(Best E Casino) - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher John Lackey attempts to continue a long personal undefeated streak when he faces an Oakland Athletics squad he's dominated over the course of his career tonight, when the two American League West rivals continue a three-game set at Angel Stadium.

Lackey owns a stellar 13-3 record and a 2.77 earned run average over 24 lifetime starts against Oakland, the right-hander's most wins against any single opponent. He improved that mark with an excellent outing versus the A's on June 6, with Lackey yielding just one run and four hits through seven innings of a 3-1 Anaheim win.

The 2007 All-Star has also won his last five decisions to run his season record to 10-2, and hasn't lost in nine starts since a July 5 setback to Toronto.

Lackey has garnered no-decisions in three of his four recent mound trips, but he pitched well enough to win against Minnesota last Thursday. The 29-year-old limited the Twins to one run and five hits over eight innings.

He'll be aiming to avenge the Angels' narrow loss to the Athletics in Monday's series opener. Dallas Braden and two Oakland relievers teamed up on a seven- hitter as Oakland edged Anaheim by a 2-1 score.

Braden (4-3) worked the first seven innings and allowed the one run and seven hits, with Joey Devine and Brad Ziegler each following with perfect frames to seal the victory.

Daric Barton had a solo home run for the A's, who will be trying to record back-to-back wins for the first time since July 10-11 tonight.

Angels starter Jered Weaver (10-10) was hung with a hard-luck loss after surrendering just two runs and three hits while striking out eight over seven frames. Mike Napoli accounted for Anaheim's lone run with a solo homer off Braden in the bottom of the sixth.

The Angels have now dropped eight of their last 12 contests but still hold a sizeable 16-game lead on second-place Texas in the AL West.

Greg Smith takes the mound for Oakland this evening and seeks a repeat of his strong last start, when the rookie fired six shutout innings to defeat Seattle on Thursday. That halted a string of six straight losing decisions for the young lefty, who is just 6-12 during his debut campaign despite a solid 3.75 ERA.

Smith has allowed two or less runs in each of his last four starts, having compiled an impressive 2.08 ERA over that span. However, he's lost two of those matchups due to poor run support.

The 24-year-old will be making his fourth start against Anaheim this season and is 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA versus the Angels in 2008. The last time he faced the Halos, Smith tossed a complete-game four-hitter at Angel Stadium to lead Oakland to a 6-1 win on June 30.

The Angels have won eight of the 14 meetings between these AL West foes in 2008, with the teams having split eight games in Anaheim so far this year.