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Series Preview: Rangers at Mariners

Despite completing a sweep of the A’s last night and owning an ML best +22 win differential from 2008, the Seattle Mariners don’t really have much left to play for. Except maybe second place.

The Rangers will head to Seattle to wrap up their season with a three-game series against the Mariners, and while neither team will be playing in the postseason, the M’s front office was pleasantly surprised by the team’s turnaround. After needing to win their final three games of 2008 just to avoid having baseball’s worst record, Seattle played well enough in ‘09 to earn every coach an invite back for next season.

A huge reason for their success has been a lethal combination of pitching and defense. Seattle’s pitching staff is anchored by Cy Young candidate Felix Hernandez and they  lead the A.L. by a wide margin in team ERA, while also ranking first in MLB in almost every defensive metric imaginable. So the reasons for their turnaround are obvious, but one thing that isn’t quite as clear is who should be the team MVP. Hernandez, who the Mariners are trying to lock down long-term, is an obvious candidate. But so are Franklin Gutierrez and recently reactivated Russell Branyan, both of whom had breakout seasons.

Ken Griffey Jr., on the other hand, might have to fight for a chance to play again after he posted some ugly numbers this season. Veteran Mike Sweeney might be in the same boat. And even 25-year-old Brandon Morrow, who the Mariners picked over Washington-native Tim Lincecum in the 2006 Rule IV Draft, is starting to look more like Chad Gaudin than Lincecum.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Angels

There was about a ten minute period Sunday afternoon when it looked as though the upcoming four-game series between the Rangers and Angels might have playoff implications after all. The Oakland A’s had run off four straight runs in the late innings against the Angels to pull within one, while Texas needed to maintain a 6-3 lead for just three outs to complete a sweep of the Rays. A Rangers win combined with an Angels loss would’ve pulled Texas to within 4.0 games in the A.L. West and effectively given them control of their playoff destiny.

But the A’s rally fell short, and the Rangers’ bullpen imploded. Darren O’Day, C.J. Wilson, and Frank Francisco faced 11 batters and recorded only two outs, while the Angels picked up a pair of insurance runs and turned to Brian Fuentes, who locked down his 45th save of the season.

So here we are. The Rangers are six games back with seven to play, and they absolutely have to sweep the Angels to keep their playoff hopes alive.  And it’s not one of those, “They need a sweep or it’ll be tough to get in,” kind of things. It’s more like this: if the Rangers don’t take all four in L.A., they’re mathematically eliminated.

But there’s a sliver of hope. Though the Angels are on the cusp of setting franchise records for offensive prowess led by Kendry Morales’ breakout season and Howie Kendrick’s excellent September, the bats are struggling at the moment. And when a team which has relied on offense all year stops hitting, they stop winning. So at least the Rangers have that going for them.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Rays

While the Rays played their way out of playoff contention with an 11 game losing streak that culminated on September 13 with a pair of losses to the Red Sox, they were officially eliminated until a few days ago. That day is nothing but a formality at this point for the Rangers, with the Angels’ magic number down to four. So the upcoming weekend series between Texas and Tampa will serve little purpose other than to showcase the plethora of young talent on each side and ponder the future.

For now, the Rays’ future is third baseman Evan Longoria, whose strong finish to the season has some wondering about his MVP credentials. Tampa is also hoping Ben Zobrist can maintain his personally unprecedented performance next year after posting a 7.4 WAR season. But history’s not necessarily on his side, and he wouldn’t be the first former Rays All-Star to see a drop off after a career year.

Tampa Bay’s future success could hinge on their ability to find a true ace to anchor a solid pitching staff, whether they acquire one — like Felix Hernandez — or develop one. David Price was supposed to be that ace, and nearly everybody had him ranked as the game’s top prospect prior to the season. But a concerningly bad slider and mediocre results have taken some of the luster from the Vanderbilt product and left some to wonder whether he’ll ever be a top notch starter. The good news for Rays fans is that Price, who will start the finale on Sunday against the Rangers, has posted a 3.41 ERA since July 31 and has shown marked improvement on his slider. And between Price, Matt Garza, James Shields, AL Rookie of the Year candidate Jeff Niemann, and newcomer Wade Davis, the Rays are stocked with five quality starting pitchers aged 27 or younger.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Athletics

Back in July, the Rangers didn’t made a blockbuster move to assist in what was going to be a strenuous sortie with the Angels for AL West supremacy. Instead, they stood pat at the trade deadline and hoped their young team could spin a surprising postseason berth without any outside help.

Now we know better. And with Texas’ playoff hopes seemingly wilted and only a few weeks until they’ll spend a long October at home, they’re allowed a hypothetical do-over. But, in truth, they probably wouldn’t trade for Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee to anchor the pitching staff, or Victor Martinez or Nick Johnson to curb their bouts of offensive anemia. And quite frankly, those guys might not have been enough anyway.

My guess is the Rangers would go back to September 4 and swap schedules with the Oakland Athletics. That was the day Oakland hit rock bottom following a 6-3 loss to the Mariners that pushed the Athletics to a season-high — or season-low — 17 games under .500. The Rangers, meanwhile, pulled within 3.5 games in the division and 2.0 in the wild card chase after a 5-1 victory in Baltimore. Since then, the A’s have won 12 of their last 14 and seven straight to move to 71-78 on the season, while Texas owns a 5-9 record over that stretch, being shut out in five of their nine losses.

So if anyone has Doc Brown on speed dial, now might be a good time to speak up.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Angels

It’s about as simple as this: if the Rangers can’t manage a sweep this weekend, they’ll need a flat out miracle to sneak into the postseason. And if they manage any less than taking two of three, even a Met-like collapse from the Angels wouldn’t be enough. So to say this is the “biggest series of the year” is not only unnecessary at this point; it’s also an understatement.

The struggles have been well-documented — four straight losses while plating only one run against mediocre competition. It’s been so bad that Brett Tomko, who had all of one shutout in nearly 1800 career innings prior to Monday, was able to blank the Rangers while feeling the effects of nerve damage that will keep him out the rest of the year. Even for a team that’s struggled at the plate all year, it’s been surprisingly difficult to watch.

But the Angels have faltered of late as well. Before a comeback win last night in Boston, LAA had lost four of five, including a controversial 9-8 loss in Fenway on Wednesday that left the Angels steaming and several coaches possibly facing disciplinary actions. And while Thursday’s victory has slightly quelled concerns for the time being, there’s still plenting of complaining and questioning and strategizing going on, leaving the Angels faithful to ask one question.

What would Darin Erstad do?

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Athletics

After dropping two of three in a disappointing weekend series, the Rangers have fallen all the way to four back in the wild card and six back in the division. In need of a sweep to keep things interesting before they head to L.A. on Friday, the Rangers will have the good fortune of a three-game home series with the 64-78 Oakland A’s, who are 12th in the AL in runs scored. The bad news is they’re 6-6 against the Rangers this year and have won five of their last seven overall.

Andrew Bailey has been a big part of their recent success, saving three of their five wins and setting an Oakland rookie record for saves with 24. Bailey’s case for the AL Rookie of the Year award might be hampered by the A’s subpar season, but all the credentials are there, especially after he was named AL Rookie of the Month for August.

Bailey is just one reason why the pitching, as expected, hasn’t been the problem in Oakland. CF Rajai Davis has been electric in earning himself a regular role in the outfield, but he’s one of the few things offensively that A’s fans have to get excited about. Scott Hairston cooled off when he got to Oakland, and Matt Holliday got hot when he left. The defense, although much better of late, has contributed to the A’s allowing the 4th most unearned runs in the league. And it’s all combined to get Oakland mathematically eliminated from postseason contention with their next loss, which could come as early as tonight.

For their own sake, the Rangers hope it does.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Mariners

The Mariners entered the final weekend of their miserable 2008 season with a 58-101 and a 1.5 game “lead” on the Nationals for the wost record in baseball. The finished the year with a three-game sweep of the Oakland A’s and, in the process, played their way out of the chance to draft super prospect Stephen Strasburg. But the winning streak, while untimely, might have foreshadowed Seattle’s much more successful ‘09 campaign in which they’ve maintained a record above .500 and were still relevant in the playoff race until a five game skid that started Saturday against — who else — the Oakland A’s.

Seattle will finish up a ten game road trip with a weekend series in Arlington, where they’ve lost six of seven games this year, and despite the fact that it’s only been a month since the two teams met at Rangers Ballpark, quite a bit has changed for both teams. Vicente Padilla is no longer in Texas, and Michael Young and Josh Hamilton are both hurt. For Seattle, Brandon Morrow is back in the rotation, while Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson are out. Erik Bedard was moved to the 60-day DL in August and young lefty Luke French, who’s struggled since being acquired for Jarrod Washburn at the deadline, was moved to the bullpen to make room for Morrow.

Despite their ever-changing pitching staff, Seattle’s managed to maintain the best ERA in the A.L, but the offense ranks dead last in the league in runs scored and plated only five in three games against the Angels this week. Although their playoff chances are likely gone, M’s fans can take solace in the facts that Franklin Gutierrez has been terrific and, as usual, Ichiro is going for another 200 hit season. On the more unfortunate side, they’ve been haunted by Kenji and Kenny G.

And with the Red Sox and Angels facing shrinking magic numbers, the Rangers have to be sure this series won’t come back to haunt them at season’s end.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Indians

While the Rangers missed an opportunity to gain some ground in the playoff race by facing the second-worst team in the league over the weekend, the Angels beat up on the AL’s worst club and the Red Sox kept pace by winning one of three against the White Sox. Now the AL’s third worst club, the Cleveland Indians, are hoping to keep the Rangers down with a three game series at Progressive Field that starts tonight.

Cleveland began the season with playoff aspirations, but their disappointing run has left manager Eric Wedge unsure of his job security and fans wanting to clean house and look to the future.  They’ve lost Grady Sizemore for the year, which some thought should’ve happened months ago, and their pitching staff has allowed the third most runs in the majors.

Yet despite their struggles, Cleveland has gone 25-22 since the All-Star break and already knocked one playoff hopeful off course by taking two of three from the Twins over the weekend. So, with Texas preparing for a nine game homestand against AL West foes starting Friday, a series win isn’t just important anymore. It’s essential.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Orioles

When former Ranger 1B Mark Teixeira was mulling his options as a free agent last winter, the Maryland native supposedly considered the Orioles as a possible destination. Chances are he doesn’t regret his decision to pick New York, especially not after the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles on Wednesday, pushed their lead to 32 games over Baltimore in the AL East, and will most assuredly be in the playoffs.

The Orioles, meanwhile, don’t have much left to play for these days, except maybe avoiding their first 100 loss season in 21 years. After starting the year 6-2, things got ugly quickly for Baltimore, who limped into the All-Star break with a 40-48 record and have gone 14-32 since. They lost their ninth straight contest to the Yankees a few days ago, star CF Adam Jones could miss the rest of the season, and Dave Trembley might be ready to snap.

So what’s the biggest issue for the Orioles? A pitching staff that owns a cumulative 5.05 ERA, good for dead last in MLB. The Rangers will face two starters, LHP Brian Matusz and RHP Chris Tillman, that have a total 71 innings between them, while the third starter, veteran Jeremy Guthrie, has the fourth worst ERA among qualified ML pitchers. Add that to the fact that the bullpen will be filled with recent callups after having been a mess all year, and the Rangers would seem to have an easy three-game series in Baltimore on their hands.

But there might be a few problems…

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Blue Jays

The last time the Rangers and Blue Jays faced off, Toronto finished the series six games over .500 and just 2.5 games back of New York in the AL East. Since then, the Jays have lost 43 of 68 games to fall 23 back of the Yankees, 12 games under .500, and into the bad graces of their own fans. They haven’t done the Rangers any favors either, going 0-6 against the Red Sox in the last two weeks.

The Jays’ fall really started back in July, but it hasn’t been helped by the drop off that ace Roy Halladay has experienced of late. Since the trade deadline passed with him still north of the border, Halladay has gone 2-4 with a 4.71 ERA and pushed himself out of Cy Young contention. The collapse has even left Jays fans wondering whether the things that have gone right are simply a fluke — like Aaron Hill — and questioning what went wrong.

So not only is the upcoming series between Texas and Toronto a vital one for the Rangers, who have fallen 3.5 back in the wild card race, but it’s seemingly one they should dominate as well.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Twins

The Rangers moved to 16 games over .500 after taking two of three from the Yankees in New York, while the Twins dropped to a game below even after a 5-1 loss to Baltimore yesterday. Despite the discrepancy in their records, both teams are within striking distance in their respective divisions, with the Rangers four games behind Los Angeles and the Twins 4.5 back of Detroit.

That means both teams will have plenty to play for in the Metrodome this weekend, even beside Joe Mauer’s run at the AL MVP.

In stark contrast to past years, the biggest obstacle the Twins will have to overcome in making the postseason is their pitching. It’s gotten so out of hand in Minnesota that, even after dealing for a pitcher with a 5.00+ ERA in Carl Pavano at the deadline, they’re might be looking into another one, former Red Sox hurler Brad Penny.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Yankees

The good news for the Rangers is that their two biggest competitors for the wild card spot, Boston and Tampa Bay, still have games to play against baseball’s best team, the New York Yankees. The Red Sox will head to Yankee Stadium on the final weekend in September for a three-game series, and the Rays have four games in New York and three in Tampa left on their Yankee ledger.

The bad news is that those games don’t come for a while, and the Yankees might cool off by then. Texas, however, has the misfortune of facing the Bronx Bombers in the midst of one of the hottest stretches any team has enjoyed this year. New York is 27-9 since the All-Star break. Not only do they own MLB’s home best record, but they’ve taken baseball’s best overall record from former manager Joe Torre as well. Their big offseason acquisitions are paying off, with C.C. Sabathia leading the majors in wins and Mark Teixeira making his case for an MVP candidacy. And they’ve got a pretty good shortstop, too.

So life is good in the Empire, while the Rangers are, at the moment, on the outside looking in. That’s why the upcoming series at Yankee Stadium should mean more to the road team. Because it has to.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Rays

The focus in the AL wild card race has been on Boston and Texas for the last few weeks, but Tampa Bay has quietly kept themselves within striking distance. The Rays could tie the Rangers with a sweep of the three-game series at Tropicana Field that starts tonight, and with Tampa owning a 40-20 home record and Texas being a game under .500 on the road, it could be a tough series.

Though the Rays are playing well of late, a few of their key offensive parts have struggled. Jason Bartlett is coming back down to Earth after an scorching start to the season. Pat Burrell hasn’t been what Tampa expected when they signed him in the offseason. BJ Upton, who could be the next Grady Sizemore, feels like he’s been “kicked in the face” by a move to the nine spot. Even Carl Crawford’s .321 average hasn’t made him immune to criticism.

And if Rangers fans aren’t starting to see parallels between their season and the Rays’ run last year, maybe they should look harder.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Twins

The past few weeks could not have provided more polar opposite results for the Twins and Rangers. While Texas has won seven of their last ten and left fans buzzing after taking control of the wild card race Sunday afternoon, the Twins are 4-10 in the month of August and used an ugly weekend series with Cleveland to fall to six games back in the AL Central.

The skid has left Twins pundits to prophesize that their season is already over, even if they still have reasons to play. But they haven’t won a series since the end of July, and they haven’t won a series on the road since the last time they were in Arlington, back on July 19.

But that was nearly a month ago when these two teams had completely different outlooks. Now, the Rangers are riding a hot streak and have a chance to create some cushion between Boston and themselves as they host a four-game series with the Twins. But the pressure is on Texas to maintain their lead in the playoff race, and they have to avoid a let down against a struggling opponent.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Red Sox

It’s the biggest series of the season. For real this time.

With fewer than 50 games remaining, a time by which they’re usually playing for a draft pick, the Rangers find themselves in the thick of a few playoff races. While they’ve has managed to stay within striking distance of the Angels for the AL West crown, a run at the first wild card berth in team history could be their best shot to make it to October.

Which is why a matchup with an East Coast team — the Boston Red Sox — has major implications moving forward. The Rangers are 5-1 against Boston this year, including a perfect 3-0 in Arlington, but despite the fact that the Sox are coming off a 2-0 loss to Ranger tormenter Justin Verlander on Sunday, they’re feeling pretty good about themselves.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Indians

After a week of late nights on the West Coast, the Rangers are going to do their best to get their games in early for the next three days. Texas and Cleveland will play the first two games of their three-game set at 6:05 p.m. and cap it off with an odd 11:05 a.m. start on a getaway day that should give the Rangers plenty of time to make it back to Arlington for a vital series with the Red Sox.

But Texas’ focus for the moment is on Cleveland, and for good reason: despite their 48-63 record, the Indians have won four of five and are four games over .500 since the All-Star Break. It’s the first time the teams have met since their season-opening series in April that Texas swept, outscoring Cleveland 29-14 (almost ten runs a game!) in the process. But it’s a much different Indians team the Rangers will have to face this time around. Two of the three starters Texas saw, Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano, were dealt — along with many, many others — for prospects, so if you need name tags to keep the new faces straight in Cleveland, you’re not the only one.

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Keys, Please: A Look At Five Important Aspects of Rangers-Angels AL West Showdown Series

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Before we begin this look at some of the potential story lines of this weekend, vote in our little poll, please. And while looking at the simplistic question consider all the reasons there might be some doubt about which game this weekend is the most important. I’ll provide my own answer and reasoning in The Depot.

The Rangers head into yet edition of MOST IMPORTANT SERIES OF THE SEASON, but this three-game set against the AL West-leading Angels does have real meaning since it comes with less than 60 games to go in the season, a point that marks the start of the real pennant race. And while  the Rangers are dueling with the Angels, wild-card leading Boston will be hosting the New York Yankees. So, there is baseball of importance to the Rangers playoff chances on both coasts.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Angels

Even if they don’t own the ML’s best record, it’s hard to deny what the Angels have been saying for two months. They’re the best team in baseball. Los Angeles is 35-13 since June 12, a record made all the more unfathomable when you consider the club is 27th 26th in the majors in ERA. The normally pitching-heavy Angels have had to do it with an offense that has been without their big guns for a while. Losing Vlad Guerrero, Juan Rivera, and All-Star Torii Hunter took some pop out of a lineup already lacking power, but L.A. has parlayed a .289 team batting average into 5.71 runs per game, both ML-bests.

Erick Aybar hit .414 for the month of July. Bobby Abreu wasn’t far behind at .380.  Kendry Morales just took home AL Player of the Week honors, and Abreu one-upped him by claiming the Player of the Month title. Vlad is back (again) and Mike Napoli is embracing his role as a DH. Things are going so well in L.A. that Gary Matthews Jr. feels validated by the .668 OPS he’s posted since replacing Hunter in July. Maybe a tad premature.

But the Rangers will still have their hands full with a three-game series at Angel Stadium, and by Sunday night, Texas could be as close as 1.5 games and as far as 7.5 games from the AL West lead.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Athletics

If you were grumbling about the late finish the Rangers got Friday night, you’re in for a long week. With the team on the West Coast for a four-game series in Oakland –  and a subsequent three-game series in Los Angeles — the Rangers are slated for four 9:05 p.m. CST starts in the next five days. You might want to pick up a few extra coffee filters on the way home from work.

There is a silver lining: the games shouldn’t be lacking in excitement. With the Rangers four games behind the Angels, seven games in as many days against division opponents could significantly alter the landscape of the AL West by Sunday. The Rangers get the benefit of starting with Oakland who, at 44-60, is tied for the third worst record in the AL and have gone through their share of growing pains recently. With the Athletics dealing Matt Holliday and shortstop Orlando Cabrera before the trade deadline and sending a slew of young pitchers to the mound over the next four days, the Rangers hope those pains continue.

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Series Preview: Mariners at Rangers

When the Rangers played four games in Seattle just before the All-Star break, they had to face three of the AL’s toughest starters: Felix Hernandez, Jarrod Washburn, and Erik Bedard. The other pitcher Texas drew was righty Brandon Morrow, who was optioned to triple-A Tacoma two days after his start. The Rangers went 1-3 in the series, scoring more runs in the lone win (6) than in all three loses combined (5). I’ll let you guess which of the aforementioned they beat.

This time around, the Rangers will again have to play Seattle four times in as many days, but the M’s three-headed pitching monster is down to two with the news that Erik Bedard has been placed on the DL after trying to pitch through a sharp pain in his shoulder. Maybe not the best idea for a guy that has never accrued 200 innings in a season and failed to break the century mark last year. And the guys slated to start games one and two don’t quite live up to Seattle’s AL-leading 3.87 team ERA. Jason Vargas has hit a wall since a entering June with a sub-2.00 ERA, going 1-3 while allowing 7.11 runs per nine in his last six starts. Garrett Olson has struggled to keep the ball on the ground — and out of the bleachers — posting a 5.37 ERA for the year and allowing 15 home runs in 65.1 innings. That should leave the homer-happy Rangers licking their chops, for better or worse.

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Series Preview: Tigers at Rangers

When the 2007 season started, Armando Galarraga was a Frisco RoughRider and Tommy Hunter was still playing college baseball at Alabama. Galarraga made the jump from double-A to triple-A to the majors that year, posting a 6.24 ERA in one start and two relief appearances for Texas. The Rangers drafted Hunter in June and sent him to their short-season affiliate in Spokane.

A matter of months later, in the offseason before 2008, the Rangers designated Galarraga for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Jason Jennings. The Tigers claimed Galarraga and stuck him in the rotation for most of the season. He posted a 13-7 record with a 3.73 ERA in 178.2 innings. Cue the grumbles. Hunter was fast tracked to the majors in ‘08, moving from high-A to double-A to triple-A in a season without a noticeable hiccup in his performance. He did not fare as well in his big league debut, however, allowing 20 runs in 11 innings for an ERA of 16.36. Cue the groans.

But all was not as it appeared. Galarraga was a 26-year-old rookie with an unsustainably low batting average on balls in play (BABIP) that kept his ERA lower than it should have been. Hunter was a 22-year-old prospect who had logged less than 200 minor league innings and was still awaiting a twist of fate that would introduce him to the cutter that would change his pitching repertoire. And here we are. Galarraga, despite lowering his ERA by nearly a run over his last four starts, is giving up 4.82 runs per nine innings and has a WHIP of 1.49, while Hunter has been arguably the Ranger’s best starter in July, going 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA in three starts.

So as the two young righties prepare to face off in Arlington tonight, the edge would seem to go to the current rather than the former Ranger. Unless you take Texas’ 0-6 record in ‘09 against Detroit into account. And the fact that, unlike the Rangers’ previous opponent, the Tigers actually have something to play for.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Royals

The Rangers got a much needed day off Thursday after flu-like symptoms left five players out or affected for their series finale with the Red Sox.

The Royals got a much needed day off Thursday after they spent the previous two nights doing their best impression of the ‘07 Rangers, and not just because Kansas City has five graduates of that Rangers club on their 40-man roster. The Royals led the Angels 5-4 heading into the sixth inning Tuesday, but allowed four unanswered runs to fall 8-5 in the first game of a doubleheader. The nightcap saw KC jump out to an early 2-0 lead, only to get hammered 10-2. And in trying to avoid the sweep, the Royals held firmly to a 6-2 advantage through six innings in the series’ final game, but gave up two in the seventh and five in the eighth to lose yet again.

In other words, the Royals haven’t been doing the Rangers any favors lately. But with a three-game series ready to begin at Kauffman Stadium tonight, that might be about to change.

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Series Preview: Red Sox at Rangers

When the Rangers went to Boston back in June, they managed two wins by sending Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla to the mound, both of whom shut the Red Sox down over seven innings of work. Texas’ only loss in Beantown came when Derek Holland was matched against a near perfect Jon Lester. Now that the Sox are in Arlington for a three-game series, the Rangers plan to send Millwood and Padilla back out for starts, with 23-year-old Tommy Hunter going in between. On the surface, it seems like matchup that would favor the Rangers, at least based on what happened a month ago. And Texas won’t even have to face Lester.

But what they will have to face just might be even worse. The Red Sox will start veteran John Smoltz tonight against Millwood. Although Smoltz is just 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA, he’s coming off the best start of his short season, allowing just one run over five innings against the Royals while striking out seven. Smoltz is seventh among active players with a 3.27 career ERA, a number that he’s lowered since turning 40 in 2007. When he’s healthy, he’s still tough. And that’s just the first course.

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Series Preview: Twins at Rangers

The All-Star break seemed to come at a good time for the Texas Rangers. They lost three of their last four games to the division-rival Mariners to end the first half after starting the year 5-0 against Seattle. They fell 1.5 games back of the Angels in the AL West, the furthest from first they’d been since April. A few days off could’ve given the team a chance to recompose and to regain some of the momentum that had them leading the division for much of the first three months of the season.

But before the Rangers even made it back on the field for a three-game series with Minnesota, they had already lost another half game in the standings. The Angels got a head start on the second half with a 6-2 win over Oakland last night, their fourth straight win after sweeping the Yankees before the break. Yet even in the face of what is probably the most important stretch of games Texas has played this year, the Rangers are confident that they’re finally ready to contend for their first division title in a decade.

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Series Preview: Rangers at Mariners

Not only did the Rangers finish off their third series win in three tries against the Angels last night, but they did it against Los Angeles’ three best pitches: Jered Weaver, John Lackey, and Ervin Santana.

And while that’s still an impressive feat (especially on the road), it would’ve been even more impressive last year when Lackey and Santana were pitching well. But neither of the Angels top starters from 2008 have found their form yet after starting the year on the DL, and the Rangers took advantage. Now, as they prepare to start a four-game set with the Mariners in Seattle tonight, they’ll have to do it against some of the AL’s toughest hurlers. Felix Hernandez ranks in the AL top ten in virtually every pitching category you can think of. Brandon Morrow struggled in the bullpen, but has steadily improved since the Mariners put him in the rotation. Despite a 5-6 record, Jarrod Washburn has the sixth best earned run average in the league and features a pitch called “the dolphin” that completely handcuffed the Baltimore Orioles on Monday. And injury-prone Erick Bedard has a better ERA than any AL pitcher not named Zack Greinke, although he doesn’t qualify for the ERA title yet because he’s missed five starts already.

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