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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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