Texas at Oakland

The Texas Rangers were above .500 a lot later in the season than many would ever believe, but a recent 11-21 slide has put an end to that. The Rangers’ offense was sizzling for better than a month at six runs plus a game, but has declined substantially over the past month, while the pitching remains the worst in baseball with an ERA of 5.32. The bullpen ranks 31st among the 32 MLB teams as well. Oakland went through a period of no offense and with it few wins, as the A's went through a month's worth of games averaging 2.6 runs a game. Things have changed. The A's have discovered offense and have produced 6.3 runs a game in their last six and have now won four of five. They send Dallas Braden to the mound tonight with his 3.72 ERA. More important than his better-than-average ERA is the fact he is a left-handed pitcher. The Rangers have been seven games over .500 against right-handed pitchers, but getting destroyed by lefties to the tune of a 14-28 mark on the season - the worst in baseball. So when you take a team that is slumping winning just one of three over the last month, has the worst pitching staff, and a pitcher on the mound that is the worst of the worst with a 6.59 ERA, backed by the second-worst bullpen, facing a lefthander where they have managed just one win in every three tries against, facing a pitcher with above-average stuff, finally heating up offensively, you end up with my MLB Game Of The Month on the A's.