OAKLAND, Calif. -- Rookie Jarrod Parker chatted with teammates in the dugout and kept his same demeanour as he worked his way through seven hitless innings against the Texas Rangers. The way his changeup and fastball were working against baseballs top hitting team, there was no reason to change. Parker held Texas hitless until the eighth inning and Brandon Inge drove in four runs in Oaklands eight-run second as the Athletics beat the Rangers 12-1 on Monday night. "We went in with a really good plan and the execution of it was exactly what we wanted to do," Parker said. "Its one of those days. I had good stuff and they were off a little bit." Parker (2-2) easily worked his way through the powerful Rangers lineup in his ninth career start before Michael Young grounded a single through the middle on a slider to lead off the eighth. "I made a bad pitch and he hit it up the middle and did what he was supposed to do," Parker said. Parker got a warm ovation from the crowd of 10,120 and then recovered to get out of the inning on two more pitches -- a popup by Nelson Cruz and an inning-ending double play from David Murphy. That ended the night for Parker, who allowed one hit, walked three and struck out six. "We had a good tempo going," catcher Kurt Suzuki said. "In the beginning part he was kind of settling into his own. In the third inning he really settled in and started throwing quality pitches. Against a team like the Rangers, to do that was impressive." Inge started the scoring in the big inning with a three-run homer off Scott Feldman (0-4) and capped it with an RBI single as the As normally meek bats broke through with a big night. Kila Kaaihue added a two-run homer for the As, who had lost 10 of 11. Feldman was charged with all eight runs in the second inning and lost his fourth straight start. Things got so bad for the Rangers in their fifth loss in six games that they brought in outfielder Craig Gentry to pitch the eighth, the first position player to take the mound for Texas since Scott Sheldon on Sept. 6, 2000. Gentry allowed a two-run double to Yoenis Cespedes to give the As a season-high with 12 runs. Oakland had been shut out in seven of its previous 18 games and had just 12 runs during a recent nine-game skid. Parker did not make the As rotation out of spring training after being acquired in an off-season trade from Arizona for All-Star Trevor Cahill. He has been sharp ever since being called up from the minors allowing two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts for a 2.40 ERA. But this was his best performance by far, as he struck out slugger Josh Hamilton twice to come close to pitching the second no-hitter in the majors in the last four nights. Johan Santana did it for the New York Mets on Friday against St. Louis. "From the side I didnt see a whole heck of a lot that he had but undoubtedly he had something going on," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He made it through some pretty good hitters. He used his fastball, he used his changeup, he threw some good breaking balls every now and then. You have to tip your hat to him. He did a good job against us." Mike Napoli hit a solo homer in the ninth off Jim Miller for Texas only run. The first seven As batters reached safely in the second inning against Feldman starting with a walk by Cespedes and single from Seth Smith. Inge followed with his fifth homer with Oakland. Cliff Pennington added an RBI double to snap a career-worst 0-for-29 slump, Weeks had a two-run single and Smith hit an RBI single that knocked out Feldman. Inge greeted reliever Robbie Ross with an RBI single that made it 8-0. "On offence, we talk about contagious. You have nothing and then all of a sudden somebody breaks through and somebody right after," manager Bob Melvin said. "Hopefully this is something to build on." This marked the third time in the past week the Rangers had allowed eight runs in an inning. Seattle scored eight runs in the second and third innings last Wednesday in a 21-8 victory over Texas. "It was like a runaway truck with no brakes," Feldman said. "Just couldnt stop the bleeding. Thats not how you want to do things." NOTES: Theres still no timetable for Manny Ramirez to come up from the minors to join the As. Ramirez was batting .243 with no extra-base hits in 11 games in the minors through Sunday. "Its difficult to bring a guy here when hes struggling," Melvin said. ... Derek Holland (4-4) looks to bounce back for Texas from a rough start against Seattle last week when he allowed eight runs in 1 2-3 innings when he takes on Travis Blackley (0-0, 0.82) on Tuesday. ... The Rangers used all three of their draft picks Monday on high school players. After taking OF Lewis Brinson from Coral Springs, Fla., with the 29th pick, they got 3B Joey Gallo from Las Vegas at 39, and right-hander Collin Wiles from Overland Park, Kan., 53rd overall.

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When the Washington defenceman was asked about his feat after the Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 Friday night, Wideman said he thought his third goal went off teammate Brooks Laich.When the Carolina Hurricanes went into the 2002 playoffs, they didnt necessarily think they were Stanley Cup contenders. Then Paul Maurice worked his magic behind the bench. "We could feel it within our room, we could feel it on our bench, we could feel it on our plane" former Carolina goaltender Kevin Weekes said. "And we knew that we were a prepared group, we knew that we were a committed group, we knew we were a group that believed, and Coach Maurice went a long way in creating that atmosphere." Maurice got that group to the Cup final as part of an impressive tenure in Carolina. Almost 12 years after that run, Maurice on Sunday replaced Claude Noel as coach of the Winnipeg Jets, and a handful of his former Hurricanes players consider it a good fit based on what he did for them. "I think hes a very underrated coach," said Hall of Famer and former Carolina captain Ron Francis, who also worked as an assistant under Maurice. "Hes a very bright guy, hes good at assessing the talent he has and then structuring the system that he believes will get the most out of the lineup that he has on a game-in, game-out basis." Maurice has his fair share of issues to deal with to fix what ails the Jets, who are 10 points out of the Western Conferences final playoff spot after losing five in a row. "I would imagine the strategy for him, hed be a little bit of a detective going in there," said Jeff ONeill who played for Maurice in Carolina and Toronto. "Hes going to find out what the problems are and hes going to address the issues. And thats probably the first order of business." Its not exactly new business, either. When Maurice became Whalers coach early in the 1995-96 season, he inherited a Hartford team that missed the playoffs in each of the past three years. The Jets missed the playoffs in their first two seasons in Winnipeg and havent made it since 2006-07 as the Atlanta Thrashers. At least its a familiar challenge for Maurice. "It almost works in his favour that this is not a new situation for him," said former defenceman Aaron Ward. "Hes never really walked into a situation where hes had a cupboard full of unbelievable talent." Winnipeg doesnt have unbelievable talent, but theres a core in place beginning with captain Andrew Ladd, U.S. Olympian Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien. Those early Whalers teams were led by Geoff Sanderson, Andrew Cassels and Keith Primeau. Maurice didnt turn things around right away, but by the second season of the Hurricanes after the move to North Carolina, they were in the playoffs thanks to contributions from Primeau, Sami Kapanen, Francis and goaltender Arturs Irbe. The 2002 run to the Cup final was Maurices most memorable achievement, taking an unheralded group led by Francis and Rod BrindAmour to within three victories of knocking off the talent-rich Detroit Red Wings. Even today, Francis wondered what wouldve happened if Carolina didnt lost Game 3 in triple overtime. "I think he just had the guys believing that we were capable of doing it," said Francis, whos now vice president of hockey operations for the Hurricanes. "We kept everything sort of simple and the focus on the direction it needed to be kept on, and as a result you had a team that believes in itself, believes in each other and some may say overachieved, but not according to the guys in that locker room or the coaching staff. We certainly believed we belonged right to the end." Maurice isnt the same man he was when he got his first NHL head-coaching job at the age of 28 or even the same from 2002. Maurice has coached 1,084 games with the Whalers, Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs and isnt a fresh-faced youngster anymore. "Obviously he knows what works and wwhat doesnt work now," ONeill said.dddddddddddd "I think maybe when he was younger he thought he had to be a hard ass all the time for guys to kind of buy in and believe it, and then later on the message didnt have to be that because he was established, he had coached so many games." Maurice is 46 now, armed with experience from coaching Metallurg in Russias Kontinental Hockey League and doing some television analysis. Francis worked on Maurices staff in 2009-10 and 2010-11 and saw how he matured and changed over time. Francis has no doubt Maurice has adjusted with a changing league. "Hes very bright, hes a good student of the game and hes watching whats happening and how things are evolving," Francis said. "He incorporates that into his game plan and his systems. Theres no question he doesnt get stuck on one particular thing but more or less moves with the times." Times now are about youth, as Weekes pointed out the NHL has never been younger. Maurice will be charged with figuring out how to best use defenceman Jacob Trouba, centre Mark Scheifele and others in the pipeline in Winnipeg. Based on what Maurice did at the junior level, including winning the 1995 OHL title with the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, and how much he accomplished with the Hurricanes, his former players know where his strengths lie. Most notably, he can maximize the talent at his disposal. "Its one thing to coach somebody up, its another thing to just coach and its another thing to coach somebody down," Weekes said. "Paul Maurice is somebody that Ive seen, and one of the few that Ive seen as a head coach in my time, that coached you up." If the Jets hope to make up a substantial deficit to get back into contention this season or at least make strides for the future, itll be up to Maurice to coach up like he did in Carolina. That job starts with creating an identity for a team that has been lacking one. Those Hurricanes teams are a nice blue print. "I think its a team that works extremely hard," Francis said. "I think its a team that tries to be very solid in its own end and then try to get in on the forecheck as quickly and as aggressively as possible. Those are some of the trademarks that he really liked to incorporate into his team." Personal relationships also are a trademark of Maurices coaching. Weekes said Maurice knew how to treat players as players and as people, and Francis lauded his "open-door policy," which could benefit Ladd. "At any point as a captain, if I wanted to walk in and have a conversation with him, I felt comfortable doing that," Francis said. "We could talk about everything from my individual game to team concepts and systems or strengths and weaknesses and how to adjust things. And it was no different being a part of the coaching staff. He gave everybody a voice. Youre allowed to kind of say your piece and what you thought, and at the end of the day it was his job as head coach to make the final decision. But he certainly gave you that opportunity to express what you felt." Maurice certainly hasnt been perfect. During his 13 full seasons as an NHL head coach, his teams made the playoffs five times and missed eight. But Weekes, who was part of just one Maurice-led playoff team, praised him as "hands-down" the best coach he ever played for. "He set the right tone with the staff, certainly with all of our players, and for the most part youd have to say he put all of us in a position to succeed," Weekes said. "Everything was structured, our work ethic as a team was through the roof, and I think that really reflected our coaches, starting with Coach Maurice, just in terms of the preparation, the practice detail, the tempo -- us doing all the little things that it took the be successful." ' ' '