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Oakland Athletics (4-7) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (4-6)
Probable Pitchers: OAK – Tyson Ross (0-0, -.– ERA) LAA – Dan Haren (0-1, 6.97 ERA)
Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV- FS-W; Radio- KLAA 830
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The Angels got this home stand of to a great start after last night’s all around great performance by the team. Great pitching, great hitting, the defense could have been better, but the biggest factors contributing to the Angels slow start were nowhere to be seen last night. The biggest question remains however, we all knew Weaver would do great last night, but will Haren be able to replicate his performance? Hell, will Haren even be able to come close to meeting it? With the way his past few starts have gone it seems like a tall order to ask for 7 shutdown innings out of Haren, but based off of his track record there is a shimmer of hope that Dan Haren will be able to snap back into form tonight. The more likely scenario is that Haren will put up a quality start, but no shutdown game, maybe 6-7 innings of 1-2 run ball. I don’t see Haren exceeding 3 runs based off this Oakland offense, but then again he did get shelled by mediocre offenses in the Twins and the Royals.
The biggest free agent addition to the A’s roster, Yoenis Cespedes, was not present in the lineup last night due to a small slump he’s found himself in. He’ll probably be in the lineup tonight, and I gotta say I’m pretty excited to watch him play, even more excited than I am to see this offense tear apart Tyson Ross, even though he has a career 2.45 ERA across 4 games against the Angels. I’m a little worried that Yoenis Cespedes will take advantage of Haren if he shows any glaring weakness like he has his past few starts, if the A’s do manage to win this one it’ll be due to the bat of Cespedes powering the A’s past Dan Haren and the Angels.