The A's limp into Seattle with a ridiculous number of injured players, including two more starting pitchers in Sean Gallagher and Justin Duchscherer.
Yes, I'm still watching these games despite how painful it is to hope and see something special from players like Carlos Gonzalez and Kurt Suzuki. And even hoping that someone named Daric Barton wakes up and becomes all he can be. At the same time, this is the issue when rebuilding. Like a manic depressive, the highs can be incredibly high with the youth the A's have, but the lows can feel like an inescapable morass that threatens to suck all the fandom right out of you.
The A's send Greg "Nibbles" Smith to the mound tonight. I hate to call him that, but he has definitely earned it with his seeming inability to throw strikes consistently and how unwilling he also appears to pitch inside. I do think Smith is a quality pitcher and will be a great fourth or fifth guy in a solid rotation, but he needs to get over that and go after hitters more.
Here is his stat line:
The Mariners put out Ryan Rowland-Smith tonight. It'll be the battle of the Smiths. I wonder if Morrissey will be contributing. Here are Rowland-Smith's stats:
The Australian is actually pitching better against right-handed batters than lefties despite the fact that he's a lefty.
So then the lineups are as follows:
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!!
