If the A's have to sweat it out this bad to win a Haren-Tavarez matchup, what hope do they have these next three days? That's what's great about baseball--the A's have about the same chance they would have had if yesterday's score had been 8-1, because one day just doesn't predict the next.
Today it's DiNardo-Matsuzaka, with the A's lefty making just his second start in the Green and Gold, and "Dice-K" facing Oakland for the first time ever. The bad news about facing Matsuzaka is that his arsenal is about 8 deep, right down to the "gyro ball" which is second in fame only to Jay Witasick's legendary "sizzler". The good news about facing Matsuzaka is that he has a 4.83 ERA. In a typical start, Dice-K pitches a lot of innings and also gives up a few runs. On the Red Sox, that's often good enough to win (Dice-K is 7-3), but he has not pitched like any sort of an ace.
I'm on a strict pitch count (fine, word count) so baseballgirl will have tonight's wrap up; I'll be returning the favor tomorrow night. Meanwhile, let's get to the starting lineups, brought to you by--well, by my word processor, obviously.
Lugo - SS
Pedroia - 2B
Ortiz - DH
Ramirez - LF
Youkilis - 1B
Lowell - 3B
Varitek - C
Pena - RF
Crisp - CF
Buck - LF
Ellis - 2B
Swisher - RF
Johnson - 1B
Chavez - 3B
Crosby - SS
Cust - DH
Kotsay - CF
Kendall - C
