Straight A's
Oakland sweeps away years of futility, knocks off Twins.
OAKLAND, Calif. --Barry Zito did his best to avoid the party, fearing a flying bottle might accidentally cost him a start on his biggest stage yet: the AL Championship Series.
"I don't want to get hurt celebrating," said the soaked left-hander, who has never missed a start.
The Oakland Athletics swept away years of first-round futility, then partied hard enough to make up for all those missed chances and then some.
Milton Bradley homered and threw out Torii Hunter in a disputed play at the plate as the A's snapped a stretch of nine straight losses in potential playoff clinchers, beating Minnesota 8-3 Friday to reach the ALCS for the first time in 14 years.
The A's never trailed in finishing off the Twins in three games and will face either the Detroit Tigers or New York Yankees starting Tuesday night.
Marco Scutaro doubled twice and tied an A's postseason record with four RBI and Eric Chavez homered as the Athletics won a playoff series for the first time since 1990.
"Unbelievable," Chavez said. "It's been a while. We've had a lot of chances at it, and we've finally been able to do it."
Dan Haren escaped two early jams to win in his first postseason start and the A's avoided all of the gaffes that led to their previous postseason flops.
And when closer Huston Street got Luis Castillo to fly out to end it, the A's rushed onto the field for a big group hug.
Minnesota, meanwhile, again had problems. Even the usually reliable Hunter, a five-time Gold Glove winner, ran into trouble.
"Oakland played mistake-free baseball," Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer said. "We usually don't make those mistakes."
Hunter got thrown out in a key sixth-inning play Friday.
Down 4-1, the Twins were rallying when Rondell White hit an RBI single. The speedy Hunter also tried to score on the play and Bradley made a strong throw home. Hunter attempted to avoid catcher Jason Kendall's tag and reach the plate with his left hand, but plate umpire Mike Everitt called him out.
Through all his injuries this year, Bradley kept trusting his arm.
"It's never let me down," he said. "It has stayed strong and it came through for me (Friday)."
Hunter and Justin Morneau homered for the Twins, who surprisingly won the AL Central on the season's final day.
Oakland took a surprising 2-0 lead in this series by beating Johan Santana and Boof Bonser in the menacing Metrodome, then scored first again against a reeling Radke in what was likely the retiring right-hander's final career outing.
The A's failed twice to clinch the AL West in their home ballpark, but this time got to enjoy a postgame party in their own clubhouse -- which had been alcohol-free since June after pitcher Esteban Loaiza's drunken driving arrest.
"This is special for me," fourth-year A's manager Ken Macha said. "Not many guys get in this position."
Chavez, who played through a variety of injuries this season that affected his swing, had been 1-for-30 in his last two postseasons before connecting off Radke in the second for his first hit of the series. Jay Payton followed with a single and Scutaro doubled him home two batters later.
The A's added four more runs in the seventh, three on another double by Scutaro.
Game 3: San Diego (C.Young 11-5) at St. Louis (Suppan 12-7), 1:09 p.m., on ESPN2 GAME 4: N.Y. Yankees at Detroit, 4:30 p.m., on FOX GAME 3: N.Y. Mets (Trachsel 15-8) at Los Angeles (Maddux 15-14), 8:05 p.m., on FOX