NIGHTMARE IN CLEVELAND, THE SEQUEL

CLEVELAND -- In a disastrous turn of events, the A's led 8-0 going into the 7th inning today only to lose to the Indians, 9-8.  It was an absolutely stunning defeat that comes at a pivotal moment in their schedule.  With the loss, the A's drop another game in the Wild Card race and their 8-game deficit in the division is near a season-high.  Meanwhile, the red-hot Mariners swept a four-game series in Detroit and Anaheim swept a three-gamer against the Yankees.

The Indians scored 6 in the 6th as eight straight batters reached -- all on singles and walks.  That made the score 8-6.  But in the seventh, Karim Garcia, who hit homers in every game this series, hit a monster 3-run jack off Ricardo Rincon to make it 9-8.  The A's made a small push in the 9th but could not score.

Manager McNeil refused to let his team leave the dugout after the game.  He absolutely lambasted the team in a 5-minute diatribe.  He was seen grabbing the jersey of Tim Hudson and screaming at Ray Durham in particular.  Durham finished the game a pathetic 0-for-5 at the top of the lead-off spot and is hitting .188 over the past week.  McNeil said Durham is "a major reason we can't win games," but pushed all media members out of his office afterwards.

Both Tim Hudson and Barry Zito have given away games this week.  The A's will now jet-set to Detroit to look to beat up on the lowly tigers and reduce the Wild Card deficit.  Meanwhile Seattle's in Cleveland and New York is at Texas.

Around the League: • The Seattle Mariners have won 9 games straight (a season best).  Over those 9 games, they've scored 63 runs (7.0 runs per game).  Seattle catcher Ben Davis is 11-for-23 (.478) over the past 7 games. • Colorado's Todd Helton has 125 RBI's already on the season.  He's hitting .338 in the cluitch this year.  • Florida's A.J. Burnett leads ML pitchers with 5.71 hits per 9 innings.  The Marlin's ace has held right-handers to a paltry .135 average with 7 home runs in 188 innings pitched.  Curt Schilling leads the Majors' in fewest walks per 9 innings.  Schilling has walked just 20 batters in 210 innings.  His 21-3 record is also a Major League Best. • The Los Angeles Dodgers have made an amazing Wild-Card bid of late.  Before tonight's loss they'd won 9 straight, reducing their deficit to just 2.5 games behind Philadelphia.  The Dodgers as a team have hit .322 with the bases loaded this season. • Juan Pierre of the Rockies stole 4 bases against the Expos tonight.

BOXSCORE: 2002 Oakland Athletics At 2002 Cleveland Indians          8/22/2002

  Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Indians            AB  R  H RBI AVG
  R.Durham DH         5  0  0  0 .263     M.Lawton LF         4  0  1  1 .231 
  M.Ellis 2B          5  3  1  0 .288     O.Vizquel SS        5  1  1  0 .285 
  M.Tejada SS         5  2  3  1 .274     E.Burks DH          3  2  2  0 .298 
  E.Chavez 3B         4  0  0  0 .253     J.Thome 1B          2  2  2  1 .321 
  J.Dye RF            4  2  4  2 .276     K.Garcia RF         4  2  2  3 .295 
  D.Justice LF        3  1  1  4 .235     T.Fryman 3B         2  1  0  1 .208 
  S.Hatteberg 1B      5  0  1  0 .285     C.Crisp CF          4  1  2  1 .167 
  T.Long CF           3  0  2  1 .252     J.McDonald 2B       4  0  2  1 .285 
C-J.Mabry PH          1  0  0  0 .227     E.Diaz C            2  0  0  0 .212 
  G.Myers C           5  0  1  0 .194   A-B.Selby PH          1  0  0  1 .185 
D-E.Byrnes PR         0  0  0  0 .244   B-E.Perez C           1  0  0  0 .067 
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     
         Totals      40  8 13  8                 Totals      32  9 12  9

A-Pinch Hit For Diaz In 6th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Selby In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Long In 9th Inning
D-Pinch Ran For Myers In 9th Inning

Athletics....... 1 0 2  4 0 1  0 0 0  -  8 13  1
Indians......... 0 0 0  0 0 6  3 0    -  9 12  0

Athletics (71-57)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
T.Hudson                  5 2/3  11   6   5   3   3   0 101   3.78  A1 D1
R.Rincon L(5-1) BS(5th)   0 1/3   1   3   3   2   0   1  17   3.50  D2 D5
C.Bradford                2       0   0   0   0   1   0  18   3.25  D6
Totals                    8      12   9   8   5   4   1

Indians (63-63)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Phillips                3 2/3   8   7   7   5   2   1  88   5.12  A1 C6
D.Burba WIN(5-9)          4       4   1   1   2   4   1  73   6.71  C7 E6
M.Wohlers HOLD(9th)       0 2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0   6   3.19  E7 E9
T.Mulholland SAVE(1st)    0 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   7   7.92  F1
Totals                    9      13   8   8   7   7   2

ATTENDANCE- 42,042 DATE- Thursday, August 22nd 2002 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
UMPIRES- Jerry Meals, Larry Young, Rob Drake, Bill Miller
T- 3:50
LEFT ON BASE- Athletics:12  Indians: 5
DOUBLE PLAYS- Athletics: 3  Indians: 0
ERRORS- E.Chavez
DOUBLES- J.Thome(15th)
HOME RUNS- M.Tejada(25th), D.Justice(14th), K.Garcia(5th)
SACRIFICE FLIES- M.Lawton
WALKS- R.Durham, M.Ellis, E.Chavez, J.Dye, D.Justice-2, T.Long, E.Burks,
       J.Thome-2, T.Fryman-2
STRIKE OUTS- M.Ellis-3, E.Chavez, D.Justice, S.Hatteberg, G.Myers, M.Lawton,
             T.Fryman-2, J.McDonald
GIDP- O.Vizquel, K.Garcia, C.Crisp