If you heard me tell you that at the end of the season, the A's Greg Smith would have his name among the pitching leaders, with Daisuke Matsuzaka and A.J. Burnett, you probably would be elated, until you learned it's in the walks column. Smith, who comes into tonight's game with a 7-15 record (compared to Dice-K's 17-2 and Burnett's 18-10) is tied for third in the league in offering up free passes, with 82, and has 11 straight starts with 2 or more walks. It's a big part of his inconsistency, which has seen him alternate giving up 8 runs with 7 innings of scoreless ball, followed by 6 runs in his last outing. You're never really sure which Greg Smith is going to show up, and in his last 11 decisions, since June 30th, Smith has come out the loser 9 times.
The streaky Smith will be opposed by the Angels' Jered Weaver, who has had a remarkably pedestrian 11-10 record and 4.25 ERA for the division champions. He has won once in his last five starts, and lost his last contest to the A's on August 25th by a score of 2-1. With the A's riding their first three-game win streak since mid-June, we'll have to see if the same kind of luck will return for the A's to make it four in a row.
On the offensive side of things, it's clear the A's wish they could trot out nine outfielders from top to bottom. Buck, Cunningham and Sweeney will lead the game off. Brown and the recently called up Gonzalez and Denorfia will be commiserating on the pine. Go A's!
