A’s sweep away years of futility with sweep

OAKLAND, Calif. – Barry Zito did his best to avoid the party, fearing a flying bottle might accidentally cost him a start on his biggest stage yet: the American League Championship Series.

“I don’t want to get hurt celebrating,” said the soaked left-hander, who has never missed a start, after the Oakland Athletics advanced to the ALCS with an 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins Friday.

Milton Bradley homered and threw out Torii Hunter in a disputed play at the plate as the A’s snapped a stretch of nine straight losses in potential playoff clinchers, beating Minnesota to reach the ALCS for the first time in 14 years.

The A’s never trailed in finishing off the Twins in three games and will face either the Detroit Tigers or New York Yankees starting Tuesday night.

Marco Scutaro doubled twice and tied an A’s postseason record with four RBIs and Eric Chavez homered as the Athletics won a playoff series for the first time since 1990.

“Unbelievable,” Chavez said. “It’s been a while. We’ve had a lot of chances at it, and we’ve finally been able to do it.”

Dan Haren escaped two early jams to win in his first postseason start and the A’s avoided all of the gaffes that led to their previous postseason flops.

When closer Huston Street got Luis Castillo to fly out to end it, the A’s rushed onto the field for a big group hug.

Minnesota, meanwhile, again had problems. Even the usually reliable Hunter, a five-time Gold Glove winner, ran into trouble.

“Oakland played mistake-free baseball,” Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer said. “We usually don’t make those mistakes.”

After his ill-advised dive led to Mark Kotsay’s tiebreaking, inside-the-park homer in Game 2, Hunter got thrown out in a key sixth-inning play Friday.

Down 4-1, the Twins were rallying when Rondell White hit an RBI single. The speedy Hunter also tried to score on the play and Bradley made a strong throw home. Hunter attempted to avoid catcher Jason Kendall’s tag and reach the plate with his left hand, but plate umpire Mike Everitt called him out.

Hunter and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire argued to no avail, leaving the Twins trailing 4-2. Hunter said afterward that Kendall never tagged him.

“It was tough to swallow watching those guys celebrate,” Hunter said. “We got outplayed. Simple as that. When I saw them jumping up and down it was tough, but they deserved it. They outplayed us. I hate it. We hate it. It stunk.”

Through all his injuries this year, Bradley kept trusting his arm.

“It’s never let me down,” he said. “It has stayed strong and it came through for me today.”

The A’s failed twice to clinch the West in their home ballpark, but this time got to enjoy a postgame party in their own clubhouse – which had been alcohol-free since June after pitcher Esteban Loaiza’s drunken driving arrest.

“This is special for me,” A’s manager Ken Macha said.