Photo credit: sfgate.com

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey:

The Oakland A’s open a three-game set at the Oakland Coliseum starting Friday night with the Detroit Tigers. These are not your 2012 Tigers who went to the World Series that season. The aging Bengals have Miguel Cabrera out with a torn triceps and Victor Martinez is near the end of his career.

The Tigers’ best hitter is Nick Castellanos, who was on the American League All-Star team, and the most potent hitter on the club. The Tigers’ dealing of former pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander certainly impacted the Tigers’ rotation and it really hasn’t recovered since then. The Tigers are 47-62 and 13 games out of first place in the AL Central.

The A’s are the hottest team in the Majors, winning 30 of their last 37 games and coming off a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s improved to second place in the wild card race, catching the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. The A’s made up for an 11-game deficit, coming all the way back to catch the M’s.

Tonight, the Tigers will start Blake Hardy (4-3, 3.61 ERA), and for the A’s, Brett Anderson (2-3, 5.51 ERA).

Catch Joey each Friday for the Oakland A’s podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com