AL NOTES: OAKLAND'S EFFORT IS NOT GETTING A'S.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA Staff Writer

The Oakland Athletics have been thrown for a curve of late, but it isn't the breaking ball of Barry Zito that is causing the problems.

The former Cy Young Award winner is having another strong season, as his 3.10 ERA heading into Saturday's start against the Texas Rangers would attest. When he took the mound, he had given up one run or less in each of his last five starts. That streak was snapped by the Rangers.

It seems like everybody else wearing green and gold, though, is not doing his share.

Oakland A's catcher Jason Kendall has not hit a home run in 723 at-bats, the second longest homer drought in team history behind Walt Weiss' streak of 837 at-bats.

Milton Bradley has missed 29games with the Athletics with a strained muscle in his side and he isn't expected to return until early June at the earliest.

Justin Duchscherer can't seem to recover from an injury that has been diagnosed as simple tennis elbow. He is being sent to Arizona to see a therapist that specializes in golf and tennis injuries.

Shortstop Bobby Crosby has played strong defense, but his hitting has been abysmal. Crosby is batting only .217 and did not have a hit in 19 at-bats heading into Saturday.

Starters Rich Harden and Esteban Loaiza are on the disabled list and the reshuffled pitching staff has left the A's with a shaky bullpen.

``You're not going to win any games here if you walk eight guys and hit a batter,'' A's manager Ken Macha told Oakland reporters after Friday's defeat to the Rangers extended the A's losing streak to seven games. ``Actually, we were lucky the score wasn't worse.''

--Glaus gets Bruin flashback: Troy Glaus flashed back to his days at UCLA on Friday night against the Chicago White Sox when the Toronto Blue Jays third baseman was moved to shortstop for the night. Glaus played some shortstop at UCLA nine years ago.

The move was made because shortstop Russ Adams was sent back to Triple-A. The gamble paid off as Glaus hit a 442-foot homer and handled all three of his chances at short.

--Mauer proves worth to Twins: When Joe Mauer was selected with the first overall pick in the 2001 amateur draft it seemed like it was a move the low-budget Minnesota Twins would come to regret. They could have drafted Mark Prior but weren't sure about what kind of contract bonus he would command.

So the Twin Cities native was given the uniform of the home team and it has to fit well.

Mauer was batting .336 heading into Saturday's game, fifth best in the American League. Prior has pitched well, but has been plagued by injuries.

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