Game Thread #47: A's at Rangers (1)

The real 2013 A's have appeared to show up for the last week or so. The A's will attempt to take the series today against a tough customer in Yu Darvish.

By Alan Torres May 21, 2013, 4:30pm PDT

Yu Darvish is not a good matchup for the A's. He is leading the world in K% at 36.3. He's my personal Cy Young pick, and probably the best pitcher in the American League right now. He took a perfect game on opening day against the Astros through 8.2 innings before Marwin Gonzalez broke it up.

He's not unbeatable, though. Last year, the A's won two of the three games in which he faced them. Darvish gets his K's, but he has so much movement has can be prone to bouts of wildness. Dan Straily last faced the Rangers in his previous start. He had control issues of his own, walking 4, hitting 2 more, and only striking out 2. It wasn't his finest start, as he only last 4.1 innings. Overall, Straily faces on average just under 5 batters per inning. He'll have to keep the ball down and make sure the HR issues don't manifest themselves today in order to be successul.

The weather could also be an issue, so it may also be a puddleball game. Jane Lee has your forecast:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Lots of rain and thunder here in Arlington right now. Seems like it could continue off and on through the night.</p>— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/JaneMLB/status/336927771047645184">May 21, 2013</a></blockquote>

Here are your currently dry lineups:

1. John Jaso (L) C

2. Jed Lowrie (S) DH

3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF

4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B

5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

6. Seth Smith (L) RF

7. Chris Young (R) CF

8. Eric Sogard (L) 2B

9. Adam Rosales (R) SS

1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS

2. David Murphy (L) LF