The A's and Danny Haren with an 11-9 record and a 3.45 ERA take on the Blue Jays and Ted Lilly with a 10-11 record and a 4.26 ERA.

Danny Haren has been one of the absolute best pitchers in baseball since the All Star break.  Outside of his first two starts, Haren has been on cruise control.  And he goes a team he's already beaten this year and has good success against their hitters.  Haren has been the A's ace in many ways helping lead this recent charge.  Hopefully it continues.

As for Lilly, he's had a pitching sandwich recently.  A couple of crappy games surrounded by a very, very good game.  In games against the Yankees and Devil Rays, he pitched 10 1/3 innings and allowed 11 earned runs.  One start in Minnesota and Lilly was nasty, going six innings and only allowed three hits, no runs.  Which Lilly will the A's see?  I wonder.

Haren will seek support from this offense tonight:

Kendall
Kielty
Bradley
Thomas
Swisher
Payton
Crosby
Chavez
Ellis

Chavez is batting lower in the lineup than I remember him batting in years, but it's probably just to get his glove in there.  Watch Kielty, Thomas and Payton tonight as they've had significant success against Lilly in the past.  The A's will periodically rest a few players here and there this series, which is a smart idea considering the turf in Toronto.

The Jays counter with this lineup:

Rios
Catalanotto
Wells
Glaus
Overbay
Molina
Zaun
Hill
McDonald

It's not all that surprising that Zaun is the Jays DH tonight.  He's eaten Haren alive in the past.  So has Hill.  As for the rest of the Jays lineup, Wells has had significant success against the A's pitcher, but other than that, the rest of the team has not done well.

LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!