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After a disappointing East Coast swing, the
Oakland Athletics
will no doubt be glad to be back home.
The A's will be trying to shake their recent struggles on Friday as they open a three-game series with the
Texas Rangers
at McAfee Coliseum.
Oakland (52-49) is returning home after a 1-5 trip, capped by Wednesday's 4-3 loss in Tampa Bay. The Athletics dropped two
of three against the Rays after getting swept in three games at Yankee Stadium over the weekend.
Though the A's are 31-24 at home, they have dropped seven of eight overall. They have managed more than three runs just once
during that stretch, in Tuesday's 8-1 victory.
"If there's anything positive, the pitching was consistent throughout the trip," said outfielder
Emil Brown
, who homered Wednesday after going 0-for-8 in his previous three games. "We haven't gotten those guys runs, but they've kept
us in ballgames."
Oakland's pitching staff has a 3.05 ERA over the last five games. The Athletics are hoping
Sean Gallagher
(1-0, 3.00 ERA), who is making his third start since being acquired in the July 8 trade that sent
Rich Harden
to the
Chicago Cubs
, can give them another strong effort in the series opener.
That won't be easy, however - Texas (52-50) leads the majors with 5.46 runs per game. The Rangers'
Ian Kinsler
leads the AL with a .325 batting average, while teammate
Josh Hamilton
leads the majors with 98 RBIs.
"I mean, it's always a good challenge, because we have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and they have one of the
best hitting," manager
Bob Geren
told the Athletics' official Web site. "So it always goes back to, does good pitching beat good hitting?"
Gallagher is making his first start against the Rangers. The 22-year-old right-hander beat the Angels in his first start for
Oakland on July 11, and gave up two runs in five innings in the Athletics' 12-inning, 4-3 loss at Yankee Stadium on July 19.
The Rangers are 2-4 so far on their nine-game trip. They dropped the last two games of their three-game series against the
Chicago White Sox
, including Wednesday's 10-8 defeat.
That loss was especially frustrating - Texas led 8-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Eddie Guardado
and C.J. Wilson combined to allow five eighth-inning runs.
"We thought we had the game," manager
Ron Washington
said. "I mean, you are up 8-5 going into the eighth inning and you bring in your two best relievers, and before you can get
out of the inning they got five runs.
"So it was disappointing, but we've bounced back from disappointments before and we'll bounce back from this one."
In Friday's opener, the Rangers will hand the ball to
Vicente Padilla
(11-5, 4.41), who returned from the disabled list to throw seven scoreless innings in Sunday's 1-0 win in Minnesota. The right-hander,
who had been nursing a strained neck muscle, got his first victory since June 22 as he outdueled
Scott Baker
, who took a perfect game into the sixth.
"What he did today is what he's capable of," Washington said. "It was encouraging for the team, because we've been struggling
to get some things going. He gave us all a shot in the arm."
Padilla is 4-1 with a 4.26 ERA in 10 career appearances - eight starts - against the A's. He won his only game against them
this season, yielding three runs - one earned - in 5 2-3 innings of a 4-3 victory in Oakland on May 2.
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