Dodgers @ A’s August 19, 2015: Day Baseball

Aaaaand that was quick. So long, Oakland! Two games in something like 18 hours, and the series will be over. Baseball schedules are weird.

Dodgers
A’s
12:35 p.m. PT
Oakland, Ca.
SS
Rollins
CF
Burns
LF
Crawford
1B
Canha
1B
Gonzalez
3B
Valencia
3B
Turner
C
Phegley
RF
Ethier
LF
Smolinski
C
Grandal
DH
Butler
DH
Van Slyke
RF
Reddick
CF
Pederson
SS
Semien
2B
Hernandez
2B
Sogard

That’s partially why I don’t care about “winning series,” though I know many fans do. At the end of the day, all that matters is games won, not series won. If you win two of three in back-to-back series, or sweep one and then lose two of three, the end result is the same. Games, not series.

Anyway, as expected with a day game after an extra-innings night game, particularly one featuring a different-handed pitcher (righty Jesse Chavez), there’s plenty of lineup changes. Yasiel Puig sits with that sore hamstring, and Scott Van Slyke is at DH, so both Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford get to play. A.J. Ellis is out after his huge night last night; Yasmani Grandal is in.

As we’ve said a few times, there’s another day off tomorrow (and another on Monday), so there should be no concerns about wearing out the bullpen if Alex Wood doesn’t go far. Which is to say: Unless it’s a massive blowout in either direction, please let’s see Kenley Jansen today.

Puig, by the way, reportedly had good results from his MRI:

See you in 2016, Yasiel.

About Mike Petriello

Mike writes about lots of baseball in lots of places, and right now that place is MLB.com.