The A's and Ice Cold Joe Blanton with his 4.10 ERA and 9-8 record take on the White Sox and Master of the Fast Game Mark Buehrle. Buehrle has a 9-7 record and a 3.34 ERA.
You know for all the dominance that our pitching staff had before the All Star break, they've certainly come back down to earth since then. The A's have a 4.82 ERA since the break which is the fifth highest in the AL. Meanwhile, their hitting has gotten worse since the break. They are only hitting .241 since the AL/NL showdown in San Francisco, which is the worst in the majors. You combine those two facts, it's amazing that the team is 8-5 in August and 14-18 since the break.
The A's put out the following lineup tonight:
Buck
Stewart
Swisher
Cust
Piazza
Ellis
Murphy
Hannahan
Suzuki
Anyone would've guessed that this would be the A's starting lineup for game 121 this year? I thought Swisher, Piazza and Ellis would be there. Buck was a possibility coming out of spring training, but I never thought that the lineup would look like this. Ever.
Any way, the Sox send out this lineup tonight:
Owens
Fields
Dye
Konerko
Erstad
Uribe
Podsednik
Hall
Richar
Didn't Ozzie Guillen open his big trap earlier this year saying that he shouldn't have a job after this year if the team didn't make the playoffs? Wonder if he'll keep to that one?
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
