Cleveland at Oakland

The Cleveland Indians are seeing the results of their dealings before the trade deadline, which basically threw in the towel for '09. The Indians dealt their best pitcher Cliff Lee and their best hitter Victor Martinez, from a team that was already in trouble. The stretch drive has led them to testing and evaluating players, and the results have been ugly. The Tribe has dropped six straight games, and 10 of 11. They are also 3-15 in their last 18. The loss of Martinez and the rookies being evaluated has turned a good offense into a poor one. They have produced just four runs or less in eight of their last nine, been shutout twice, and scored a single run in two others. The A's meanwhile, are closing strong and have won five straight, and are 10-2 in their last 12 games and are getting it from both ends, good solid pitching and great timely hitting. The A's have outscored their opponents 70-33 in the 12 game run or by over three runs a game. I'll back the A's in this one.