The A's should have their hands full tonight, with Roy Oswalt taking the mound to oppose Joe Kennedy (whom most of us opposed by the end of spring training, but have come to like quite well, thank you very much). Oakland has won three straight, and eight out of nine, and has beaten several quality starting pitchers over that time. Oswalt is 6-4, 3.37 ERA, but has had just one "quality start" in his last four efforts.
To beat Oswalt, the A's will have to get contributions from guys other than Travis Buck and Shannon Stewart, both of whom are "too banged up" to start tonight. Meanwhile for the Astros, Lance Berkman is "too suspended" to start tonight; Berkman will be back on Thursday following a two-game suspension (I believe it's for putting a dead lizard in Mr. Chapman's coffee mug during the History test).
Here are the starting lineups, brought to you by "Joe, please don't let anyone hit the ball to left field":
Kotsay - CF
Ellis - 2B
Swisher - RF
Chavez - 3B
Johnson - 1B
Crosby - SS
Cust - LF
Kendall - C
Kennedy - P
Biggio - 2B
Loretta - 1B
Pence - CF
Lee - LF
Ensberg - 3B
Burke - RF
Everett - SS
Ausmus - C
Oswalt - P
