Few teams have been able to slow Los Angeles slugger Vladimir Guerrero this season, especially the Oakland Athletics.
Guerrero tries to help the Angels win consecutive road games for the first time in over a month when they continue a four-game series with the Athletics on Friday night at McAfee Coliseum.
The 31-year-old Guerrero is batting .326 in 2007 and is well on his way to an 11th straight .300 season. He is hitting .429 (12-for-28) versus the Athletics this year -- his second-best mark against any opponent -- with four homers and 10 RBIs.
Two of those homers came in Thursday's opener as Guerrero led Los Angeles to a 6-4 victory. He hit a solo shot in the fourth and a three-run blast in the fifth for his first multi-homer game of the season and 30th of his career.
The eight-time All-Star went deep for the first time since June 23, ending the longest drought of his career, which lasted 30 games and 125 at-bats.
"It's a new month and I can put everything else behind me," Guerrero said. "I was able to get more lift in my swing. It's all about getting lift in my swing. I knew if I started trying to hit home runs it would only make it harder."
The Angels (63-44) increased their AL West lead to 3 1/2 games over idle Seattle and are now trying to win back-to-back road games for the first time since a three-game streak June 16-29.
Guerrero is 2-for-3 with two doubles during his career versus Lenny DiNardo (5-6, 3.10 ERA), who will take the mound for Oakland (51-58) on Friday. The left-hander gave up a season-high seven runs and seven hits over three innings on Sunday, but didn't factor into the 14-10 defeat to Seattle.
It was just the third time in 11 starts that he allowed more than two earned runs.
"I was fighting my mechanics out there," DiNardo told the Athletics' official Web site. "I looked at the tape, and I don't think it's anything real serious."
DiNardo had been dominant in his previous two starts, allowing just one run through 13 2-3 innings for back-to-back wins. One of those outings was a 4-3 victory over the Angels on July 24 when he limited them to one run and three hits over 6 2-3 innings for his most recent win.
DiNardo is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two career games versus Los Angeles.
Oakland's Donnie Murphy hit a two-run homer Thursday and Mark Ellis recorded his 14th homer in the fourth -- his most ever in a season. Mike Piazza failed to get a hit for just the third time in 12 games since coming off the disabled list, but he's 4-for-5 with a homer and two doubles during his career versus Dustin Moseley.
Moseley (4-1, 4.37) is making his second straight start for Los Angeles in place of the injured Bartolo Colon, who is on the disabled list with right elbow irritation. Moseley has made 31 relief appearances this season and is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA in three starts.
The right-hander gave up four runs and five hits over 4 2-3 innings on Sunday in a 13-4 win over Detroit. He walked two and struck out five.
Moseley is 1-0 with a 9.24 ERA in three career games, including two starts, versus the A's. He gave up five runs over 2 2-3 innings in a relief appearance against them on July 23 and beat them 5-2 on April 6, allowing just one run over six innings.