The much-anticipated meeting five days ago of last year's Cy Young winner Barry Zito and this year's contender Roy Halladay was extremely disappointing to the Jays and their fans. Tonight can only be better. Doc was rocked for ten hits and seven runs (five earned) in just three innings last week, and his lifetime record against Oakland (2-4, 6.98 in seven starts) isn't great. Zito has been much more effective in his career against Toronto (4-1, 3.07 in seven starts) and went a solid seven innings on Sunday to earn the win at home.
The series is vitally important to the A's, who cling to a one-game lead in the wild card race and are within three of the division lead. The Jays are trying to build on two fine efforts that decided the Mariners series. So far in this brutal 14-game stretch against the best in the West, they are a very respectable 5-5. A win tonight gets them back to .500 for the season, and the vast majority of the remaining schedule is against Tampa, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.
Eric Hinske (0-for-6 vs. Zito) gets the night off, with Dave Berg starting at third. O-Dawg's in at second despite his poor platoon split, with Woody at short; Mike Bordick generally hits lefties well but is just 2-for-12 off Zito. Kevin Cash gets to catch the ace for the first time, but it's going to be a challenge to improve on his .118 average against this tough lefty.
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