A's Look To Take Advantage Of Struggling Mariners

The Oakland A's open up a six game road trip with three games at the cellar-dwelling Seattle Mariners. The A's took 2 of 3 from the division leading Rangers this past weekend and will need to take care of business if they want to stick around the playoff race. They can shave 1/2 a game off the Rangers lead tonight, and then hope the Yankees and Red Sox can clean house in Arlington.

This Mariners series is of even more interest because of the expected promotion of A's top prospect Chris Carter. Carter was acquired in the Dan Haren trade and has been mashing the ball of AAA Sacramento. While the A's have produced offense when needed, Carter could potentially provide some legit power in the A's lineup. He has plenty to prove at the major league level, and now is as good a time as any to show what he can do. He was expected to battle for a roster spot in spring training next year, so having him up in the pennant race is good for Carter, and good for the A's assessment of him.

The A's face an interesting array of Mariners pitchers this week. Tonight Vin Mazzaro will square off with Doug Fister. Fister has had some solid success against the A's in 2010. In 2 starts, he's gone 12 innings and given up only 2 runs. His numbers overall have gotten progressively worse this season, and he'll he looking to bounce back tonight. Mazarro has been up and down in 2010, but seems to be settling into a bit of a groove. He struggled two starts ago, but otherwise has been quite solid after initially struggling in May.

Tomorrow the A's send Brett Anderson out to face Mariners ace Felix Hernandez. King Felix might not be getting big win totals, but he remains dominant and will be a tough matchup for the A's. Hernandez has scuffled a bit against the A's in 2010, but for his career has generally performed well against them. Anderson makes his third start since returning from the disabled list. After scuffling against the White Sox, Anderson settled down to get a win against the Royals.

The series wraps up on Wednesday with the A's sending out Dallas Braden to battle Luke French. French has made 2 starts and 4 total appearances against the A's in his brief 2-year career. As with Brett Anderson, French is coming off a strong start against the Kansas City Royals (clearly the tonic for what ails you). He gave up 9 hits, but held the Royals to 1 run over 8 innings. Braden will be looking for his seventh win in a season that has been all over the place thus far. Although the wins aren't adding up, he's been fairly solid since his May perfect game.