Good morning, Athletics Nation! It's Friday, and the A's have a magic number of 14 games to clinch the AL West with 16 left to play. Yeah, that's right, I said it. The A's have a magic number, and it could go down really fast if they win a couple of games against the Rangers this weekend.
On today's Phil Naessens Show, we discuss the hot hitters in Oakland's lineup, Dan Straily, the Rookie of the Year race, and the upcoming series against Texas. Listen to the show right here on Athletics Nation by using the media player embedded below. My segment starts at 42:45 and goes for about 16 minutes, and, if you're interested, the show leads off with Brandon Kraeling of Red Reporter (a favorite blog among many AN'ers):
One correction: I said that Josh Reddick has had six plate appearances since his return, but I forgot to count his sacrifice fly on Thursday. Sac flies are good, though, and raise your sAVG. He's had seven plate appearances, and done good things in five of them.
Give it a listen and leave your feedback in the comments!
Torrey's Taco Stand:
Check out Teddy, the awesome batboy in Cincinnati.
Grant Brisbee ranked the 30 teams in order of likability. He calls the A's the 10th most likable and has quite a few nice things to say about them. Overall, his rankings are pretty accurate.
Josh Reddick has become the subject of an incredible GIF.
Brian Kenny. Enough said.
Patrick Donnelly wrote an article praising Jed Lowrie.
On this day a year ago, the A's played poorly and it added up to a dull loss to Jered Weaver. The day before that featured an excellent 4-1 win at Angel Stadium. The A's won 3 out of 4 in the pivotal series.
Today's starting lineup is out, with right-handed bats up and down the lineup.