Game Thread #148: A's at Rangers

Good morning, Athletics Nation! I hope you didn't have too much fun last night, because it's time for some "F$&% You West Coast" 10am Saturday morning baseball. The worst part about it is that Texas isn't even in the Eastern Time Zone; this is a 12:05pm local start time, which I've honestly never heard of in my entire life for a regular season game. Thank you, Fox Network, for stepping in and saturating this game with your own personal brand of suck. On the bright side, though, we get to listen to Fox broadcasters today.

The A's came one blown call away from putting the tying run on 3rd base last night, but escaped with a victory in the series opener. Honestly, all that mattered in this series was not getting swept; even if Oakland drops two out of three, it'll still emerge with a 2½-game lead. Of course, a series win would effectively put the Rangers away in the AL West race, and a sweep might even knock them out of the top Wild Card spot.

Today's game features the marquee matchup of Bartolo Colon vs Yu Darvish. Each pitcher has made three starts against today's opponent this season, with very different results. Colon has averaged a quality start (18 innings, 6 runs), whereas Darvish has gotten crushed by the Athletics: 0-3, 5.29 ERA, 17 innings, 11 walks, 5 home runs. Let's continue that trend, shall we?

Lineups:

We have the left-handed lineup today, with Moss, Barton, Reddick, Vogt, and Sogard.

Let's Go Oakland!