The A's and Smokin' Joe Blanton with a 7-6 record and a 4.67 ERA take on the Padres and Clay Hensley who has a 4-6 record and a 4.38 ERA.
As I mentioned last night, Hensley has 15 walks to only six strikeouts in June. So, if the A's are patient, they should have an opportunity to hit with a lot of ducks on the pond tonight.
Here is the A's lineup tonight...it looks eerily similar to last night's lineup. As a matter of fact, the only change is the powerful stick of Joe Blanton hitting in that key ninth spot <sarcasm>.
Kotsay
Swisher
Chavez
Crosby
Johnson
Payton
Kendall
Scutaro
Blanton
None of the A's in the lineup have faced Hensley before, so there is no way to project how they'll do against the 26-year-old righthander.
The Padres send out this lineup:
Cameron
Johnson
Giles
Piazza
Gonzalez
Greene
Castilla
Barfield
Hensley
The Padres decided to throw a big curveball and flip flop Gonzalez and Greene in the lineup. Not really...I'm sure it's just moving the lefty Gonzalez up to face the righty Blanton.
By the way, a big thank you to KMAX who has recently decided to pick up a bunch of KICU games. It's been nice actually being able to see my team considering I'm technically in their MLB-defined "market".
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!!!
