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Angels-Athletics Preview

Jun 7, 2010 - 2:11 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (30-28) at Oakland (29-28), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The Los Angeles Angels have won five straight games overall and five in a row at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and that's where starter Scott Kazmir is enjoying a 14-inning scoreless streak.

The Angels hope all of those streaks will continue Monday night when they open a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics.

After getting off to a slow start in which they were below .500 for the entire month of May, the Angels (31-28) are starting to show why they are the three-time AL West champions. Los Angeles has matched its longest win streak of the season and has won 10 of 12 overall.

The Angels are 4-2 against the Athletics (30-28) this year, outscoring them 20-3 in a three-game sweep May 14-16. The first six meetings were all in Anaheim.

Last year, Los Angeles went 8-1 at the Coliseum for its best mark in Oakland since going 6-0 in 1997.

Kazmir (4-5, 5.86 ERA) is 5-2 with a 1.99 ERA in his last seven starts at the Coliseum, and his 2.66 ERA there is his second-lowest ERA at any current ballpark. He didn't allow a run in winning two outings at Oakland last season.

The left-hander has done a good job against Athletics regulars Kurt Suzuki (2 for 13) and Mark Ellis (5 for 25) while Jack Cust (4 for 12) has fared better.

Kazmir has won two straight road starts after going 0-3 with a 7.59 ERA in his first four. He yielded one run over 5 2-3 innings Wednesday in a 7-2 victory at Kansas City.

The Angels completed a weekend sweep in Seattle with a 9-4 victory Sunday. They outscored the Mariners 27-7 in the series, with Hideki Matsui and Mike Napoli enjoying big efforts.

Matsui was 5 for 12 with two homers and five RBIs over the weekend while Napoli had six hits and scored four runs in the last two games.

"We've been going pretty good for a little bit now," Napoli said. "We're clicking pretty well as an offense and it's what we needed."

Matsui is 8 for 21 with seven RBIs against the A's this year, and Bobby Abreu - hitless in his last 10 at-bats - is 10 for 24 with seven runs scored versus Oakland.

The A's played their fourth straight one-run game Sunday and avoided a three-game sweep by Minnesota with a 5-4 victory. Cust and Kevin Kouzmanoff each had three hits as the A's strung together enough offense to prevail.

"A lot of singles but we're getting hits, getting guys on base and giving ourselves opportunities to score," Ellis said. "We felt we could have won all three of these games."

Ben Sheets (2-4, 5.00) will face the Angels for the second time this season. Sheets gave up three runs over six innings and did not get a decision in a 4-3 loss April 10.

The right-hander is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in six home starts this year.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia will rejoin the club after missing the last two games due to his daughter's high school graduation.