OAKLAND — The surprising performance of rookie left-hander Greg Smith in the rotation leaves the A's with quite a decision when Rich Harden returns from the disabled list.

Harden pitched Tuesday night for Class-A Stockton, his second rehab outing in his recovery from a strained muscle underneath his right shoulder. Harden went six shutout innings, allowing three hits, striking out nine, walking none but hitting three batters.

If the hard-throwing right-hander comes out of that start OK, A's manager Bob Geren indicated Harden could start Sunday at Texas.

Starting in Harden's place, Smith has gone 2-1 with a 2.54 ERA, showing uncharacteristic maturity for a pitcher whose big league career consists of just six starts.

The A's have an off-day Thursday, and Geren said Chad Gaudin would make his regular start Friday, with Smith to follow Saturday. If Harden returns to the rotation and Smith stays, then who gets bumped? Geren acknowledged what a difficult call it will be.

"Like I said before, it's a lot better from a team standpoint to have six good starters than to be concerned with who is going to be the five," Geren said.

As the rotation stands now, Dana Eveland's turn would come up Sunday. But do the A's want to take Eveland, another promising young lefty, out of the starting five? Joe Blanton is the staff ace. Justin Duchscherer recently came off the DL and seems comfortable in his first season as a big league starter. Gaudin (3-2, 3.75)

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also has been solid.

Geren spun all of the speculation as premature before Tuesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles. He said no decision would be made until the team saw how Harden comes out of Tuesday's outing.

CHECK AND CHECKMATE: Fraternizing between players on different teams is common in the major leagues.

But it was an amusing sight Tuesday afternoon to see A's reliever Andrew Brown and Orioles right-hander Jeremy Guthrie seated in the hallway between the clubhouses at McAfee Coliseum, a makeshift table between them, playing chess.

The game is commonplace in the A's clubhouse before games, as Brown and closer Huston Street have an ongoing series between them. Brown and Guthrie played chess regularly when both were in the Cleveland Indians' organization.

It's not the most even matchup when they lock horns, according to Brown. Guthrie was a state chess champion as a fifth-grader growing up in Oregon. "He was killing me," Brown said of Tuesday's matchup. "Street played him (Monday). Street beat him actually. Street's having a good year in chess. He's playing out of his shoes right now."

Guthrie enjoys his rare chances to catch up with Brown. After all, it isn't often he finds a chess partner these days.

"It's one of my favorite things to do, but nobody plays on this team," Guthrie said.

SHORT HOPS: Harden's spot isn't the only roster move the A's have coming up. Outfielder Travis Buck likely will be activated from the DL during the upcoming road trip that starts Friday. And if reliever Keith Foulke emerges from today's outing at Stockton fine, he'll probably be activated any day. ... Second baseman Mark Ellis, who was 0-for-13 on the current homestand entering Tuesday, was dropped to seventh in the order. He had been hitting primarily second. "He's getting under the ball a little more than normal," Geren said. ... Daric Barton started at first base, even though Brian Burres, a lefty, was on the mound for Baltimore. The last few times the A's have faced a lefty, lefty-hitting Barton was benched in favor of Mike Sweeney. But Geren said Sweeney could start at first today, even though the A's will face Guthrie, a right-hander. "We don't want everybody to be in a strict platoon," Geren said.