The Oakland A's continue a run through middling opposition with their weekend series at the Jake against the Cleveland Indians. The Indians are sitting in the AL Central cellar at 31-47, while the A's have managed to creep to two games below .500, thanks to a pair of series against the Pirates and Orioles. The A's are 9 games out of first and face a pair of tough home series next week against the Yankees and Angels, so we're certainly hoping the team does not look past the cellar-dwelling Indians.
The A's have a chance to make some serious noise heading into the All Star break if they can win this series at Cleveland. They will then get the Yankees and Angels for 6 games at home before the All-Star Break. If they could manage to win six of these upcoming nine games, they'd go into the All Star Break 1 game over .500, and likely within shouting distance of the Rangers. It's not going to be easy, but it's entirely possible with the collection of talent in Oakland.
Of course, the Indians are actually playing quite well right now, as they've won five straight over the Blue Jays and Reds thanks in large part to the hot bat of Matt LaPorta. LaPorta has homered in the last three games and has seen success after a short demotion to AAA Columbus.
The Indians send out arguably their three best pitchers in Mitch Talbot, Jake Westbrook, and Fausto Carmona. The A's have excellent pitching depth and will look for Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden and Vin Mazzaro to give their offense a fighting chance.
Current Series
3 game series vs Indians @ Progressive Field
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Oakland Athletics Friday, Jul 2, 2010, 4:05 PM PDT Gio Gonzalez vs Mitch Talbot Clear. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 75.
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| Sat 07/03 - Dallas Braden vs. Jake Westbrook |
4:05 PM PDT | |
| Sun 07/04 - Vin Mazzaro vs. Fausto Carmona |
10:05 AM PDT | |
