Series Preview: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (17-27) @ Texas Rangers (22-21)
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Business First: The Rangers were planning on reactivating Ian Kinsler from the DL for the series today, but he showed up for the game last night with a sore hamstring. Buck Showalter did not say how long this will delay him, only that he will not be activated Monday. If he is activated at some point during this series, expect Mark DeRosa to take over the DH position. The normal DH, Phil Nevin, is currently batting .232, has a .155 average for the month of May, and has just 3 hits in his last 17 at-bats. He is also batting cleanup despite the fact that he does not have a homerun since April 25, a span of 20 games.
The Lowdown: The Rangers are coming off a road trip in which they won four out of eight, which is better than it seems even the Ranger faithful expected. That was good enough to get them back home without losing their first place tie with the Oakland A’s. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are going in a different direction, for the time being. They are in the cellar of the A.L. West, but they are only 5.5 games out. Everyone expects them to turn it around and start playing like the real Angels, but for now they have lost 5 straight and are 5-14 in the month of May. The Rangers can’t let up, though. Last time these two teams met, LAA won two out of three, and this is just the kind of series that a team could look to to turn their season around. One upside for the Rangers is that, even though they lost the series, they outscored the Angels 17-13. This is a big, big series for both teams to prove their play against a division opponent.
Players to Watch:
Vladimir Guerrero - He is about the only thing that the Angels offense really has going for it right now, aside from the fact that they just activated Garrett Anderson from the DL. With 11 homeruns, Guerrero hasn’t hit for his typical power, but he does have a .313 batting average and 37 RBIs. Last time these two teams met, Guerrero went 7-for-11 (.636) with two runs, one RBI and a stolen base. If the Rangers pitching can just keep the bases clear when Vlady is coming up to bat, they should be okay.
Chone Figgins - He’s had a rough season, but when the Rangers played the Angels in April, Figgins went 4-for-12 with two RBIs, three runs and two triples. This is the guy the Rangers really need to keep off the bases so those hits by Guerrero won’t eat them alive.
Hank Blalock - Hank’s coming off a rough series against Houston in which he went just 2-for-12 with one run and one RBI, but he’s still batting .323 on the season and .292 for the month of May. In the previous series with LAA, Blalock went just 3-for-12 (.250), but he had three runs and three RBIs, and two of his three hits were homeruns.
Brad Wilkerson - He’s still hitting well, but he’s also still at it with the strikeouts. On this road trip, he had seven whiffs in eight games to increase his season total to 56. He’s still leading the major leagues in strikeouts, with three more than second-place Adam Dunn. He is now on pace for 211 strikeouts.
Probables:
Monday, May 22, 7:05 CST
TEX: RHP Kameron Loe (2-4, 4.53)
LAA: RHP Kelvim Escobar (5-3, 3.51)
There is lots of bad news for Kameron Loe going into this start, but there is also a lot of good news to balance against it. The bad news is that Kameron Loe has not gone more than five innings in any of his last three starts. In those three starts, his ERA is 5.40. That’s right on par with his start earlier this year against LAA, when he allowed five earned runs in five innings. The good news is that Loe has not had two bad starts in a row this year, so he is due a good start. More good news is that, if nothing else, he should be well rested, because he hasn’t thrown more than 91 pitches in a start since April 26. Even more good news is that he’s going against Escobar, who allowed 8 runs (4 earned) in 4.1 innings last time he started against the Rangers.
Tuesday, May 23, 7:05 CST
TEX: RHP Vicente Padilla (4-3, 4.33)
LAA: RHP John Lackey (3-3, 3.70)
Padilla is coming off a solid start against New York where he picked up the win, allowing 2 earned runs in 6.2 innings. He has had good stuff all year, but has had troubles with the big inning ever since his April 15 start against Oakland. Every game, he’s cruising along, sitting everyone down, and suddenly can’t throw a strike unless it goes 390 feet the other direction. He goes against Lackey, who has been like the anti-Loe. He is averaging 6.1 innings per start this year, and hasn’t pitched fewer than six innings in his last three starts. He also shut down the Rangers last time they played, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings. Maybe the Rangers will get a break and catch him with a tired arm. The benefit of going against a guy like Lackey is that he has thrown over 100 pitches in five out of his last six starts.
Wednesday, May 24, 1:05 CST
TEX: RHP Robinson Tejeda (1-1, 6.23)
LAA: RHP Jeff Weaver (1-7, 7.30)
You like high scoring games? How these two managed to get matched up is like a gift from the gods. Tejeda has just three starts this season, and hasn’t lasted more than five innings in any of them. Weaver has just one start in which he has allowed fewer than four runs and has lost his last five starts. Both pitchers have shown they have a lot more potential than they are displaying this year, so they could surprise us and duel it out. But, I wouldn’t count on it.
Source
Date
Mon 05/22/06, 10:35 am EST
