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From A to Zito Giambi brothers leads swinging A's past Angels
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Those 40 home runs don't matter for now. Jason Giambi wants the Oakland Athletics to see the postseason. "We're playing great baseball," he said. "We've put ourselves in a situation where were really control our own destiny. That's a great situation to be in." Giambi hit his 40th home run and brother Jeremy hit a bases-loaded triple to lift Oakland over Anaheim 7-5 Monday night, moving the Athletics within a half-game of idle Seattle in the AL West. The Athletics also opened a 1 1/2-game lead on Cleveland for the wild card spot. The Indians split a day-night, three-team doubleheader -- they beat Chicago 9-2, then lost to Minnesota 4-3 as the Coliseum crowd cheered the game on the video scoreboard. "That was a little boost before we even started," A's manager Art Howe said. With the loss, Anaheim was eliminated from the AL West. The Angels remained mathematically alive -- barely -- for a wild card spot. "You're always hoping that they'll be some minor miracle that will keep you alive," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "The division door is shut to us now, and you even could say it's shut for the wild card, too, even though we're not out of it." Rookie Barry Zito (6-4) struck out a career-high 10, allowing three runs on seven hits in 6 1-3 innings. The A's have won five of their last six games. Tim Belcher (4-4) got into trouble early. With one out in the second inning, he gave up consecutive hits to Ben Grieve and Miguel Tejada, then walked Eric Chavez to load the bases. Jeremy Giambi tripled to deep center, just to the right of the 400-foot marker. Howe ran out to argue the ball had bounced off the top of the outfield wall and should've been a grand slam. A replay showed the ball stayed inside the park. Jeremy Giambi scored on Terrence Long's sacrifice fly. The Angels narrowed it to 4-2 in the fourth on Ron Gant's two-run single. Chavez hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom half. It was his 26th homer this season. Jason Giambi hit the two-run homer in the fifth. "I don't really set number goals," he said of his 40th. "That's such a hard thing to do, 'I'm going to hit 40 this year.' I just try to get good at-bats." Bengie Molina hit an RBI double off Zito in the seventh. Tim Salmon hit a two-run single in the ninth off Jason Isringhausen. Belcher, plagued by elbow problems this season, was coming off a three-game suspension he served in Texas for bumping umpire Mike DiMuro on June 27 at Seattle. He gave up seven runs on seven hits over four innings. "I've pitched so infrequently this year, the extra rest that I had didn't matter," Belcher said. "I thought I had adequate stuff, but I could have located better, much better." Notes: The Oakland Raiders played at the Coliseum on Sunday, so the field had to be reconfigured for baseball in an overnight operation. As a result, neither the A's nor the Angels could take batting practice. It took from 6 p.m. Sunday to 4 p.m. Monday to flip the field. ... Angels third baseman Troy Glaus has hit 44 home runs to lead the American League. The last Angel to win the home run title was Reggie Jackson in '82. ... The only AL team Chavez hadn't homered against -- before Monday night -- was the Angels. ... Jason Giambi joins three other Oakland A's players to hit 40 or more home runs in a season. Mark McGwire did it three times, Jose Canseco did it twice and Jackson once.
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