OAKLAND – In the aftermath of the A's playoff-clinching win Monday night, first baseman Brandon Moss navigated the home clubhouse with his young son on his shoulders, soaking in the delirium.

It was actually Moss' second champagne celebration in as many seasons. But he felt a bit more comfortable in the middle of this one.

"I did it last year with the (Philadelphia) Phillies, but the day they clinched the division was literally the day I got called up," said Moss, who spent most of 2011 with the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley. "So I was very out of place."

Not so this time. Moss entered Tuesday hitting .374 with nine home runs and 24 RBIs in his previous 29 games, and has played a significant role in the infusion of power into the A's lineup since his call-up from the Triple-A River Cats in June.

With 21 homers in 83 major league games, Moss is the sixth American League player to hit at least 20 in a season while playing fewer than 90 games. Only two players had more – Ted Williams (28) in 1950 and Juan Gonzalez (24) in 2003.

As a team, the A's began Tuesday with 110 home runs since the All-Star break, most in the majors.

Nine came in their first three games after the break, a sweep of the Minnesota Twins that manager Bob Melvin credited with changing the A's "from a team that had to dominate with our pitching to all of a sudden feeling like, you know what, we can get it done on the offensive end as well."

The A's have eight players with at least 10 homers – five were in the lineup Tuesday against Rangers left-hander Matt Harrison – and Moss said having the potential for power up and down the lineup makes a huge difference when it comes to postseason prospects.

"Look at all the teams that are going to the playoffs – they have lineups that can change the score with one swing," Moss said. "And they have good pitching. Manufacturing runs against good pitching is a hard thing to do."

Et cetera – Brett Anderson remains a possibility to start Friday if the A's play in the wild-card game, Melvin said. Anderson has been out since Sept. 19 with a strained side muscle.

• Yoenis Cespedes was named the American League Rookie of the Month for September, in which he batted .257 and led all qualifying rookies with seven homers and 19 RBIs.

It's the first such honor for Cespedes, and the first for an A's player since Jemile Weeks was a co-recipient in June 2011.

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