In the cards: Tarot readings suit A’s closer Liam Hendriks

Liam Hendriks has put his trust in tarot cards and an energy healer named Rubi. Given how reliable this versatile reliever has been for the Oakland Athletics, nobody is about to question what’s working.

Manager Bob Melvin has gone with Hendriks as his ninth-inning option night after night, and is thrilled for the intense righthander who has finally found his spot in the bullpen. Never one to stick with tradition and frustrated over his play last season in Triple-A, Hendriks searched for a way to transform his mental approach. Enter Rubi Rios.

“Talking to my wife’s tarot card reader really helped. She’s phenomenal,” he said. “She does a great job. She’s done a couple readings for me and it really helped me open my eyes a little bit.”

A year later, Hendriks emerged as an unlikely All-Star.

The 30-year-old Aussie has adjusted to being an opener and a closer. He has worked plenty between the first and last innings, too.

He even got designated for assignment on June 25 last year — he has been through it almost a half-dozen times now — then started an A’s playoff game at Yankee Stadium just more than three months later.

“Mentally, I’m in a good spot. I’ve taken a different mindset to look a little more positively and have less expectations,” Hendriks said. “I was expecting something, and if it didn’t happen then I would get inside my own head, ‘woe is me’ and all that sort of thing.

... Right now, I’m just going out there, if they want me to throw the seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth, I’ll be ready no matter what.”

He now looks at his failures as chances to grow.