The Oakland Athletics open up their three game series with the Los Angeles Angels and are hoping their offensive explosion on Saturday and Sunday continues against Angels ace Jered Weaver. The A’s scored 14 runs in the final two games against Seattle and now face a pitcher in Weaver who is pitching as well as anybody in baseball. Weaver is sitting at 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 0.76 WHIP. For those keeping count, that puts him on pace for upwards of 36 wins. I don’t think he’ll be winning 36 games, but it’s safe to say he could not be pitching a whole lot better.
The A’s send out Gio Gonzalez who will be looking to bounce back from his first poor performance of the season last Wednesday. He gave up four runs to the Boston Red Sox and suffered his first defeat of the season. He will be facing an Angels lineup that has been around the middle of the pack in terms of offense. Maicer Izturis is leading the way with a line of .338/.384/.500. Howie Kendrick has wielded the big stick thus far with six home runs on the season.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp (S) CF
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. David DeJesus (L) RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
6. Kurt Suzuki® C
7. Mark Ellis® 2B
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS
Los Angeles Angels
1. Peter Bourjos® CF
2. Bobby Abreu (L) DH
3. Torii Hunter® RF
4. Vernon Wells® LF
5. Alberto Callaspo (S) 3B
6. Howard Kendrick® 2B
7. Erick Aybar (S) SS
8. Mark Trumbo® 1B
9. Jeff Mathis® C