New Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin was nicknamed "The Mad Scientist" by Mark Grace during his days in Arizona because of his constant fiddling with the batting order. As the A's prepare for Saturday's game against the Chicago White Sox, the fiddling continues with their starting lineup. Often times players might complain about never knowing where they're hitting. However, given Oakland's lack of offensive punch this year, it makes sense to move things around to see what fits where.
While the lineup is seeing constant changes, Melvin seems to have settled on at least a few lineup slots. Through this third game of his Melvin's brief reign, Coco Crisp and Cliff Pennington remain in the 1-2 spot, Josh Willingham remains the cleanup hitter, and Jemile Weeks continues in the ninth where he's found a lot of success in his short stint there. In three games hitting ninth, Weeks is 6-for-11 with three runs scored. It's a tiny sample size, but it's a good start for the rookie.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp (S) CF
2. Cliff Pennington (S) SS
3. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
4. Josh Willingham (R) LF
5. Conor Jackson (R) RF
6. Scott Sizemore (R) 3B
7. Kurt Suzuki (R) C
8. Daric Barton (L) 1B
9. Jemile Weeks (S) 2B
Chicago White Sox
1. Brent Lillibridge (R) LF
2. Alexei Ramirez (R) SS
3. Carlos Quentin (R) RF
4. Paul Konerko (R) 1B
5. Alex Rios (R) CF
6. Adam Dunn (L) DH
7. Ramon Castro (R) C
8. Gordon Beckham (R) 2B
9. Brent Morel (R) 3B