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The Royals and Giants line up for Game 4 of the World Series with the Royals leading two games to one. Here is the lineup from former taxidermist Ned Yost:
Cotton Crush Lineup: Escobar 6, Gordon 7, Cain 9, Hosmer 3, Moustakas 5, Infante 4, Perez 2, Dyson 8, Vargas 1. #royals
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) October 25, 2014
Its the same lineup as last night except Jason Vargas gets to pitch instead of Jeremy Guthrie. Vargas is actually pretty decent with the bat - he was known as the best hitter on his college team, better than teammate Troy Tulowitski. He is a lifetime .262/.297/.311 in 66 career plate appearances.
Jarrod Dyson gets another start after a 1-4 performance last night. Kelvin Herrera is available as a bat off the bench.
Here's how the Giants line up:
The #SFGiants Game 4 lineup: Blanco CF Panik 2B Posey C Pence RF Sandoval 3B Belt 1B Perez LF Crawford SS Vogelsong P #WorldSeries
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 25, 2014
Juan Perez gets the start in left after Travis Ishikawa's adventure "great catch."* You'd think Mike Morse might get the start in left against a southpaw like Vargas, but Morse would be an adventure with these swirling winds.
*-per Joe Buck
Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong and his 4.00 ERA get the start rather than Madison Bumgarner on three days rest. Some people seem to think Bumgarner would be the better option down two games to one, including possibly Bumgarner himself.
Before the game, Bumgarner told teammates, "my pitching tomorrow is not an issue. I am. I will not take no for an answer."
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) October 25, 2014
Bumgarner categorically denies @pgammo Tweet saying that Game 4 was his and "i will not take no for an answer." #SFGiants
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) October 25, 2014
Vogelsong has only faced the Royals twice, both in relief as a member of the Pirates, way back in 2006. He gave up four runs in two innings of work, walking three, but he faced guys like Reggie Sanders, John Buck, and Emil Brown, so its probably not relevant at all.
First pitch is at 7:07 CT on FOX, so get your mute button ready.