The A’s won the MLB Heavyweight crown Monday evening with a tight 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The offense looked the same, with nobody producing any runs except Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez, who hit back-to-back homers in the sixth. But the pitching was the A’s pitching of old: Joe Blanton gave a quality start, and the bullpen held on. The A’s won a game 3-2 that last week they would have lost 4-3.

Again, Ken Macha got a reliever up in the pen for a specific situation, and when the situation come up, he let the reliever just rot in the pen. This time, he had Brad Halsey ready for Brad Wilkerson in the eighth inning, but Macha left Kiko Calero in the game instead, and Calero got the job done. But again, why tire out Halsey’s arm for no reason? Either get him up for that situation and use him, or don’t get him up at all. If Halsey has to pitch tomorrow and runs out of gas, we’ll know why.

Meanwhile, my Kendall fast has gotten a day closer to ending. For the first time since I began my Kendall fast, Jason Kendall did not ground out to third. He also got a hit, which means he now has exactly as many hits in 2006 as groundouts to third: eleven.