If you think the left side of the A’s infield is in bad shape, they have met their match in the Baltimore Orioles. Tejada, who always seems to be missing games (does the guy ever play?) has been joined in the morgue by Melvin Mora. That’s right, among Tejada, Mora, Chavez, and Crosby, the only healthy one is Crosby.

Joe Blanton, whose belch early this morning was really felt along the Hayward fault, goes up against lefty Erik Bedard, who is red hot (0 ER and 22 K in 16 IP over his last two starts), but who has never beaten the A’s (0-3 in 6 starts). We’ll see if the A’s hitters read AN.

Today's "fun fact": This year, when batters hit an 0-1 pitch from Bedard they bat .438--but "after an 0-1 count" they hit .169, and after an 0-2 count they hit .067. So if the count is 0-1, SWING!

Oh and welcome back, Mike Piazza! (Komine optioned back to AAA.)

Roberts – 2B
Patterson – CF
Markakis – RF
Millar – 1B
Huff – 3B
Payton – LF
Gibbons – DH
R. Hernandez – C
L. Hernandez – SS

Stewart – LF
Ellis – 2B
Swisher – CF
Paizza – DH
Kielty – RF
Johnson – 1B
Scutaro – 3B
Crosby – SS
Suzuki – C