OAKLAND 9, MINNESOTA 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, October 2.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-1 with a double.  Cristian Guzman was 1-for-3 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Mark Mulder pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out three.  Mark Ellis was 3-for-4 with a double.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and a walk.

The game:  In the bottom of the first, Ray Durham walked, Scott Hatteberg doubled, and Chavez hit a three-run homer to give the Athletics a 3-0 lead.  Oakland loaded the bases in the third but did not score.  The Twins were not so lucky in the fourth.  The Athletics had a man on first and two out when Miguel Tejada hit an RBI double to make it 4-0.  An intentional walk and an accidental walk loaded the bases.  David Justice unloaded them with a triple, making it 7-0.  An Ellis double increased the lead to 8-0.  Hatteberg's RBI single in the sixth boosted the lead to 9-0.  Guzman got the Twins on the board with a home run leading off the sixth, but that was as good as it got.  Oakland cruised to the victory and evened the series 1-1.

WP:  Mulder.  LP:  Joe Mays.  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was the DH rather than David Ortiz.

Cuddyer was again in right field, going 0-for-1 with a walk.  He was replaced by pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty in the seventh inning.

Mays lasted 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out one.

I don't remember what people thought at the time, but Mays seems like a really odd choice to start Game Two.  Of the seven pitchers to start more than three games for the Twins in 2002, he had the worst ERA and was only better than Matt Kinney in FIP and WHIP.  He had pitched better in September than he had the rest of the season, but it's not like he was on a roll.  It's obviously easy to criticize a choice after the fact, but still.  You had weeks to get your rotation set up, you have Rick Reed and Johan Santana available, and you go with Joe Mays?  It seems strange.

Record:  The best-of-five series was tied 1-1.