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Hello all! Baseball is back and last night's all-around goodness by the Athletics reminds us what we've been missing from our lives these past few months. Champions Plaza is bustling and filled with an electric array of food trucks (and cornhole!), Jose Canseco is sitting in the broadcast booth as Twitter's id made flesh, fans are unironically talking about heading to "the craft beer area"...life is good, y'all. Oh, and it's Ray Fosse's birthday! Happy birthday, Uncle Ray!
Sean Manaea takes the mound for Oakland tonight. He's coming off a Spring Training defined by an overall solid performance with perhaps a few too many walks. After stumbling in his first several starts of last season, Manaea put together a downright excellent second half and looks to carry that momentum into 2017 as Oakland's #2. His changeup continues to look like his go-to out pitch rather than the much-heralded slider, but Manaea has shown great adaptability in his time in the bigs so far and will be an exciting young player to watch all season.
Pitching for the Angels is Matt Shoemaker. Matt Shoemaker is...not as old as I thought? I was going to say he's really old but somehow he's only 30. I suspect the Angels hit up their neighbors for some of that cryogenic stuff that's keeping Walt Disney's disembodied head chugging along. Anyway, he was actually pretty alright last season (and durable, as well), though he got knocked around quite a bit in Spring Training. (edit: of course I forgot about this when I mentioned his health. I'm sorry Matt, that knock was honestly really scary.)
You'll notice that Rajai Davis is leading off again, and that Yonder Alonso and Marcus Semien are batting 8 and 9 respectively. Blerg.
Important Note!
This game ain't on TV. Yup, we're getting A'd for the second game of the season (for the second season in a row). The Giants and Warriors and Sharks are all playing which means that the A's are bound for more digital pastures. Check out Jeremy Koo's lovely guide on how/where to stream tonight's game.
Game time is 7:05 PT. Go A's!
