And this one has to be the day game. Dan Haren takes the mound for the A's today in the final game of this series, as the A's try to sweep the White Sox right out of Oakland. The A's newly-resurgent offense, boasting a mix of players that we probably didn’t expect to see in the lineup so soon, takes on the White Sox’s Javier Vazquez, as they try to keep the wins coming.
An interesting game note shows that Danny Haren hasn’t faced the White Sox this year, and has only faced them three other times in his career. Those starts left much to be desired, but this is a different White Sox team right now; i.e. the A’s, in many ways, look like the better team. We haven’t been able to say that with a straight face much this season.
While it would take nothing short of a miracle; played out with a twenty-game winning streak and a collapse of a handful of teams to put the A’s back into this season, these games are preparing us for next season, and I’m excited about this team. I love watching Cust, Buck, Suzuki, Murphy, Brown, Castilla, Street, and the others that will hopefully factor into the A’s future teams.
In other news, what are the odds that I would watch exactly two batters of a random game last night, and happen to see the at-bat where Jason Kendall hit a homerun? Astronomical, no doubt. But our own catcher matched that challenge last night, and call me crazy, but I think we’d have the overall edge in a homerun derby.
We have lineups!
White Sox
Owens, CF
Fields, 3B
Thome, DH
Konerko, 1B
Pierzynski, C
Dye, RF
Hustly Gritty, LF
Uribe, SS
Richar, 2B
A's!
Buck!!! CF
Stewart, LF
Swisher, 1B
Cust, RF
Piazza, DH
Ellis, 2B
Scutaro, SS
Hannahan, 3B
Suzuki, C
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!
Game Day Audio link here.
