The A's and Barry Zito with a 15-8 record and a 3.57 ERA take on the Rangers and Robinson Tejeda with a 3-3 record and a 6.87 ERA.
This is the final series of the year with Texas. And the A's could put the finishing touches on the Rangers by winning this series. I'm aiming for a 2-1 series win given the A's tendency to bow down to Padilla.
The team sends out this lineup to take on Tejeda:
Kendall
Kotsay
Bradley
Thomas
Chavez
Payton
Johnson
Ellis
Scutaro
After his day off yesterday, Bradley gets right back into the lineup as the A's number three hitter. The Athletics could really use a hot Bradley to help propel them into the playoffs and beyond. So it would be nice if his bat would come around. The A's as a group have had a total of 21 ABs against Tejeda, so it's tough to tell anything from that.
The Rangers send out this lineup against the guy who almost no-hit them in Arlington:
Matthews
Young
Teixeira
Lee
DeRosa
Young
Laird
Kinsler
Cruz
I'm surprised Hairston isn't in the lineup considering his past success against Zito, but they have Lee and Zito-killer Eric Young back in the lineup.
I'm going out for a while this afternoon, so I'm opening an extra thread for your commenting pleasure. I'll write the wrap when I get back later on.
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
