A’s Take Offense ... and Series

Tempers flared again in an American League West rivalry that is beginning to resemble that notorious blood feud in the East -- Yankees vs. Red Sox -- or that more heated, more hate-filled SoCal-NoCal rivalry -- Dodgers vs. Giants.

Cooler heads, as well as the Oakland Athletics, prevailed Wednesday, with the A’s notching a 3-2 victory in another one-run game against the Angels, this one decided by Mark Kotsay’s tiebreaking, run-scoring single in the eighth inning. It marked the 17th time in 33 games that one run has separated the teams.

The A’s won two of three close games in the series and lead the West by 1 1/2 games.

Soon after the A’s took the lead on Kotsay’s hit against Scot Shields, things got a little testy between clubs that staged a bench-clearing brawl on this same Angel Stadium turf on May 2. In that game, Oakland catcher Jason Kendall took offense at something Angels pitcher John Lackey said about his protective elbow pad and charged the mound.

On Wednesday, Shields’ wild pitch advanced runners to second and third with no outs, and the Angels setup man, after striking out Eric Chavez and Frank Thomas, threw a 1-and-0 fastball that tailed up and in to Jay Payton, striking him on the right wrist.

Down went Payton, curled into a ball of pain, but after several moments in the dirt, Payton got up and slammed his helmet to the ground. He started toward Shields, only to be restrained by Manager Ken Macha.

Players went into red-alert mode, filtering out of both dugouts as third base coach Ron Washington escorted Payton to first. Once Payton reached the bag, he had to be held back again by Macha.

Order was restored with no punches thrown. After Shields struck out Nick Swisher to end the eighth, Oakland’s Huston Street retired all six batters in the eighth and ninth for his 23rd save.

By the time reporters entered the A’s clubhouse, Payton’s wrist wasn’t the only thing on ice. His temper seemed to have chilled.

“I don’t think he was throwing at me, but when you get hit on the hand with a 94-mph fastball, and your hand feels like it’s broke, as soon as he hits it, you just react,” Payton said. “I’m sure he was trying to come up and in, and he’d rather miss in than over the plate.”

So why, the Angels wondered, did Payton react how he did? Payton seemed to stride into the pitch and appeared to start a swing before being hit.

Asked if Payton overreacted, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said, “Yeah ... I think the fact there was no intent, his reaction was a bit extreme. We obviously don’t play that type of baseball. We’re not into retaliation. There was nothing to retaliate for. Scot was trying to run a fastball in, Payton was diving to cover the outside corner, and those two things met.”

Said Shields: “If you look at my fastball the last two days, they’ve been tailing up and in -- I’ve had trouble controlling them. I don’t know why he thought I was trying to hit him. For some reason, he thought I was retaliating for what happened a couple of months back. He can think whatever he wants, but it wasn’t intentional.”

While Payton coped with his bruised wrist and ego, the Angels dealt with the sting of a frustrating defeat in which they wasted a strong outing from Kelvim Escobar, who gave up two runs and three hits in seven innings, and twice failed to score after putting runners on first and third with one out, in the third and sixth innings.

In the sixth, Macha summoned left-hander Brad Halsey to face Adam Kennedy with runners on first and third, but instead of going to his bench for Tim Salmon, Mike Napoli or switch-hitter Maicer Izturis, Scioscia stuck with Kennedy, who bats left-handed.

Kennedy grounded to first baseman Nick Swisher, who threw home to cut down Garret Anderson. Macha then went to right-hander Kiko Calero, and Izturis, hitting for Robb Quinlan, smashed a grounder that Swisher stopped with a diving play to end the inning, saving one run, maybe two.

“I felt better with A.K. putting the ball in play and having a hole on the right side,” Scioscia said. “It didn’t work out.”

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Run down

The Angels played little ball against Oakland after hitting it big over the weekend in Boston:

July 28: Angels 8, Boston 3

* July 29: Boston 7, Angels 6

* July 30: Angels 10, Boston 4

Total runs: Angels 24, Boston 14

* July 31: Oakland 3, Angels 1

* Aug 1: Angels 3, Oakland 2

* Aug. 2: Oakland 3, Angels 2

Total runs: Oakland 8, Angels 6

Los Angeles Times