by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s return home from a six-game road trip to resume play Tuesday night against the surprising Texas Rangers at the O.Co Coliseum. The A’s won the first three games sweeping the three-game set again the Detroit Tigers, but then they were swept three straight by the Boston Red Sox. The A’s looked good beating Detroit, but their shortcomings reappeared in the series against the Bosox. The A’s continue to have bullpen issues as well as poor fielding and not being able to get hits with men in scoring position. As a result, the A’s are in last place in the AL West with a record of 23-36.

One of the big surprises of the year has been the play of the Texas Rangers under the leadership of manager Jeff Bannister. They are currently in second place in the AL West with a record of 30-27 and are 3.5 games behind the Houston Astros. The Rangers have several of their top pitchers on the DL, but they brought up Chi-Chi Gonzales and he has two wins in two starts and has an ERA of 0.00.  Nick Martinez (4-2,2.89 ERA) has been solid. The Rangers added veteran Wandy Rodriguez to the staff to go along with Colby Lewis and Yovani Gallardo. Gallardo got off to a slow start, but he improved his record to 5-6 and sports an ERA of 3.54.

The Rangers’ offense is led by Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland, Adrian Beltre (currently on the 15 day DL),  rookie sensation Joey Gallo, Delino Deshields, Shin Soon-Choo, and Elvis Andrus. Josh Hamilton, recently acquired from the Angels, is also on the DL with a hamstring injury.

First-year manager, Jeff Bannister has done a terrific job as he has so many of his key players on the DL. Rangers ace, Yu Darvish, is on the shelf for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Matt Harrison, Nick Tepisch, Derek Holland are all on the 60-day DL and closer Neftali Perez is on the 15-day list.

Sonny Gray goes for the A’s Tuesday night, and the Rangers will have Nick Martinez on the hill. Let’s see if the A’s can get back on the winning track. Even with all the deficiencies the A’s have shown this year, it is not too late to climb back into respectability.