Missed it by that much...

I almost got the Friday lineup correct, the only thing I missed was Rivera in LF for Anderson at DH (and maybe that wasn't such a good idea since Rivera had some trouble with a couple low liners). Batting order was the same though!

Last night's order would have been difficult to pick with Figgins away until the Boston series. I guessed that Mighty Maicer might get the call at 3B and lead off, but didn't guess that Matthews and Quinlan would replace Anderson and Kotchman. Another stump-the-fans move, since the latter are hitting well against left-handers and the former aren't hitting at all lately. So what happens? They both go predictably hitless (although Matthews made a great running catch in the early innings). When Kotchman got on base in the late innings after coming in as a defensive replacement for Quinlan, you could see him talking to A's first baseman Daric Barton and it looked like Barton was asking him why he hadn't started the game and Kotchman was shaking his head and saying, "I dunno." It's not like he needed a day off after the Angels had a day off in the middle of last week, and the All-Star break coming up.

Yesterday Ervin Santana showed why he deserved to be an All-Star, although I think the Yanks' Mike Mussina deserved to be on the team too, maybe in place of one of the many closers that were chosen. Earlier in May it looked like the NL might crush the AL this year the way some of the NL players were hitting the ball early on, but they've cooled off and the AL hitters have caught up. Looks like another AL win this year, let's say 6-2.

Scioscia's lineup today?

Isturis 3b

Kotchman 1b

Guerrero Rf

Hunter Cf

Anderson Lf

Rivera DH

Kendrick 2b

Mathis C

Aybar SS

(Although I still wish he'd put Kendrick 2nd instead of Kotchman - notice how Kotchman's BA has dropped almost 20 points?)