05/22/2007 10:00 AM ET Cust busts out in Oakland A's DH turning heads with his powerful bat By Mychael Urban / MLB.com OAKLAND -- Give him some heavy, pinstriped double-knits, a wool lid that's slightly too small for his head and a pillow to tuck under his shirt, and he'll have Halloween covered for the next 10 years. Jack Cust truly does look like a young Babe Ruth, rosy round cheeks and all. "That's a good call," says A's manager Bob Geren. "We might have to get him that stuff for the rookie dress-up day; make him waddle around for us or something. That'd be fun." Never mind that Cust, 28, isn't a rookie. As a first-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks in 1997, he made his big-league debut with Arizona in '01; played in 35 games with the Rockies in '02; made it back to the Majors with the Orioles in '03 and '04; and, after spending all of '05 with Oakland's Triple-A club, moved on to the Padres and got another cup of coffee last season. And now that Cust's back in the bigs, it's not just his big-boned body and cherubic mug that are drawing comparisons to the Bambino. Since being reacquired by the A's for a song in the wake of designated hitter Mike Piazza's May 1 shoulder injury, Cust has been producing like the second coming of the Sultan of Swat. Cust went deep in his first game with the A's, he left the yard twice in his third game and he homered in his fifth, sixth and seventh games with them, too, the last of which was a three-run walk-off shot to beat the Indians in Oakland a week ago on Sunday. Three days later, he hit a game-trying homer in the bottom of the eighth against Kansas City. All of this after more than 1,100 games and 199 homers in the Minors, drawing comparisons to another baseball legend: Crash Davis of "Bull Durham" fame. "It's surreal watching him," says Oakland ace Dan Haren, the latest pitcher to benefit from Cust's flair for the dramatic. With Giants ace Matt Cain on the mound, two on and two out in the first inning this past Saturday at McAfee Coliseum, Cust sent a high 3-1 fastball into a stairwell well beyond the right-field fence for a three-run homer that proved to be the difference in Haren's 4-2 victory. "You can't get the guy out right now," Cain said. "He gets himself into hitter's counts, and if you make a mistake, like I did, he's not missing it." It was Cust's eighth homer in 13 games with the A's, padding his team lead and giving him 20 RBIs to go with 16 walks in his first 41 at-bats with the club. It gave Cust the Major League lead in May homers and the American League lead for the month in RBIs, and he didn't even play until May 6. "Jack takes so many walks, and he gets himself into counts where he can do some damage," Haren said of Cust. "We've obviously jumped on his back, and his back is big enough to keep us up there until we get everyone going." Or at least until Piazza gets back and the depleted Oakland outfield returns to fitness. Piazza is out two to four more weeks, but he certainly isn't going to be Wally Pipped out of his DH job. And with outfielders Milton Bradley (hamstring) and Mark Kotsay (back) both expected back by the end of the month, Cust, whose defensive work is passable at best, likely will find himself on the bench before long. Cust himself, perhaps mindful that Detroit's Chris Shelton was the talk of baseball early last season, only to end up back in the bushes, understands that the joyride will eventually end. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Sunday, giving him 21 punchouts in 14 games. "I'm just lucky that I got the opportunity, and that I was swinging the bat well when I got it," Cust said. "I know all of this is going to end sometime. That's reality." All of this entails myriad media requests, from national radio to cable television. Cust, who already has inspired a sign reading "Upper Cust" that hangs from the right-field bleachers in Oakland, has managed to nudge Josh Hamilton of the Reds slightly aside to assume the role as baseball's feel-good darling. "It's been crazy," Cust conceded. "I mean, I turn on the TV and there I am. All the time." A's general manager Billy Beane stops short of saying he saw all of this coming, but he has long been enamored with Cust, whose combination of patience and power embodies the club's general offensive philosophy. Cust was simply blocked from the bigs during his first go-round with Oakland, because veteran Scott Hatteberg was locked in at DH and the outfield was full. "Jack's always someone we've liked," Beane said. "He's been productive everywhere he's gotten an opportunity for regular at-bats, but unfortunately for him, those opportunities were in the Minors. Here, with Mike's injury, an opportunity opened up at the big-league level, and we felt that he deserved that opportunity. "Did I expect this? No. But I did expect him to do well. He's a strong guy with a lot of discipline." But not a lot to say. Cust, a New Jersey native, seems almost embarrassed by the amount of attention he's receiving. But those around him say it's a just reward for his perseverance. "Jack's a great guy who's always been a good hitter," said A's hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo, who worked with Cust in Arizona's organization. "It's so nice to see him having success at this level. He's obviously not going to maintain this pace, but he's a smart enough hitter to make the adjustments he's going to need to make when teams start adjusting to him." Until then, the A's are thrilled with being on Cust's big back. First baseman Dan Johnson, who last week shared AL Player of the Week honors with Cust, smiled upon getting that news. "It's an honor," Johnson said, "just to be mentioned in the same sentence with Jack Cust. Oh, my goodness." --

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