The A's, who suffered through two 8-game losing streaks in May, 2005, will try to avoid an 8th consecutive loss tonight. It is at times like these that one can most appreciate Barry Zito, a guy who never misses his turn in the rotation, a pitcher capable of shutting down any opponent on any given night, a lefty who actually enjoys success against the Rangers--Zito is 15-3 career vs. Texas, 9-1 in Arlington.
Kameron Loe, whose last name explains where he likes to keep his sinker, gets the call for Texas. The A's can struggle against sinkerballers, simply due to their reluctance to avoid DPs with the stolen base attempt or the hit-and-run. Perhaps this team, on a losing skid, will take the "nothing to lose" mentality it could probably use more often anyway.
As for the starting lineup, on the plus tonight's 2-3-4 looks okay. Unfortunately, our leadoff hitter is slugging .320, our #5 hitter is batting .209, our #6 hitter has an OBP of .266, our #7 hitter has an OBP of .276, our #8 hitter is batting .182, and our #9 hitter's OPS stands at .660. Hey--nowhere to go but up!
Said lineups:
Kendall
Swisher
Kotsay
Chavy
Thomas
Crosby
Payton
Johnson
Ellis
Matthews
Young
Teixeira
Blalock
Nevin
Mench
DeRosa
Barajas
Kinsler
