{"id":25183,"date":"2012-09-24T08:05:18","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=25183"},"modified":"2012-09-24T08:05:18","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T13:05:18","slug":"oakland-athletics-vs-texas-rangers-al-west-rivals-begin-a-four-game-series-on-monday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/oakland-athletics-vs-texas-rangers-al-west-rivals-begin-a-four-game-series-on-monday-night-25183\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Athletics vs. Texas Rangers: AL West Rivals Begin a Four-Game Series on Monday Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oakland Athletics (86-66) and Texas Rangers (90-62) are set to open up an important American League West series on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:05 ET<\/p>\n

Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Texas Rangers SP Derek Holland has solid career numbers against the Oakland Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oakland captured a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon, as the ball club demonstrated some resolve after losing the previous two games of the series in extra innings.\u00a0 \u201cA couple of dramatic games certainly make the next game seem like it\u2019s a little more important,\u201d commented Athletics manager Bob Melvin.\u00a0 The Athletics are still holding onto the second AL Wild Card spot, as it will play tonight\u2019s opponent seven times in the final 10 games.\u00a0 Oakland is 25-22 versus divisional foes, something to consider when making your MLB baseball picks.<\/p>\n

Athletics starting pitcher Daniel Straily (2-1, 4.13 ERA) suffered his first loss in the big leagues last time out, giving up four runs and five hits over 4.2 innings in a 9-5 home setback to the Baltimore Orioles.\u00a0 The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two road outings, issuing three walks and striking out 10 batters in 13 frames.\u00a0 Straily will be making his first career appearance against the Rangers.<\/p>\n

Texas returns home after a 3-3 road trip, which included a 3-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.\u00a0 The Rangers can actually win the division with a sweep of this four-game series, but the clubhouse isn\u2019t looking to far ahead.\u00a0 \u201cWe just want to finish with a nice push,\u201d stated Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre.\u00a0 This season series has been very tight, with each side winning six games.\u00a0 Texas is 19-10 as a home favorite of -150 to -200, while the \u201cunder\u201d is 16-12 in that situation.<\/p>\n

Rangers starting pitcher Derek Holland (11-6, 4.42 ERA) came away with a 6-2 road win over the Los Angeles Angels in his last effort, giving up two runs and six hits over seven frames.\u00a0 The left-hander is 5-4 with a 5.12 ERA in 14 home appearances (13 starts), issuing 24 walks and striking out 75 batters in 84.1 combined innings.\u00a0 In 10 career games (seven starts) versus the Athletics, Holland has compiled a 4-1 record and 2.24 ERA, including a 6-3 road win on June 5.<\/p>\n

In making your MLB predictions for Monday, I suggest backing the Rangers due to their 20-6 record in Holland\u2019s last 26 home starts versus a team with a winning record, while the Athletics are 2-5 as a road underdog.<\/p>\n

Make sure to check out our Major League Baseball picks<\/a> all season long and get the most up-to-date betting odds at Bookmaker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oakland Athletics (86-66) and Texas Rangers (90-62) are set to open up an important American League West series on Monday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:05 ET Oakland Athletics at Texas Rangers\u00a0 Oakland captured a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon, as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[5070,7031,1648,1449,1749,771],"class_list":["post-25183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-american-league-west","tag-daniel-straily","tag-derek-holland","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-rangers-ballpark","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25184,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25183\/revisions\/25184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}