Well where's the pleasure in that?!?

Good afternoon AN!

The Athletics enter the last week of spring training looking for a rebound game after two pretty ugly losses losing by a combined score 3 to 24. I'm sure somebody knows a lot more about this than I do, but it seems to me that when 47 players are hitting .300 or better, there's something about spring training or the Arizona air that brings out the best in everybody's pitchers.

Thankfully games in the spring don't count for anything, but poor pitching and really bad defense is not the way the A’s want to go into the regular season.

But enough about the past

We're entering the home stretch!

Today takes us to sunny Surprise, Arizona where we visit the Kansas City Royals.

Oakland Athletics

Kansas City Team

What's in store today

Looking to get things back on track for the team is Chris Bassitt, who is been one of the bright spots of the As potential starting rotation. He comes into the game with a 3.48 ERA and 1.26 WHIP and will be facing Chien-Ming Wang. Wang isn't projected to start in the Royals rotation, but has been pretty solid this spring, so will be a good test for our offense.

Today's lineup continues edging toward, "players we may actually see on a regular basis." I'm a big fan of Burns, Canha as a 1-2 punch, and the rest of the lineup should be enough to bring some power to the plate. Personally I'm excited to get a chance to actually see Chapman in person, and it will be..interesting to watch Coghlan in right field.

Let’s see if the team can get something going offensively, if Bassitt can continue his relatively strong spring, and if they can making improvements to their defense, which Bob Melvin summed up pretty well as putrid.

Between rooting against the Royals (who are really the worst team in the world) and rooting for our A's, today should be a pretty fun day of baseball.

Let’s go Oakland! (where's the blink tag?)

If the game gets unbearable, you can watch this instead