The A's and Smokin' Joe Blanton with a 6-4 record and a 3.62 ERA take on the Reds in a rematch of the 1972 and 1990 World Series. The Reds send Kyle Lohse to the mound and he sports a 3-8 and a 4.30 ERA. Let's hope this game is more of the 72 edition than the 90 World Series.
Scott Hatteberg makes a return to the Coliseum where he possibly has the most famous home run in A's recent history. You know, the one in which the A's lost an 11-0 lead to the Kansas City Royals only to win it on Hatte's home run to win 20 games in a row. There might be bigger home runs in recent years, but that one stands above them all as the most memorable. Even more so than AN Day last year when Milton helped us all go home happy.
The A's lineup looks like this:
Buck
Kotsay
Swisher
Chavez
Cust
Ellis
Johnson
Crosby
Kendall
This is one of the many things I love about Geren. He adjusts the lineup on the fly. Cust is riding one of the hottest streaks in baseball right now, so he throws him up where he can do the most damage. Macha would've let him sit in the eighth position a few more games until he cooled off.
The Reds throw out this lineup to take on Blanton:
Hopper
Hatteberg
Griffey
Phillips
Dunn
Encarnacion
Hamilton
Gonzalez
Ross
Hopefully Blanton can slow down the onslaught of runs that the Cardinals produced against our starting pitchers. A
And finally, one big virtual standing ovation for Hatteberg. Welcome back, Scott.
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
