"Manager Bob Geren denied a newspaper assertion that Ben Sheets may have been tipping his pitches over two poor starts before the right-hander straightened himself out with a victorious performance against Tampa Bay on Saturday.

In a blog report by USA Today veteran baseball writer Bob Nightengale, an unnamed source from the A's told Nightengale that Sheets had tipped his pitches in his two prior starts and that he would demonstrate the difference when he pitched against the Rays. Sheets gave up four hits over 6?2/3 innings and got the victory in a 4-2 A's triumph.

"I don't think there's anything to that," Geren said. "We watched the films when he's thrown good and bad, and the difference is in his location."

Nightengale wasn't the only national media figure to suggest the pitch-tipping possibility in recent days. In an video blog posted last week, ESPN baseball correspondent Buster Olney strongly suggested Sheets was tipping his curveball to the Toronto Blue Jays to the degree that they were "jumping out of their shoes" trying to hit it.

Sheets gave up a combined 17 earned runs in two road starts against the Rays and Blue Jays. But Geren was having none of the pitch-tipping theory, yet admitted it's a commonplace practice."