Anyone else remember when the Texas Rangers were terrible? Their aces were an over-the-hill Kevin Millwood and Kenny Rogers who had a personal vendetta with cameras or maybe it was just the reporter he didn't like. Their hitting was never the problem. Year after year, all-stars such as Rafael Palmeiro, Mark Teixeira, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Alfonso Soriano; would put up solid numbers. This never resulted in any winning seasons though and the Rangers failed to make the playoffs from 2000 to 2009, thanks to a pitching staff that was made up of the whose-who of who-cares in the MLB. From those years where the Rangers were abysmal, the A's seemed to own the Rangers like they were Nolan Ryan himself. Than all of a sudden Ron Washington (Yes, the same Ron Washington we didn't hire after being our third-base coach for 10 years) and crew finally put it together. Josh Hamilton developed into a superstar, young guys like Elvis Andrus and Justin Smoak played like veterans, and the mid-season addition of Cliff Lee lead the Rangers to be the 2010 World Series Champions.
Now we can't seem to beat them. The A's have lost the last 8 times these A.L. West rivals have taken the field and if it weren't for 4 early wins against the Rangers than they wouldn't be 4-9 on the season. This latest sweep given to the A's by the work of the Rangers comes after what looked to be a positive stretch by the A's. They had won their series with both the Rays and the Blue Jays and seemed to be playing good baseball. That is until the now "Powerhouse" of the A.L. West, Rangers, came to Oakland. This just wasn't you're ordinary sweep of a team. They out scored us 23-8 and the one game we put up 6 runs in ended in Andrew Bailey giving up a walk-off to Rangers OF David Murphy. Starters Brandon McCarthy and Trevor Cahill suffered the other two loses.
The loss that hurts the most though is the one to the stuck-up, A-Hole of a reliever turned started, C.J. Wilson. A's fans not unlike myself would've loved nothing more than to spank him around like he got sent to the principal's office in the opening game of the series. He made some pretty strong comments towards our fan base, although they might be true, were somewhat out of line. I think he forgets just how bad his current team was just a half a decade ago, when the A's were winning the A.L. West on a consistent basis. The frustrating part is that at least him and the rest of his Texas teammates are backing it up with their play. They just can't seem to be beat. Not by Oakland and not by the rest of the A.L. either. As much as i hate the Angels, I've always had respect for the Rangers. I don't mind seeing them win; I just wish they did it with some class.
The bright side (if there can be one of those these days) is that the A's start a three game series with the only team in the AL who might be worse than they are, the Baltimore Orioles. Lefty Gio Gonzalez will take the hill for the A's in hopes to end this small losing skid and turn things around in the right direction.
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