--2B Mark Ellis remained out with a sore right shoulder. He is expected to be back in action Wednesday or Thursday. Eric Patterson has filled in at second base the past four games.
--OF Ryan Sweeney hit in a simulated game in Arizona and he took batting practice Tuesday. Sweeney, who has been out since Aug. 13 with a right thumb sprain, might get into a rookie-league game before the season ends Saturday, or else he will get in a game or two in the minor league playoffs if the A's decide he needs to get more at-bats before returning to Oakland. --DH Frank Thomas had slight soreness in his right quadriceps after sprinting for home on a wild pitch Monday. He was not in the lineup Tuesday, but he expects to play Wednesday in Anaheim. Another reason he wasn't in Tuesday: Thomas is 3-for-20 lifetime against Angels starter John Lackey.
--OF Travis Buck, who opened the season with Oakland but has spent much of the year in the minors, returned to action after missing more than a month with an inner-ear problem. Buck went 4-for-5 in the rookie-league Arizona League on Monday, and he could return to Class AAA Sacramento before the end of the week. He's a possible September call-up at some point.
--RHP Brad Ziegler, the A's rookie submariner, leads major league relievers with a 0.40 ERA. It's the second-best single-season ERA for any pitcher with 30 or more innings. Buck O'Brien put up an 0.38 ERA for the Red Sox in 1911.
BY THE NUMBERS: 721 -- Player games missed this year, through Aug. 24, as the A's had to use the disabled list an Oakland-record 23 times. The team had seven men on the DL through the weekend.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's a beautiful thing, ain't it? Kind of an alien invasion." -- A's left-handed reliever Alan Embree on Oakland's all left-handed rotation of Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez, Greg Smith, Dan Meyer and Dana Eveland.
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