Game Thread #153: A's vs. Twins

First things first, though, as the A's have to take care of business against the Twins. Last week, after losing the first game on a Josh Willingham homer in the bottom of the eighth off of Ryan Cook, the A's pounded the Twins into submission in the final two games. So, the goal for this series should be to keep Josh Willingham in the park. If the A's can do that, and keep Oswaldo Arcia off the basepaths, that should be the key to taking this series easily. In some ways, while their record is better than that of the Astros, it sure seems like the Twins have a no-name roster of mostly AAAA players. As the A's have seen, though, teams like this can be pesky, so it's important they play clean games this series.

The A's will face Kevin Correia, a notorious slowballer and strike thrower. It sounds like a good matchup for them, but they'll have to make sure they stick to their normally successful approach.

Here is the lineup. Cespedes sits, apparently after a cortisone shot after the game yesterday. Seth Smith also starts for the first time in forever.

Seeing as this is the last home series of the year, I expect even a normally staid Thursday night game to be pretty packed. Let's go OAK-LAND!