Good evening and welcome to the Friday night game thread, brought to you by a long Labor Day weekend. In a special treat tonight (and I suppose that definition varies wildly depending on what you are drinking), we will see Clayton Mortensen on the mound again for the green and gold. Mortensen was acquired in the Matt Holliday trade in July. (Side note: Do you think I'm particularly bitter if I'd like the Cardinals to be swept out of the first round of the playoffs, with Holliday striking out looking to end each and every game? Yeah, thought so.) In case you don't remember, Mortensen is 24 years old and sports a 9-8 record with a 4.39 ERA in AAA this season. He took the mound once for the A's--on August 8th against the Royals--and did not pitch well, to the tune of eight runs on eight hits in four innings. He's due to have a better outing, right?
He will be opposed by Ryan Rowland-Smith, and it feels like we just saw him on the mound. (This will be his third start against the A's this season.) He doesn't have a decision so far against them, and we'd like tonight's to be "L".
Scott Hairston is back in the lineup today, after sitting a few days for sucking with a hurt quadriceps. In today's 'Rajai Watch', Davis is now batting .301, after last night's 2-4 performance. And hey! Bobby Crosby!
Lineups from Yahoo:
Seattle
Suzuki, I, RF
Gutierrez, CF
Lopez, 2B
Griffey, DH
Beltre, 3B
Hall, LF
Carp, 1B
Johjima, C
Wilson, SS
Your 2009 Oakland Athletics
Kennedy, 3B
Davis, CF
Suzuki, C
Hairston, LF
Garciaparra, DH
Ellis, 2B
Crosby, 1B
Sweeney, RF
Pennington, SS
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!
