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Las Vegas - Still a few years until the A's come to see me in Vegas, which is why they're playing in a little bandbox in Sacramento. It's Sutter Health Park which is the home of the Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and has a seating capacity of 14,014. Some of the A's are not thrilled with the park, but some are just fine. Jacob Lopez is fine. Since the start of June, Lopez has had one bad outing, allowing 3 earned runs in 3 innings against the Rays. Forgive Jacob because Tampa Bay was his team in 2023 and 2024 and his nerves were off the chart. In the four starts before facing the Rays, Lopez threw a total of 23 innings, allowing only 1 earned run for an invisible 0.39 ERA. The other arm, San Francisco's Hayden Birdsong is struggling. Birdsong has not won a game since June 1 and has been BOMBED for 20 hits and 17 earned runs over the last 18 innings. That works out to an 8.50 ERA and that also works out to a deposit into the Bank of Benj.

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