Game #39: Athletics versus Yankees Game Thread

A huge series set to kick off this weekend in Sacramento

We’re all set to welcome the New York Yankees to West Sacramento for the first time as the Bronx Bombers come to town to take on the Athletics for a pivotal weekend series between the two playoff contenders.

The Athletics enter the series with a 20-18 record, good enough for second place in the AL West behind the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees sit atop their division, leading the competitive AL East by two games over the Boston Red Sox.

The A’s will go with right-hander Osvaldo Bido to get things started for the squad. Bido has had an overall solid season even if his subpar 4.71 ERA says otherwise. Even so, he is coming into this contest on a bit of a slump, having gotten hit hard in two of his previous three starts including the last time out.

Friday night’s A’s lineup:

Shortstop Jacob Wilson will be atop the lineup again for the second straight game, the first time the A’s have used him as their leadoff man back-to-back times this season. And Miguel Andujar is back at the hot corner tonight set to make his fifth start of the season at third base. He’ll bat in between lefty batters JJ Bleday and Lawrence Butler in the middle of the lineup. The A’s will have all of the rest of their regulars in there tonight as they’ll need their best possible lineup to keep up with these Yankees.

New York’s Will Warren will oppose Bido on the mound. The right-hander entered the year as a depth option but has instead already made seven starts for the Bombers. The results haven’t been great as he’s posted a 5.65 ERA that is currently the highest in the Yankees’ rotation as of this posting. The A’s will need to take advantage of Warren because you know the Yankees will be scoring plenty of runs. Can the A’s keep up will be the question.

That high-powered Yankee lineup looks like this for the start of the series:

They’re not in our division but we always want to beat the Yankees. Let’s start the series off right with a win!