Yup, it's one of those Saturday night games, so only the people who don't have lives are around for the game thread, which pretty much means me, baseballgirl, louismg, and AlaskaA. Oh, and you--hey, whassup!
What's the opposite of "posting a score for your opponent to see"? Whatever it's called, it's what the Angels have done, posting a 5-2 loss earlier today. A win tonight would give the A's a 4.5 game lead in the West for the first time since around the time dinosaur bones were being planted by messengers of Satan posing as "Scientists".
Joe Blanton 4-1, with a 3.41 ERA since the All-Star Break, gets the call for Oakland. He is matched up with lefty Casey Fossum, who is 3-1, with a 3.60 ERA since the All-Star Break. Following the "everything you can do, I can do 1/1,000,000th better" theme, Blanton's season ERA stands at 4.61, while Fossum's season ERA stands at a much different 4.63.
Today's "fun fact": In 2006, Casey Fossum has a 3.29 ERA at home and opponents are batting just .216. On the road, however, Fossum has a 6.43 ERA and opponents are batting .319. The starting lineups:
Baldelli
Crawford
Cantu
Norton
Lee
Navarro
Hollins
Upton
Zobrist
Kendall
Kielty
Bradley
Thomas
Chavez
Payton
Swisher
Scutaro
Ellis
