IN A NEGATIVE MOOD DODGERS GET SHUT DOWN BY ZITO, A'S OAKLAND 7, DODGERS 3.

Byline: TONY JACKSON  Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- Dodgers manager Grady Little and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt talked to struggling right-hander Brett Tomko before Friday night's game about the power of positive thinking, about not allowing fears of impending disaster to creep into his head every time he gives up a hit or two.

It was a nice idea, to be sure. But all the positive thinking in the world couldn't wish Barry Zito away.

The longtime Oakland ace, who is in the final year of his contract and could become prize trade bait as this year's deadline approaches, looked every bit the part of a former Cy Young Award winner, matching his career high for strikeouts and handing the shellshocked Dodgers a 7-3 defeat in front of 30,161 at the monstrosity now known as McAfee Coliseum.

Tomko, meanwhile, was decidedly mediocre. But even that represented a considerable improvement over his previous four starts, all of which he lost while posting an 11.88 ERA.

Tomko lost this one, too. And the Dodgers still haven't won an interleague road game since taking two of three from the Angels in July 2004.

But this game was more about Zito than any failure by Tomko -- which may be worth pondering by Alan Jaeger, the L.A.-based sports psychologist and former Cal State Northridge baseball player who has worked extensively on mind matters with each pitcher.

Zito, the veteran left-hander dominated early, dominated late and dominated in between, and he had struck out a career-high tying 11 batters by the seventh inning. Matt Kemp, the Dodgers' rookie phenom who came in leading the majors in home runs for the month of June, was a Zito strikeout victim thrice over.

The Dodgers did mount the occasional threat, most notably when they managed to push across two runs and take a short-lived lead in the third inning.

Ramon Martinez, the Dodgers' role player extraordinaire who was in the starting lineup for no other reason than that he bats right- handed and Zito throws left- handed, got it started with a one-out single. Rafael Furcal then shot a double up the gap in left-center, putting Martinez on third. And Kenny Lofton, whose only hit in his previous 10 at-bats had been a bunt single, drove in both runners with a sharp single up the middle.

That put the Dodgers in front 2-1. But that lasted only until Tomko gave up consecutive doubles to Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson to begin the bottom of the fourth. Marco Scutaro eventually brought Johnson home with a sacrifice fly, putti ng the A's on top to stay.

The Dodgers (36-31) lost for the third time in four games, but still managed to maintain a one-game lead over the rest of the National League West.

The A's won their season-high eighth consecutive game, a streak that has pushed them to the top of the laughable American League West and offered one more dose of affirmation for the Moneyball philosophy that has worked so well for so many years for small-market Oakland but failed so horribly when former A's assistant general manager Paul DePodesta tried to bring it to big-market Los Angeles two years ago when he became the Dodgers' GM.

Moneyball notwithstanding, Zito (8-3) was pure old school in this one, attack hitters aggressively and, when he wasn't striking them out, getting them to hit easy ground balls and shallow pop flies.

Former Dodgers outfielder Milton Bradley, whom the Dodgers shipped to the A's along with fellow malcontent Antonio Perez last December for rookie sensation Andre Ethier, didn't play because of a left shoulder strain and is expected to miss the entire, three-game series.

Then again, neither did the lefty-hitting Ethier, who sat against Zito, as did the lefty-hitting J.D. Drew.

Tomko (5-6) continued on his downward spiral after beginning his first season with the Dodgers with such promise. This time, he gave up five earned runs on nine hits over five innings, during which he threw 98 pitches.

The A's effectively put the game away with two runs in the fifth, both of them coming on Eric Chavez's 14th home run of the season after a one-out single by Adam Melhuse. Melhuse, who was added to the lineup minutes before game time whe n Mark Kotsay suffered a sudden bout with back spasms, went 3 for 5.

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Photo:

The Dodgers' Kenny Lofton watches his two-run single off Oakland's Barry Zito in the third inning Friday.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

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DODGERS at OAKLAND

-Tony Jackson