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Duchscherer seeks first post-break victory

Aug 7, 2008 - 2:00 PM Oakland (53-60) at Toronto (58-56) 7:07 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- During first half of the season, Justin Duchscherer's ability to hold the opposition down netted him win after win. Since the All-Star break, it hasn't been enough.

Duchscherer and the Oakland Athletics will try to reverse their second-half fortunes and avoid a sweep on Thursday when they face the Toronto Blue Jays.

Going into the All-Star break, Duchscherer (10-7, 2.33) dominated the opposition, going 6-1 over his final eight starts. His 1.82 ERA was the best in the majors and his 10 wins was among the league leaders.

While his ERA still stands as baseball's best, he has yet to net a win despite allowing two or less runs in two of his three post-break starts. Much of that blame can fall on the offense, which has failed to score more than three runs in any contest during the A's season-high nine-game slide.

Since Oakland defeated the Angels on July 11 to move within four games of the American League West lead, the A's have dropped 18 of 20 to fall 17 1/2 games back, thanks largely to an offense that has averaged 2.65 runs while hitting .214, even losing all four of Duchscherer's starts.

Duchscherer, who will be making his first career starts against Toronto, will be looking to repeat his last outing but with a different result. The righthander did not receive a decision in Friday's 2-1 loss despite yielding a run and five hits over six innings.

While his opponent has enjoyed little success lately, A.J. Burnett (13-9, 4.57) has experienced no such problem.

The AL leader in strikeouts, who is 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA since the break, set a career high in wins in Saturday's 6-4 victory over Texas, permitting four runs and six hits over 5 2/3 innings to capture his third straight outing.