The A's and Danny Haren with a 7-7 record and a 3.96 ERA take on the White Sox and Freddy Garcia who is 8-3 with a 3.40 ERA.
The A's are looking to sweep the White Sox. Wasn't I the one who said that it didn't look good heading into this series with the way the pitching matchups lined up? The A's took one look at the odds and said, bring it on.
The team has a chance to climb over .500. It failed in its last couple of attempts. It would be a huge victory for this team to be sitting over .500 at the break.
The A's lineup looks like this:
Kendall
Kotsay
Crosby
Chavez
Johnson
Kielty
Swisher
Scutaro
Melhuse
Kendall and Melhuse in the lineup at the same time? Is the world coming to an end?
Oh, and the Kotsay news absolutely made my day yesterday. It's a brilliant contract because the no trade clause is for this season and next. But the A's can then deal him in 2007, if need be. By then, many of the A's young outfielders in the system should be ready. And the Payton trade? I wouldn't doubt for a second if Payton will be flipped immediately to another team like the Cubs, say for one of the Cubs young pitchers like Ricky Nolasco.
The White Sox counter with this lineup:
Podsednik
Iguchi
Thomas
Konerko
Everett
Rowand
Pierzynski
Uribe
Ozuna
A big thanks to Nico, not only for hosting Chez Nico II, but for multi-tasking and handling the site yesterday. I'm feverishly trying to get a couple of other interviews lined up...hopefully sometime over the next week or so.
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
