Victories, these days, come in baby steps for our Oakland Athletics, and a win this afternoon will give Bob Melvin's club a split of this four-game set with the White Sox, which sounds a whole lot better than the clean sweep the A's have endured in their previous three series' against New York, Boston, and Baltimore.
The A's official site points out that Landon Powell will make a rare start- his first since June 4- behind the plate today, giving first-string backstop Kurt Suzuki a well-deserved rest. Suzuki has appeared on 27 of the team's last 29 games. The new skipper explains:
"Kurt wants to play every day," Melvin said. "He's able to do it, but you also want to keep him fresh. I think, even as a regular behind the plate, when you're playing that much, you don't even understand the toll it takes on you. I want everyone to be part of it. We need to get [Powell] involved. He does a nice job behind the plate."
Oakland sends Guillermo Moscoso to the mound today; Chicago counters with Philip Humber, who bested the A's on May 13.
Lineups after the jump.
A's
Crisp, CF
Pennington, SS
Sweeney, LF
Matsui, DH
DeJesus, RF
Barton, 1B
Sizemore, 3B
Powell, C
Weeks, 2B
White Sox
Pierre, LF
Ramirez, SS
Quentin, RF
Konerko, DH
Pierzynski, C
Rios, CF
Dunn, 1B
Vizquel, 2B
Teahen, 3B
