Oakland A’s vs. Texas Rangers Posted on Jumat, 02 September 2011 |

Barry Zito from the A’s is looking now like in his best days back in 2002 when he won the Cy Young award. Zito allowed eight hits over seven scoreless innings and the A's patiently battered Jamie Moyer in their third straight victory 7-2 over the Seattle Mariners last week.

"I just have a mentality where I'm going out there and not trying to be too fine, not thinking too much," Zito said. "I'm just letting my stuff work for me. Just trust my stuff, trust myself."

With five key players on the disabled list after a rash of injuries, the A's are back above .500 at 20-19 and in a first-place tie with Texas in the AL West. Despite those injuries, they’re a team that has plenty of talent and will to get back to the winning side of the record. If they play good with all there key players injured imagine what they will play like once everybody is back and healthy.

Lineup

1. Mark Kotsay, CF. 2.Jason Kendall, C. 3.Eric Chavez, 3rd B. 4.Frank Thomas, DH. 5. Bobby Crosby, SS. 6.Nick Swisher, 1stB. 7. Jay Payton, LF. 8. Bobby Kielty, RF. 9.Marco Scutaro, 2nd B.

After an impressive game held on Tuesday against the Yankees in which the score was 14-13 in favor of the Yankees, the Rangers fell again on Tuesday 4-3. It wasn’t such an exciting game like the one on Tuesday but it still was good. It seems that the games between this two are becoming more and more interesting because both teams play really good against each other.

The Yankees were winning 4-1 in the in the seventh, but Gary Matthews Jr. hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Texas, cutting it to 4-3. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

"It's tough to lose like that. I didn't think they hit me very hard. They just found holes at opportune times," Loe said. "I felt like I was making my pitches. I felt like I was in control. Maybe my pitch selection could have been better."

In both games the Rangers were very close to get the victory but the powerful offense of the Yankees was better than theirs. Maybe they can change the story this week as they face the Oakland A’s, a team with a lot of injuries right now. That can give some advantage to the Rangers, so if you like sports betting this is a perfect opportunity to bet on a great game as I’m sure it will be between these two teams.

Lineup

1. Gary Matthews Jr., CF. 2.Michael Young, SS. 3.Mark Teixeira, 1st B. 4. Phil Nevin, DH. 5. Hank Blalock, 3rdB. 6. Kevin Mench, RF. 7.Brad Wilkerson, LF. 8. Mark DeRosa, 2nd B. 9. Gerald Laird, C.