The Toronto Blue Jays (49-57) and Oakland Athletics (63-44) will face off in the rubber match of their three-game series today at 3:35 p.m. in Oakland. The game can be live streamed here; Blue Jays fans can listen to the action on SN590 while Oakland backers can do likewise on 95.7 The Game.
The A's will send Bartolo Colon (14-3, 2.54 ERA) out to the mound for what could be his final outing of the season. Colon's name has frequently popped up throughout MLB's Biogenesis clinic saga, and reports are out that suspensions stemming from that scandal could come down this week.
That won't help Toronto today though, because Colon will be on the hill and he's been one of the better pitchers in all of baseball in 2013. The 40-year-old Colon, who won a Cy Young award in 2005, is in the midst of arguably his best season ever.
Colon is in the running with Detroit's Max Scherzer for the MLB lead in wins, and said himself he's surprised. "I have surprised myself right now because I didn't know I was going to share the lead with the other pitchers. I am proud."
His strikeout numbers are not at career-highs, but his walk totals are at a career low 1.1 per nine innings. He has transformed himself into a strike-throwing machine, and relied on his defense to make plays behind him. Losing him would deal a quite severe blow to Oakland, but today's not the day to worry about that.
He will face off against another former Cy Young winner, R.A. Dickey (8-11, 4.86 ERA). The Jays have not been able to wring an ounce of consistency from the man they acquired to be their ace, and Oakland figures to be a tough matchup for the knuckleballer.
"I'm trying to remain optimistic because I feel like the same guy I was last year and it is frustrating not to get the same results," Dickey said.
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