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Just win a game (oh, and try to do it without cheating). That’s really the only goal for tonight. The season-long goals of watching our rookies improve and getting them up to speed at the major league level still stands, and in the context of that type of season, individual wins and losses generally don’t really matter. But we’re in a 7-game hole and we’re playing the slegnA, which means that winning DOES matter this time around. Don’t feed the beast.
Garrett Richards is back on the mound for the Angels, his first start since an injury to his right biceps at the beginning of the season. Formerly (and possibly still moving forward) their Ace, Richards has a nasty fastball and some good secondary offerings. It’s his first major league start in 5 months, so he’ll probably be rusty, but the Angels must be happy to have him back as they make their playoff push. Let’s mess with that mojo.
Hoping to stave off Angels batters tonight is Kendall Graveman, who has also missed a good chunk of the season due to injury. KG got knocked around to the tune of 5 earned runs in 5 innings less than a week ago against the Angels, in that terrible game where we scored 8 runs in one inning and still lost (10-8, to compliment last night’s 11-9). Our pitching has been abysmal for the last...sheesh, I dunno, couple months? So we could really use a good start from Graveman - both to right the ship in general, and to give him some confidence as we near the end of the season.
Boog Powell is at the bottom of the order and Pinder is getting the start in right field, both of which are interesting to see.
Game time is 7:05 PT. Go A’s! Time for some spoiling.
