A's notes: Why it's Barton over Carter, Coco update

Programming Alert: Tune in to A's Pregame Live at 3:30 p.m. for an exclusive interview with Brandon Inge and analysis from Brodie Brazil and Fernando Vina.

DETROIT -- He is the reigning American League MVP and Cy Young-award winner and he is facing the A's on Wednesday. He is Justin Verlander, and he is a dangerous adversary, especially at home. Verlander is 7-2 with a 1.70 ERA in 14 home starts. The one A's player with the most success against him is Coco Crisp; he is .364 (8 for 22) in his career against him -- and he is out of the lineup. Crisp is still suffering from the effects of allergic conjunctivitis in both of his eyes. "It literally is day-to-day it just depends on how he responds," Melvin said of Crisp. Crisp was playing cards with teammates in the clubhouse and wasn't wearing his sunglasses. His eyes did look a little better than they did last night. "Same, maybe slightly better, it's difficult to play this game without your eyes 100 percent," Melvin said. "You never want to put anyone in a position where you could get somebody injured." Without Crisp the A's had to shake up their lineup card considerably. Yoenis Cespedes moves to center field, Brandon Moss is in left field, and Daric Barton draws the start at first base. Barton hasn't been in the lineup since May 30. He provides the A's an additional left-handed bat against Verlander. "Typically this would be a Chris Carter day," Melvin said. "I'm going to stay away from him, he and Moss are still our platoon at first it's just a little different flavor for this game." Melvin added that in addition to being a left-handed option he wanted to get in a player that has some extra experience facing Verlander. Barton is 1 for 10 in his career against the Tigers' ace, while Carter is 0 for 3. Carter has been scuffling a little bit at the plate as well, which could factor into the decision. He is 4 for 31 with 19 strikeouts in his last 10 games. "This is not playing into the CarterMoss situation it's more about the Coco situation than anything else," Melvin said. Another by-product of Crisp missing time is Stephen Drew being inserted into the lineup. He is batting first because Melvin says the shortstop has the most experience there. -- Brandon Inge was with the team last night and he is back on Wednesday. He brought his two sons with him and he spent time in the outfield with some of his former Tigers teammates during batting practice and was met by a horde of media afterward. Inge will be joining me live for a one-on-one interview at 3:45 p.m. on A's Pregame Live. Melvin says Inge has meant a lot to this young team."He was right on time for us," Melvin says."Not only the production part of it, how well he fit into the clubhouse, the looseness all that type of stuff he brings to the table. It is good to see him." Inge is wearing a black sling on his right arm. He just underwent surgery last Thursday. It's safe to say no one around the A's will forget the way Inge tried to play with a separated right throwing shoulder. He even collected RBI hits on two different occasions after his shoulder slipped out of the socket."He's unique in that he is a gamer on the field and very loose in the way he goes about his business," Melvin said. "Usually those gamer-type guys are the really serious guys so he's got a nice blend of that. He leaves everything out on the field." -- One batter to watch is Seth Smith. He is the only A's player who has hit a homer off Verlander. Josh Reddick has also been on a roll. He is on a six-game hitting streak after hitting .077 (3 for 39) with no home runs and two RBI in his previous 10 games. "We've stuck with him and we've shown a lot of confidence in him because we have a lot of confidence in him," Melvin said.
-- The A's will have their work cut out for them. The Tigers have won 27 of their last 35 home games. Detroit will be operating with a tired bullpen after starter Max Scherzer left after just two innings with shoulder fatigue on Tuesday. The key for the A's will be to get Verlander, who leads Major League Baseball with six complete games, out of the game early. Verlander's last complete game was July 31 at Boston, and his last shutout was May 18 against Pittsburgh, so it is doable.