Game 49 open thread: Indians vs. A’s

Happy Memorial Day! The Indians’ four-game series against the Oakland A’s kicks off today at 4:10. Some notes before today’s game gets going:

• Two big pieces of news came yesterday: first, that Corey Kluber will be making his return on Thursday against the A’s; and that he will be taking the place of Danny Salazar, who will be temporarily banished to the bullpen. Well, not “banished,” if you ask Terry Francona. “He’s not being banished to the bullpen,” Francona said. “We’re trying to have a baseline for him to build his confidence, and when he comes into a game the priority will be the first hitter, which we think will be good for him also. I don’t think he’s very confident right now, but we’ll get him back on the road to carving up people.” Semantics aside, hopefully this non-banishment results in Salazar getting his groove back.
• Carrasco has been the one starter who has pitched to expectations day in and day out this year; he’s in the majors’ top 20 in WAR according to Fangraphs. Hopefully start number ten, against a relatively weak A’s offense, will bring more of the same.
• Oh hey, that name at the top of the A’s lineup sure looks familiar. Oh, it’s just the guy responsible for one of the greatest moments in Indians history:
  
• Memorial Day is often cited as the point in the season at which you can start believing that team records and player stats are more than just a small sample size blip on the radar. With that being the case, it’s getting to be time for the Indians to surge out of their mild start to the season and start looking like the defending AL champs. This series against Oakland could be the perfect time to do so.

Today’s lineups:

Today’s lineups: