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Alright boys, we officially have our first rubber match of the season. Lineups are obviously not out yet, but the Angels will be starting Jack Kochanowicz today. He is a massive RHP who uses a sinker heavy arsenal (73%) to generates a ton of groundballs (57%) similar to Soriano. However, he differs from the latter in that he’s got better command but weaker secondaries. As such, he won’t walk a lot of guys but won’t K too many either (his 3.4 K/9 rate last year would make Jared Shuster look like Randy Johnson in comparison). This guy should be much more beatable than Soriano yesterday. In terms of lineup construction, we need guys with speed or guys who are more likely to keep the ball of the ground. And as much as I want Vaughn riding pine, the lack of better options at the moment and the fact he has a bomb off Kockanowicz would have me slot him in at DH. On top of that, I’d move Vargas over to 1B today, play Baldwin at 3B, go with Maton at SS, Sosa at 2B, Thaiss at C, and an OF of Benitendi, Robert, & Taylor. It’s not a sexy looking lineup, but the goal today should be to scrap some hits together and manufacture a few runs. After two strong starts from Burke & Cannon, it should be very clear this Angels lineup is very much beatable. I’m optimistic Martin will continue that trend today with five or six quality innings. If the offense doesn’t beat itself today by pounding every ball into the ground, I think we should win this one. Bold prediction is a 3-2 win to take the series. Let’s fucking go!