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Haren faces former team for first time

Jun 18, 2008 - 2:06 PM Oakland (39-31) at Arizona (37-34) 9:40pm EDT

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Much like some of his recent predecessors who have continued their success after leaving the Oakland Athletics, Dan Haren has enjoyed a strong first season away from his former team. On Wednesday, he'll get a chance to remind them what they are missing.

Haren faces his former team for the first time in his career as the Arizona Diamondbacks continue their three-game interleague series against the Athletics.

While former Oakland standouts Miguel Tejada and Jason Giambi were allowed to depart in free agency once their price tags became too high, Haren (6-4, 3.41 ERA) was traded to Arizona this past offseason along with righthander Connor Robertson to Arizona in exchange for six players after going 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA in 2007 - his third consecutive season with at least 14 wins.

After racing out to a 3-0 record and 1.80 ERA after four starts with his new team, the righthander has fallen off the pace a bit, winning just twice since the beginning of May. He has recorded two straight no-decisions, including Thursday's 5-4 win over the Mets in which he allowed two runs and five hits over six frames.

On Wednesday, he'll be making a start at Chase Field - where he is 6-1 with a 2.56 ERA in eight starts this season - for the first time since his last win on June 1.

Oakland will counter with Joe Blanton (3-9, 4.23), who will be hoping to avoid becoming the first 10-game loser in the American League this season. The righthander suffered his third loss in as many starts in Thursday's 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees when he allowed four runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings.