The A's and Danny Haren with a 5-5 record and a 3.61 ERA take on the Mariners and Joel Pineiro with a 5-6 record and a 5.13 ERA.
The A's are rollin' despite the fact that their star player, Eric Chavez, has slowly been rolling downhill because of a nagging injury. The team is only a half game out of first place (although probably a full game since Texas is beating the White Sox 5-0).
Since I left to travel last week, Huston Street has regaining rookie form, DJ is coming around, Frank Thomas has continued to be hot and Mike Rouse announced his presence in the A's organization in, well, rousing fashion.
The A's send out this lineup tonight to face Pineiro:
Kotsay
Swisher
Chavez
Thomas
Crosby
Johnson
Kielty
Kendall
Scutaro
Perhaps Pineiro could help get Chavez healthy again since Chavy has hit .275 against Pineiro in 40 ABs with two home runs. The A's current roster has hit .268 against Pineiro with Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson hitting well against him in the past.
The Mariners send out this crew to match up against Haren:
Suzuki
Beltre
Lopez
Ibanez
Sexson
Everett
Johjima
Reed
Betancourt
As well as Yo-Yo Joe Blanton has pitched against the Mariners this year, Haren has struggled against the M's in the past. Though most of the team has limited ABs against Haren, the roster has a .347 average against Danny with a team-wide .982 OPS against the A's number two starter. Ouch. Let's hope he breaks that tonight.
It's good to be back...LET'S GO A'S!!!
