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.

(Sports Network) – 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.

The Sports Network

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 Associated Press

KREM.com

Posted on September 18, 2011 at 2:05 PM

 

SEATTLE — The Texas Rangers haven’t found themselves in many close games lately with only two this month being decided by less than four runs.

Texas manager Ron Washington expects that to change as the season winds down and the Rangers try to keep a hold on the AL West and earn a spot in the postseason.

The Rangers got their first taste of a tight victory on Saturday night with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Mariners.

“Every game as we move forward is going to be an adrenaline type situation so it was nice,” Washington said.

Texas had lost the two other close games by one run to both Tampa Bay and Oakland.

Josh Hamilton had four hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs to help Rangers outslug Mariners and extend their division lead to 4 1/2 games over Los Angeles in the AL West. The Angels lost 6-2 to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Rangers offense picked up a struggling Colby Lewis (13-10) and hit three solo home runs off Mariners’ starter Anthony Vasquez in the third inning. Lewis allowed six runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out seven. It was the fifth time this year Lewis had given up six or more runs in a game. He’d taken the loss in each of those outings.

“I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything,” Lewis said. “I’m glad we won. I’m glad everything worked out the way it did. The Angels lost and we inch closer.”

Elvis Andrus homered into the Mariners bullpen in left field, Hamilton hit a line drive just over the wall down the right field line and Adrian Beltre crushed a first pitch from Vasquez (1-4) off the facade of the upper deck in left field to knot the game at 4-4.

“That was awesome,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “It put us right back in the game. We fell down and the next inning we came up and put three runs up which was huge. Colby held it down for us and gave us a chance to come back and do what we did. It was a good team win tonight.”

A leadoff walk to Gentry chased Vasquez from the game in the top of the fourth inning. After a walk by Ian Kinsler, Andrus singled to load the bases and Hamilton drove in two with a single to right field. Young brought home Andrus with a sacrifice fly as Texas took a 7-4 lead.

“It was nice to get back on track,” manager Ron Washington said. “Last night (Blake) Beavan shut our bats down a little bit so it’s nice once they jumped out front to show what we’re all about and come back and swing the bats and we did that.”

Mike Carp hit a two-run home run off Lewis into the right field seats in the fifth inning to pull Seattle within one.

Neftali Feliz pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 27th save in 33 chances.

Ichiro Suzuki went 2 for 4 to pass Mickey Mantle and pull even with Pie Traynor for 110th on the all-time hits list with 2,416.

Napoli had three hits on the night including a leadoff double down the left field line in the second inning. Chris Gentry followed with a two-out single to left to score Napoli and give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners jumped on Lewis in the bottom half of the inning. Adam Kennedy and Brendan Ryan each singled and a walk to Trayvon Robinson loaded the bases. Suzuki came through with a bouncing single through the middle of the infield that scored Kennedy and Ryan to give Seattle the lead.

Kyle Seager followed with a double past a diving Michael Young to score two as Suzuki slid in ahead of the throw to the plate to give the Mariners a 4-1 cushion.

“I think there were a lot of guys that swung at the first pitch,” Lewis said. “Maybe they were just trying to get ahead knowing that I was going to get ahead. I don’t know. I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything.”

Notes: Mariners SS Brendan Ryan left the game in the third inning with neck spasms and is listed as day-to-day. Ryan has ben fighting the issue for much of the last week. … RHP Dan Cortes has a non-displaced fracture in his right hand that occurred in an off-field incident Thursday. The injury will take approximately three weeks to heal and the team’s plan for Cortes to play winter ball should be unaffected. … 1B Justin Smoak is still day-to-day with a groin strain. … RHP Felix Hernandez (14-12, 3.30 ERA) takes on LHP Matt Harrison (12-9, 3.56 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday.

SEATTLE (AP) – The Texas Rangers haven’t found themselves in many close games lately with only two this month being decided by less than four runs.

Texas manager Ron Washington expects that to change as the season winds down and the Rangers try to keep a hold on the AL West and earn a spot in the postseason.

The Rangers got their first taste of a tight victory on Saturday night with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Mariners.

“Every game as we move forward is going to be an adrenaline type situation so it was nice,” Washington said.

Texas had lost the two other close games by one run to both Tampa Bay and Oakland.

Josh Hamilton had four hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs to help Rangers outslug Mariners and extend their division lead to 4 1/2 games over Los Angeles in the AL West. The Angels lost 6-2 to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Rangers offense picked up a struggling Colby Lewis (13-10) and hit three solo home runs off Mariners’ starter Anthony Vasquez in the third inning. Lewis allowed six runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out seven. It was the fifth time this year Lewis had given up six or more runs in a game. He’d taken the loss in each of those outings.

“I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything,” Lewis said. “I’m glad we won. I’m glad everything worked out the way it did. The Angels lost and we inch closer.”

Elvis Andrus homered into the Mariners bullpen in left field, Hamilton hit a line drive just over the wall down the right field line and Adrian Beltre crushed a first pitch from Vasquez (1-4) off the facade of the upper deck in left field to knot the game at 4-4.

“That was awesome,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “It put us right back in the game. We fell down and the next inning we came up and put three runs up which was huge. Colby held it down for us and gave us a chance to come back and do what we did. It was a good team win tonight.”

A leadoff walk to Gentry chased Vasquez from the game in the top of the fourth inning. After a walk by Ian Kinsler, Andrus singled to load the bases and Hamilton drove in two with a single to right field. Young brought home Andrus with a sacrifice fly as Texas took a 7-4 lead.

“It was nice to get back on track,” manager Ron Washington said. “Last night (Blake) Beavan shut our bats down a little bit so it’s nice once they jumped out front to show what we’re all about and come back and swing the bats and we did that.”

Mike Carp hit a two-run home run off Lewis into the right field seats in the fifth inning to pull Seattle within one.

Neftali Feliz pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 27th save in 33 chances.

Ichiro Suzuki went 2 for 4 to pass Mickey Mantle and pull even with Pie Traynor for 110th on the all-time hits list with 2,416.

Napoli had three hits on the night including a leadoff double down the left field line in the second inning. Chris Gentry followed with a two-out single to left to score Napoli and give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners jumped on Lewis in the bottom half of the inning. Adam Kennedy and Brendan Ryan each singled and a walk to Trayvon Robinson loaded the bases. Suzuki came through with a bouncing single through the middle of the infield that scored Kennedy and Ryan to give Seattle the lead.

Kyle Seager followed with a double past a diving Michael Young to score two as Suzuki slid in ahead of the throw to the plate to give the Mariners a 4-1 cushion.

“I think there were a lot of guys that swung at the first pitch,” Lewis said. “Maybe they were just trying to get ahead knowing that I was going to get ahead. I don’t know. I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything.”

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

 

by Associated Press

KREM.com

Posted on September 18, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Updated
yesterday at 12:17 PM

 SEATTLE — The Texas Rangers haven’t found themselves in many close games lately with only two this month being decided by less than four runs.

Texas manager Ron Washington expects that to change as the season winds down and the Rangers try to keep a hold on the AL West and earn a spot in the postseason.

The Rangers got their first taste of a tight victory on Saturday night with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Mariners.

“Every game as we move forward is going to be an adrenaline type situation so it was nice,” Washington said.

Texas had lost the two other close games by one run to both Tampa Bay and Oakland.

Josh Hamilton had four hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs to help Rangers outslug Mariners and extend their division lead to 4 1/2 games over Los Angeles in the AL West. The Angels lost 6-2 to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Rangers offense picked up a struggling Colby Lewis (13-10) and hit three solo home runs off Mariners’ starter Anthony Vasquez in the third inning. Lewis allowed six runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out seven. It was the fifth time this year Lewis had given up six or more runs in a game. He’d taken the loss in each of those outings.

“I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything,” Lewis said. “I’m glad we won. I’m glad everything worked out the way it did. The Angels lost and we inch closer.”

Elvis Andrus homered into the Mariners bullpen in left field, Hamilton hit a line drive just over the wall down the right field line and Adrian Beltre crushed a first pitch from Vasquez (1-4) off the facade of the upper deck in left field to knot the game at 4-4.

“That was awesome,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “It put us right back in the game. We fell down and the next inning we came up and put three runs up which was huge. Colby held it down for us and gave us a chance to come back and do what we did. It was a good team win tonight.”

A leadoff walk to Gentry chased Vasquez from the game in the top of the fourth inning. After a walk by Ian Kinsler, Andrus singled to load the bases and Hamilton drove in two with a single to right field. Young brought home Andrus with a sacrifice fly as Texas took a 7-4 lead.

“It was nice to get back on track,” manager Ron Washington said. “Last night (Blake) Beavan shut our bats down a little bit so it’s nice once they jumped out front to show what we’re all about and come back and swing the bats and we did that.”

Mike Carp hit a two-run home run off Lewis into the right field seats in the fifth inning to pull Seattle within one.

Neftali Feliz pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his 27th save in 33 chances.

Ichiro Suzuki went 2 for 4 to pass Mickey Mantle and pull even with Pie Traynor for 110th on the all-time hits list with 2,416.

Napoli had three hits on the night including a leadoff double down the left field line in the second inning. Chris Gentry followed with a two-out single to left to score Napoli and give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners jumped on Lewis in the bottom half of the inning. Adam Kennedy and Brendan Ryan each singled and a walk to Trayvon Robinson loaded the bases. Suzuki came through with a bouncing single through the middle of the infield that scored Kennedy and Ryan to give Seattle the lead.

Kyle Seager followed with a double past a diving Michael Young to score two as Suzuki slid in ahead of the throw to the plate to give the Mariners a 4-1 cushion.

“I think there were a lot of guys that swung at the first pitch,” Lewis said. “Maybe they were just trying to get ahead knowing that I was going to get ahead. I don’t know. I felt really good but overall I think I just had a couple brain farts really more than anything.”

Notes: Mariners SS Brendan Ryan left the game in the third inning with neck spasms and is listed as day-to-day. Ryan has ben fighting the issue for much of the last week. … RHP Dan Cortes has a non-displaced fracture in his right hand that occurred in an off-field incident Thursday. The injury will take approximately three weeks to heal and the team’s plan for Cortes to play winter ball should be unaffected. … 1B Justin Smoak is still day-to-day with a groin strain. … RHP Felix Hernandez (14-12, 3.30 ERA) takes on LHP Matt Harrison (12-9, 3.56 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday.