by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The Texas Rangers Carlos Beltran watched the flight of his home run against the Los Angeles Angels Wed Sep 21 as Angels catcher Carlos Perez watches in the fifth inning at the Ball Park in Arlington. Beltran will be in Oakland to face the A’s on Friday night.

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s, tied for last in the AL West with the Los Angeles Angels, host the first-place Texas Rangers for a three-game set starting Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s want to be spoilers as they can throw a monkey wrench into the Rangers’ hopes for the best record in the AL. The Rangers lead the Boston Red Sox by just one game for the best record. The Beantown boys have won eight in a row sweeping a four-game series from the Yankees at home last week and have done the same to the Orioles this week in Baltimore.

The Rangers, managed by Jeff Banister, would love to sweep the A’s here in Oakland and get a little revenge for losing two out of three to the A’s last week in Texas. The Rangers have two players that have been to the World Series but have never won a championship. Carlos Beltran and Adrian Beltre have thirteen All-Star appearances, seven Gold Gloves, 5,543 hits, 862 dingers, 3097 ribbies and zero World Series rings. The Rangers will be sending their best hurlers to face the A’s this weekend. Cole Hamels, their ace, will pitch Friday night. Yu Darvish, whom the A’s pounded last weekend and is 2-8 against Oakland, goes on Saturday and Colby Lewis throws on Sunday. Lewis loves to pitch against Oakland and usually owns the Green and Gold but as they say in baseball” you never know.” The A’s will counter with Kendall Graveman, Raul Alcantara, and Jharel Cotton.

The Rangers have a lineup with hitters that can knock the stuffing out of a baseball. Beltran and Beltre head the list. They also have had production from second baseman Rougned Odor, shortstop Elvis Andrus, and Jurickson Profar who can play several positions and first baseman Mitch Moreland. Ian Desmond has had a terrific season coming to Texas as a free agent. Desmond had a hard time finding a club but he found a home in Arlington with the Rangers. His average is .287 and has banged twenty-two balls out of the yard so far to go along with eighty-four RBIs. Other outfielders are Nomar Mazara and Carlos Gomez. The Rangers signed Gomez after he was released by the Houston Astros and he has played much better since coming to the Rangers.

Jonathan Lucroy obtained at the trade deadline from Milwaukee, anchors the catching and he had shown the AL the reasons why he was on several All-Star teams when he was in the National League. The Texas bullpen has been stout, and closer Sam Dyson has recorded thirty-five saves. Matt Bush and Jake Diekman have played a huge role in the bullpen’s success, too.

The A’s, as mentioned earlier, would love nothing better to upset the Rangers’ apple cart. The A’s young guns Ryon Healy, Joey Wendle, Brett Eibner, Matt Smolinski, Bruce Maxwell along with veterans Stephen Vogt, Danny Valencia, Marcus Semien, and Khris Davis will be giving their all to defeat the Rangers. A’s manager Bob Melvin would like nothing better than to sweep the Rangers and then head to Los Angeles and Seattle to end the season. The young guys will be playing for next year, and the vets want to show the A’s that they are worth keeping.  Lots to play for this weekend.