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With the Pistons gone and the Wings almost done we better all hope this Tigers team turns things around quick or we all may be stuck watching Nascar or something all summer. We're still only 6 games back so all hope is not lost but there's a whole lot of work to do so let's get things going in Oakland.
The A's have exceeded most expectations so far just by being over .500 and they're only 3.5 out of the AL West lead sitting comfortably in 2nd place. They've been winning the same way they have for ages, or at least since Billy Beane took charge: Cheap, young pitching, a smattering of power and a whole shit-ton of walks.
They're leading qualified hitter is only hitting .259 but timely power and the recent addition of the apparently not-done-yet Frank Thomas at DH has helped the A's to a respectable 6th in the league in runs scored.
Their pitching, meanwhile, has been phenomenal. For what seems like the 800th time, the A's traded away their staff ace (this time Danny Haren) last winter, but they haven't even missed a beat with yet another cheap mix of young talent and salvaged veterans. Guys like Justin Duscherer, Dana Eveland and Chad Gaudin may not exactly be household names but one thing they all are is surprisingly effective. Couple that with a deadly combination at the back end of the bullpen in Santiago Casilla and Huston Street and what you have is an Oakland team that can be hard to score on so our pitchers will need to bring their A games if they want to win the series.
Let's take a look at the pitching matchups:
Monday, June 2nd 2008, 9:05 ET:
vs
Kenny Rogers Rich Harden
Kenny is Kenny and he's been bringing the same brand of junkballing Lefty mojo for 20 years now. He's had a rough season so far but pitched a gem last week against Anaheim so he'll look to keep that going tonight. Kenny has one of the most amazing records of any pitcher anywhere in Oakland where he's 23-1 with a 3.16 ERA in his last 41 starts.
Harden, meanwhile, has only ever been held back by the health of his electric right arm. It's the same story every year: he spends a few weeks amazing all onlookers as he dominates the league and then another fluke injury pops up and he's back to the DL again, seemingly for the last time. He's already had one trip this year but in between he's shutdown all comers with a 3-0 record and 2.60 era in 6 starts. He could throw a shutout or he could leave in the third with elbow soreness: either one's probably just about as likely as the other.
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008, 9:05 ET:
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Tiger
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Originally Posted by WTFchris
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