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Baseball!
Today's big baseball news was the merciful end to the Billy Butler era in Oakland, but there's still a game to play. The A's will be fighting to not get swept against James Paxton (4-6, 4.03) and the Mariners.
Paxton is ridiculously interesting, and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing him – see, his elite 3.01 FIP, or his 96-100 MPH fastball (from a lefty!). The results haven't quite matched up with the talent yet, and he's been bouncing around between the minors and the MLB since his excellent rookie campaign in 2014. But he's definitely turned a corner, and is one of the most exciting youngish talents in baseball. He's coming off a string of three marginal starts, so, hey, maybe the A's can do something.
The A's will hope to have Raul Alcantara (0-1, 15.00) redeem himself after his... subpar MLB debut. The kid put up a 1.18 ERA in AAA, so he's definitely not as bad as his last start would suggest. He's got a bit of a Kendall Graveman profile to him – not a lot of strikeouts, but no walks and tons of ground balls. And, like fellow rookie Jharel Cotton, he's got a stellar changeup. Let's hope he lives up to those guys.
Lineups! Joey Wendle and Bruce Maxwell look like he's getting the platoon treatment for the moment, even though they've been two of the three best hitters on the team lately.
