Texas @ Los Angeles preview
Angel Stadium
Last Meeting ( Aug 2, 2012 ) LA Angels 9, Texas 15
The Texas Rangers are desperately trying to avoid what the Los Angeles Angels are equally desperate to attain. When the teams open a three-game series Tuesday in Anaheim, the Angels will be focused on overtaking the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card slot in the American League. Los Angeles trails the Orioles by three games with 15 left to play and will need to take advantage of its upcoming nine-game homestand.
Texas owns the best record in the American League and is on track for its third straight West Division title and the top seed in the AL playoffs. Still, the Rangers lead the division by only three games over the relentless Oakland Athletics and the goal is to avoid a late-season swoon that could land the team in the one-game wild card playoff. Texas plays 13 of its final 16 games against the Athletics and Angels.
TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), FS West (California)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Ryan Dempster (6-1, 4.11 ERA) vs. Angels RH Jered Weaver (17-4, 2.74)
Dempster has emerged into the difference-maker that the Rangers envisioned when they acquired him from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline. The 37-year-old veteran has won five consecutive starts and allowed only eight runs in that span - as many as he surrendered in his last loss against the New York Yankees on Aug. 13. He was rocked by the Angels for eight runs in 4 2/3 innings in his AL debut on Aug. 2.
Weaver was brilliant in his last outing, limiting Oakland to two hits and striking out nine in seven scoreless innings after missing his previous start because of biceps tendinitis. He missed more than three weeks earlier in the season or could already be sitting on 20 wins. Weaver was pounded by the Rangers in Texas on May 13, but beat them twice in July, allowing three runs in 13 1/3 innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Weaver needs one win to give him 100 for his career and match his single-season high set last year.
2. Rangers C Mike Napoli returned from injury over the weekend. He is batting .392 (38-for-97) with nine homers and 17 RBIs against his former team.
3. Angels 1B Albert Pujols is batting .351 (20-for-57) with seven homers and 16 RBIs lifetime against Dempster.