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GAME LOG
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Gotcha.
After weeks of slow-speed pursuit, the Cleveland Indians passed
Oakland in the AL wild-card race Tuesday night as Manny Ramirez
homered and drove in three runs in a 14-6 rout of the Athletics.
|  | | Manny Ramirez hit the only home run, a solo shot, in the Indians' 14-run barrage against the Athletics. |
"It's good to be in first," said Indians manager Charlie
Manuel. "But we have to go out there and play just as hard
tomorrow."
The Indians, trying to make it to the postseason for the sixth
straight year, won their fourth in a row by chasing Gil Heredia
(13-9) early.
Cleveland has won 13 of 18 and now leads the wild-card chase by
one-half game over the banged up A's -- who have dropped four of
five -- and the Boston Red Sox, who lost to Anaheim 11-4.
On Aug. 1, Oakland had a 5½-game lead over Cleveland, which had
to overcome injuries and inconsistency to crawl back into the
playoff picture.
"You're not going to be on top of the mountain every year,"
said Sandy Alomar, who drove in three runs. "We've played all year
without guys and we're still around. It's great to be ahead."
Jim Thome added three RBI for the Indians, who have scored 45
runs in their last four games and gotten a little revenge on the
A's, who swept them last week in Oakland.
"I'd be lying if I said we didn't want to come out and send a
little message tonight," Travis Fryman said. "A perfect scenario
would be to sweep all three and square things up. We're very glad
they were back here so soon."
The A's, 18-20 since the All-Star break, have lost 11 of 16.
It's obvious they're not the same club without starters and leaders
Jason Giambi and Randy Velarde, who are both injured.
Oakland blew a chance to get to Chuck Finley early, and did
little once the Indians opened their big lead.
"We scored enough runs to win," said manager Art Howe. "I
thought it was the pitching or the lack of it. We have to play
better baseball."
Finley (10-9) straightened himself out after two shaky innings
to win for the first time since July 25. The left-hander allowed
three runs and seven hits for his first win over the A's since July
12, 1997.
Heredia had his worst outing of 2000, lasting a season-low three
innings. He gave up six runs and eight hits and dropped to 9-2 on
the road this year.
He left trailing 7-2, but the Indians didn't let up against Omar
Olivares, scoring four runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and one
in the seventh.
"It's not like our season is over," Heredia said. "We're
still in this thing regardless of how bad we lost."
Ramirez hit a fastball off his shoetops for his 26th homer got
the Indians started in the second when they scored five runs off
Heredia, whose throwing error on a botched pickoff play typified
Oakland's night.
"The pitch to Manny kind of shook me out," Heredia said. "It
was like a foot off the ground. Hard to imagine he hit it that
far."
Fryman had a run-scoring single, David Segui hit an RBI double
and Alomar's sacrifice fly put the Indians up 4-2. After Omar
Vizquel singled with one out, Heredia went to a full count on
Roberto Alomar.
With Ramirez due up, Heredia may have been distracted when he
wheeled and threw toward first with first baseman Mike Stanley
nowhere near the bag.
Wil Cordero scored on the error to make it 5-2, and Heredia only
got out of the inning when Ramirez lined to third with two on.
The Indians added two more in the third on Sandy Alomar's
two-run single, and four more in the fourth thanks to two
bases-loaded walks by Olivares.
"I was like throwing softballs up there," Olivares said. "I
was so off."
Oakland grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second off Finley on Frank
Menechino's RBI double and Terrence Long's RBI triple.
Finley pitched himself into and out of a jam in the first,
walking Adam Piatt with two outs to load the bases before striking
out Ben Grieve looking to end the inning.
Game notes
A's reliever Jeff Tam threw two pitches behind Sandy
Alomar's back in the eighth inning. "I don't want to talk about
it," Alomar said. ... Giambi (strained shoulder) and Velarde
(strained neck) are both day-to-day. ... The Indians are 17-5 at
Jacobs Field since July 2 and have won nine of 10 at home. ...
Heredia's error was the Athletics' major league-leading 112th. ...
Finley, who has now won at least 10 games eight straight years, is
just 8-19 in 40 career outings vs. Oakland. ... Eric Byrnes,
recalled from Triple-A earlier in the day, singled in his first
major league at-bat in the second. The ball was quickly thrown into
the A's dugout where shortstop Miguel Tejada threatened to toss
into the stands before putting it aside. Byrnes finished 2-for-4.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sandy Alomar says the Indians' destiny is in their own hands.
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