The Oakland Athletics open up an important four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Monday night as they look to end their current five-game losing streak. The A’s were swept in a two-game set by the Minnesota Twins, and then swept in a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants. Now they go from the frying pan into the fire as they open this Angels series against Jered Weaver on Monday night and follow that up with a matchup against Dan Haren on Tuesday night. Weaver threw a complete game shutout against the A’s on April 25.
The A’s offense has struggled mightily this season and they’re making a couple changes Monday night to try and inject something into the batting order. Since Kevin Kouzmanoff continues to recover from his groin strain, the A’s have an open spot in the order. They’ll start by moving Conor Jackson in to the third base spot and hit him fifth. Jackson has two plate appearances this season as a third baseman, but they’ve come when he was switched to third late in games. This will be his first start at the position as the A’s look to get some kind of offensive charge from what has been an atrocious corner infield spot.
Andy LaRoche remains in the lineup as well, but he’ll be playing second base as Mark Ellis gets a day off. Ellis seemed to be getting hot last week but he has reverted to his general 2011 form and is hitting .200 at this point. The A’s continue to wait for Adam Rosales to get healthy, and in the meantime they are plugging bodies in wherever they can to get some kind of spark.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp CF
2. Daric Barton 1B
3. Ryan Sweeney LF
4. Hideki Matsui DH
5. Conor Jackson 3B
6. David DeJesus RF
7. Kurt Suzuki C
8. Andy LaRoche 2B
9. Cliff Pennington SS
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
1. Maicer Izturis 2B
2. Erick Aybar SS
3. Bobby Abreu DH
4. Torii Hunter RF
5. Alberto Callaspo 3B
6. Mark Trumbo 1B
7. Jeff Mathis C
8. Peter Bourjos CF
9. Reggie Willits LF