AMERICAN LEAGUE: INSIDE THE A.L.: A'S FOCUS ON OFFENSE AFTER MULDER LOSS.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

Seattle, Oakland, Boston and the New York Yankees have played close to .600 ball all season, but only three of them will make the playoffs.

And after the Athletics lost left-hander Mark Mulder for the season with a hip fracture, the odds are it will be the A's on the outside looking in.

The A's entered Saturday tied with Boston for the American League wild-card lead and three games behind Seattle in the AL West. But losing Mulder, who had won 15 games and was a top Cy Young Award candidate, means the A's must change their identity somewhat from a team that relied heavily on starting pitching to one that will have to squeeze more out of an anemic lineup.

``We'll have to pick it up with the offense,'' outfielder Terrence Long told the San Francisco Chronicle. ``Everyone's going to turn their game up a notch.''

That won't be easy. The A's rank next-to-last in the AL in batting average (.252) and are 11th in runs. What's more, they traded promising right-hander Aaron Harang to Cincinnati to acquire right fielder Jose Guillen, so unreliable left-hander John Halama will be thrust into the rotation for now.

Prized rookie Rich Harden has been hit hard in his past three outings. Pierce College and USC product Barry Zito (10-11) has lost six of his past eight decisions. And all of a sudden, the A's starting pitching beyond Tim Hudson, ironically, is a question mark.

Since the A's were in Toronto when Mulder's diagnosis was revealed, it fueled speculation the A's might reacquire right-hander Cory Lidle from the Blue Jays or perhaps reignite talks for Kelvim Escobar, who reportedly has cleared waivers.

Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi hasn't been shy about making deals with his former boss in Oakland, Billy Beane.

But the bigger task for the A's will be limiting the demoralizing effect of losing Mulder.

``Really, right now is the stretch run,'' Beane said, ``and to me, the biggest concern is that you don't want it to impact you psychologically so it weighs on you and prevents you from playing to your capabilities.''

--On the range: Texas native Kevin Millar, who attended Hart High of Newhall, has introduced a two-word catchphrase - ``Cowboy Up'' - that's caught on with his Boston Red Sox teammates, who distributed T-shirts with the motto inscribed on them. It's all part of Millar's effort to change the culture of doom in Boston, an effort that extends to telling the write-'em-off media to chill out when the Sox hit a rough spot.

``I want to see somebody cowboy up and stand behind this team one time and quit worrying about all the negative stuff and talking about last year's team and 10 years ago and 1986,'' Millar said last week. ``I don't know any better, man. I'm here to win and have fun. (The past) makes zero sense to me.''

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com