Can the Rangers catch the Angels?

That seems to be the question on the minds of a lot of Rangers (and Angels) fans these days, with the Rangers continuing to hang around the AL West race, closing to within four games after tonight’s 3-0 win in Minnesota along with the Angels’ coughing up a similar lead against the last-place Athletics.

Scott Feldman did not have his normally sparkling command against the Twins tonight, but holding a red-hot team down the way he did tonight was good enough with a fresh bullpen. The Rangers’ offense slumped again, although Ian Kinsler and Julio Borbon each had a couple of hits.

Kevin Millwood takes the hill tomorrow in the rubber match for the Rangers, who could really use a win tomorrow against Scott Baker and the Twins. A victory gives the Texas nine a 5-4 road trip in quite possibly the toughest stretch of the season. Even a loss tomorrow wouldn’t be a total disaster – four wins on this trip against three of the best home teams in the AL is nothing to sneeze at.

The Angels, on the other hand, have been slumping badly. The Halos have lost seven of 10 against subpar competition, with two losses apiece in that stretch to the A’s and Blue Jays. One more game tomorrow with the A’s looking to take three of four, and really the Angels are lucky to have that chance. Oakland had a 6-1 lead in Friday’s game but committed two crucial errors late to give the game back to LAA. Brett Anderson goes for the A’s against Abilene native John Lackey.

The upcoming schedules for the two teams seems to favor the Rangers, especially later in the month. Matt already took a look at the September slate for the Rangers here. After tomorrow’s game with the Twins, the Rangers have a lot of series that should see them win two of three in all of them. Every series through the home set against the Angels September 18 needs to be a series win at least.

The Angels, meanwhile, head on the road for seven after tomorrow’s contest, beginning with three in the Pacific Northwest against the extremely pesky Mariners, who the Angels have not fared well against this year. The Angels are only 6-7 against the M’s this year, and Seattle is still playing good ball, sitting with a 68-62 mark and a 37-28 record at home.

The big news for the Angels came yesterday when they announced their acquistion of Rays P Scott Kazmir for what will amount to three minor leaguers when all is said and done. Kazmir should help the Angels down the stretch, although his numbers this year really have been nothing spectacular. His first start comes Wednesday against the Mariners.

However, the problem during this recent slide has not really been the starting pitching – it’s been the bullpen, the Achilles heel for the team the whole season. The offense is not doing its part either, only scoring more than five runs twice in the last twelve contests. With Seattle’s strong pitching, those struggles might continue.

So it seems the Angels have finally hit that rough patch of the season.  The Rangers have a chance to take advantage, with a relatively soft schedule over the next couple of weeks. Can they make up any ground without playing the Angels? If the answer’s yes, the Rangers might just find themselves in the thick of things deep into September and Oct—.

Whoops. Almost said the O-word.

Photo courtesy AP via Lone Star Ball