Game Thread #122: Oakland A's vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

After yesterday's rousing walk-off, the A's will try to embark on a new winning streak and leave that seven game losing streak fully in the dust.

Today's matchup is Alex Wood (8-7, 3.74) vs. Jesse Chavez (6-12, 3.84). Jesse Chavez's struggles have been well-documented, but he still has two months of the season to prove that he can actually last as a starter at the MLB level. Maybe he's a bullpen guy, maybe he can stick. He'll at least get the chance to prove himself in this losing season. The stats are still ugly – a 5.28 ERA since the All-Star Break, a K/BB ratio that has been steadily going in the wrong direction every month. xFIP think he's been getting unlucky recently – that stat "only" thinks he deserves around a 4 ERA recently. We'll see.

Acquired for Hector Olivera last month, Alex Wood is actually really interesting. He's got one of the more interesting deliveries in baseball, for one – his weird full extension with his left-hand is painful to look at, but it works. He's been following up a really promising rookie campaign with a more marginal sophomore season, but he's been fairly solid. He's been following the same trajectory as Chavez recently, though – July and August have not been kind to the kid. He'll be looking to get on track.

Here are the lineups. This actually looks like one of the strongest vs. LHP lineups the A's have run out in recent memory, especially with the addition of future Hall of Famer Jake Smolinski. Yasiel Puig is out with hamstring tightness, which is horribly disappointing.

Baseball!