Joe Blanton vs. Vicente Padilla. Cupcakes vs. Alcohol.
What is it about Friday night A's games and compelling human-interest stories from the opposing starting pitcher? (Also, what is it about awkward run-on sentence constructions?)
Padilla has been publicly lambasted for being a headhunter, too. Last year he got into this fracas with Nick Swisher . However, I don't think you'll see that tonight. It's nice having Frank Thomas, Mike Sweeney, and Jack Cust in the dugout - it tends to cut down on bench-clearing pitches when you have three bouncers on your 25-man roster. Pitchers haven't really messed with Sweeney ever since they found out that he uses his helmet as a weapon when he charges the mound .
The 18-12 A's, fresh off a split with the Angels, take on Ron Washington's Rangers tonight at 7:05.
| D. Barton 1b | |||||||||
| J. Hannahan 3b | . | ||||||||
| J. Cust lf | |||||||||
| F. Thomas dh | |||||||||
| E. Brown rf | |||||||||
| R. Bowen c | |||||||||
| B. Crosby ss | . | ||||||||
| R. Sweeney cf | |||||||||
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D. Murphy 2b
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| I. Kinsler 2b | |||||||||
| M. Young ss | |||||||||
| J. Hamilton cf | . | ||||||||
| M. Bradley dh | |||||||||
| D. Murphy rf | |||||||||
| B. Boggs lf | |||||||||
| B. Broussard 1b | |||||||||
| G. Laird c | . | ||||||||
| R. Vazquez 3b |
