The Oakland Athletics enter Wednesday afternoon’s ESPN Game of the Week face the daunting task of trying to escape with a win against Angels starter Dan Haren. The A’s have been manhandled through the first two games of the series and send out spot starter Tyson Ross trying to salvage anything. Ross was roughed up in his first start of the year last week and will look to show improvement this week. As Dallas Braden works his way back from shoulder stiffness, Ross has a limited opportunity to prove himself over the next week or two.
The A’s will have a temporary change to their lineup over the next few days as Landon Powell will be filling in for Kurt Suzuki. The A’s placed Suzuki on their paternity leave list, which allows a player to be on hand for the birth of a child. The A’s called up Josh Donaldson to fill Suzuki’s roster spot while he is gone. Donaldson was struggling at AAA and I would imagine Powell will get just about all the starts while Suzuki is out.
The only other significant change is that Coco Crisp is out of the lineup, replaced by Ryan Sweeney in center and David DeJesus at the top of the lineup. Crisp left Tuesday’s game with quad tightness and with the off-day on Thursday, a Wednesday day off makes sense. Josh Willingham will miss his second straight game with back tightness, leaving a fairly hot-hitting Conor Jackson in left field.
Oakland Athletics
1. David DeJesus (L) RF
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. Conor Jackson® LF
4. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
5. Mark Ellis® 2B
6. Ryan Sweeney (L) CF
7. Landon Powell (S) C
8. Kevin Kouzmanoff® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS
Los Angeles Angels
1. Erick Aybar (S) SS
2. Bobby Abreu (L) DH
3. Torii Hunter® RF
4. Vernon Wells® LF
5. Alberto Callaspo (S) 3B
6. Howard Kendrick® 1B
7. Hank Conger (S) C
8. Peter Bourjos® CF
9. Alexi Amarista (L) 2B