A’s begin quick weekend series against rival Giants

The Oakland A’s are all set up to face off against their cross-bay rival San Francisco Giants tonight at the Coliseum.

Always a packed house when these two teams meet, the Giants are starting righty Ross Stripling tonight against the A’s. San Francisco is in the playoff hunt this year and are currently the first Wild Card team. They’re right on the Dodgers’ heels in the NL West though and they need every win they can get.

That doesn’t matter to the A’s though. They will try to play spoiler and beat the Giants in both games. It would also serve as a bit of payback after the club lost both games in San Francisco last week.

The club is finally getting healthier too as the club will welcome back center fielder Esteury Ruiz tonight in front of the home crowd. He’s being immediately inserted into the leadoff spot tonight and manning center field. Anyone else feel like he’ll make an impact in tonight’s contest?

The A’s are on a bit of a losing streak, having lost four in a row including getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which just happen to be the Giants’ biggest rival and their competition for the NL West. The offense has sputtered during this stretch after mashing in Colorado last weekend but getting back home to Oakland could be just what the doctor ordered to get the bats going again. And Ruiz. Getting Ruiz back is big. Let’s go A’s!

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, August 5, 4:07 p.m. PDT

Location: The Coliseum, Oakland, California

TV: NBCSCA

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: A’s Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM / 103.7 HD2