The A's, just trying to tread water and keep within blogging distance of the .500 mark right now, will send "Ballsy" to the mound today against Jared Wright. Wright is so good that you would need two Wangs to make him, and we know how well Chien-Ming pitched yesterday.
With the offense needing a shot in the arm, Jason Kendall is back to at least stick one out. Kendall's return means that the A's have an embarrassment of riches: that's right, two--count `em two--players should be available off the bench today. (Last night's entire available bench, also known as Antonio Perez, had combined for exactly zero hits this season. How sad is it to be able to say that on May 12th?) Also back in the lineup as DH is the weakling, Eric Chavez, who reports he lost 10 pounds this past week. Was he gambling in London? No, he ate the fish.
Worth watching: Even though Wang had a shutout going yesterday, and a pitch count of just 85 through 8 innings, Joe Torre elected to let Mariano Rivera pitch the 9th. It was Rivera's third consecutive day pitching, meaning he is likely unavailable today. Meanwhile, the A's may actually be in--gasp--semi-decent bullpen shape, as Huston Street and Kiko Calero (star of the hit show "Sliders") are both available. However Justin Duchscherer was issued a toe tag this morning, and is the latest member of the A's 15-day disabled list. In A's-speak, this means that Duke is simply "day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day-to-day".
Today's starting lineups:
Ellis
Swisher
Kotsay
Chavez
Crosby
Payton
Johnson
Kendall
Scutaro
Damon
Jeter
Giambi
Rodriguez
B. Williams
Cano
Phillips
Stinnett
Cabrera
