by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s have  been playing a little better lately. They won series against the San Diego Padres and the LA Angels and five of the last seven games played. The starting pitching continues to be excellent. The starters,  Scott Kazmir, Jesse Hahn, Jesse Chavez, Kendall Graveman and Sonny Gray have all pitched well. The bullpen has not. There are exceptions, but everyone has to hold their breath when A’s manager Bob Melvin goes out to the mound to bring in a reliever. A’s closer Tyler Clippard recorded two saves over the weekend and has recorded eleven for the year. The A’s are still committing too many errors, but shortstop Marcus Semien seems to be improving.  Former A’s coach and Rangers’ skipper, Ron Washington is on board as a special assistant to help him with his fielding and throwing.

So, the A’s are off to Texas to play a three-game series with the Rangers before returning home to face the Kansas City Royals and the Colorado Rockies. The Rangers are currently in second place in the AL West with a record of 37-33 and are 3.5 games behind the first-place Houston Astros. The Rangers are playing well despite the fact that so many of their key players are on the disabled list.Yu Darvish is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. Derek Holland is on the 60-day DL, and closer Neftali Feliz is on the 15-day DL. Matt Harrison, who was on the 60-day DL, is slated to come off in late June. Other players on the DL include Adrian Beltre, Delino DeShields and Josh Hamilton. Hamilton played in just seven games after coming back to Texas. Prince Fielder leads the Texas offense. Fielder sports a .340 batting average with eleven home runs and 47 RBI and has an OPS of .929.  Other key performers for Texas are Mitch Moreland, Shin-Soo Choo, and rookie Joey Gallo. Gallo was brought up to replace the injured Adrian Beltre. Gallo started well but has trailed off a bit. Gallo is hitting .222 with five home runs and ten RBI in his first eighteen games in the show.

Rangers’ starters include Yovani Gallardo ( 6-6, 2.98 era), the 23-year-old sensation, Chi Chi Gonzalez ( 2-1,0.90 ERA), veteran Colby Lewis, Nick Martinez (5-3,2.77 ERA) and Wandy Rodriguez ( 3-2,3.20). The bullpen consists of Ross Detwiler, Tanner Scheppers, Shawn Tolleson and Keone Kela.

The A’s and Rangers have played ten times so far this year and the A’s hold a 6-4 advantage. The Rangers can be beaten in Arlington as their record there is just 15-16. The A’s are a sub .500 road team in 2015. They are just 17-21 away from Oakland.

It should be a terrific series between the two division rivals. The A’s won the AL West crown in 2012 and 2013 much to the dismay of the Rangers. Last year the Rangers floundered as so many of their star hurlers were injured, and it is amazing how well they are playing under the leadership of their first-year skipper, Jeff Bannister. The Rangers may be buyers as they are in contention for the AL West lead. The A’s, are ten games under the .500 mark and need to start climbing out of the basement. When Oakland wins, the team looks great but they looked awful more often than great and the A’s will have to make decisions on players like Kazmir, Clippard and Ben Zobrist. These three players will be free agents at the end of the season. If the A’s are in contention, the team will probably keep them. If not, the A’s will probably try to rebuild the team again, and Billy Beane is probably on the telephone trying to find new homes for them.

Note- Just a word about the sad news that former Texas Ranger and San Francisco Giant outfielder, Daryl Hamilton, was found murdered in his suburban home near Houston. Hamilton was in the big leagues for 13 seasons and was well liked by his fellow teammates. He was very personable and was an analyst on the MLB Network. Very sad day for baseball to lose one of its own, but bad things happen to good people. Daryl tragic death saddened all of us at SportsRadioService, and we extend our sympathies to his family, friends, former teammates, and colleagues. RIP, Daryl.