The A's and King Richard with a 7-4 record and a 2.11 ERA look to sweep the Rangers and Chan Ho Park with an 8-4 record and a 5.33 ERA.
The A's look to take seven of eight against the Rangers over the past week and a half and leave Arlington with a firm grasp on second place in the AL West.
A quick note about the A's perceived lack of power. The A's have hit 54 home runs since the start of June, which constitutes 48 games. In April and May, the team hit a total of 28 home runs in 51 games. This, not coincidentally, coincided with Crosby, Swisher and Johnson becoming regulars in the A's lineup.
The A's lineup looks like this:
Ellis
Kotsay
Crosby
Chavez
Hatteberg
Payton
Johnson
Swisher
Melhuse
Kendall gets a much-needed day off and Ellis moves up in the lineup. It's a good move because all the other players have the potential for power. The only other guy I might consider is Hatteberg.
The Rangers counter with this group:
Dellucci
Young
Teixeira
Blalock
Soriano
Gonzalez
Hidalgo
Matthews
Alomar
Come on, boys, cement your position firmly behind the Angels so you only have to worry about looking up.
LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!
