Two do or die games on the west coast pit the north against the south. Both bay area teams are four games back with seven to play, trailing a southern California team. One loss makes their situation precarious; two losses and they're done.

The Padres host the Giants with ace Jake Peavy hurling against Brad Hennessey. Peavy's handled the Giants well this year, posting a 2.08 ERA while striking out 18 in 13 innings pitched. Hennessey made just one start against the Padres and was knocked out in the third inning.

Peavy's pitched Bonds very carefully in his career. Barry has three home runs in 16 at bats vs. Jake, but Peavey's walked Bonds 11 times. PETCO has contain Barry's power, however. He's hit just 1 home run in 30 at bats in the new San Diego stadium.

Up north, the Oakland Athletics host the LAnaheim Angels. John Lackey takes the hill against Joe Blanton. The ERAs for the two pitchers are almost identical, Lackey's being .05 runs better than Blantons. The Angels scored 109 runs vs. the 83 Lackey's allowed, while Oakland's just scored 82 against the 85 Blanton's allowed. Scutaro is the only player on the Oakland roster to homer against Lackey.

The Angels outscored Oakland 53 to 40 this season, but have a 7-8 record against the Athletics. The A's have tended to win the close ones vs the Angels this year.

Also note that Randy Johnson goes for the Yankees tonight while Curt Schilling hurls for the Red Sox. There was hope these two would open the season against each other, but a showdown between the former teammates in the scheduled penultimate game of the regular season works even better.

Enjoy!

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