OAKLAND, Calif. -- David Justice's team has reached the postseason every year there has been a postseason since 1991. He has played in the postseason so often that he's been part of more network fall programming than Ted McGinley. He's appeared in the postseason on CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, Fox Family and ABC Family. About the only channels he's missed are the Food Network, Animal Planet and Bravo.

(Although come to think of it, didn't James Lipton interview him once about whether Halle Berry used method acting for her bedroom scenes?)

	David Justice Left Field Oakland Athletics Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS AB HR RBI R OPS AVG 398 11 49 54 .785 .266

With more postseason hits than everyone but Derek Jeter and more postseason RBIs than anyone, he's as much a part of October baseball as four-hour games and TV promos for very special episodes of "Boston Public."

"I've learned perspective," Justice said after Oakland evened its Division Series by routing Minnesota 9-1 in Game 2 Wednesday. "I've learned that it's not life and death. Every year you see guys who aren't swinging the bat very well and they start thinking that everyone is talking about just them, that everyone in America is opening up the newspaper and looking at just their names. But they're not."

It only feels that way. Consider Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez.

Chavez struggled mightily in last October's Division Series against the Yankees, going 3-for-21 with no RBIs and stranding runner after runner as Oakland blew a 2-0 lead and lost the final three games.

"I really felt last year that if I could have come up with a couple hits, especially hitting behind Jason (Giambi), it would have made a world of difference," Chavez said. "I swung at a lot of bad pitches. Looking at the tapes later, those pitches weren't even close. You can't call it aggressive hitting because the pitches were so bad. The Yankees knew I was swinging at bad pitches and they weren't going to throw me a strike.

"Was I on suicide watch? No. I let it eat at me for a little bit and then I went to the beach. I'm just glad I got another chance."

Chavez said that in retrospect, he didn't control his emotions but is doing a much better job this fall. It certainly seemed that way in the first inning when he sent a hanging slider from Joe Mays streaking toward Nevada for a three-run homer.

That's the reassuring thing for Oakland. The Athletics lose a game started by Tim Hudson and they've got Mark Mulder ready to go behind him, followed by Barry Zito. The A's hadn't lost consecutive games started by any two of those guys in more than a year until Seattle rallied to beat Oakland twice last week.

Minnesota never got back into the game following that blow because unlike Game 1 when Oakland squandered a 5-1 lead, the Athletics kept adding runs. They scored five in the fourth inning to blow open the game, with Justice delivering the big blow -- a bases-loaded triple that made it 8-0. That was more than enough for lefty starter Mark Mulder, who held the Twins to a run in six innings.

"We just look for a couple guys to chip in with our offense," Chavez said. "Everyone knows the focus of our team is the pitching. We'll ride their coat tails and go as far as they'll take us."

That's the reassuring thing for Oakland. The Athletics lose a game started by Tim Hudson and they've got Mark Mulder ready to go behind him, followed by Barry Zito. And then it starts all over again because Oakland is using a three-man rotation this series. The A's hadn't lost consecutive games started by any two of those guys in more than a year until Seattle rallied to beat Oakland twice last week. They haven't lost consecutive starts in Oakland since April of 2001.

"In a perfect world, I'd like to see Mulder next year instead of Game 5," Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "But those other guys throwing are tough enough."

Asked whether Wednesday's game gave Oakland momentum, Mientkiewicz shook his head and said, "No, we're going home. Momentum has nothing to do with it. There's going to be 55,000 fans screaming and waving homer hankies."

So both teams left Oakland feeling good. The Twins got the split they needed before heading home for two games in the Metrodome while Oakland has Zito going for them in Game 3, with Hudson and Mulder to follow. There will be noise and homer hankies in the Dome and by Monday, one team will be playing for the American League pennant and the other team will be back home for the winter.

Either way, Justice has been there before. This is his 10th year in the postseason (it would have been 11 but he didn't play in 1996 due to injury). He's played with Atlanta, Cleveland, New York and Oakland. He's played in eight postseason series that went the distance and in three World Series seventh games. He's batted against Roger Clemens, Jack Morris and Randy Johnson. He's had his highs -- his Game 6 homer was the winning blow in Atlanta's 1-0 World Series-clinching victory over Cleveland in 1995. And he's had his lows -- despite all the hits, he's a career .227 hitter in the postseason and he's been on the losing team in five World Series.

If he hasn't seen it all, he's come close.

"I just feel blessed to be here again," he said. "You don't always come through in a big situation. You can't always come through. But I feel blessed to get the opportunity.

"No matter what happens, three days after the World Series everyone will be talking about football. That's just the way it is."