Game Thread #99: A's at Giants

Last night, the A's played like the team their record suggests them to be. As parts start to get pawned off of this team, you can certainly expect them to play more like that going forward. Yesterday was about as dumb as baseball gets. I fully expect this team to be dumber going forward.

Today's as close to a pre-determined loss as you can get – Chris Bassitt (0-2, 2.93) vs. Madison Bumgarner (10-5, 3.27) is not a matchup that inspires any confidence. Despite the excellence Bassitt showed when he filled in for Sonny Gray a few weeks ago, the advanced numbers suggest much of that was luck. His 4.04 FIP and 5.43 xFIP (!!!!) do not inspire confidence going forward, but hey, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from 27 innings. Especially when he's been putting up an elite 2.69 FIP in AAA this season.

Bumgarner continues to be Bumgarner. He's still just a step below elite in the regular season and his ERA is almost perfectly in line with his peripherals. One of the best young pitchers in the game, yadda yadda yadda. You know all this. I'm sure Billy Butler is not excited about this matchup.

Here's the lineup, which is potentially the worst lineup the A's have fielded in 2015. It's not good.

Well, here's hoping Billy Burns's balls are okay.