The 3-2 pitch

Three observations …

• Oakland first baseman Matt Olson is a young power hitter to watch. He hit his 24th homer Friday in just 57 games with the A's. He has 47 homers in 136 games between the majors and minors this year.

•Carlos Beltran has donated $1 million toward hurricane relief in his native country of Puerto Rico, as well as set up a web page to accept donations.

• It would make sense for the Tigers to reach out to former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire about their opening. Gardenhire, the bench coach with Arizona, knows the club from division battles. And Jim Leyland, a special assistant with the Tigers, always has been a big Gardenhire supporter.

… and two predictions

• The Twins will wrap up a wild card spot on Friday, becoming the first team to go from 100-plus losses to a playoff berth in one season.

• Doug Mientiewicz will land with either the Red Sox (World Series connection), Cubs (Theo Epstein connection) or Phillies (Terry Ryan connection).