Reported by: Vertex News

Tuesday, September 20 2011

The Texas Rangers try to get one step closer to winning a
second straight American League West title this evening when they open a
three-game series with the Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.

The Rangers come into tonight’s opener holding a five-game lead on the Los
Angeles Angels of Anaheim with a magic number of five to clinch the division.

Texas won for the sixth time in seven tries on Sunday, as Adrian Beltre hit a
two-run homer to back 6 2/3 scoreless innings from Matt Harrison, helping
Texas defeat the Seattle Mariners, 3-0.

Harrison (13-9), who gave up six hits, won his third straight start for the
Rangers. The Rangers have five pitchers, all starters, with at least 13
victories in 2011 for the first time in franchise history.

“He kept the ball down, did a good job of changing speeds,” Rangers manager
Ron Washington said of Harrison. “He handled the left-handers pretty good
today in that lineup and got us where we needed to get in that game.”

Elvis Andrus went 3-for-5 with an RBI double for the victors. He extended his
hitting streak to 12 games.

Heading to the hill for Texas tonight will be lefty Derek Holland, who is 14-5
with a 4.02 ERA. Holland won his third straight decision on Wednesday against
Cleveland, as he allowed a run and six hits in seven innings.
Holland beat the A’s the last time he faced them and is 2-1 in eight games
(five starts) against them with a 2.03 ERA.

Oakland, meanwhile, will counter with righty Rich Harden, who is 4-3 with a
4.76 ERA. Harden lost to the Angels on Wednesday, as he surrendered three runs
and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Harden, who pitched for the Rangers last season, is 5-3 lifetime against his
former team with a 4.78 ERA in 14 games, 13 of which have been starts.

Oakland split a four-game set with the AL Central-champion Detroit Tigers over
the weekend, but dropped a 3-0 decision to Justin Verlander in Sunday’s
finale.
Guillermo Moscoso (8-9) lost despite giving up only one hit — an Austin
Jackson homer to lead off the sixth.
It wound up being Moscoso’s last frame. He walked two while fanning eight.

“He threw the ball really well,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of his starter’s
performance. “You know when you go out there against a guy like Verlander,
you’re going to have to pitch well and you’re going to have to keep runs to a
minimum. And he did.”

Texas is 11-5 versus the A’s this season.

SEATTLE — Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington was scheduled to spend Monday evening at the Oakland premiere of “Moneyball,” the true story of how Brad Pitt smote the ground, discovered advanced statistics and waved his magic visor over a ragamuffin group to turn the Oakland A’s from misfits to winners.

Among lots of details bound to be omitted for the art of filmmaking: the A’s ability to help themselves by owning AL West opponents in head-to-head competition.

Maybe they can adapt that for the Rangers’ movie, if that story ever gets told.

With a 3-0 win over Seattle on Sunday, the Rangers enter the final 10 days of the season with a commanding 4 ½-game lead in the AL West. They do so because they have pummeled their intradivision opponents. Sunday’s win was the Rangers’ 32nd inside the division, the most for the team since the AL realigned into three divisions in 1994.

“This is how you win the division,” said Washington, who watched the A’s post the best intradivision winning percentage (.565) among West teams over his last six seasons in Oakland. “You dominate in the division. That’s how you get to the playoffs. I said it to these guys in spring training and I didn’t need to say it again. They know what they need to do.”

The difference in record vs. the West accounts for the difference in the standings. While the Rangers are 32-16, Los Angeles is only 26-25. Virtually all of the difference can be accounted for in second-half play. The Rangers, who started the second half by winning five straight against AL West teams, are 19-7 vs. the division since the break; the Angels are 13-14.

The Rangers play each of their final nine games within the division, including the last three at Los Angeles. Those three are the Angels’ only three intradivision games remaining.

The reason for this domination was on display again Sunday. It’s all about the pitching. The six-hit shutout on which Matt Harrison, Koji Uehara, Mike Adams and Neftali Feliz combined lowered the Rangers’ ERA within the division to 3.12. It is the lowest season ERA by an AL West team in the division since the 1994 realignment. The previous best? Well, that would be last year’s Rangers at 3.27.

Harrison pitched around a first-inning jam created by a Michael Young error and a single, then used what he said was his best curveball of the season to smother the weak Mariners, and in particular their left-handed hitters, over six innings. A two-run homer by Adrian Beltre, his seventh home run in his last eight games (32 at-bats), provided all the offense necessary.

When Harrison got into trouble in the seventh by allowing a leadoff single, a one-out walk and a two-out infield single to Ichiro Suzuki, homer-prone Uehara came in to get Luis Rodriguez to strike out on an effective split-finger fastball. The single by Ichiro was the only hit Harrison allowed to lefties in 13 at-bats. Uehara got the splitter to drop after weeks of trouble with it staying up in the zone.

Adams and Feliz combined for the final six outs, giving the bullpen 22 consecutive batters retired over the three-game series.

It put away another West team.

“I think we expect to play well against everybody,” Young said. “You want to rack up wins in your own division because it will have a lot of say in how your overall record ends up.”

In the Rangers’ case, those wins keep adding up to what seems an inevitable second consecutive AL West title.

___

Visit The Dallas Morning News at www.dallasnews.com

By JP Starkey

– Associate Editor

Follow , and

Like SB Nation Dallas on Facebook.

Sep 16, 2011 – The Texas Rangers quest for a second consecutive AL West crown heads to Seattle on Friday night, as the Rangers open up a three game series against the lowly Mariners. 

Headed into Friday’s games, the Rangers hold a three and a half game lead over the second-place Los Angeles Angels. The Angels, like the Rangers, are opening up a series against a weak opponent this weekend as the Orioles play host to the Angels. 

C.J. Wilson starts for Texas on Friday night, looking to add to his already career-high win total of 16. Wilson has been phenomenal as of late, allowing just two runs in his last three starts – and no runs in his last two starts. During that three-game span, Wilson has pitched 23 innings, allowing two runs on 12 hits while issuing just five walks and striking out 25. 

Wilson’s numbers on the year are fantastic as well. Wilson has eclipsed his career high in WAR, as he’s posted a 5.3 WAR through his first 31 starts. Wilson’s ERA sits comfortably at 3.01, with an xFIP of 3.31. Wilson is also likely to eclipse 200 strikeouts this year as well, as he’s struck out 190 in 209 innings so far on the season.

Texas’ offense will face off against former Ranger farmhand Blake Beaven. Beaven, who is a Texas native, has gone 4-5 in 12 starts for the Mariners, with a 4.32 ERA, .288 BAA and 1.31 WHIP. Beaven, though, does not miss bats, as he’s struck out just 31 in 77 innings. 

First pitch in Seattle is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. CDT, 7:10 p.m. locally at Safeco Field.

Read More: C.J. Wilson (P – TEX), Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners

Follow , and

Like SB Nation Dallas on Facebook.

Do you like this story?

By Stephen Hawkins

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington stood up from his office chair and started wildly shaking his knees back and forth.

While exaggerating how nervous he might be about the AL West race with the Los Angeles Angels, the division-leading manager and his team know things will be much tighter down the stretch this season.

They already are.

“If you’ve got a seven-game lead, of course you’re more comfortable,” Washington said after settling back into his chair. “But that doesn’t mean that panic sets in.”

Texas (76-59) took a three-game lead into its off day Monday, after playing 17 consecutive days with only one other break since Aug. 1. There are 27 regular-season games left, the last three at Los Angeles in four weeks.

“They’re not going away. They’re a good team. Everybody knows that,” Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler said.

At the same point last season before the Rangers won their first AL pennant, they had an eight-game division lead. That never got smaller than seven and they clinched the division title with eight games left.

The Rangers found out Monday they will be without slugging right fielder Nelson Cruz for about three weeks because of another hamstring injury. An MRI revealed a grade 1 strain for Cruz, who got hurt running out a double in Sunday night’s 9-5 victory over Los Angeles. The Rangers were expected to add another outfielder before today’s game against Tampa Bay — possibly Cuban outfielder Leonys Martin from Triple-A Round Rock.

In 113 games this season, Cruz is hitting .270 with a team-leading 28 home runs and 84 RBIs.

Before rallying Sunday night against Angels ace Jered Weaver, Texas had lost seven of 10 games. The division gap would have been trimmed to a single game without that comeback. Their losing stretch began with a 2-1 loss at Los Angeles on Aug. 18, when Texas was three outs away from a four-game sweep and a season-high division lead of eight games. But Mark Trumbo hit a game-ending two-run homer.

“We had a hiccup, had some bumps in our starting rotation, had some things out the bullpen that didn’t work. We had some days where we didn’t put the runs on the board,” Washington said. “It happens. Every team in the game is going through it. We just hit it right now.”

At the same time, the Angels had a season-best six-game winning streak. They won seven of eight before their last scheduled game at Rangers Ballpark this season.

The Rangers go to Fenway Park this weekend after wrapping up their 10-game homestand with three against Tampa Bay. Texas plays 15 of its last 27 games on the road.

“We’ve been grinding, battling lately,” Michael Young said. “We’ll gladly take this off day and get ready for the last stretch. We like where we’re at. We’ve been down this road before so we know what it takes to win.”

All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Round Rock on Monday, and could be back before the Rangers go to Boston this weekend.

Read More: Dan Haren (P – ANA), Colby Lewis (P – TEX), C.J. Wilson (P – TEX), Jered Weaver (P – ANA), Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels

The Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels are set to conclude a three game series on Sunday night after splitting the first two games. Texas pounded one of Los Angeles’ two aces, Dan Haren, on Friday night en route to an 11-7 victory. On Saturday, though, the Angels had their revenge, beating up on C.J. Wilson as the Angels won 8-4. Now on Sunday night, the Rangers will have to face another ace – this time in the form of Jered Weaver.

Weaver will be making the start on Sunday night on only three days rest – the first time in his career he’s pitched on short rest. To date, Weaver has been one of the very best pitchers in baseball, with a 15-6 record to go along with a microscopic 2.03 ERA and .97 WHIP. Weaver has held opposing hitters to an average of .206 while only issuing 44 walks in 195.1 innings on the season. 

Weaver has made four starts against Texas this year and has gone 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings, striking out 25 and walking just four.

Colby Lewis will start for Texas on Sunday night, looking to keep the ball in the park. In Saturday’s win over Texas, the Angels belted five home runs. Lewis’ downfall this year has been home runs, as he’s surrendered 30 in 165.2 innings on the season, including two in his most recent start against the Red Sox.

Still, Lewis’ numbers remain respectable on the season: his ERA sits at 4.07 and his WHIP is a cool 1.20. 

With a win, the Rangers would pull three games ahead of the Angels in the standings, two up in the loss column. If Texas loses, though, the teams will be even in the loss column with Texas holding an official one game edge in the standings.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. 

Read More: Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels

This past week has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels (67-59), who sit six games back of the Texas Rangers (73-53) in the AL West. The Rangers increased their lead in the division over the past seven days with six wins in seven contests, including three of four games against the Angels. The Angels, meanwhile, lost five of their seven games.

The Angels, however, have snapped a five-game losing streak and are currently riding a two-game winning streak. This weekend, they play two games against the Baltimore Orioles (47-75), who have lost six of their last eight and three straight overall. The Rangers take on the Chicago White Sox (61-63), who are riding a three-game losing streak of their own.

In tonight’s game against the Orioles, the Angels will put Joel Piniero (5-6) on the mound against Tommy Hunter (2-2). The series will conclude on Sunday when new pitcher Jerome Williams (0-0), who was recently called up from Triple-A Salt Lake, will start against Baltimore’s Brian Matusz (1-5).

The Angels will need to build on their two-game winning streak against the Orioles this weekend in order to keep up with the Rangers. The Angels, however, will get a shot to really make up some ground in the AL West when the two teams meet up again for a three-day series beginning next Friday. Let’s hope that the Angels are riding an even bigger winning streak by the time that the Angels-Rangers series rolls around.