Game #159: A’s at Seattle

The A’s send Righthander, Edwin “EJax” Jackson to the mound tonight against the Mariners and “King” Felix Hernandez in a 7:10pm start from Safeco Field in Seattle.

Here are tonight’s starting line-ups for the A’s and M’s:

Chapman, Lucroy and Laureano With The Night Off, “Krush” Davis and Piscotty Back In
Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Chapman and Ramon Laureano get much needed breathers tonight (Josh Phegley in at C, Chad Pinder playing 3B, Mark Canha in CF). Last night’s rested members, Khris Davis (DH) and Stephen Piscotty (RF) return to the line-up. A’s GM, David Forst was quoted by A’s MLB beat writer, Jane Lee as saying the A’s would be conservative in resting guys after clinching a playoff spot and tonight’s line-up follows that plan. I understand the need to rest guys with the team only having three off days over the last month. However with wild card home field advantage still up for grabs and two off days before next Wednesday’s wild card game, I am curious why the A’s would implement this strategy while there is still a chance to overtake the Yankees?

Playoff Update
The Astros wrapped up the A.L. West crown last night with their victory over Toronto and the A’s loss to Seattle. The Yankees also won last night against the Rays and combined with the A’s loss, now have home field advantage by 2.5 games over Oakland (really it is a 3 game lead because of the Yankees tie-breaker advantage). Counting tonight, the A’s have 4 games left in the regular season and the Yankees have five (the Yankees play the Orioles tomorrow and the A’s have the day off).

Stat Watch (courtesy of A’s GameNotes)
Blake Treinen needs one more save to move into a tie for 7th place in Oakland history for most saves in a season (37) and his 0.79 ERA leads all relievers and is the lowest in Major League history among pitchers with 75 or more innings pitched.
Khris Davis with 46 homeruns, needs one more homerun (47) to move into a tie with Reggie Jackson for the 5th best season homerun total in A’s history and three more homeruns as a DH to tie David Ortiz for most homers hit by a Designated Hitter in MLB History (47).
Jed Lowrie (96) needs 5 more RBI’s to tie Rueben Sierra (101) for most RBI’s by a switch hitter in A’s history.
Matt Olson is attempting to become the 4th player in A.L. history to play in all 162 games
Matt Chapman Has scored 98 runs, which is ninth in the AL and he needs two more runs to becomethe fi rst Athletic to score 100 runs in a season since Nick Swisher had 106 in 2006. Stephen Piscotty needs one more double (42) to set the record for most doubles in a season by a Oakland RightFielder (Ben Grieve, 1998).

Hot and Cold vs “King” Felix
Stephen Piscotty is 4-10 with a homerun and two doubles in his career against Hernandez. Marcus Semien is hitting .341 with 4 career homers against the King.
Khris Davis is lifetime 1 for 22 with 7 K’s and Mark Canha is 1 for 20 with 7 K’s against Felix.
*The might be the final time the A’s battle King Felix, as Hernandez has one more year and $27 million left on his 7 year deal. However he may be dealt over the off-season to save the Mariners money as clearly he is not the same pitcher this season that he has displayed over his Seattle career (8-13, 5.46 ERA). The sticking point will be the money still owed to him and the “no-trade” clause in his contract that gives Hernandez final approval of any deal.
Felix had a cool off the field story this past Monday as he became a US Citizen.

EJax’s Wild Card Audition
Edwin Jackson has been an anchor for the A’s starting rotation over the 2nd half of the 2018 season and will get at least one start in a AL Division series if the A’s advance that far.
Jackson is 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA in 16 starts since he was selected by the A’s June 25. His ERA is fourth lowest in the American League over that stretch and the A’s have won in each of his seven no decisions and are 13-3 (.813) in his starting assignments…”E-Jax”has allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of his 16 starts. Tonight is his final regular season start of the season and he may be in contention with a good outing tonight to start the Wild Card game against the Yankees next Wednesday on 6 days of rest. Mike Fiers will also be in the conversation to start against New York, but Fiers has faced the Yankees three times this season and was roughed up on April 13th by the bronx bombers for six runs (five earned) and two homers.

Seattle Weather Joke
My Mom and extended family all were born and raised in Seattle so I feel I have the right to make fun of the emerald city...Here is my best weather joke about the city...
“What do you call two straight days of rain in Seattle? A weekend.”

Enjoy tonight’s game everyone, Let’s Go Oak-Land!!!!