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Hey. Hey guys. There's baseball on at 1:05. Crazy.
The A's are going for the series win against the Detroit Tigers today, looking to put together a bit of momentum and work themselves out of their current slump.
If the A's were even going to win a rubber match, it would be today. At least two parts of the team are currently clicking: yesterday, the offense exploded for a season-high twelve runs. If there was ever going to be a pitcher capable of letting the A's repeat that performance, it would be Mike Pelfrey (0-4, 5.55). Pelfrey is a journeyman who has never been very good (career 4.55 ERA), and now he's 32. It's unfortunate he's not on the Twins anymore, because he was maybe the most Twins pitcher in the history of the Twins.
And, of course, Rich Hill (7-3, 2.18) is pretty dang okay. I mean, by fWAR he's the 3rd best pitcher in the AL (behind Chris Sale and Jose Quintana). But no big deal. He's aight. He's taking a personal four-game winning streak into this game, exemplifying the A's revolutionary starting pitching strategy of "Rich Hill and pray for four-day biblical deluge".
Here are the lineups. Billy Burns is moved down in the lineup to 9th, which is probably exactly where he belongs.