McCarthy Is Back For Series Opener Against The Chicago White Sox
By Kevin Mendez
The Oakland Athletics are coming off of their first rest day in 16 days and a homestand where they went 5-5. Although their record on the last homestand sits at an even .500, the homestand ended in good fashion. The A’s had a very tough time against the Tampa Bay Rays losing 2 of the 3 games, then had an unfortunate series against the Blue Jays where they went 2-2 and questions about the back of the bullpen grew even greater. The bleeding didn’t stop there as the Athletics were shutout by the Halo’s when Jered Weaver threw a complete game shutout in the first game of the 3-game series. But as the Athletics have done all year they showed their resiliency when facing adversity and went on to beat the Angels in the next two games to win the series and take sole possession of the 2nd place spot in the American League West.
Brandon McCarthy has been activated from the 15-day disabled list and will be the starting against the Chicago White Sox. McCarthy is making his first start since June 19th. He landed on the DL when soreness in his right shoulder would not subside. This is the same soreness that has bothered him all year and has also disturbed him for most of his career. Prior to being put on the disabled list, Brandon McCarthy was 6-3 with a 2.54 ERA. Although the A’s pitching staff has been pitching magnificently in his absence, having McCarthy back is a big boost for a young staff that is filled with many pitchers who will be pitching more innings this season than they have ever done before. McCarthy can help balance out the lack of experience that the Athletics have in their pitching staff.
On the hill for the Chicago White Sox will be right-handed pitcher Gavin Floyd. Floyd is 8-9 with a 4.43 ERA in 122 innings pitched this season. He has not been very sharp in his past few games, as he has given up at least four earned runs in each of his last three starts. The Athletics will look to jump on any mistakes made by Gavin Floyd in tonight’s game and hopefully the Athletics can start another winning streak.
DownSide: The A’s will be facing a first place Chicago White Sox team that has been playing very well as of late and has had more rest over the past couple weeks in comparison to the amount of rest the Oakland Athletics have had.
UpSide: Brand McCarthy is back on the hill for the A’s!!!
Probable Starters
Saturday, August 11th at 4:10 PM
Travis Blackley (4-3, 3.30 ERA) vs Francisco Liriano (0-0, 2.45 ERA)
Sunday, August 12th at 11:10 AM
Bartolo Colon (9-8, 3.37 ERA) vs Chris Sale (13-3, 2.59 ERA)