The postseason waiver deadline has passed and the chances of Bill Stoneman finding a bat, any bat, to help this sluggish Halo lineup are now practicaly nil. Even in the unlikely event Stoneman could find some help elsewhere now, they couldn't contribute in the postseason.

My gut feel is that the Halo luck is about to run out. Right when the A's were ready to blow by, down goes Bobby Crosby, maybe the most-influential player in the league this season, and the jerry-rigged A's offense collapses. But today's comeback win over the Mariners (a prelude to the Astro comeback tonight) signals that the A's are not done fighting, and with their leader due back next week, Oakland should at least be at full strength for the last couple of weeks of the season.

Meanwhile, the Angel offense continues to labor. Even when beating Oakland in those last two games a week ago, the Halos never cracked the magic 3-run barrier, and now that they have run into their version of, in Phllies parlance, the Astros, the Bosox, those offensive inadequacies have resurfaced again. The Angels can't beat Boston at Fenway these days, hardly a reassuring thought with the playoffs looming on the horizon, and took another 6-3 loss tonight vs. the very hittable Bronson Arroyo. This a night after Tim Wakefield's whiffleball made the Angels look like they were fishing in a troutless stream 24 hours earlier.

The team to watch now is Angela DiGiovanni's rampaging Indians, who have a hot pitching staff, ample bats, and an easier schedule down the stretch. Cleveland still has a home-and-home remaining with Kansas City, and when the Bosox are trying to bury the Yankees in the last week, and keep them out of the postseason entirely, the Tribe will be feasting on Buddy Bell's mediocrities. And with the Angels and A's both scuffling to score runs, it says here that the Tribe, not Yanks, Halos, or A's, will be the wild card.

Paul, expect your wife and all of the Gubitosis to be a happy bunch in a few weeks--you heard it here first!

The AL West title is going to be the only route to the postseason for the Halos and A's. Give Beane the payroll Bill Stoneman has, and give Stoneman the payroll Beane has in Oakland, and Beane, like him or not, comes out 20 games ahead. Chances to win come along rarely, and to see Stoneman sit like a, well, stone man, irks no end.

If the A's pull this thing out, despite that huge payroll handicap, it will be the baseball equivalent of Dr. Fager, carrying 134 under Baulio Baeza, outfighting Advocator, carrying 22 pounds fewer, the great Fort marcy and Australian hero Tobin Bronze, each carrying 16 pounds less, and Flit-to, carrying 17 pounds less, in the '68 United Nations Cap at Atlantic City.

It's the sort of handicap John Nerud, wherever he is, must smile about when he watches this year's A's...