Update: According to the A's MLB.com site, RHP Jason Windsor (8-0, 4.07 at Triple-A Sacramento) is tomorrow's scheduled starter.
It has been said that living well is the best revenge, a sentiment I agree with in theory, but often find hard to practice. For example, I know that the best thing for the A's today is to go out and absolutely annihilate Boston's replacement pitcher, take no prisoners, win the game, and thus the series. Last night would be written off as a blip on the radar, quickly forgotten if our team were to win today.
However, the less rational side of me--the same one that wishes Macha would get kicked out of a game, just for the sheer novelty of the act itself, if for no other reason than to show the fans that he can get as frustrated as we do sometimes--wants nothing more than an all-out hockey brawl, that spills into the clubhouse, and somehow renders Curt Schilling unconscious.
But that's bad for A's baseball. If our manager was Felipe Alou, you can bet that someone's getting beaned today, even at the expense of the win (remember the game he gave us by hitting Mulder?), and chances are, someone's getting hurt. Our team is too fragile to risk injury in a stupid fight, our starting pitcher too valuable to lose early in the game (we hope), and the truth is: the way to beat Boston is on the baseball field, not in a brawl (not to mention we probably have a better shot at the former).
The A's face Kyle Snyder and his 10.29 ERA (albeit, small sample size) today, a much more A's-friendly pitcher than the replaced Tim Wakefield. Of course, considering our offense...I'm not going to predict anything.
Facing Snyder will be our wildly-inconsistent Joe Blanton, who needs to have a quality start today. Blanton has pitched like an ace at times, and, well, like Snyder at times, and sometimes all within the same game.
Our offense needs to take their anger and frustration out on the ball, and Blanton need not be perfect, but must hold Boston to fewer runs than our offense gives him. Let's hope that figure is not negative.
Today's lineups:
Kendall
Ellis
Kotsay
Thomas
Payton
Crosby
Kielty
Melhuse
Scutaro
No, Bradley is not in the lineup. <starts researching>
Youkilis
Loretta
Ortiz
Ramirez
Nixon
Lowell
Varitek
Crisp
Gonzalez
