The A's and Joe Blanton with an 11-8 record and a 4.78 ERA take on the Angels and Joe Saunders with a 1-0 record and a 1.29 ERA.
The initial impression on Saunders via his one start is that he's a groundball guy since he had 11 ground outs to five fly outs in his seven innings pitched against Cleveland on July 18. He allowed only 1 earned run in seven innings against the Tribe. He also walked four and struck out five. He's a lefty, so the A's go with the following lineup:
Kendall
Kotsay
Kielty
Thomas
Chavez
Payton
Swisher
Scutaro
Ellis
As for the whereabouts of the A's hottest hitter in Milton Bradley, my guess is that the A's want to rest him on occasion batting right-handed because his injury problems were with the swing from that side. But that's just a guess. Official word I'm sure will come later. This is a nice lineup against a lefty especially with Kielty batting third. I might've even considered giving Chavez the night off and putting Perez in, but it's apparent that it will take something tragic for Perez to get any regular playing time. Wash must hate his footwork. Just kidding.
Any way, the Angels send out the following lineup against Blanton:
Figgins
Izturis
Cabrera
Guerrero
Anderson
Rivera
Kendrick
Napoli
Kennedy
Blanton has kept the Angels in check for much of his short career. As a matter of fact, two of his better efforts have come against the Halos. Macier Izturis and Mike Napoli are two players to watch, even though they've only faced Blanton a few times.
The A's win tonight and the worst they leave Anaheim with is a one and a half game lead.
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
