The Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays announced their lineups for this afternoon’s matchup at Rogers Centre. The pitching matchup will feature Dallas Braden and Jesse Litsch. There were rumors circulating that Dallas Braden was going to a be game-day scratch with a neck injury, but those were debunked as Michael Wuertz has been placed on the disabled list.
What I view as the most interesting lineup choice for the A’s tonight is the return of Andy LaRoche for his second straight start. LaRoche came into spring training as a non-roster invitee but forced his way onto the roster with a strong spring. He started at shortstop yesterday and put together a solid performance, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Kevin Kouzmanoff has struggled in the field at third and would seem to be getting a day off to clear his head a bit. I can’t imagine this is a long term change….yet. Personally I’m rooting for LaRoche to take the job and run with it, but it’s still much too early to stick a fork in Kouzmanoff.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Daric Barton, 1B
3. David DeJesus, RF
4. Josh Willingham, LF
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Kurt Suzuki, C
7. Mark Ellis, 2B
8. Andy LaRoche, 3B
9. Cliff Pennington, SS
Toronto Blue Jays
1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Yunel Escobar, SS
3. Adam Lind, 1B
4. Aaron Hill, 2B
5. Juan Rivera, RF
6. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
7. Travis Snider, LF
8. J.P Arencibia, C
9. Mike McCoy, DH