After Zito's strong performance Saturday night ended the A's seven-game skid, the next goal is to start a winning streak. And that means Kirk Saarloos, who has been off and on this season, has to be on Sunday in the series finale against the Rangers.
That sentiment is nice. Love for Barry Zito. I'm rooting hard tonight for My Little Pony, aka Kirk Saarloos. According to baseball logic, since `Loos has been so up and down this season, he's coming off a down, so he's due for an up. Right?!
We really need a good win tonight, for a myriad of reasons. We'd like to string together a couple of wins in a row, we'd like to split the series with Texas, we'd like to move closer to .500, we'd like to be one game out of first in the West, but most of all, we just want the win!
Saarloos will be facing Vicente Padilla of the Rangers tonight. The A's have fared very well against him this season; he's fooled no one, but the real question seems to be: Which A's offense will show up tonight? I've seen a couple of encouraging signs this week; Swisher's early-season dominance seems to be back, and Frank Thomas looks like he could be heating up. If Thomas goes on a tear, it could go a long way in making up for the rest of the offense. As it is, he's posted an astounding .549 OBP in his last twelve games. Unfortunately, he is not starting tonight's game, but I'm sure hoping he's available to pinch-hit.
Some things to watch for this game: watch Bobby Crosby's at-bats. I firmly believe that in order to blossom into any type of a decent hitter, he needs to develop his batting eye. I would be thrilled to see full counts and walks, even more so than bloop hits right now. And for THE LOVE, he needs to stay the heck away from the outside slider. And also, please please PLEASE let `Loos keep the ball down!
Bonus feature: We get to hear Joe Morgan talk about the A's!!! YAY! Someone needs to come up with a drinking game. (The sooner the better. Have you seen the lineups!??!!?!?!)
Tonight's lineups:
Kendall
Swisher
Kotsay
Chavez (DH)
Kielty
Crosby
Johnson
Scutaro
Perez
Um...wow. Just...wow. I don't know whether to laugh, or cry. I do like spots 2-4. Macha is doing one thing right; he grouped the three hitters together. What else can you do, I guess?
Matthews
Young
Teixeira
Blalock
Mench
Wilkerson
Barajas
Botts
Kinsler
David and Goliath indeed. It's more like Little League vs. the All Star team. Maybe we need to have 'rally slingshots' or something.
Regardless, there is a game to be played, and we need a win.
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!
