Next up in the line of pitchers facing off against their old clubs is Greg Smith, who will face Arizona for the first time this afternoon. MLB.com quotes Smith:
"It's a little weird just because it's a new team versus the old team," Smith said. "I was with them for three years. If I was a little bit more removed from them, it wouldn't be as weird. It kind of just happened."
Smith was wild (walking six), but effective (getting the win) in his last start, and is leading all rookie pitchers with sixty strikeouts and all of the majors with his eight pickoffs.
The A's bullpen will have some more help today; the A's activated Santiago Casilla before the game, and DFA'd Kiko Calero.
The A's streaky offense will be going up against LHP Doug Davis (2-3, 3.99) in the rubber game of this series. This is an important game for the A's to win; not only would it would it pull them within 2.5 games of the Angels and secure another series win, but it is another chance to build some confidence in the offense. The A's aren't going to blow out many games (nor will they be blown out very often, judging by the pitching so far), so they need to be better about executing in close situations that demand it.
It looks like Carlos Gonzalez will get the day off, as Emil Brown makes a rare start in right, and Sweeney moves over to center.
Sadly, I won't have the Arizona broadcast today. The newly-invented drinking game called "Redheads" was a lot of fun in this series.
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!!!
