So, THIS is where home games are supposed to be played? At the Oakland Coliseum? I thought Major League Baseball changed that definition to say that, "All Oakland Athletics home games will actually be played in the Tokyo Dome in front of tens of thousands of rabid Red Sox fans at 3 o'clock in the morning when fans in Oakland can't possibly watch them without screwing up their work week." Well, color me pleasantly surprised...
Yes, it's true, after a unique Spring Training that saw them travel some 14,000 miles across numerous time zones (before actually starting the regular season) only to return this weekend to play three more meaningless games, the A's are finally back in the Bay Area to play their first game of 2008 at the Oakland Coliseum. Kudos to any ANers who will actually be in attendance for the game today.
The A's, after last night's sloppy 3-0 loss at Bonds-less Park, will look to fine-tune their skills before resuming the regular season on Tuesday by sending Justin Duchscherer (5.63 Spring ERA) to the mound for the start. Huston Street is also scheduled to get some action today, so sayeth Bob Geren. The Gigantes will counter by trotting out career minor-leaguer Matt Palmer, a 29-year old righty with middling stuff whose hope this year might come in the form of, "First guy called up when someone gets injured."
Big Story of the Day: Still no official word on whether Carlos Gonzalez (aka Hybrid CarGo/Patrol Craft - Maracaibo Sector) will actually begin the regular season in the major leagues. Seeing as how 25-man rosters will need to be set by tomorrow at 12pm PDT, official word will come sooner rather than later. Either way, El Primero Gonzo will get the start in center today to give the team one last look at him before setting the roster.
Lineups:
US
1.CarGon CF
2. Ellis 2B
3. Cust DH
4. Mike Sweeney 1B
5. Brown LF
6. Crosby SS
7. HannRAhan 3B
8. Suzuki C
9. Ryan Sweeney RF
THEM
1. Roberts LF
2. Velez 2B
3. Winn DH
4. Rowand CF
5. Lewis RF
6. Aurilia 1B
7. Castillo 3B
8. Holm C
9. Bocock SS
