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Good morning and welcome to A's baseball. I'm your host, Me.
2 years ago today, Billy Beane did the unthinkable and fired his "best man" Bob Geren, citing that the issue "had become a distraction" and opting not to acknowledge that he had somehow befriended, and then hired for 5 years, an idiot no village would be foolish enough to adopt.
On June 9th, 2011, began the Bob Melvin era. How has that gone? Suffice it to say that over the A's last 162 games, they have won 103 of them. Oakland enters today's game 38-26, good for 1st place, albeit by just a 1/2 game, in the AL West.
Just for variety, the A's thought they would go ahead and face a left-handed pitcher today. It's the fourth lefty in a row in a string that will reach five on Tuesday night when the A's go up against C.C. Sabathia. Today's starter doesn't quite have the credentials of a Sabathia. He goes by Hector Santiago and last we saw him he was walking Josh Reddick to force in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning at the Coliseum. It was his 5th walk in 1.2 IP.
Only 5 of Santiago's 16 appearances this season have come as a starting pitcher. Overall, he is 1-4 with a 3.35 ERA, having last started a game on May 22nd. He is opposed by A.J. Griffin (5-4, 3.67 ERA). Today's starting lineup has Brandon Moss filing for unemployment and Chris Young apparently over-the-flu enough to start at DH. The question is: Is Young one cuckoo's nest over the flu?
