Rich Harden will try to get his A's within sight of first place when he takes the mound against the Angels this week.

Week 15

At the end of this coming week of games, baseball goes on a four-day hiatus during which time there is little or no action that isn’t related to the All Star game in some way, making it the most boring stretch of time in sports. However, the good news is that we have a full week of games to get through before that, and a number of teams will be looking to garner a little momentum heading into the break. In the National League East, the Phillies still hold a 3.5 game lead over the Marlins, with the Phils playing at home this week against the surging Cardinals, and the fading Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, if the Marlins want to catch up, they will have to do so on a west coast road trip through San Diego and LA, where they hope to slow the Dodgers’ run at first place, now just ½ a game back of the Snakes. In the Central, the Brewers and Cardinals are looking to take advantage of the Cubs mini-swoon and sneak back into the race.

In the American League East, the Rays continue their run at overthrowing the defending World Series Champion Red Sox and build on their four game lead. They can bury the Yankees even further behind with a pair of games against the Bombers, and then a four game set against the Indians who are slowly sinking into insignificance. The AL Central is still led by the White Sox, but the Twins and Tigers are both within shooting distance and will look to tighten that race up before the break. All of which brings us to the AL West, and my choice for this week’s Series of the Week.

Series of the Week – Oakland A’s vs. LA Angels of Anaheim – Friday – Sunday

It’s been said that Oakland GM Billy Beane never rebuilds his teams he merely re-loads. There certainly is no arguing the kind of success his teams have enjoyed, as the A’s seem to be in contention year in and year out. This season’s version of the A’s was not expected to amount to much. Primarily because Beane chose to trade away Dan Haren, arguably the A’s best pitcher, for several young, unproven players. He also traded Nick Swisher, one of the first players Beane ever recruited, and developed in the Moneyball era. It was thought that Beane was getting the team ready for a run at the playoffs during the 2009 season, but here they are, despite numerous injuries, just five games behind the talent-rich (and payroll rich) Angels.

The two teams face off for a three game series leading into the All Star break, and the A’s have a chance to close the gap a bit. The pitching match ups for the series, which begins Friday, July 11^th in Oakland, has A’s ace Rich Harden (5-0, 2.25 ERA) facing the Angels’ Jon Garland (7-5, 3.99 ERA) playing in the opener, followed by Dana Eveland (6-5, 3.42) vs. Ervin Santana (9-3, 3.28) in game two, and Justin Duchscherer (9-5, 1.96) vs. Joe Saunders (12-4, 3.04) in the series finale.

The two teams have already faced each other 10 times this season, with the A’s leading the series with six wins against four losses. Harden had two starts against the Angels earlier this season and pitched well, but has not figured in any decisions. Eveland got knocked around in his only start against the Halos this season, while Duchscherer gave up six runs, only one of them earned, and two home runs in his outing. Angels pitchers have done very well against Oakland this season, led by Santana, who has a 1.80 ERA in his three starts against the A’s. Garland has struggled a bit, with a record of 1-2 and a 5.21 ERA. But Saunders has been very effective in his two starts against the Angels, with a record of 2-0 and a 1.26 ERA.

Angels batters have not exactly set the world on fire against Oakland pitching, but there are a couple of notable performances. Mike Napoli has hammered three home runs against the A’s, while Erick Aybar and Macier Izturis have both hit a pair of dingers. The Angels have done a number on Oakland on the basepaths in their 10 head to head games; Angels base runners have stolen 11 bases and only been caught twice by A’s catchers.

Several Oakland hitters have enjoyed good success against the Angels pitchers. Notable among them is Mark Ellis, who has a .318 average against LA pitching this season with 2 home runs, 8 RBI, and three stolen bases as the only A’s player, other than Bobby Crosby, to play in all 10 games. Jack Cust has a .300 average and three homers against Angels’ pitchers. Daric Barton and Ryan Sweeney have also hit very well against Angels pitching.

At the end of the three game series, the A’s could be within shooting distance of first place in the AL West, so this should be a real showdown next weekend, and provide some excellent baseball to watch before facing four days of boredom