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Haren tries to continue Halos' home dominance of A's

Apr 27, 2011 - 2:45 PM (Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Angels have perhaps the hottest pitcher in baseball right now in ace Jered Weaver, but teammate Dan Haren isn't far off. Haren, though, has one thing that Weaver doesn't have: a loss.

He'll try to rebound from that setback this evening and pitch Los Angeles to a ninth straight home victory over the Oakland Athletics in the finale of three- game series at Angel Stadium.

Weaver is tops in all of baseball with a 0.99 earned run average and is the first pitcher in major league history to reach six victories by April 25, winning Monday's opener in this series with a seven-hit shutout. His red-hot beginning to the season has overshadowed a strong start by Haren, who won his first four decisions prior to Friday's loss to Boston and is second in the American League with a 1.46 ERA.

Haren struggled a bit with his command versus the Red Sox, giving up four runs -- two earned -- while issuing three walks to give him just five over his first 37 innings. The right-hander has struck out six in all five starts this season and is 4-1 in six games (five starts).

"I felt pretty good, but walks hurt me and a couple of balls found holes," Haren said. "I don't want to lose, but I wasn't planning on going 34-0."

Haren, 30, is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in three career starts against the Athletics, who he pitched with from 2005-07, going 43-34 with a 3.64 ERA while averaging 221 innings per season. Now he has a chance to pitch Los Angeles to its second straight sweep of Oakland.

The Angels have taken the first two games of this series to give them six straight victories over the A's dating back to last season. That includes a three-game sweep at home from Sept. 27-29 and Los Angeles hasn't lost to Oakland in Anaheim since April 11 of last year, winning the past eight meetings there.

The Angels have also won 12 of their last 18 overall against the Athletics following last night's 8-3 win. Peter Bourjos tripled twice and had three of Los Angeles' 16 hits, while Howie Kendrick went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored. Second baseman Alexi Amarista smacked a two-run double and added a sacrifice fly in his major league debut.

"I was a little nervous my first at-bat, but after that I started feeling comfortable," said Amarista, who was called up from the minors on Monday. "I don't feel intimidated; I enjoy the challenge."

It was plenty of support for the Halos' pitching staff. Rookie starter Tyler Chatwood allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings, while Francisco Rodriguez, Fernando Rodney and Jordan Walden held Oakland scoreless the rest of the way.

Los Angeles was swept in four games by Boston prior to this series but is now just a half-game back of Texas for first place in the AL West.

Conor Jackson hit his first homer of the season for the Athletics, a two-run shot in the third inning, but starter Brandon McCarthy yielded seven runs and 14 hits over 5 1/3 innings. He had allowed seven earned runs in his first four starts combined.

"It seemed like everything they hit found holes, and they had a lot of hits," said A's manager Bob Geren. "Brandon was around the plate, but maybe too much around the plate."

Oakland, which has lost five of seven, saw center fielder Coco Crisp leave last night's game early with tightness in his left quad and is day-to-day. Fellow outfielder Josh Willingham is also day-to-day after exiting Monday's game early because of tightness in his upper back and did not play last night.

The Athletics send to the mound tonight right-hander Tyson Ross for his second start of the season and fourth of his career. With Dallas Braden out with left shoulder inflammation, Ross made his initial start of this campaign on Friday at Seattle, but took a loss after giving up three runs on four hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings. He threw 76 pitches in all, though only 31 were strikes.

"I fell behind a bunch of hitters and put them in good hitters' counts," Ross said on Oakland's website. "It was just one of those off days. I couldn't find a rhythm. I had good movement, but it was movement out of the zone. That's why I really need to find the right adjustment to keep it in there."

Ross, who pitched on his 24th birthday last time out, has made just one career start versus the Angels and took a loss on May 15 of last year. He gave up three runs over 3 2/3 innings.