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Barry Zito appears to be rediscovering his Cy Young Award-winning form.
The left-hander will try to build on his best start of the season when the Oakland
Athletics open a three-game series with the Anaheim Angels at Network Associates
Coliseum.
Zito, who won the AL Cy Young in 2002 by going a career-best 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA, struggled through a mediocre campaign by his own high standards last year, going 14-12 with a 3.30 ERA.
Zito has won two of his first three decisions this season, and is coming off a strong performance against the Angels in Anaheim on Sunday. He allowed one run and four hits over six innings, striking out four and walking one, as Oakland cruised to a 7-1 victory.
``The Angels are so good, you have to bear down and play your best baseball when you play them,'' Zito said. ``I was trying to bear down with guys in scoring position and I made pitches when I had to.''
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Four runs of support appears to be the magic number for Zito, who boasts an
incredible 51-3 career mark when the A's score four times in his starts. When
the A's fail to reach the four-run mark, Zito is 12-27.
Oakland earned a split of its four-game series in Seattle with Thursday's 8-2 victory. Eric Chavez belted a three-run homer and Mark Mulder tossed six strong innings as the A's made a nice recovery after dropping the first two games of the set.
The Angels ended a three-game losing streak, and salvaged the finale of their three-game series with Texas by pulling out a 7-5 win Thursday. Troy Glaus hit a three-run homer and Jeff DaVanon also went deep as Anaheim prevailed despite the absence of All-Star outfielder Garret Anderson.
Anderson, the only player in the majors to play in at least 150 games and get 600 or more at-bats in each of the previous seven season, sat out with stiffness in his upper back.
He is listed as day-to-day.
The A's took two of three from the Angels in Anaheim last weekend.