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Tuesday, October 5, 2010 – Daily News – 3B A’s GM wishes for healthier 2011 Europe wins Ryder Cup Oakland Athletics OAKLAND (AP) — Oakland Ath- letics general manager Billy Beane leaned back in the manager’s office, ticking off all the club’s plans for the offseason. Surprisingly, adding power to the A’s finesse offense isn’t atop the agen- da. Instead, Beane said Oakland’s main focus for the winter will be keeping the players already on the roster healthy and available after yet another injury- plagued season in which the A’s man- aged to keep things interesting until late in the year. Those injuries were the biggest stain on Oakland’s season, which ended with a four-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners over the weekend. That allowed the A’s to finish with a .500 record (81-81) and in second place in the AL West. ‘‘The biggest impact on why we weren’t competing up to last week was our health,’’ Beane said in between bites of tapioca pudding. ‘‘I’d take health over power right now and take my chances.’’ The A’s used the disabled list 23 times in 2009, two shy of the franchise record set in 2008. Oakland’s pitching staff was hit par- ticularly hard, with season-ending injuries suffered by starters Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer. Ace Brett Anderson and All-Star closer Andrew Bailey also missed significant stretches during the year. The offense also took a hit. Six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez played in only 33 games before being sidelined for the year because of back and shoulder issues. Center fielder Coco Crisp missed most of the first half of the year with leg injuries while right fielder Ryan Sweeney skipped the final 73 games due to a knee injury. Despite all that, Oakland stayed competitive in the AL West and con- tended for the division title until losing three of four to first-place Texas in late September. ‘‘Given the adversity that the club had, particularly through the injuries and the injuries that really decimated the last couple weeks of the season, I was real happy,’’ Beane said. ‘‘These guys could have folded tent and given up but they didn’t. We did some things and accomplished some things that you wouldn’t normally anticipate a team with this kind of youth and inex- perience to accomplish.’’ The most memorable highlight was left-hander Dallas Braden’s perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, the first by an A’s pitcher since Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter did it in 1968. As a staff, Oakland led the Ameri- can League in ERA (3.56) and shutouts (17) while holding opponents to a .245 batting average. Trevor Cahill, who began the sea- son on the disabled list after losing out to Gio Gonzalez for the fifth spot in the A’s rotation, finished with a team-high 18 wins. Gonzalez overcame inconsis- tency issues to add 15 wins while Braden had 11, which alleviated the losses of Sheets and Duchscherer. Oakland’s lack of offense kept the team from being a more serious con- tender. The A’s hit just 109 home runs and scored 663 runs, their second- The New York Mets, Mil- waukee and Pittsburgh gave their managers the boot Monday, firing them after disappointing seasons with underperforming teams. The mediocre Mets got rid of manager Jerry Manuel along with general manager Omar Minaya after the team’s fourth consecutive season in which the high- payroll team failed to make the playoffs. Ken Macha was official- ly dismissed by the Brewers after consecutive losing sea- sons that following their 2008 postseason appearance as the NL wild card. John Russell was booted by the penurious Pirates after 299 defeats in three seasons, which extended the woebegone franchise’s con- secutive losing years to a major league record 18. That raised the total of managers losing their jobs fewest in the last 28 non-strike seasons. ‘‘I don’t think it’s as linear as saying ’We need power,’’’ Beane said. ‘‘(That’s) true but I’m not quite sure it’s that simple. The trick will be trying to address that need and not take away from a strength.’’ Beane will discuss how to do that when he and other members of his staff convene next week in Arizona for an organizational meeting to map out the team’s offseason plans. Among the topics being discussed will be what to do with potential free agents Chavez and Crisp. The A’s have club options for both players, and while it’s likely Crisp — who hit .279 and stole 32 bases — will be back, the situation with the oft-injured Chavez isn’t so clear. Oakland also has a club option for second baseman Mark Ellis while Duchscherer is scheduled to become a free agent. Beane said he intends to talk to Ellis’ agent to touch bases but does- n’t expect an announcement on the sit- uation anytime soon. Then there is the issue of the A’s sta- dium. The Oakland Coliseum is one of just two multipurpose stadiums in the league — the A’s share it with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders — and owner Lew Wolff has already selected an architect to design a proposed privately funded stadium. Beane feels a new venue is critical to the A’s ability to sign free agents. ‘‘We’ve been told it will be more sooner than later,’’ Beane said. ‘‘I know that’s pretty ambiguous, but we antici- pate it being soon, hopefully very soon. We’ve found the last couple years it’s been challenging (and) we’ve lost some players because of it.’’ Aday after season, 3 big league managers fired NEW YORK (AP) — this year to eight. ‘‘The bottom line is to win the games. If you don’t win games, they’re going to get somebody in there with a different voice and try to get the guys to listen to it,’’ Macha said. ‘‘When you get these jobs, it’s just a matter of time before there is a change.’’ Hampered by injuries for the second straight year fol- lowing a pair of late-season collapses, the Mets finished fourth in the NL East at 79- 83, 18 games behind divi- sion-winning Philadelphia. That despite a $133 million opening-day payroll, base- ball’s fifth-highest. Russell was given a stripped-down roster, then blamed for records of 67-95 in 2008, 62-99 in 2009 and 57-105 this season. The only other manager in the Pirates’ 124-season history with so many losses in so few sea- sons was Fred Haney. United States 13 1/2 Europe 14 1/2 NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — The pressure was more than Graeme McDowell wanted. The heartbreak was more than Hunter Mahan could han- dle. The longest Ryder Cup in history came down to the very last match Monday at Celtic Manor, exposing the rawest emotions found in golf and delivering a moment that defines a career — even for a U.S. Open champion. Clinging to a 1-up lead with three holes to play, with Europe needing his match to reclaim the precious gold tro- phy, McDowell gently sent his 15-foot putt toward the cup and set off a ground-shaking roar when it dropped for birdie. ‘‘The best putt I’ve hit in my life,’’ McDowell said. One hole later, Mahan was well short on the par-3 17th, flubbed a chip and conceded a par to McDowell that gave Europe the 14 1/2 points it needed to take back the cup. It was the first time since 1991 that the Ryder Cup was decid- ed by the final singles match, a thriller made possible by the Americans getting big wins from their best players, and a stunning comeback by 21-year-old rookie Rickie Fowler. Leave it to McDowell to cap off a great year — for him- self in the U.S. Open, for all of Europe in the Ryder Cup. Under far greater pressure than he felt at Pebble Beach, McDowell could barely keep his hands steady on his 6-iron from 181 yards to hit the shot in the 16th hole. And he could- n’t hold back his emotions on the 17th, when the match ended with his 3-and-1 victory. Neither could Mahan. ‘‘That birdie on 16 was huge,’’ Mahan said, fighting back tears. ‘‘He beat me.’’ That was all he could say before bowing his head. This, from the player who delivered the most crucial putt two years ago Valhalla in a U.S. victory. Such a heart-stopping finish salvaged what had been a drab week at the Ryder Cup, with two big rain delays that forced a revamped schedule and led to the first Monday finish in Ryder Cup history. Under a beautiful blue sky in Wales, all was forgotten. Memories of mud and umbrellas were replaced by Fowler winning the last three holes with birdies to escape with a half-point, Tiger Woods holing out from the fairway for eagle and not even knowing it, Miguel Angel Jimenez finally playing a Ryder Cup on home soil and winning a sin- gles match for the first time. Ultimately, this was about team — and Europe was the best again. ‘‘We’ve won nine of the last 13,’’ Luke Donald said. ‘‘We’re starting to get down to that word ’dominance.’’’ The Americans have not won the Ryder Cup away from home since 1993, although this was their best effort since then. For the longest time, it didn’t look as though it would come down to the McDowell and Mahan, the anchors of this singles session. But there was a resurgence by the Americans. Woods holed out for eagle during a seven-hole stretch that he played in 7-under par. Steve Stricker won the opening match and Phil Mickelson built a big lead to win late. Jeff Overton, the first American to make the Ryder Cup team without a tour victory, won three straight holes to beat Ross Fisher. Then came Fowler, the first PGA Tour rookie to play in the Ryder Cup, making 15-foot birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes to scratch out a half-point against Edoardo Molinari and making the Americans believe for the first time all day they could win. That gave them 13 1/2 points, and they only need- ed a halve in the last match to retain the cup.