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ByJohnHickey BayAreaNewsGroup OAKLAND Timeisnoallyofthe A's, and after a 2-1 loss to Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mar- iners on Wednesday, Oakland manager Bob Melvin acknowl- edged as much. The A's have 23 games left on the schedule, and after 16 losses in their last 23 games, it looks increasingly as if the club will be fighting for an American League wild-card berth instead of the AL West title. The A's fell five games behind the first-place Los Angeles Angels, who play Wednesday night in Houston. Melvin knows those numbers. He knows some other numbers, too. "A couple of years ago we were five back with 13 to play," Mel- vin said. Actually the A's were five back with 10 to play in 2012 but ran down the Texas Rang- ers, capturing the AL West ti- tle on the last day of the season. There are a couple differ- ences. The A's had seven of their last 10 games against the team they were chasing, Texas. This time around they have three left with the Angels. The A's weren't under pres- sure of living up to expectations, Oakland having been an after- thought in the spring of 2012. After back-to-back AL West ti- tles and having been baseball's dominant team at the All-Star break at 59-36, expectations are a burden now. Most of all, the A's were com- ing hard just to get to those last 10 games, having won 25 of 36 simply to get to five games back. "We'll be coming hard here soon, too," Melvin said. "We've got 23 games left. We will. Time is there. "I think we're going to pick it up. I think the last 20 games or so we're going to get really hot. I do." The A's had better hope so, because if Oakland heads into the postseason as a wild card, it figures to be another game like Wednesday's, ace vs. ace. Jon Lester pitched well enough to win 90 percent of his starts. So did Hernandez. And if it's a one-game play- off Sept. 30 for the right to ad- vance to the AL Division Series, then it could well be Hernandez against Lester all over again. As much as the A's like Lester, they would just as soon not have to put their postseason hopes on having to beat Hernandez in a winner-take-all brawl, not when the Seattle ace is now 19-7 life- time against them. Adam Dunn gave the A's a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the fourth. Kyle Seager and Corey Hart hit back-to-back homers in the space of three Lester pitches in the seventh inning. That was it. The A's never got another base runner against Hernandez and Seattle closer Fernando Rodney. Hernandez said after the win, his 14th, that he loves "this kind of challenge." Lester does, too, and said two mistakes did him in. In the course of throwing 107 pitches, a starter should be al- lowed a couple mistakes. BASEBALL Athleticscan'tsolve riddlethat'sKingFelix Oakland more like wild-card than division champion a er 16 losses in last 23 games JEFFCHIU—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Oakland Athletics le fielder Brandon Moss cannot catch a double hit by the Seattle Mariners' Kyle Seager during the fourth inning Wednesday in Oakland. Moss threw out Seager trying to advance to third base. By Alex Pavlovic Bay Area News Group DENVER Giants manager Bruce Bochy often tells his players to look forward, so as the team pre- pared to leave Denver for the fi- nal time this season, the Giants already were looking ahead to a series with 2012 World Series op- ponent Detroit. But if the Giants took a mo- ment to look in the rearview mir- ror, they would see a massively missed opportunity. A 9-2 loss at Coors Field was the 10th of the year to the Colorado Rockies, meaning the Giants will finish with a losing mark (9-10) against a team that has the worst record in the National League and has been ravaged by injuries. The first-place Dodgers are 9-4 against the Rockies with six games remaining between the two. The differing success against Colorado could be glar- ing if the Giants can't catch up in the National League West. The Giants trail the Dodgers by two games. "It's hard to explain what your record is against certain clubs," BASEBALL Giantstakeeyesofftheballindownfall Vogelsong ties career high by giving up eight runs in San Francisco's last Denver trip DAVID ZALUBOWSKI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The San Francisco Giants' Gregor Blanco (le ) is out at first base as Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Christian Friedrich fields a throw during the seventh inning in Denver on Wednesday. ROCKIES9,GIANTS2 Up next: Friday, Giants at Detroit Tigers, 4:08p.m., TV on CSNBA. THESCORE MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 1 Up next: Friday, Houston Astros at Oakland A's, 7:05p.m., TV on CSNCA, MLBN. THESCORE One Spar- tan who didn't see any game ac- tion during Red Bluff's 40-8 Week 0 win at Central Valley was Owen Swarthout. That's because the Northern Sec- tion has declared him ineligible to play his junior year citing a California Interscholastic Feder- ation bylaw. When I first heard about Swarthout's story I thought surely there had been some mis- take. The CIF bylaw in question was created to stop students from jumping program to pro- gram for athletic gain. Swarthout's story is far re- moved from the world where athletics are the top priority in a boy's life. He attended Red Bluff Union High School his freshman year before aspirations of joining the Marines following graduation took over. He transferred to the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas for his sophomore year. Swarthout finished his soph- omore year with a 3.86 grade point average and was named the January Cadet of the Month for Delta Company. It was a small school that pulled from all of its grade lev- els to field its sports teams and Swarthout played varsity foot- ball and a couple weeks of base- ball. When the school year ended as his mother puts it, he decided the military life wasn't for him at this time and decided to re- turn to Red Bluff to be a teen- ager in his hometown. Because he transferred twice the CIF bylaw states Swarthout must sit out a year in the two sports he played at the varsity level. He injured his knee during the last football game and had to sit out basketball, so he'll be eligible for hoops this winter. In the hope of regaining his eligibility, his family and the Spartans' athletic department filed a hardship waiver with the Northern Section office, cit- ing his military service, which is loosely defined in the CIF by- laws. It was denied. The family plans to appeal that decision to the state level. State high school officials could then either grant a hearing or just flat-out deny the appeal on the spot. All of this will likely take weeks not days, as the football season and the Spartans con- tinue on with Swarthout watch- ing from the sidelines. I understand the need for a black-and-white rule regard- ing transfers. Athletic-moti- vated school shopping has been a problem and a clear rule takes away the possibility of a section commissioner making a ruling on their own whim. However, as clear as the rule is, there are even clearer exam- ples when the rule is overreach- ing what its intention was to stop. Swarthout's story is not a case of a school recruiting a player to better its chances at a state championship or a kid who is putting sports above everything else in his life. No, Owen is a 15-year-old who wants to play ball with Ryan, Walker, Wesley, Lane and Kolby like he has since he first picked up a football or broke in a glove. I said this last week about Los Molinos football players not being able to play for another school when their season is can- WEEK 1 PREVIEWS Transfer not allowed to play for Spartans Pacific Gas & Electric Co. plans to appeal a $1.4billion penalty recommended by Cali- fornia regulatory judges for a gas pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb that killed eight people, the utility said. EIGHT KILLED PG&Eplanstoappeal penalty in explosion FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 The prep swimming season gets under way at 10a.m. to- day with Red Bluff and Mercy swimmers scheduled to take part in the West Valley Relays. SWIMMING Season set to begin at West Valley Relays The Mercy Lady Warriors host the Orland Trojans at 3:30 p.m. today. In Corning the Lady Cardinals are scheduled to play host to Northern Ath- letic League rival West Valley. TENNIS Mercy, Corning host league matches Freshman Rachel Rogers had 12kills as the Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs swept Las Plumas 29-27, 25-17, 25-14 Tuesday night. Rogers also added five aces and three blocks for the Bulldogs. PREP ROUNDUP Corning, LM, Mercy all volleyball winners FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 Rich Greene GREENE PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, September 4, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1