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Rays-A's preview

 
Published April 19, 2013

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vs. Athletics

Tonight-Sunday

What's new: Like the Rays, the A's find a way around the star system to creatively build teams, and they seem to have once again found a winning combination as they have the AL's best record at 12-4. They lead the league in runs, doubles, homers and on-base percentage as well as stolen bases, and that's even with OF Yeonis Cespedes on the DL. They added former Rays C John Jaso, SS Jed Lowrie and OF Chris Young to a core that includes Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss. They also have a solid rotation and a strong bullpen led by former Ray Grant Balfour.

Key stat: The A's are 12-0 when scoring four or more runs, 0-4 with fewer than four.

Connections: Jaso and Balfour are ex-Rays, as are coach Ariel Prieto, athletic trainer Nick Paparesta, front-office exec Dan Feinstein. Rays RHP Joel Peralta, 1B coach George Hendrick started with the A's.

Series history: A's lead 86-52 overall, 39-31 at Trop.

Marc Topkin, Times staff writer