AMERICAN LEAGUE UPDATE: A'S MONEY BALL FORCED TO GO SMALL.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS - In recent years, about the only bunting spotted at Oakland Athletics games hung from stadium facades during postseason contests.

General manager Billy Beane's organizational philosophy to not give away outs was forced upon on-field management, but a parade of departing offensive stars led by Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada eventually forced a minor shift in philosophy.

Now, the A's are scrimping offense from anywhere they can find it. They already have laid down six sacrifice bunts through 22 games; they had 25 all last season.

And that's no coincidence; as it turns out, Beane gave the green light in spring training for the A's to conduct half-hour bunting sessions, for nine days, with third-base coach Ron Washington.

``After two days,'' Washington told the San Jose Mercury News, ``they started taking it seriously. I've always wanted it to be in our arsenal. It's a fundamental of baseball. And I don't think a manager's hands should be tied if he wants to use a fundamental of baseball.''

It already has paid off in at least one victory, when Angels reliever Scot Shields threw away Marco Scutaro's 10th-inning sacrifice attempt, enabling the game's lone run to score.

And so Beane begrudgingly has a new policy - go ahead and bunt, as long as you don't mess it up.

``If you're not going to do it right, you shouldn't do it,'' Beane said.

--Miller making progress: The Boston Red Sox lost two starting pitchers last week but came closer to gaining another.

Although the losses of Curt Schilling and David Wells will deal an immediate blow to their staff, right-hander Wade Miller threw five shutout innings in his fifth rehab start, at Triple-A Pawtucket (R.I.), and could join the big club next week.

Because he was coming off a rotator-cuff injury, the Astros did not tender a contract to Miller, a 58-39 career pitcher. The Sox's signing of Miller to a one-year, $1.5 million deal (plus $3 million in possible incentives) was a typically quiet, shrewd move that has been a hallmark of general manager Theo Epstein's tenure (think Bill Mueller, David Ortiz, Kevin Millar).

Signings such as Miller's often get lost below the radar nationally, because the Red Sox are second only to the Yankees in payroll.

But the back end of the rotation and bench are areas the Sox have massaged effectively since 2003. After one more rehab start, Miller could start paying dividends.

``I'm finally getting back to where I need to be,'' Miller said.

--Taking out the trash: At 5-18 entering Saturday, the Kansas City Royals have the worst record in the major leagues. But they're near the top in oddly timed trash talking.

Jose Lima dragged an 8.05 ERA into his midweek start, but that didn't stop the flamboyant former Dodger from bemoaning the dour vibe that permeates the Kauffman Stadium home clubhouse, perhaps forgetting his poor pitching might have contributed to said vibe.

``We hardly play music here,'' Lima said. ``You don't hear music in the clubhouse. It's like people hate each other here. You don't want to start pointing fingers, but at least have fun, enjoy. Because, remember, this game can haunt you forever. We might not win another ballgame the rest of the year if we keep doing this. We've got to start having fun.''

At least Lima backed up his words with a decent 7 2/3-inning, five-hit outing Wednesday. Fellow starter Runelvys Hernandez could not come through on his Namath-esque guarantee of a Royals victory - who guarantees wins in the drab days of April, anyway? - the day after his birthday.

``Wednesday was my birthday, but I'm not celebrating until Thursday. We're winning Thursday,'' he said.

Whoops. The Twins scored three runs in the first off Hernandez and won in extra innings.

``Baseball is a game where you can't talk smack at all,'' Twins center fielder Torii Hunter said. ``I wouldn't guarantee a win in baseball at all. If you're Michael Jordan, yeah. ... Happy birthday! They've got a bunch of good players over there, but you just can't say that.''

--Same as it ever was: Bob Watson, baseball's czar of on-field discipline, got tough with the Red Sox and Devil Rays by handing out 24 games worth of suspensions after the clubs continued their history of on-field dust-ups with a bench-clearing incident last week.

Surely, this will serve as a deterrent to future brawls, right?

``That's like asking if the death penalty is a deterrent to killing people,'' said Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who received a six-game penalty. ``No, it's not. In a game like that, once it gets out of hand, it's out of hand. People don't care what the consequences are going to be because it's out of respect for protecting your players.''

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) AROUND THE HORN

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE WEEK IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 

- Rich Hammond

(2) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS