Ah, the Royals. It's like looking into a funhouse mirror. Virtually the same mediocre record, but while the A's talented young pitchers are undermined by an anemic offense, the Royals talented young hitters are undermined by a Greinke-less pitching staff. The Royals team BA is 5th in the AL, while the A's team ERA is 4th. The Royals' team ERA is way down there in the AL; they're 11th. And the A's team BA? You don't even want to know...

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Don't be a Dillweed. Score Your Last GOG

The Questions (55 points possible w/#7)

1. Series Outcome (3 points)

2. The Human Drama Of Athletic Competition: Do any of these games go into Extra Innings? Are any of these games tied through 7 Innings? Through 5? Are any of these games scoreless through 3? (1 point each, 4 total)

3. RF SmackDown: Jeff Francoeur has been tearin' it up this past week. Our own Right Fielder (and AN's favorite wrestling fan) Josh Reddick is no slouch himself. Predict Francoeur's PA/H/XBH, then do the same for Reddick. (2 points each, 12 total)

4. Ungood vs. Double-Plus Ungood My man-crush on Tom Milone continues unabated, but no amount of dude-love can obscure that Home/Road split. Milone has taken to the Coli like a duck to water, but on the road, he's 2-3 with a 7.16 ERA. His Royals counterpart Luke Hochevar, he of the snicker-inducing surname, has been absolutely ghastly pitching at the Kauff. Ghastly to the tune of 0-3, with a 9.87 ERA. Hey, I think we can beat this guy! Predict IP/H/BB/K for each Pitcher (2 points each, 16 total) If either Pitcher is scratched, the question applies to Sunday's SP for the afflicted team. Feel free to revise if necessary.

5. Over/Under/Tie: 19 IP for A's Starters/4 HR for both teams combined/4 SB for both teams combined/.215 BA for Jemile Weeks (2 points each, 8 total)

6. Diggin' The Long Ball, Sliding-Scale Edition: Who hits the 1st HR for each team in this series? You can guess up to 3 players from each team. A correct answer based on 3 guesses is worth 1 point. 2 guesses, 3 points. 1 guess, 5 points. You can guess "Nobody" for either team, Ye of little faith. A correct "Nobody" is worth 3 points. (10 points possible, Nostradamus!)

7. Welcome Back! Brandon McCarthy is due to come off the DL during this series, which means that somebody is getting a plane ticket to Sacto. Who gets sent down? (2 points) Just for fun, does Manny Ramirez make his A's debut during this series? (1 point) If a roster move regarding McCarthy is made before gametime Friday, the 1st part of this question is off the board. If McCarthy doesn't re-join the team during this series, that would suck, and the 1st part of this question is off the board. Update: Tyson Ross got sent down this morning, but I haven't seen a corresponding roster move. If it ain't McCarthy, the first part of the question is still in play. Also, with regards to the Rotoworld update, The Manny portion of this question is off the board...

Answers due by 1st Pitch, 5:10 PDT Friday. Good Luck, and Let's Go A's!