Holy cow--A. Jones is starting in center-field for the Mariners today! I'm not kidding! However, it's "have you ever heard of him? I sure haven't" rookie Adam Jones, so that's not really a big story. Dan Haren will try to become today's biggest story, following up his well-timed complete game victory over the Angels on Monday. Haren is opposed by Joel Piñeiro, whom the A's have knocked around like he was Joel Piñata--the Mariners' righty has lost to the A's three times this year in three starts, sporting a 7.94 ERA. I'm not sure what Piñeiro's lucky number is, but I know what it isn't: .326. That's what right-handed batters are hitting against him this year, and what all batters are hitting against him in 2006 at Safeco Field.
Today's "fun fact": Not only do the A's now own the 7th best record in the major leagues, but at 58-51 they would currently have the 2nd best record in the National League. This is because after last night's games, the A's now sport better records than the free-falling Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals, losers of 6 and 8 straight respectively.
The starting lineups:
Kendall
Kotsay
Bradley
Thomas
Chavez
Payton
Swisher
Scutaro
Ellis
Ichiro
Lopez
Beltre
Ibanez
Sexson
Broussard
Betancourt
Rivera
Jones
