Do you believe in patterns, or do you believe in the law of averages? If you believe in patterns, you think the A's can continue to make the Seattle Mariners their collective "personal whipping boy," whereas if you believe in the law of averages, you believe that Bobby Crosby will fail to hit .240. No, sorry, wrong thread...Whereas if you believe in the law of averages, you believe that the Mariners are due to beat the A's.
You see, the A's enter play tonight 57-51 (.528) overall, and against everyone but the A's, Seattle is 52-45 (.536)--that's right, good enough to lead the AL West. Good thing for the A's that they are not only a whopping 9-1 against the Mariners so far this year, but more importantly, the Mariners are also 1-9 against the A's. Funny how that happens.
Barry Zito makes his first start since being dealt at the trading deadline to his own team, opposed by the master of changing speeds on his fastball, Jarrod Washburn. Against these two lefty pitchers, here are the lineups, which include a "shaken but not stirred" Jay Payton:
Kendall
Kotsay
Bradley
Thomas
Payton
Chavez
Kielty
Scutaro
Ellis
Ichiro
Lopez
Beltre
Ibanez
Sexson
Perez
Johjima
Betancourt
Bloomquist
