A's try and put dent in Angels' division lead

Baseball Betting Lines

07/12/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winners of two straight and four of their last five outings, the Oakland Athletics continue their push towards the top of the American League West standings tonight when they play the second of a three- game set against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at McAfee Coliseum.

Despite being just 13-16 against the rest of the division with the first half of the season nearly wrapped up, the A's are still very much in the hunt for the top spot in the standings and are now just four games out of contention.

On Friday Oakland dropped six runs on the visitors in the third inning on its way to a 9-2 win. Jack Hannahan finished up 3-for-4 with a two-run homer for Oakland, while newly-acquired Matt Murton knocked in two runs and Emil Brown collected three hits and drove in a run. Kurt Suzuki, Jack Cust and Carlos Gonzalez each tallied a pair of hits for the victors as well.

Hurler Sean Gallagher made the most of his Oakland debut after coming over from the Cubs in the Rich Harden trade earlier this week, as he allowed just two runs on two hits and three walks, while striking out seven in as many innings.

On the other side it was Jon Garland who suffered the loss for the Angels, giving up seven earned runs on 10 hits and a pair of walks. Garland, who struck out just one, made it through a mere 2 2/3 innings.

Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar each scored a run for the Angels, the former finally hitting his first triple of the season and plating the latter in the process.

Getting another crack at the A's tonight, Ervin Santana heads to the hill for LA. The four-year vet, who was named to his first All-Star game earlier in the week, is already 1-0 versus Oakland this season and has a remarkable 8-1 mark against the club in his career, sporting a minuscule 1.48 ERA in 12 games.

Santana was roughed up a bit in his most recent outing on Monday, permitting six earned runs on 10 hits, two of those being home runs, and yet he still managed to record a win over Texas on the road. Over the course of seven innings the right-hander also logged six strikeouts, giving him a total of 112 K's in just 122 1/3 innings so far this season.

As for the A's, they are turning to Dana Eveland, as he shoots for his first career win against the Angels. The left-hander has had some issues with control this year, yet has still strung together three wins in as many decisions for Oakland.

On Monday the four-year veteran failed to fan a single batter for the first time this season and was charged with four walks in 5 1/3 innings versus Seattle, yet still lasted long enough to come up with the victory for the club. The Mariners managed nine hits off Eveland, leading to three runs in the 4-3 decision.

Oakland has made this last push towards first in the division despite hitting a collective .236 over the last seven games. Suzuki has helped hold it together with his eight hits in 21 at-bats and the same goes for Hannahan who also has eight hits and has scored four runs in his last seven games. Lost in the shuffle has been Mark Ellis, the second baseman hitting a feeble .103 in his last 29 at-bats.

The Angels have connected on nine home runs over the last week of play, with four players accounting for two long balls apiece. Howie Kendrick is one of those, pacing the club with 10 hits and six runs scored, thanks to a hefty .750 slugging percentage.

The Angels pitching staff appears to be having some problems with the break just days away. The squad has a 5.60 ERA over the last seven games and has allowed opponents to hit .300 against them, yet they still have a pair of complete games (Garland and Joe Saunders) to show for their efforts.

The Angels have won six of 11 versus the A's this season, taking two of three in Oakland from last month.