OAKLAND, Calif. - If Saturday night's 17-inning game took its toll on the A's, they didn't show it Sunday afternoon.
The A's completed their sweep of the Dodgers and won their 10th consecutive game with a 5-2 victory over the Dodgers at McAfee Coliseum.
Joe Blanton worked into the ninth inning to pick up his third victory in four starts while improving to 7-6. He was working through a depleted Dodgers lineup that didn't have Jeff Kent, Kenny Lofton or Russell Martin. He was also helped by some of the Dodgers, who were overaggressive and swinging at early pitches.
"I noticed that they were throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes," said J.D. Drew, Sunday's designated hitter. "They were around the zone. You don't want to go and give them a couple of quick strikes when they're in the zone so you're trying to put a ball in play. With the action these guys had on their balls, sinking down and away, you might be better off trying to hit from behind because there was such good action down in the zone that if you got a swing on it, you ended up grounding out."
The A's didn't have that problem against Aaron Sele, who now has lost two consecutive games.
Bobby Crosby walked in the second inning and scored on a double by Jay Payton.
Payton singled and scored in the fourth inning but the big hit in that inning was a triple by Bobby Kielty that scored two runners and gave the A's a 4-0 lead. Kielty scored on ground ball by Jason Kendall.
"I was battling from the first pitch on," Sele said. "You've got to try and scramble around and find the right pitch."
Odalis Perez came out of the bullpen to start the fifth and pitched four scoreless innings. He scattered five hits and struck out four.
Perez was recently taken out of the Dodgers starting rotation and put in the bullpen, much to his displeasure, but hopes that enough good outings might give Manager Grady Little reason to bring him back.
"When I woke up, I thought maybe I would pitch one inning," Perez said. "I went four. That makes me feel better. I'll do whatever it takes to stay here and let everybody know I want to contribute to the cause for my team.
"When you go four scoreless innings you have to be happy with your performance and happy with the idea that you can still pitch. I want the guys to count on me."
Perez is still confident in his ability to pitch and hopes that his teammates, coaches and fans will regain that confidence in him.
Little said that he isn't planning to make any changes with his pitching staff, at least for now. He did add that Sele's last two performances - eight innings, 13 hits, six earned runs - are reason for concern.
"We always have concern when things don't go right for players," he said. "We try to fix them if we can. If we can't get them fixed, maybe the concerns go to changes."
