Game Thread 11: Oakland Athletics vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Today the A's open up a four-game series against the Angels, with ace Brandon McCarthy set to face off against super-ace Jered Weaver. Over 3 starts and 18 innings pitched, Brandon McCarthy has maintained a 2.50 earned run average, but has a loss, so he is looking to get his first win of the season. The Angels star slugger Albert Pujols has been struggling through the first ten games of the season, batting .243 with no home runs, so I'm sure he's hungry for his first of the year.

As of now, the A's and Angels are at the bottom of the AL West and have been opposites when it comes to offense and defense. The Angels have maintained a .263 batting average, but an ERA of 5.26, while the A's have struggled to keep up a batting average of .201, yet they have put up an amazing ERA of 2.95. Likewise in spring training, these numbers aren't to be taken seriously yet, as all teams are just getting in to the swing of things. The season is still young and anything can happen. After all, this is A's baseball.

Lineups:

A's

As you can see, Yoenis Cespedes is not playing today and Coco Crisp is taking his place in center field. This changes the game offensively and defensively as Seth Smith is now playing in left field and Kila Ka'aihue is at DH. Hopefully Brandon McCarthy will be able to stifle the Angels' offense and the A's can put some runs together against Jered Weaver and improve their 4 - 6 record.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM. Enjoy!