Rangers Take Three Of Four Against Halo's

Josh Hamilton (above) knocked in three of the Rangers six RBI in the final game of the series as Texas widened it's lead in the American League West to seven games. (AP Photo/Cody Duty)

The Texas Rangers (57-41) have cleared the first real hurdle of the second-half of the season in taking out the Los Angeles Angels (52-49), A.L. West winners six of the last eight seasons, three games to one. Three quality starts from Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, and Tommy Hunter secured the series win.

"All they've done is put together quality starts one after another," said Rangers' catcher Bengie Molina, who caught every game in the series.

Hunter (W, 8-0) pitched 6 1-3 innings of three-run baseball to remain undefeated this season.
Hunter did, however, get himself into a jam in the top of the seventh, walking Bobby Abreau before allowing a two-run blast to Hideki Matsui that cut the Rangers' lead to 6-3.

Darren O'Day then took over for Hunter and sandwiched a single between a couple of ground-outs to end the inning. Frank Francisco allowed a walk in the eighth, but coaxed a couple of ground-outs and a flyout to end the inning. In the ninth, Neftali Feliz had another one of those innings that made you grit your teeth. Feliz allowed two straight singles to start out the inning, then the Angels scored a run on a fielder's choice from the recently acquired Alberto Callaspo. Feliz rebounded, however, getting two straight groundouts for his A.L.-leading 28th save of the season.

While it didn't work out well for the Rangers, the play of the game came in the bottom of the second on a close play at the plate. 6'3, 232 pound Chris Davis decided that he wanted to score from first on a double by Elvis Andrus. Davis quickly realized that the relay throw was on target and decided he was going to bowl over Angels catcher Bobby Wilson, who is 6'0, 220. The two crashed into one-another violently at the plate, with the ball nearly coming out of the top of Wilson's glove. Wilson was able to hold onto the ball (it literally snow-coned during the collision) and the inning was over.

Saturday's Game:

The game before that was another story for the Rangers as starter Scott Feldman (L, 5-9) continues to struggle on the mound. Feldman lasted less than six innings for the second consecutive start as he allowed three earned runs on seven hits. Scooter hasn't won since mid June, has allowed at least seven hits in each of his last seven starts, and over his last two starts has allowed a total of eight runs and 14 hits (four homers) in his last 10 1-3 innings pitched.

"The first four innings went well, but I got behind in the count and got some balls up in the fifth," Feldman said. "I didn't execute some pitches and they made me pay for it."

I don't see how the Rangers can keep throwing this guy out there every fifth day expecting a different result. Something has happened since last season that has made this guy a complete-dud as a starter. Maybe it's time for him to be sent down to the minors, or maybe even put into a long-relief role for a while, but his run as the fifth starter (especially with both Rich Harden and Derek Holland about ready for action) should be at an end.

On the other side, Angels starter Ervin Santana (W, 9-7) pitched eight sensational innings, allowing only two runs while striking out eight batters.

"It came down to pitching," manager Ron Washington said. "

There is still a long way to go, but these Rangers showed how much the pitching staff has improved and proved that they can win even when the bats go cold. Look for these two teams to meet again in less than a week (July 30), with a total of 10 games remaining against one-another head-to-head.

Texas takes on another division rival after a day off Monday, with the Oakland Athletics coming to town Tuesday night. The A's are 50-48 overall this season and have won seven of nine since the All-Star break, including four of six against the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.

Cliff Lee (9-4, 2.56 ERA) will get the start for Texas and Gio Gonzalez (9-6, 3.75) will start for the A's with a 7:05 p.m. scheduled start time.

News and Notes:

• Texas has won eight of 10 since the All-Star break, improving it's record in the month of July to over .500 (11-10) after a dreadful start to the month.
• The Rangers sold out two of the four games in the series against the Angels, accounting for second and third sellouts all year.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)