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Pair of converted relievers to do battle in Oakland

Jun 16, 2007 - 1:24 PM St Louis (28-36) at Oakland (37-29) 9:05 pm EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - After issuing a severe pounding to Friday's converted reliever - Braden Looper - the Oakland Athletics will take aim at another on Saturday when they host the St. Louis Cardinals.

Injuries and offseason departures forced the Cardinals into a major restructuring of the rotation. Part of that effort has included Todd Wellemeyer (2-1, 7.18 ERA).

The 28-year-old righthander is 2-0 in his three starts for St. Louis, but his offense has bailed him out at times. Wellemeyer is averaging less than five innings per start with a 5.79 ERA.

Lenny DiNardo (2-2, 1.22), on the other hand, has suffered no problems during his transition between reliever and starter.

The A's have also had to overhaul their rotation, but unlike the Cardinals, fill-ins such as DiNardo, Joe Kennedy and Chad Gaudin have been remarkably stingy and consistent.

The 27-year-old DiNardo has allowed just one earned run in 17 1/3 innings as a starter this season and has yielded only six hits in the past two.

Oakland's offense, dormant most of the season, exploded for 14 runs in Friday's 14-3 victory. Eric Chavez homered for the third game in a row and Dan Johnson homered for the first time since May 18.