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(AP)  In the place where Johan Santana usually
can't be beaten, Barry Zito and Frank Thomas slowed Minnesota's
momentum and gave Oakland a big boost to start this AL division
series.
     

 Zito threw eight shutout innings, besting Santana behind two big
home runs by Thomas and sending the Athletics to a 3-2 victory over
the Twins on Tuesday afternoon.

      Minnesota rookie Boof Bonser will start against Oakland's
Esteban Loaiza in Game 2 Wednesday afternoon.

      Thomas went 3-for-4 with two homers, the last one a ninth-inning
shot off Jesse Crain. Zito gave up four hits, one run and three
walks while striking out one.

      The 38-year-old Thomas became the oldest player to have a
multihomer game in postseason history, according to the Elias
Sports Bureau.

      Closer Huston Street gave one back to the Twins after a leadoff
triple by Michael Cuddyer was lost in the ceiling by right fielder
Milton Bradley. Torii Hunter drove in Cuddyer with a groundout
before Rondell White flew out to center to end the game.

      The favorite to win his second AL Cy Young, Santana hadn't lost
at the noisy Metrodome since Aug. 1, 2005, going 16-0 in 23 starts
over that span.

      The place was packed, of course, with 55,542 fans wiggling those
white Homer Hankies and roaring every time Santana so much as made
a move on the field in the minutes before the game.

      But Zito and Thomas quieted the crowd early and set the tone for
the series.

      Santana was his usual exceptional self, save for two shaky
innings. One out after the home run by Thomas in the second, Jay
Payton singled and Marco Scutaro smacked a two-out double down the
left-field line to give Oakland an early 2-0 edge.

      The seventh was also a struggle, though Santana should've been
out of the inning because Jason Bartlett muffed a sure double-play
grounder to shortstop. A two-out walk to Nick Swisher loaded the
bases, but after a visit to the mound by pitching coach Rick
Anderson, Santana retired Scutaro and Mark Ellis on consecutive
short fly balls to escape.

      Santana went eight innings and finished with a career
playoff-best eight strikeouts. He allowed five hits and walked one.

      But Zito didn't have nearly as many scares, silencing a Twins
lineup that helped lead the surge back from 12 games back in the AL
Central this summer to overtake the Detroit Tigers on the final day
of the regular season.

      The left-hander with the big leg kick and even bigger curveball
consistently kept the Twins from hitting their sweet spots,
no-hitting them through four 1-2-3 innings and only twice letting a
runner get past second base.

      White's homer with two outs in the seventh cut the lead to 2-1,
and Bartlett started the eighth with a double. But Luis Castillo
missed a bunt attempt, eventually grounded out and Nick Punto
grounded out, too. With Bartlett on third, batting champ Joe Mauer
was retired on a lazy fly to left.

      After his 16-year career with the Chicago White Sox ended badly,
injured ankle, attitude and all, Thomas has enjoyed a resurgence in
his first season with the A's - racking up 39 homers and 114 RBIs.

      He talked with the Twins, ironically, about joining them to
serve as the designated hitter, but they were concerned about his
health on the artificial turf and Thomas signed with Oakland
instead for $500,000 plus incentives.

      When Santana fell behind on a 3-1 count to his first batter of
the second inning, he left a breaking ball out over the plate that
Thomas put one of his long, powerful swings on - sending it high,
deep and just inside the left-field foul pole.

      Thomas is 8-for-19 with three homers and five RBIs in his career
against Santana. The Big Hurt now has 50 homers and 132 RBIs in 171
career games against Minnesota, his most against any opponent and
the second-most hit by one player against the Twins behind Hall of
Famer Reggie Jackson (51).

      Zito and third baseman Eric Chavez are the only players who were
a part of each of Oakland's first-round losers from 2000 to 2003,
teams that failed a total of nine times to win games with a chance
to eliminate the opponent.

      In fact, Ellis, the second baseman, is the only other guy left
from 2002, when the A's were beaten in five by the Twins. Zito won
Game 3 that year at the Metrodome, Oakland's most recent playoff
victory.

Notes: Thomas took his time getting to first on the single to
right field in the seventh inning, and Cuddyer nearly threw him
out. Thomas cracked a slight smile after realizing his near-costly
mistake. ... The teenage children of late Twins great Kirby
Puckett, who died in March following a stroke, threw out the
ceremonial first pitches. ... Minnesota's last loss in a postseason
Game 1 was in the 1970 AL championship series to Baltimore. There
were eight series between that one and this one. ... Punto made the
defensive play of the game, jumping against the railing to catch a
foul pop hit by Mark Kotsay. The third baseman caught his leg
against a screen near the bullpen, knocking over a water bottle on
a nearby ledge.


Gallery

Boof could become household name with Game 2 win

Sports

Johan Santana did something at the Metrodome on Tuesday he hasn't done since last year. He lost a game.

Twins stumble in series opener

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