A's respond with gritty win

Only 8 A's show to scrap out 9-8 victory in postseason tune-up

George Orwell so accurately predicted the future in 1984, but the A's can harken to past as that being the year two teammates battled for the American League batting title.

In that season it was Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees edging Dave Winfield by going 4-for-5 on the final day. Winfield entered the final game with a .341-.339 lead and went 1-for-4 to lose the batting race .343 to .340.

Mike Masto' and Billy Dodson of the REBL A's are just as close entering the final game of the 2007 season after Mastro, went 3-for-3 in the penultimate game of the season, a 9-8 comeback win over the Padres after trailing 3-0 in the first and 5-3 in the third.

Dodson, batting .508 (32-for-63) with 3 games to play appeared to be trying the strategy once employed by Ty Cobb, sitting his way to championship. Mastro turned that s into an h going 2-for-4 last week and 3-for-3 in his first 3 trips before the Padres elected to pitch around the slugger, who finished at .509 (29-for-57). The A's pitchers did their part to support both their teammates, by finally slowing down the Padres Dave Giugni, who went
0-for-2 against the A's after entering on a 11-for-16 surge that included a 2-for-3 last week that put him ahead of Dodson at .511. Giugni finished the game at .489 (23-for-47).

Mastro' wasn't focused on the individual honors, but hitting the shorthanded A's to victory. Dodson wasn't the only A's player sitting out. Four other regulars were elsewhere.

"It's frustrating and I take it personally," A's manager Ryan Metcalfe said. "This is the second week in a row we've play 8 against 9. I thought these guys signed up to play because they love baseball. I know everyone has other obligations pulling at them, but I do too. I've only missed 2 games and I haven't been healthy enough to play all season. Still, this victory is a credit to the 8 guys who did show up. I hope we can get the whole team to play with that sort of spirit in the playoffs. We'll need that focus to win and we still can win it all."

 The A's locked up a first round playoff series against the Nationals, who the A's swept in the season series in a pair of games decided in their final at-bat. If the A's can survive that series they'll likely face the Titans, who swept the A's this season, but have been involved in several fantastic finishes the last two seasons.

Metcalfe, who had his own fantastic finish for a batting championship -- and sat out the final game with injury, only after the A's had been eliminated from the playoffs -- saw Mastro' as the player of the game, but Roland Belcher saw another A to highlight: Shane Francisco.

"He really showed a lot of leadership," Belcher said. "He called a meeting out on the mound and took charge of the first-and-third situation."

Francisco threw out  Jeromy Fisher at second and Mastro' spun around quickly to fire home and nearly get Jason Masciorini, the REBL leader in stolen bases, at the plate. Had Fisher, who had been thrown out once in 20 attempts this season, been safe or given the free pass, he likely would have scored the Padres 9th run and could have opened the door to a bigger inning. The steal of home was the only run scored in 5 innings of relief by tardy Shawn Purcell, who never met a 10 a.m. start he liked, but kept the Padres tardy on his fastball, racking up 10 strikeouts to take the REBL lead in strikeouts away from Neil St. Marie, who entered the day with 124, but had just 2 to fall behind 133-126.

Purcell pitched the majority, but Francisco pitched the first 3 innings, which can always be some of the toughest for the over-30 set. He overcame errors and the holes created by the missing players to keep the A's close enough to respond with a 5-run 3rd and take an 8-5 lead they would not relinquish.

Both the 3-run 2nd and the 5-run 3rd were started by Matt Wolfe getting on base, followed by sharp singles by Belcher and Keith Lederer reaching on slow grounders to short. Steve Nojima walked in the 2nd and grounded to second in the third to drive in a run. Purcell followed with a sac fly in the 2nd and a single in the 3rd to drive in a run. Mastro' doubled in the 2nd and singled in the 3rd driving in a run. The difference in the 3rd was a single by Clint Yeager that set up a double steal sparked by Yeager who got caught in a rundown allowing Mastro' to score. Yeager also sparked the A's final run with his feet, running for Francisco after a leadoff walk in the 8th. Yeager stole 2nd and 3rd and scored on a sac fly by Belcher.

Shane Francisco stays on his toes delivering a pitch. Francisco kept his balance despite errors and only 2 outfielders behind him pitching 3 innings against the Padres. He walked none in his longest outing this year.

Mike Mastro' known for his bat, not speed, stole home in a double steal for the A's 8th run. Moments earlier his third hit in 3 trips put the A's ahead 6-5 in the 3rd inning. He now holds a slim .509 to .508 lead over teammate Billy Dodson in the race for the AL batting championship with one game left in the season.

Roland Belcher carried a hot stick, ripping singles in his first two at-bats and driving a sacrifice fly to right for what proved to be the winning run in the 8th. Belcher ties his turnaround at the plate to working with Don Mattingly, who coincidentally was in involved in a batting race with his teammate Dave Winfield, who snubbed Belcher at Padres photo day years ago.

Mastro' - G17 MVP