=== Oakland Athletics Team Report - May 31 ===

(My Sportsbook) - They may be one of the better teams in the American League again this season, but the Oakland Athletics are still competing in the shadow of the Seattle Mariners.

Terrence Long hammered a three-run homer and Erubiel Durazo ended with three hits for the A's, who have dropped three of their last four outings and are losing ground on the streaking Mariners over in the AL West. Eric Byrnes finished 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 20 games, but the club is now five games behind Seattle for the top spot in the division.

Tim Hudson, originally scheduled to start on Saturday, suffered the loss, allowing nine runs -- six earned -- on 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings.

It was Hudson's shortest outing since September 19, 2001. The nine runs allowed tied a career high, set on May 4 last year when all the runs were earned.

Prior to the game, Oakland activated outfielder Jermaine Dye from the 15-day disabled list. He was hampered with torn cartilage in his right knee and finished hitless in four at-bats in the contest.

Ted Lilly gets the call this afternoon for the A's and is 3-3 on the year with a 4.10 ERA. The 27-year-old lefthander has dropped three of his last four decisions and is coming off a loss in his last start against the Royals on Saturday. In that contest Lilly allowed three runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings, while fanning seven and walking three.

This will be his second-ever appearance against Kansas City.

The A's, who are batting .257 after 53 games, have had some trouble manufacturing runs and have just 11 stolen bases to show for their efforts this year, second fewest in the AL.

Thankfully for Oakland, the pitching staff has risen to the occasion and now has the best ERA in the league at 3.25 and is tied for the lead with five shutouts.