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Santana hopes to remain perfect

Apr 30, 2008 - 2:18 PM Oakland (17-11) at LA Angels (17-11) 10:05 pm EDT

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - One night after watching his teammate become the American League's second five-game winner, Ervin Santana has his eye on joining the elite club.

Santana puts his unblemished record on the line on Wednesday when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim host the Oakland Athletics in the third game of a four-game set between the AL West's top two teams.

After going 7-14 with a 5.76 ERA in 2007, Santana (4-0, 2.97 ERA) seemed unlikely to take on a lead role in the rotation after the team learned they would begin the season without John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, the top two pitchers for the Angels a season ago.

Instead, the righthander has yet to allow more than three runs in a start this year, tossing at least six frames in each turn. With a win on Wednesday, he hopes to join the New York Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang and teammate Joe Saunders in the five-win club.

Saunders tossed eight strong innings in Tuesday's 2-0 win over the A's to draw the Angels into a first-place tie atop the division.

Santana, who is on his longest winning streak since he won seven straight decisions in 2006, has dominated the A's in his young career, going 7-1 with a 1.38 ERA in 10 appearances, including nine starts.

He figures to get a stiff test from Dana Eveland (3-1, 2.48), who has been a pleasant surprise so far since his acquisition from Arizona in the Dan Haren trade in the offseason. The lefthander, who has never faced the Angels, has won each of his last two starts despite going less than six innings each time.

In his last start on Friday, Eveland allowed three runs and six hits over 5 1/3 innings in a 4-3 win over Seattle.