It’s the first split-squad day for the A’s, with one team hosting Texas in Phoenix and another heading to Surprise to play Kansas City. Lots of baseball in store — if the rain holds off. We have clouds overhead and the forecasts say we’ll get some rain this afternoon, just a matter of how heavy it is. I can’t believe I’ve been here 2 1/2 weeks and I haven’t worn shorts yet. Who knew?

–Justin Duchscherer is throwing off the mound later today. The unknown with his situation is how many throwing sessions he would need before getting into his first game. That will tell us how many starts he might squeeze in during spring training, and whether there’s any chance of him being ready for the start of the season. Joey Devine is throwing too. He’s been coming along well, but the A’s aren’t indicating when he could make his first game appearance.

Here’s the lineup for today’s home game against Texas, with ex-Athletic Rich Harden on the mound for the Rangers. Mark Ellis and Ryan Sweeney are the only guys in the A’s lineup that Harden was teammates with in Oakland, although he played with Jake Fox last season w/the Cubs.

Crisp DH
Ellis 2B
Sweeney RF
Kouzmanoff 3B
Carter 1B
Taylor LF
Fox C
Rosales SS
Patterson CF

Cahill P

And the lineup vs. the Royals in Surprise:

Davis LF
Barton 1B
Gross CF
Cust DH
Powell C
Buck RF
Pennington SS
Cardenas 3B
Sogard 2B

Mazzaro P