by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s play three games with the Seattle Mariners starting Friday night at the O.co Coliseum. The A’s trail the Mariners by three games as they battle for fourth place in the AL West. Neither team has had a great season. The Mariners were picked by many to win the West, but they have been a major disappointment. The Mariners fired their GM last week and are now in the hunt for a new man. The A’s had a rough start to the season and have never recovered. The bullpen has been a disaster all season and A’s GM Billy Beane will have his work cut out for him as they rebuild for 2016. A’s fans would love to see their team climb out of the basement and land in fourth place. It may not be much, but the hardcore Oakland fans know that a fourth place finish would be a step in the right direction.

There have been some bright spots for the A’s fans this year. Billy Burns in center field has been terrific, and he is a candidate for AL Rookie of the Year. Big Mark Canha, playing first base almost every day and spot duty in left field has shown that he can hit more consistently playing every day. Josh Reddick, now healthy, has been solid. Brett Lawrie and Danny Valencia have shown that they belong. A’s starting pitching has been good, but injuries have made it difficult for Bob Melvin and the coaching staff. Jesse Hahn, Kendall Graveman, Chris Bassitt are out for the year, but these guys have shown that they belong and could be the nucleus of a great staff for years to come.

The Mariners, on the other hand, have been a disappointment. They still have Felix Hernandez as their ace and Hisashi Iwakuma is solid. Iwakuma threw a no-hitter a couple of weeks go. Nelson Cruz has been a big bat for them but Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager have not been as good as they have been the last couple of years, Cano, to his credit, has 30 doubles for the 11th straight year and is four extra-base hits away from having fifty extra-base hit for 11 straight years, too. He will then match Albert Pujols in that category.

The pitching matchups for the weekend will be the following. On Friday night, it will be 25-year-old Aaron Brooks taking the mound for Oakland. Brooks is 1-1, and he will be opposed by left Edgar Olmos, also 25 years old. Saturday’s game will feature the veteran right Jesse Chavez going against Seattle’s ace, King Felix Hernandez. Hernandez is 14-8 this year but is 21-8 lifetime against the A’s. There will be a fireworks show after the game. On Sunday, lefty Felix Doubront will go for Oakland, and Hisashi Iwakuma will pitch for Seattle. The Mariners are 9-4 against Oakland this year and need just one more win to win the season series for the third straight year.