Fun fact from Mychael Urban this morning:
That's hot. And also kind of sad, knowing how many starts he's had with little to no run support.
Haren has suffered from much of the same this season; he's a prime case for why wins and losses are a pretty lousy way to evaluate a pitcher. He's only 6-7, but the rest of his numbers are great, and quietly, he is having as good of a season as anyone.
Contrast that with Curt Schilling with his 10-3 record, due in large part to Boston's offense not being the A's. Unfortunately for our offense today, Schilling has been a noticeably better pitcher at Fenway than away, and that's where he finds himself pitching tonight.
Keys to the game:
- Get to Schilling early and often.
- Haren needs to watch the long ball. He's prone to the homerun, which is not a great quality to have in Boston. If he's going to give up the HRs, make them solo.
- Our offense needs to take last night's finish into today's start.
For those of you scoreboard watching, Texas is losing big to Baltimore, and Toronto has a slight edge over Seattle. Angels play later tonight.
We have a chance to take the Boston series with a win today. I don't think anyone (including our players and coaches) was hoping for better than a split, and the A's, having already accomplished that, are now looking for more.
Lineups:
Kendall
Swisher
Kotsay
Thomas
Payton
Crosby
Bradley (Call me, Milton!)
Ellis
Perez
Interesting choice to keep Bradley batting 7th, but he wasn't the only one who hit last night, and he did go 4-5, and nearly 5-5, from the 7-spot.
Youkilis
Loretta
Ortiz
Ramirez
Nixon
Lowell
Varitek
Crisp
Cora
On a totally unrelated note, Bill Buckner canNOT sing. (Cubs game, 7th inning stretch)
