Read More: Rich Harden (P – OAK), Josh Willingham (LF – OAK), Bobby Abreu (DH – ANA), Jered Weaver (P – ANA), Jordan Walden (P – ANA), Mark Trumbo (1B – ANA), Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics, Sep 14, 2011 12:35 PM PDT

Mark Trumbo hit a go-ahead, two-run home run off Rich Harden in the top of the sixth inning, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday afternoon at Overstock.com Coliseum in Oakland. Jered Weaver allowed one run in seven innings to pick up his 17th victory of the season. The Halos are now two and a half games behind Texas in the American League West, with the outcome of the Rangers’ game against Cleveland Wednesday night pending.

Josh Willingham hit his second home run of the series, a two-run shot off Weaver in the third inning, to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. Bobby Abreu tied the score with an RBI double off Harden in the top of the sixth, and Trumbo followed with his team-leading 27th home run of the season, giving the Angels a 3-1 lead. The Halos added an insurance run in the eighth inning.

Weaver threw 115 pitches in his seven innings of work, allowing just one run, but he also had just one strikeout against two walks. The 17 wins are a new career high for Weaver. Jordan Walden pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 31st save of the season.

The Angels are off Thursday, but open a three-game series in Baltimore on Friday against the Orioles.

For more news and information on the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Read More: Ryan Sweeney (RF – OAK), Coco Crisp (CF – OAK), Josh Willingham (LF – OAK), Guillermo Moscoso (P – OAK), Los Angeles Angels, Detroit Tigers

The Oakland Athletics will face off with the Detroit Tigers Tuesday afternoon at 4:00pm pacific looking to build on the momentum of their series victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The matchup features Guillermo Moscoso taking on Rick Porcello as the Tigers will look to hang steady behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians.

In an interesting twist, the A’s have sat outfielder Josh Willingham for the series opener, instead going with Ryan Sweeney in left field and placing Coco Crisp in the three spot in the lineup. More than likely this is simply the A’s looking to get some quality matchups given Sweeney’s success against right handed batters. At the same time, it’s an interesting decision if the team is in fact shopping Willingham in advance of the trade deadline. One would think the A’s would want to showcase the outfielder, but there is also the idea of actually trying to win games.

First pitch is scheduled for 4:05pm pacific on CSN California.

Oakland Athletics
1. Jemile Weeks 2B
2. Ryan Sweeney LF
3. Coco Crisp CF
4. Hideki Matsui DH
5. Scott Sizemore 3B
6. David DeJesus RF
7. Conor Jackson 1B
8. Kurt Suzuki C
9. Cliff Pennington SS

Detroit Tigers
1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch LF
3. Magglio Ordonez RF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Carlos Guillen 2B
8. Alex Avila C
9. Brandon Inge 3B

Read More: Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners

The Oakland Athletics three game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees has dropped them further into last place in the American League West. The A’s find themselves four games back of the first place Texas Rangers. Now that the Rangers have regained Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz, while retaining their hold on first place, we might see them start to pull away. They lack consistent pitching but they can sure hit the heck out of the ball.

The team that is surprising some (well, at least surprising me) would be the Seattle Mariners. They came into the season with numerous question marks and were expected to be fourth in the division. There’s still plenty of time left in the season, but for now the Mariners are managing to hang around, sitting 1 1/2 games back of first place.

The A’s now head off on a ten game road trip through Boston, Baltimore and Chicago. They have proven they can hang with these teams in the past, but given the team’s recent struggles, who knows where the team will be in the standings in ten days.

Read More: Trevor Cahill (P – OAK), Hideki Matsui (DH – OAK), Bartolo Colon (P – NYY), Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees

The Oakland Athletics open up a three game series with the New York Yankees Monday night sending out Trevor Cahill to face Bartolo Colon. Cahill is coming off a poor outing against the Angels in which he gave up ten hits, walked five batters and took his second straight loss. He only gave up four runs (three earned), but he lacked the control that has been key for him in 2011.

Cahill will face a Yankees lineup that leads the American League in runs scored and OPS. They have three players with double digit home run totals, with two more at nine home runs. Given the A’s struggles scoring runs this season, Cahill will have to pitch a pretty solid game if Oakland is going to take the first game of the series.

The A’s decided not to go with Ryan Sweeney against the right-hander Colon. They find themselves in a bit of a conundrum when it comes to their starting lineup. Matsui is struggling to get going with a line of .226/.282/.346. He’s generally been a slow starter so the team has to be hoping he’ll heat up with the weather in June. The question becomes how long does the team wait before making playing time adjustments?

Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp CF
2. Daric Barton 1B
3. David DeJesus RF
4. Josh Willingham LF
5. Hideki Matsui DH
6. Kurt Suzuki C
7. Mark Ellis 2B
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B
9. Cliff Pennington SS

New York Yankees
1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Curtis Granderson CF
3. Mark Teixeira 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Robinson Cano 2B
6. Russell Martin C
7. Jorge Posada DH
8. Nick Swisher RF
9. Brett Gardner LF

(Sports Network) – The Oakland Athletics try to continue their recent mastery
of the Baltimore Orioles this evening when the two teams resume a three-game
series at the Coliseum.

Oakland won seven of its 10 matchups with the Orioles last season and is 18-4
in the series since the start of the 2008 campaign with 10 of those wins
coming in its home ballpark.

That trend continued in Friday’s opener, as Ryan Sweeney singled in a run to
spark a three- run sixth inning to give Oakland a 6-2 victory.

Brad Ziegler (1-0) was given the win as he pitched two scoreless innings in
relief of starter Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez went five-plus innings, allowing two
runs — one earned — on five hits and five walks with seven strikeouts in the
Athletics’ third win in their last four games.

Alfredo Simon (1-1) took the loss when he allowed three runs in two innings of
relief. Starter Chris Tillman allowed two runs — one earned — on six hits
and three walks in 4 1/3 innings as Baltimore had its five-game win streak
stopped.

“I’m disappointed, but I have to look forward,” Tillman said of his short
outing. “We’re headed in the right direction.”

Getting the call for the O’s this evening will be righty Brad Bergesen, who
hasn’t pitched since getting torched by the New York Yankees on May 19.
Bergesen gave up eight runs and five hits in just 3 1/3 innings of that one,
as he fell to 1-5 on the year to go along with a 5.64 ERA.

He did not get a decision in his only other start against the A’s, but
surrendered four runs in seven innings of that outing.

Oakland, meanwhile, will counter with lefty Josh Outman, who will be making
his second start after missing all of last season recovering from Tommy John
surgery. Outman, filling in for the injured Brandon McCarthy and Tyson Ross,
looked good in his initial outing, holding the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
to a run and five hits in seven innings, but did not factor in the decision of
his team’s 4-1 loss.

“It was quite an outing for his first time out,” manager Bob Geren said. “When
you lose a couple starters and have a guy come up and step up like that, that
was quite impressive. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t get runs for him.
One run, you have to be absolutely perfect as a pitcher.”

This will be his first-ever appearance against the Orioles.

The Sports Network

A weekend set with the Baltimore Orioles might be what the Oakland Athletics
need to string together some wins.

The A’s look to continue their recent dominance over the Orioles and match a
season high with a third consecutive victory Saturday night.

Josh Willingham(notes) went 2 for 3 with a homer and the A’s (25-27) scored three
times in the sixth inning to snap Baltimore’s season-high five-game winning
streak with a 6-2 victory Friday.

The Orioles (24-25) are 4-18 versus Oakland since the start of the 2008
season, and averaged 2.7 runs while going 1-10 at the Coliseum during that span.

The A’s hope that dominance continues as they try to win for the fourth time
in five games since dropping a season-high six in a row. Oakland scored more
than three runs once during that skid, but has done so in each of its three wins
over the last four contests.

“If we can put up four or five runs a game, I like our chances on any given
night with our pitching staff,” said Josh Willingham, who had an RBI double in
the sixth. “We haven’t helped them as much as we should have so far this year
but hopefully we can start coming around and putting some consistent games
together.”

Oakland also hopes scheduled starter Josh Outman(notes) can build off his first
major league appearance in almost two years when he faces the Orioles for the
first time.

After missing 2010 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, the left-hander
allowed one run and five hits in seven innings but did not factor in a 4-1 loss
to the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in his first outing since June 19, 2009.

Outman, who made 16 previous starts for the A’s before he suffered the
injury, won his last four starts with Triple-A Sacramento before being recalled.

“It feels like being at home. I feel like this is where I belong,” Outman
said. “I didn’t prove that in the spring, but hopefully I can show over a period
of time that this is where I should be.”

Scheduled starter Brad Bergesen(notes) (1-5, 5.64) wants to be in the Orioles’
rotation, but likely needs to bounce back Saturday from his roughest outing of
the season to keep his spot.

After he tossed a four-hitter in a 6-0 win at Tampa Bay on May 14, the
right-hander was charged with a season-high eight runs in 3 1-2 innings of a
13-2 loss to the New York Yankees on May 19.

“You’d like to see him take his (previous) outing and run with it. You
expect and you’re hoping that’s the case,” said Orioles manager Buck Showalter,
who opted to skip Bergeson’s most recent turn in the rotation. “I’ve seen him
pitch some good games while I’ve been here for a short time, and I’ve seen him
really struggle. Most of them are the result of his command of his fastball.”

One year ago Friday, Bergesen allowed four runs in seven innings and did not
factor in the decision of a 7-5 loss in his only previous appearance against the
A’s.

Willingham is 5 for 10 with a homer against Bergesen.

Matt Wieters(notes) had two of the Orioles’ six hits in the opener. Nick Markakis(notes)
singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, and Vladimir Guerrero(notes) also has
a 12-game hit streak.

Markakis has hit .360 during that stretch, and .340 his last 13 games versus
Oakland.