A's Host Angels In Battle For Second Place

Although the A's playoff hopes might be extinguished at this point in September, some bragging rights remain on the table. The A's and the Los Angeles have had a fairly feisty rivalry over the last ten years, which leaves some manner of bragging rights on the table. The Angels most notably added former Oakland A's pitcher Dan Haren for peanuts prior to the trade deadline, but have been unable to gain any momentum off that acquisition. Meanwhile, the A's have continued to chug along in hopes of building some momentum for 2011.

This weekend series at the Coliseum features some intriguing pitching matchups. Gio Gonzalez will open the series against the wildly inconsistent Scott Kazmir. While Kazmir was somewhat improved in August, he really couldn't have been any worse than he had already been. Gonzalez looks to earn his career-high 13th victory of the season and continue a strong season.

Trevor Cahill looks to bounce back from a rough outing against the Yankees and earn his 15th win of the season. He is opposed by Jered Weaver who is having arguably the best season his career. He won't match last year's won/loss record but all of his periphery stats are at career-best marks including K/9, K/BB, and opposing batting average, among others.

Vin Mazzaro wraps up the series against Ervin Santana. Mazzaro has been up and down this season but has taken a step forward compared to last season, improving all of his numbers. Santana has been solid this season showing marked improvement from a fairly awful 2009. He's still looking to gain some level of consistency though.