JP Sears got smoked in his last start in Baltimore but had been pitching well prior to that outing, with just one run allowed in 17.1 innings over his previous three starts. He has a fantastic matchup today in the friendly confines of Oakland Coliseum against the Marlins, who have just a .570 OPS against lefties this year. They have just one hitter with better than a .650 OPS in more than 10 plate appearances against southpaws, so there just aren't many trouble spots in this lineup for Sears to give up three earned runs.

Phil Nevin's kid may have found a home in Oakland. Nevin flashed a professional approach in brief stints with BAL and DET but never got a consistent run of ABs after shining in the minors. He is confident right now, batting .325 and he is mashing vs lefties (6 RBI in 27 ABs with an 1.100 OPS). Can find a lot of doubles in this huge park with his approach, and sports a 1.200 OPS at home, but has 20 more ABs on the road with the nature of A's schedule and his ascent. Righties are batting .291 off Ryan Weathers.

Sears is maturing at a great rate for OAK and looks like a top-end starter in the making. He has found his command and is keeping even elite MLB batters off balance from the left side and the Marlins stink at pretty much everything baseball related - especially hitting southpaws. As good as OAK bullpen is, you can't burn out those young arms too early in a season and after playing tight games vs the Yanks and O's on the road, I like Sears to settle in and provide length here back in his huge home ballpark. A's getting their best defensive OF back up from the minors last month was huge for their staff, too

OAK has faced some elite teams and gets to go home and get a MIA outfit that has the third-worst RD in MLB. JP Sears is becoming one of the more interesting lefties in the AL, he has good deception and the Marlins slashline vs southpaws: .213/.266/.304 - .570 OPS (29th). OAK is a truly special bullpen. MIA lives to blow leads. We'll be fading the fish quite a bit on their road sojourn out West. MIA 4 losses that Weathers started all by 3+ runs.