The Oakland Athletics will look to bounce back from an Opening Day fielding debacle as they send out left hander Brett Anderson to face lefty Jason Vargas. The A’s committed five errors in a game for the first time since 2007 and saw normally sure-handed Kevin Kouzmanoff commit two errors on consecutive plays. Although the errors did not completely decide the game, they led to runs in one inning and boosted Trevor Cahill’s fourth inning pitch count.
The A’s have built their team around strong pitching and fielding, and will look to clean up the fielding mess today. While the A’s lost their seventh straight opening night contest, there were some positives they’ll look to carry into tonight’s contest. The A’s got to Felix Hernandez early thanks Josh Willingham’s home run. Willingham became the first Athletics player to hit a home run on his first at bat with the team since Frank Thomas.
The only significant lineup change we could see today would be Landon Powell starting at catcher. Kurt Suzuki sprained his ankle last night, although it was characterized as a mild sprain. Given how early we are in the season, it seems like prudence is the wiser course of action for now.