Angels Open Second Half Against A’s In Oakland

The Angels will open the second half in Oakland for a four game set (highlighted by a double header Saturday) with the Athletics. The Halos will look to keep the good times rolling as they closed out the first half winning 11 of 13. Dan Haren will oppose Brandon McCarthy in tonight’s series opener.

Lets Take A Look At The Series At A Glance:

Pitching Match-ups

• Game 1: Dan Haren ( 10 -5, 2.61 ERA) vs. Brandon McCarthy ( 1-5, 3.66 ERA)
• Game 2: Jered Weaver ( 11-4, 1.86 ERA) vs. Trevor Cahill ( 8-7, 3.12 ERA)
• Game 3: Ervin Santana ( 4-8, 3,89 ERA) vs. Rich Harden (1-1, 5.73 ERA)
• Game 4:  Joel Pineiro ( 5-3, 3.90 ERA) vs. Gio Gonzalez ( 8-6 , 2.47 ERA)

Athletic To Watch

• Jemile Weeks has been a spark plug for the A’s since his recall in June.  While the speedy second baseman’s .287/.313/.402 slash line  is unspectacular he has 7 stolen bases and when the A’s have won recently Weeks has been the spark. Given the Angels pitchers and catchers inability to hold base runners it will be critical to keep Weeks off of the base paths.

Holy Halo

• I’m expecting a good second half from  Torii Hunter. The Angels leader slumped for most of the first half before heating up considerably during the Angels 12 game 4 corners road trip only to lose a battle with a wall in Florida and then get hit on the hand in the Freeway Series causing him to miss several games. Look for Hunter to end up closer to his career .273/.331/.467 slash line than his current .250/.321/.396 pace. The beginning of that turn around could likely begin this weekend in Oakland.