Game Thread #48: Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers

Don't look now, but since the A's last faced the Rangers in last week's series, our fearless heroes have won five in a row, have vaulted themselves to three games over .500, have already won this series, have closed the gap to 4.5 games, and go for the sweep this morning.

By baseballgirl May 22, 2013, 10:30am PDT

Sometimes I wonder if all it really takes for the A's to win some ballgames is condemnation from Ray Ratto. It's been five days since I opened that game thread, with a tiny margin of hope, as the A's were collapsing all around us, both in their play on the field, and the injuries off it. We had just lost Brett Anderson, and things were looking bleak. But then, Jarrod Parker started. He didn't even win; the A's offense scored too late, but he gave them the outing they needed to start winning, and every other pitcher since: Milone, Griffin, Colon, and Straily, has followed suit. The A's have won every game in this turn of the rotation, and Parker is back on the mound today, looking to kick off a second round.

The A's will be facing a inexperience major league pitcher (oh! no!) today in the person of Ross Wolf, who is making his first Major League start. Up until now, his career has been almost entirely in minor league baseball (more than 10 years in the system), with very little luck in the majors. These are the kind of pitchers you naturally root for, but I'll save my rooting for when he is facing the Angels.

Here are your lineups:

1. Coco Crisp (S) CF

2. John Jaso (L) DH

3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF

4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B

5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

6. Seth Smith (L) RF

7. Derek Norris (R) C

8. Eric Sogard (L) 2B

9. Adam Rosales (R) SS

1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS

2. David Murphy (L) LF