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The Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics finish up their midweek series on Thursday as both teams seem to have diverging goals. The Jays seem to believe they are still in the race for the Wild Card , even though they have endured plenty of injures, while the A's are clearly rebuilding for next season. The A's made that clear at the trade deadline when they shipped off Rich Harden and Joe Blanton. The A's will send Justin Duchscherer to the mound to face A.J. Burnett in the final game of the four-game series. Duchscherer start was pushed back a day to make some room for rookie pitcher Gio Gonzalez , who was called up to start on Wednesday. The extra day should also help Duchscherer in case he was feeling any fatigue issues, which was pondered after a rough start recently. Duchscherer was hit hard on July 26th against the Texas Rangers when he gave up nine hits and eight earned runs in six innings pitched. There's no shame in giving up some runs to the best offense in the American League, but it did raise Duchscherer's ERA from 1.87 to 2.33. He bounced back with a good start at Fenway Park, though, allowing only one earned run in six innings pitched against the Boston Red Sox. Duchscherer is 7-2 at home but just 3-5 on the road. He's allowed only 41 hits in 72 innings pitched at home (.165 AVG) but that jumps up to 50 hits in 55.2 innings pitched (.244 on the road). The A's have produced just 26 runs of support in Duchscherer's last seven starts and scored 15 in one of those starts. That's an average of 1.8 runs in his other six starts. At home, Duchscherer has received a 3.7 runs of support, which is decent. He'll face Burnett, who has won five of his last six starts . Even though the Blue Jays have been trying to trade Burnett, he's in the midst of a career-year. Burnett already has 13 wins, which is a career best. He's also on pace to set new highs for innings pitched and strikeouts. The Jays have won seven of his last nine starts while providing an average of five runs of support per outing. Over that span, Burnett has given up only 22 earned runs in 60.1 innings pitched (3.29 ERA). He's struckout 63 batters in that time while walking only 20 batters and allowing 56 hits (1.26 WHIP). In two outings against the A's this season, Burnett is 0-2 and has been roughed up. He's allowed nine runs in just 10.1 innings pitched and has allowed 17 hits in those two starts. For more props and odds on MLB Baseball as we progress towards the postseason, as well as a look at our brand-new and revamped Casino, for the most exciting experience in the sports betting industry.visit BetOnline.com
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