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Athletics-Mariners Preview

Oct 2, 2010 - 6:01 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Oakland (78-81) at Seattle (61-98), 10:10 p.m. EDT

This will be the fourth straight year the Oakland Athletics miss the playoffs. The A's, though, still have a chance for their first non-losing season since 2006.

Oakland continues its push for second place in the AL West on Saturday at Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners are trying to avoid their second 100-loss season in three years.

While the A's (79-81) will miss the postseason for the fourth consecutive season under manager Bob Geren, the club can snap a three-year stretch of sub-.500 baseball with two more victories.

After dropping a season-high six in a row, Oakland has outscored Seattle 17-1 in the first two games of this series.

Tied with the Los Angeles Angels for second place in the West, the A's will give the ball to Brett Anderson (6-6, 2.91 ERA) on Saturday. The 22-year-old left-hander went 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA in six September starts, but has not earned a decision in his last two outings.

"That wasn't much fun," Anderson told the A's official website after yielding four runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings of Monday's 6-5 loss in Anaheim. "... That's two games in a row where I've felt just subpar."

The AL-worst Mariners (61-99) can relate. Now needing to win both remaining games to avoid finishing with 100 losses, Seattle will try to snap a three-game skid with David Pauley (4-8, 3.98) going for his first career victory at Safeco Field.

The right-hander is 0-6 with a 3.60 ERA in seven home starts this season, with the Mariners scoring 14 total runs in those outings. Seattle, which had totaled 18 runs in Pauley's first 13 outings overall, backed him with plenty of offense in Monday's 7-5 victory at Texas.

"That helps a lot," Pauley said after holding the AL West champs to two runs in six innings. "That gives you an opportunity to sit back a little bit, you've got a little cushion to work the plate a little more instead of trying to be too fine."

Pauley, who has never faced the A's, will now try to win a career-best third straight start.

Ichiro Suzuki, batting .367 during an 11-game overall hitting streak, is 16 for 45 while hitting safely in 11 straight against Oakland. He has eight hits in 22 at-bats versus Anderson.

A's first baseman Daric Barton, who had two homers - including a grand slam - and a career-high six RBIs in Friday's 9-0 victory, is questionable after leaving that game with a tight right quadriceps.

Oakland leads the season series 11-6.