The Oakland Athletics send out Gio Gonzalez on Sunday looking to salvage one game in their three game Bay Bridge Series with the San Francisco Giants. The A’s offense has been held to one run through two games against the Giants in 2-1 and 3-0 losses. On Sunday the A’s will send out a slightly different lineup as they try to figure out some way to get some runs on the board against the strong Giants pitching staff.
Conor Jackson gets the start in right field, while Josh Willingham is back out in left field. Andy LaRoche has also been plugged into the lineup but that would seem to be due more to the right groin strain Kevin Kouzmanoff suffered in Saturday’s game. LaRoche started 2011 on a solid note but he has struggled for most of the month of May and lost any semblance of consistent playing time. Third base continues to be a bit of a black hole for the A’s offense. Of course, given how the rest of the lineup is performing, the entire offense appears to be a black hole at times.
Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp CF
2. Daric Barton 1B
3. Conor Jackson RF
4. Josh Willingham LF
5. Kurt Suzuki C
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. Andy LaRoche 3B
8. Cliff Pennington SS
9. Gio Gonzalez P