Game Thread #11: A's vs Tigers

The last two times that the Oakland A's made the playoffs were 2006 and 2012. In both of those postseasons, Oakland was knocked out by the Detroit Tigers. Detroit also celebrated their 2011 Division Crown on our field. This has gone far enough.

It's payback time.

Alright, winning one regular season game in April will not make up for those heartbreaking defeats. It would sure be a good start, though! Today's game features two starting pitchers who couldn't be more different: Bartolo Colon and Max Scherzer. Colon throw soft and relies on control to retire hitters on called third strikes and weak contact. Scherzer throws hard and just blows it right the hell past you, except for when he walks you.

In Colon's last start, he served up a 3-run homer to Jason Castro. At the time, I said that I wasn't too worried about that; all of Colon's runs for the game came on that homer, and the homer was pretty weak. How weak, you may ask? Well, according to Hit Tracker Online, it would have been a home run in exactly two MLB parks. So yeah, that little guy? I wouldn't worry about that little guy.

On the other side of the ball, Josh Reddick is set to return tonight from his sprained wrist. Talk about best-case scenarios; I was mentally preparing myself to lose him for a month or two with a broken bone, but he only missed one series. As Peter Parker once said, "With great beards comes great resiliency." Or something similar.

Lineups:

My god, I love that Oakland lineup. And remember that Chris Young is sitting on the bench. Chris Freaking Young, former All-Star center fielder still in his prime. On the bench. Next to the tallest position player in MLB history and a catcher who can hit homers and steal bases. And Andy Parrino, who can play like 11 different positions. Have I mentioned that I love the 2013 A's?

Now go out there and just grip it and rip it and leave it all on the field and do your best and forget the rest and doggone it just have fun. But also win, please.