Podcast & Links: Freiman, Reddick, Yocum, & More!

Happy Friday Athletics Nation! The A's have won 11 of 13 games, and just took 3 out of 4 from the Giants, so it's hard not to be in a good mood today. The A's start a 3-game series against the White Sox tonight, and will play all 7 of this season's games against the Sox in the next week and a half. That seems like supremely stupid scheduling to me, but it's not even in the top-10 dumbest things that MLB has done this year, so I guess I'll pick my battles and let this one go. The White Sox haven't been playing that well so far in 2013, so maybe Oakland is lucky to catch them while they're in a down stretch.

On today's episode of the Phil Naessens Show, we discuss the ups and downs of the rotation (including Straily, Parker, and Milone), two hot hitters (Freiman and Donaldson), and one old face returning from the DL (Reddick). My segment starts around 40:30 and goes for about 15 minutes:

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Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments!

And now, a Daily Link Dump:

- A nice piece by John Hickey on the late Dr. Lewis Yocum, who passed away this week after a battle with liver cancer.

- Bill Moriarity (aka Athletics Farm) talks about the unexpected saviors of the 2013 A's on Yahoo.

- Shut up, Jon Heyman. Go hang out with C.J. Wilson in an ivory tower somewhere.

- Susan Slusser's most recent Drumbeat, which is always fantastic.

- AmericAn Idol: If you think you've got some pipes, then you can try out to sing the National Anthem prior to the A's game on July 2. I do a really mean Star Spangled Banner on the kazoo; think I have a chance?

The A's and White Sox start at 7:05pm, with Bartolo Colon facing right-hander Dylan Axelrod. Lev will have your thread tonight.