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Saunders eyes AL-best 12th win

Jul 2, 2008 - 12:51 PM Oakland (45-38) at LA Angels (50-34) 3:35 pm ET

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Joe Saunders may have started showing some weaknesses after his quick start, but the American League West has yet to figure him out.

Saunders will try to become the first 12-game winner in the AL on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim meet the Oakland Athletics in the rubber match of their three-game series.

Despite falling off a bit since his 6-0 start to the season, Saunders (11-4, 3.06 ERA) has been flawless against divisional foes, winning all four of his starts.

In addition to his strong showing inside the division, the lefthander has yet to lose two consecutive starts, a trend Oakland show be aware of after Saunders surrendered three runs - two earned - and five hits over five innings in a 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

Saunders would like a repeat performance from his offense after Tuesday's 5-3 win over the A's, a drastic departure from the team that scored a total of two runs in losing three of its four previous games, starting with Friday's loss.

Oakland will counter with Dana Eveland (6-5, 3.34), who is unbeaten over his last three outings. The lefthander allowed just one run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings, striking out three while forcing 13 groundball outs to collect the win in a 4-1 victory over San Francisco on Friday.