Fresh off a series win against the Cleveland Indians, the A's find themselves just a half game behind Texas in the AL West standings. The good news? The A's get to play the Mariners this week, who to date are 57-66, and they get a favorable pitching matchup, too.
Aaron Harang is getting the start for the Mariners, and he's 5-10 on the year with a 5.77 ERA. He's countered by Jarrod Parker, whose numbers are much prettier; he's 8-6 with a 3.87 ERA. That looks good for Oakland, but the last time I was this optimistic about a pitching matchup was last Tuesday, when we had Bartolo Colon (14-4 at the time) going up against Jordan Lyles, who was 4-6 with a ghastly ERA over his last 10 starts. Actually, I was a lot more optimistic then, and we all know what happened in that game.
The bad news? The Rangers get to play Houston, at home. As we saw last week, and in the last paragraph, that doesn't always work out as well as you'd expect it to, but I have a feeling that the A's would do well just to hold their ground during this next series as the Rangers (maybe) feast on their in-state rivals.
Bob Melvin has selected a lefty-heavy lineup to face the right-handed Harang. It features the return of Coco Crisp, leading off and playing center, as well as Jed Lowrie at shortstop and Alberto Callaspo DHing.
First pitch is at 7:05, and baseballgirl will be here to take you the rest of the way!
Lineups:
Mariners (A. Harang - R) @ Athletics (J. Parker - R) | |||