The big AL West showdown begins tonight as the first-place Oakland A's take on the second-place Texas Rangers in Arlington for a four-game series. While it's only June, this is a big series for these two teams as either the A's can take a substantial lead in the division, or the Rangers can gain some ground, shortening the distance between first and second.
Currently the A's have a three game lead in the West, with some help from the Rangers. When the A's have lost so have the Rangers, allowing Oakland to keep a nice lead in the division.
The A's just lost the series to the Seattle Mariners, after sweeping the New York Yankees, and the Rangers lost their series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The A's have been playing better than the Rangers as of late as they are 6-4 in their last 10 games compared to the Rangers 2-8 in their last 10. So, can the A's take advantage of a struggling Texas team and help their cause for back to back AL West crowns?
Let's take a look at game one. Oakland's Daniel Straily will take on Rangers Nick Tepesch. Straily is coming off a phenomenal performance against New York where he went 6 2/3 innings surrendering only two earned runs. After a shaky start to the season, Straily has seemed to settle in and give the A's some solid starts.
Tepesch is coming off a not-so-good start in which he only pitched five innings and have up five earned runs to the Cleveland Indians in a losing effort.
On to game two, where it's the A's Jarrod Parker facing Rangers ace Yu Darvish. This should be a good matchup. Parker's last start was the 18 inning marathon against the Yankees. In that game, Parker pitched 8 solid innings surrendering only two runs. Like Straily, Parker is iffy at times, but so far has improved in each start. He does tend to have that one bad inning, but seems to keep it to minimal damage. Darvish, is obviously the Rangers best pitcher and has easily become one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he's not unbeatable. He got a no decision, like Parker, in his last start, but went seven innings giving up only one run against the Blue Jays. Darvish always gives the Rangers their best chance to win, and will give the A's hitters a hard time at the plate.
Game three is Tom Milone and Justin Grimm. Milone's last start came against the Seattle Mariners, and despite only giving up two runs in 6 2/3 innings, he was given the loss as the A's hitters couldn't get anything going against Joe Saunders. Grimm's last start also resulted in a loss as he gave up seven earned runs in 7 2/3 innings.
The fourth and final game of this series will be A.J. Griffin vs Josh Lindblom. In his last start against the M's, Griffin took the loss due to one pitch that was hit for a grand slam by Henry Blanco, securing the M's 4-0 victory. Griffin went six innings in that game. Lindblom also took a loss in his last start giving up four runs to the Jays in six innings.
The Rangers pitching staff isn't the best in the league and they've had their issues, but they have a talented lineup capable of striking at any time. Ian Kinsler has also recently returned from the DL, and he has been missed to say the least.
The A's have just been on a roll lately as they are tied with the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the American League at 42-29. The green and gold continue to prove they are the real deal.
Going into this series, the A's have the advantage with their great pitching staff and stacked lineup. The Rangers have been struggling lately, but they aren't a team to take lightly in this series. They know what's at stake and that they need to play well and beat the first place A's. The A's on the other hand, want to further their lead in the division and will look to do so in this four game set.
So far the season series is all tied up at 3-3, but they'll look to change that this week. This should be a great, hard-fought series as they'll battle til the end of the season for for the AL West title.