A’s Maintain Lead With Style

The seemingly endless playoff possibilities are inconsequential to Jason Giambi. It’s all really very simple.

The Oakland Athletics, with 19-game winner Tim Hudson on the mound, must beat the Texas Rangers today, he said.

“Final day. Down to one. The big gun going. You can’t ask for much more than that,” Giambi said.

Giambi hit his 43rd home run and Miguel Tejada had a grand slam as the AL West-leading A’s beat the Texas Rangers, 23-2, Saturday in the highest-scoring game in franchise history.

Giambi, who finished 3 for 3 with three RBI, has 13 home runs and 32 RBI in September. The 13 homers are the most in a month for an Oakland player since Mark McGwire did it in July, 1996.

With nine runs in the first inning and eight in the seventh, the A’s remained a half-game ahead of Seattle for the division lead.

The Cleveland Indians kept the Athletics’ champagne on ice, beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, to stay alive for the wild-card berth. A Cleveland loss would have assured the A’s of their first playoff appearance since 1992.

If the A’s win today, they claim the West and host either New York or Cleveland in the division series. They will not have to travel Monday for a makeup game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to decide the final playoff picture.

“We just know that we have to play good baseball and not worry about the 29 possible scenarios,” Giambi said.

The 23 runs Saturday were a franchise record for the A’s. On June they scored 21 runs against Kansas City to match their record against Boston on June 14, 1969. The 23 runs were the most ever allowed by the Rangers.

Texas manager Johnny Oates was stunned.

“Even in batting practice we don’t hit the ball that well,” he said.

Barry Zito (7-4) allowed one run on five hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.