Dramatic win puts Rangers in great spot
And it turned what could have been a three-game lead in the AL West into five games. The magic number for the Rangers is five. They can clinch at least a share of the AL West by winning two of the next three games. They can win the division outright by sweeping the series.
But what they've done is put themselves in a great position. They have a five-game lead with nine games to play. That's going to be tough for the A's to overcome, especially after they were in position to win the first game of the series and didn't.
A few other things to keep in mind this week:
* The race for the No. 1 seed is a big one, too. Both the Rangers and Yankees won Tuesday, meaning Texas stays two games up on New York for that top overall seed. That's more important this year because that team plays the winner of the wild card game and gets an extra day to line everything up.
* The Angels have become big Texas fans. They need the Rangers to beat up on Oakland if they have any hopes of stealing a playoff spot from the A's. The Angels are now two games back in the wild-card race and Tampa Bay is three behind. Los Angeles has Seattle starting Tuesday before they come to Texas. So watch that one. It could get interesting.
103.3 FM ESPN PODCASTS
Play Podcast Jim Bowden joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss Ron Washington's decision to send Yu Darvish to the mound for the eighth inning Thursday night and how he would handle a situation like that if he were still a GM.
Play Podcast Randy Galloway, Matt Mosley and Glenn "Stretch" Smith discuss the latest Rangers news, including the Yu Darvish-Justin Verlander matchup.
Play Podcast Nelson Cruz joins Galloway & Company to discuss the Rangers' series in Oakland, his ups and downs at the plate and if the PED talks before the season were a distraction.
Play Podcast Rangers manager Ron Washington joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Oakland for his weekly visit.
Play Podcast Nolan Ryan joins Galloway & Company to discuss his role with the Rangers. Ryan says that he has not been in contact with the Astros about a possible opening and he doesn't think that he would be interested anyway.
Play Podcast Jim Bowden joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett for his weekly visit and wastes no time sounding off on MLB umpire Angel Hernandez.
Play Podcast Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland joins GAC from Milwaukee to discuss what it was like facing former teammate Scott Feldman, Texas' upcoming series and more.
Play Podcast Ron Washington joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett live from Milwaukee for his weekly visit and discusses Nick Tepesch, the Rangers' rotation, interleague play and more.
TEAM LEADERS
| WINS LEADER | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Yu Darvish
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| OTHER LEADERS | ||||||||||||
| BA | I. Kinsler | .302 | ||||||||||
| HR | N. Cruz | 11 | ||||||||||
| RBI | N. Cruz | 33 | ||||||||||
| R | E. Andrus | 27 | ||||||||||
| OPS | M. Moreland | .921 | ||||||||||
| ERA | D. Holland | 2.93 | ||||||||||
| SO | Y. Darvish | 86 | ||||||||||







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