Dan Haren, the A's starting pitcher here this evening against the Mariners, enters into this contest in top form having only allowed seven earned runs in his last four starts spanning 30 innings.
His pitching opponent, Seattle's Gil Meche, is at the exact proverbial opposite end of the spectrum having allowed 25 ERs in his last 15 innings of work. Considering the pitching matchup and the A's current hot run that has seen them win 16 of 18, it will be easy for me to back the Athletics against the run line here tonight.
Note: The As have won 14 in a row against the Mariners by an average of 3.64 RPG.
The A's continue to amaze me every single season with the way they're able to rattle off huge winning streaks on a consistent basis. They've rattled off 5-straight wins after knocking off the M's last night by an 11-2 count, and have won nine of their last 10 overall.
It was really ugly folks, and tonight doesn't look to get much better with Gil Meche toeing the rubber for the M's. Seattle has only won three of Meche's last 10 starts vs. Oakland, while Haren's rattled off 5-straight wins vs. the Marners.
If that's not enough for your pallet, the A's have flat out dominated the M's this year winning 14 of their 15 matchups, and all eight in their own backyard. Sure, all streaks come to an end at some point, but it doesn't look like that will happen this evening with the type of ball Oakland plays every day.
The M's are playing some poor ball right now, and have now lost 6-straight AL West games to fall 11 games back of the A's with a 56-63 mark. In fact, the Mariners have failed to win an AL West game since early June when they swept a 3-game set in Anaheim. They've now lost their last 15 divisional games, and that mark will get extended tonight as Haren pitches a gem in front of the home crowd.