This game is going to suck because A.J. Griffin isn't starting. Seriously, did you see that 1st inning yesterday? Filthy.
OK, I take it back. Tommy Milone is starting, so this game will still be awesome. Don't get me wrong; Milone in Arlington terrifies me. I'm one of his biggest fans, but I'm smart enough to know my limits (and his). Milone actually fared alright in his first trip to Texas, going 7 innings and allowing only 4 runs; more importantly, he allowed only one walk and one homer. Each of those numbers could triple on any given trip to Texas.
Chris Carter is in the Majors again! That is neat. I would love it if he would figure things out this time. When Brandon Moss went nuts for two weeks, you knew it was going to end. What if Carter went nuts for two weeks? The ramifications would be far-reaching, and would include thousands of words being written in comments sections on this site (most of which would start with either "I told you so" or "Welp, I was sure wrong!" or "Buh-bye forever, Barton").
It's probably for the best that Cespedes is the DH. I'm starting to think that he just isn't a very good outfielder. As much as last night's game was Balfour's fault for walking the entire lineup AND a couple of fans, Cespedes could have avoided the entire debacle by just catching that totally catchable ball in left field. He completely misplayed it, and still came within a couple steps of catching it. If he breaks back on first contact, like they teach you in Little League (la liga pequeña?), he probably catches that ball to end the inning. Maybe not, but it sure looked that way on the replay. Perhaps Seth Smith wouldn't have been fast enough to catch it, even with a proper read, but Cespedes needs to make that play. It's also not the first time he's misjudged a deep fly ball, resulting in a game-changing bases-clearing triple on a ball which he physically could have caught. He did it against the Mariners in April, as well.
Hicks and Suzuki in, Pennington and Norris out. I like the way Melvin is mixing it up, keeping everyone involved, giving everyone enough rest, and still putting out a solid lineup every day. He's doing very well with what he's being given. The bad news is that Hicks probably sucks at hitting, but so does Pennington, so whatevs. Let's go Oakland!
| Athletics (T. Milone - L) @ Rangers (M. Perez - L) | |||
