:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60491271/20140806_pjc_ax5_037.JPG.0.0.0.jpg)
So, yesterday sucked. First truly terrible start from Sonny Gray in a while, the offense is completely fried except for Reddick, Donaldson, and Sogard (???), and just a plain bummer of a game. Today's going to be better, though -- I can feel it.
The A's currently have a 9 game winning streak versus the Twins, with several of those wins coming in ridiculous, blowout fashion. Here are a few of the scores from that time: 9-1, 18-3, 11-0, 8-2. We ruined their home opener with an 8-3 blowout, and ruined their home opening series by sweeping and outscoring them 21-8. I'm not going to say that the offense is guaranteed to resurrect today, but... I wouldn't bet against it.
Jon Lester (11-7, 2.59) is pitching today, and jeez, what can I say about Jon Lester. He's good. He's gooooood. Last time out he turned in a subpar start by Jon Lester standards, going 6.2 with 3 ER. He's a guy who is, according to fWAR, the 4th best pitcher in baseball. He's pretty good. And if he's on, he can put on a show.
Meanwhile, the Twins are throwing... Yohan Pino (1-3, 4.57) , who is apparently a baseball player. He's a 30 year old rookie who's mainly pitched out of the bullpen this year, and been pretty effective. He fits the Twins model of a guy who doesn't really strikeout people, but also doesn't walk anyone. He's a pretty severe flyball guy. That's about all I can tell you, considering I had never heard of him before I sat down to write this.
Here are the lineups, featuring another Eric Sogard start at SS, and Josh Reddick deservedly being moved to batting 6th. As for the Twins side, look out for Kurt Suzuki batting 7th. Fosse will be so happy. Also Josh Willingham is virtually guaranteed to hit a home run off of Lester, just because.
