Open Thread: Game 156 - A's vs. Rangers (1)

After the gut-wrenching losses at (New) Yankee Stadium this past weekend, if you said the A's would have a chance at a .500 road trip, you'd probably have been laughed out of the room. Today, after the trouncing they layed on the Rangers last night, the A's have a chance to do exactly that. A win today would bring the A's back to 22 games over .500, keep the red-hot Rays and Angels at bay yet again, and bring the division lead for the Rangers down to 2.

For different reasons, both teams burned through their B-team relievers last night, leaving the A-level relievers ready for all the marbles today. It'll be Travis Blackley vs. Matt Harrison in a battle of left-handers. Harrison has been pretty decent this season. He doesn't strike many guys out (5.6 K/9), but he's facing the A's so I'm expecting 9+ K's. Blackley was shaky in his last start in Anderson's stead, but he should be well-rested, having thrown less than 6 IP this entire month. Hopefully that doesn't translate to "rusty"

Here are the lineups, courtesy of baseballpress.com. Again, Coco Crisp is missin and as expected, Cespedes is DHing to rest the bone bruise in his foot.