Methinks Icin’ Joe is gonna hafta throw another gem tonight. The bottom six-ninths of the A’s lineup doesn’t exactly look imposing against a right-hander with a deceptive delivery and a lot of downward and side-to-side motion (over/under on number of Crosby strikeouts tonight: 5). I think there’s a halfway-decent case to be made for getting both Cust and ... I can’t believe I’m going to say this ... Stewart (good and extensive lifetime numbers vs Hernandez, despite his handedness) into the lineup (giving Kotsay and perhaps Swisher a night off – when was the last time Swish got a rest?), but neither case is airtight (and if the cases were airtight, Larry Davis would poke ventilation holes in them and the players would bleed to death). Given both the utter necessity of Blanton pitching well, and Hernandez’ toughness on right-handed batters, it’s probably a good thing that Suzuki isn’t in there tonight.
Lineups:
A’s
Buck LF
Kotsay CF
Swisher RF
Chavez 3B
Johnson 1B
Ellis 2B
Crosby SS
Kendall C
Blanton P
New York
Reyes SS
Lo Duca C
Beltran CF
Wright 3B
Delgado 1B
Green RF
Valentin 2B
Ledee LF
Hernandez P
