The Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics are sitting bottom-two in the AL West pretty far off the Astros who hold down the top spot. These teams have split the first two of a four-game series at O.Co. Coliseum, but the Mariners impressed in last night's 9-5 win and I think the price is right to back them in tonight's contest as well.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Mariners will hand the ball to their ace "King Felix" Hernandez (10-4, 3.05 ERA) who's coming off six innings of one-hit ball at Anaheim. He's 4-1 with a 3.29 ERA over seven starts away from home this season and 10-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 20 career starts at Oakland. The A's will counter with Kendall Graveman (5-4, 3.47 ERA) who's coming off a strong performance as well hen he held Colorado scoreless over seven innings home at Oakland. He's otherwise struggled in front of the home-fans, sitting on a 1-3 record behind a 5.86 ERA in five home-starts for the season.

2. Situational - Seattle has won six of the last seven meetings at Oakland it's 13-3 in Hernandez's last 16 starts during game 3 of a series. Oakland meanwhile has lost five of its last six games as a home underdog.

3. X-Factor - The Mariners have 17 homers in their last 12 games.