By Eric Denton – Angelswin.com Senior Writer
| Gameday Matchup | |||||
| W-L | NIGHT | GRASS | STK | L10 | |
| LAA – 1st AL West | 37-24 | 26-19 | 32-19 | W5 | 7-3 |
| OAK – 2nd AL West | 33-27 | 21-20 | 29-26 | W4 | 6-4 |
A three game set starts tonight in Oakland as the Angels and A’s pick up the season series where they left off in April, with each team taking two games in Anaheim. Currently the Halos hold a 3.5 game lead over the surprising Athletics and they would certainly enjoy adding on to it. However, it won’t be as easy as a lot of baseball fans thought.
Oakland is still hanging tough with its cast of unknowns but has seen the return of two of their veterans; Eric Chavez and Rich Harden since the last time these clubs met up.
The A’s are still in near the top in ERA and have won four games in a row coming into tonight. Their success early on was due to a strong pitching staff and they haven’t shown any signs of a let up yet.
Both teams will have to rely on strong pitching as both clubs have struggled offensively. Oakland has a .713 team OPS, and the Angels with an even lower OPS at .703.
Be that as it may, the Angels are playing well, coming off an exciting week at home that featured four walk off wins that rolled into a three game sweep of the hapless Mariners.
However, as usual with the Angels it’s always something. Just when the Halos get Howie Kendrick back into the lineup, Vladimir Guerrero (right knee) and Scot Shields (oblique) were sent to see Dr. Yocum. As of right now their status for this weekend is still unknown.
PITCHING MATCH UPS
Friday:
John Lackey (1-1, 1.80 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (3-7, 4.27 ERA)
Saturday:
Jon Garland (5-3, 3.99 ERA) vs. Greg Smith (3-4, 3.56 ERA)
Sunday:
Ervin Santana (8-2, 3.02 ERA) vs. Rich Harden (3-0, 2.61 ERA)
Regular Season Series
Series tied 2-2 (as of Fri 6/6)
Mon 4/28 OAK 14, @LAA 2
Tue 4/29 @LAA 2, OAK 0
Wed 4/30 @LAA 6, OAK 1
Thu 5/1 OAK 15, @LAA 8
Jun 6, 2008 LAA (Lackey) @ OAK (Blanton) 10:05 PM ET
Jun 7, 2008 LAA (Garland) @ OAK (Smith) 9:05 PM ET
Jun 8, 2008 LAA (Santana) @ OAK (Harden) 4:05 PM ET
Jun 30, 2008 OAK @ LAA 10:05 PM ET
Jul 1, 2008 OAK @ LAA 10:05 PM ET
Jul 2, 2008 OAK @ LAA 3:35 PM ET
Jul 11, 2008 LAA @ OAK 10:05 PM ET
Jul 12, 2008 LAA @ OAK 9:05 PM ET
Jul 13, 2008 LAA @ OAK 4:05 PM ET
Aug 25, 2008 OAK @ LAA 10:05 PM ET
Aug 26, 2008 OAK @ LAA 10:05 PM ET
Aug 27, 2008 OAK @ LAA 10:05 PM ET
Sep 16, 2008 LAA @ OAK 10:05 PM ET
Sep 17, 2008 LAA @ OAK 10:05 PM ET
Sep 18, 2008 LAA @ OAK 3:35 PM ET
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