Giambi Carries A's Past Texas

An ounce and a half may not sound like much. But in the hands of Jason Giambi, it's the difference between a hitting slump and some torrid batting.

Giambi, taking advantage of a new shipment of bats, homered twice and drove in four runs to continue his recent tear as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers 11-3 Saturday.

Giambi, who went 4-for-5 with an RBI in Friday night's 8-2 win over Texas, homered in the first and fifth innings. He had an RBI single in the sixth as the A's won for the fourth time in their last five games.

Giambi, who started the season 5-for-28 for a .179 average, is 9-for-16 over the last four games to raise his average to .318. He hit his first homer of the season on Thursday, the same day the bats arrived.

The bats Giambi received during spring training were 33 ounces each, slightly heavier than normal. He tried using teammates' bats, but struggled to get comfortable. Now he's back to using 31½-ounce models.

"It's psychological, probably. But when I swing a bat I can pretty much tell how much it weighs, and they felt heavy," Giambi said. "Ever though it doesn't sound like much, it's still enough to make me that much slow."

Jimmy Haynes (1-2) allowed three runs on six hits in 6 1-3 innings to break a three-game losing streak that extended back to last September and matched the longest of his career.

He said getting a four-run lead in the first inning made his job much simpler.

"If I can get a game like that every time it will make it a lot easier to pitch," Haynes said. "Getting four runs, I can relax."

Giambi hit a two-run homer and Mike Macfarlane added a two-run double in the first off Mark Clark (0-2), who allowed five runs on six hits in five innings.

Giambi hit his third homer of the season in the fifth off Clark and the A's added three runs in the sixtoff Mike Munoz on Scott Spiezio's two-run double and Giambi's RBI single. Tony Phillips had a two-run single in the seventh, his third hit of the game. Matt Stairs hit his second homer of the season in the eighth.

Clark said he got a slider up to Giambi in the first, but that Giambi hit a good fastball in the fifth.

"He's a good hitter, he's hot now and he's hitting everything," Clark said.

Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run homer in the sixth for Texas and Todd Zeile had a sacrifice fly in the second. It was Palmeiro's second homer of the year.

Notes: Bench coach Ken Macha managed the A's for the second straight game. Manager Art Howe is attending the funeral of his father. ... John Jaha's single in the first for Oakland was his fifth straight hit. Jaha, who went 4-for-4 Friday night against the Rangers, popped out in the third to end his streak. ... Texas outfielder Mike Simms, who is recovering from a partial tear of his left Achilles tendon, completed his rehabilitation assignment at Class A Charlotte of the Florida State League and has been assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma of the Pacific Coast League. ... The A's are 4-0 this season in games in which they've scored first. ... All six of the Rangers' losses this season have been by at least four runs. ... The A's have won four straight against Texas. ... Rusty Greer went 0-for-4 for Texas and had his hitting streak snapped at six games. ... Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who went 0-for-4, is 1-for-15 in the last four games after driving in nine runs last Tuesday.

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