. "I dont think Ive ever walked the bases loaded before in my professional career, so that was a first and pretty much the worst time to ever do that," Germano said. "I was just missing and they were good takes on their part." NOTES: Baker said he had no special desire to clinch the division at Wrigley Field, where he managed the Cubs for four seasons, got them within five outs of the World Series in 2003 and was not brought back after the 2006 season. He said he just wanted to clinch as soon as possible and it doesnt matter where. ... Monday nights game between the Pirates and Cubs was delayed by storms for 3 hours, 37 minutes. The first pitch was thrown at 10:42 p.m. CDT and the game ended at 1:28 a.m. Tuesday nights game lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes. ... Sveum said 2B Darwin Barney, who has stretched his errorless streak to an NL-record 133 straight games, is a core player for the future because his defence is a game-changing skill. Barney also has a 13-game hitting streak ... Game 2 of the series on Wednesday night pits the Reds Mike Leake (8-9) against Chris Rusin (1-2). ' ' ' 

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