By Morris Phillips

Looming larger than iconic opponents (and the transplant fans that support them), funky doings at the Coliseum and a small sampling of poor play is the fact that Oakland A’s are as good as they come in major league baseball these days.

So with the Derek Jeter farewell tour visiting, and thousands of Yankees’ fans in attendance, along with the Coliseum doing crazy stuff as usual, the A’s stole the show on Saturday with a statement-making 5-1 win over the Yankees.

The A’s have seen their offense short circuit this week, losing 5 of 8 while hitting just .206 as a team, culminating in Friday night’s humbling 7-0 loss to the Yankees. But the A’s bounced back behind the Scott Kazmir’s pitching and some offense from some unusual sources in Saturday’s win. And while the A’s played smart and self-assured, the Yankees looked a bit disorganized and flat, especially in light of a 38-minute delay to get the bank of lights in left field turned on, a situation that threatened to rob both teams of their focus.

With the A’s leading 2-1 in the fourth and the proceedings nearing dusk, the left field lights remained dark, prompting the umpires to stop the game until the situation could be fixed. Lost in commotion was the obscure baseball rule that would have forced the game to be suspended had the lights not been resuscitated.   But while players on both teams found ways to stay warm, the umpires and stadium facilities worked furiously to get the lights back on. The fans waited patiently and were rewarded when play resumed.

“That’s why we love this place. Never know what you’re gonna get,” Eric Sogard said.

After the unscheduled break, Scott Kazmir went to work, pushing the Yankees’ lineup around with his off-speed pitches that got him through six innings, allowing three hits and a run. Kazmir improved to 8-2 in his first season with the A’s while lowering his ERA to 2.05.

Jeter received loud rounds of applause prior to each of his four plate appearances but the all-time great failed to get a hit.

The A’s broke out of their slump by building on their early 2-1 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth and another in the sixth. Sogard contributed an early two-run single and recent call up Andy Parrino capped the scoring with a run-scoring double.

The A’s look to capture the three-game series on Sunday when Jesse Chavez faces Vidal Nuno.