Editor's Note: ESPN analyst Tom Candiotti writes a weekly scouting report. Here is the former knuckleballer's book on Oakland A's pitchers Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito as the surging A's take on the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners in a four-game series this week.

	Since his last loss on April 30, Barry Zito is 9-0 with a 2.22 ERA over 10 starts.

Mulder, Zito and Hudson are today for the A's what Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz were for the Atlanta Braves in the '90s. All three A's pitchers will be perennial Cy Young Award candidates for the years to come.

Remember the Braves commercials with Cy Past, Cy Present, and Cy Future? The A's trio might be making the same kind of commercial in a few years. They are that good. Together, they form an incredible force in the A's rotation.

How could one organization end up with three pitchers of this caliber at the same time? Because of Billy Beane, the shrewd GM of the A's, and his incredible eye for talent along with the team's fantastic player development system.

Mark Mulder
Mulder, 24, has the makeup of a champion. He is a great athlete with a great game plan. He believes in his stuff and trusts his instincts. He has become a very aggressive pitcher who uses both sides of the plate to attack and can change speeds well when he has to.

He isn't looking for the strikeout. Instead, Mulder would rather have a quick 1-2-3 inning with three ground balls. He works down in the zone, using a sinking fastball, a split-change and a breaking ball that he can either sweep or add tilt to.

Mulder throws a very high percentage of strikes, sometimes too many. Hitters know he is around the plate early and often so they go into a swing mode, becoming more aggressive than selective.

Mulder can match up with any pitcher in baseball, and that is a huge advantage for the A's. Now that he is healthy, look for him to be the same pitcher we saw all of last year when he was a 20-game winner.

Tim Hudson
Hudson, the right-hander and the most veteran of the three, is a tough competitor. Don't let his little frame fool you (6-foot-1, 164 pounds). He is very intense and can even intimidate hitters with his aggressive inside pitching.

Hudson, 26, will concentrate on getting ground balls, but he has the ability to finish off a hitter with the best of pitchers. He owns a great sinking fastball, split-change and breaking ball. Everything feeds off his fastball.

He has really come around lately, with a 2-0 record and a 1.83 ERA in his last five outings after a 3-6 start. Like Mulder, Hudson too can match up against any pitcher in the league.

Barry Zito
Zito, 24, has the best curveball in baseball. He gets incredible rotation on it, which enables the ball to break late and hard. Hitters recognize the spin on it very late, making it extremely tough to see and gauge the break.

He also has a great four-seam fastball and changeup. Zito pitches more north and south, changing eye levels, than inside and outside. He is looking for the strikeout once he gets two strikes on the hitter and is fourth in the American League with 92 strikeouts.

Zito has no-hit stuff, and I would expect to see him toss a no-no or two before he is done with his career.

Overall
Behind their three star pitchers, the A's will continue to be a force as long as they are together. Three aces who are younger than 30? It's a managers dream.

Mulder, Hudson and Zito should prevent any kind of prolonged losing streak. More importantly, they will provide leadership every time they take the mound. Now that they are all healthy and pitching superb baseball, look for the A's to climb in the AL West and challenge the Mariners for the title. Pitching will dictate where the A's will finish, and that should be a comforting thought for Bay Area fans.

ESPN baseball analyst Tom Candiotti won 151 games pitching in 16 major-league seasons.