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Rangers-Angels Preview

Aug 7, 2009 - 3:23 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Texas (59-47) at Los Angeles (63-42), 10:05 p.m. EDT

The Texas Rangers might trail the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West, but it's not because of their play against the division leaders.

The second-place Rangers look to cut into the Angels' lead when the teams open a three-game series Friday night at Angel Stadium.

Though Los Angeles (64-42) has a 4 1/2-game lead over Texas, the Rangers are 7-2 against the Angels this season. Texas took two of three in Anaheim from July 6-8, and should be confident despite dropping three of four at last-place Oakland this week.

"We're playing a good club and it should be a fun series," said third baseman Michael Young, who hit his 18th homer in a 6-4 win over the Athletics on Thursday. "You want to play these kind of games in August and September. It will be a good test and a good challenge."

The Rangers' struggles in Oakland prevented them from gaining ground on the Angels, who lost the first two of a three-game against the Chicago White Sox before winning 9-5 on Thursday.

"This series (in Oakland) didn't end up the way we wanted it but we played much better (Thursday) and moved on," said Young, who's batting .458 with six home runs and 12 RBIs during a 13-game hitting streak, and .378 against the Angels this season.

Hank Blalock added his 21st home run Thursday for Texas (60-47), which averaged 3.2 runs in Oakland to open a 10-game road trip.

Blalock went 6 for 12 at Anaheim last month, but is 1 for 10 versus Los Angeles starter Joe Saunders (9-6, 5.07 ERA).

Saunders is 3-5 with a 6.52 ERA in nine starts against the Rangers, including 0-2 with a 15.00 ERA this year. The left-hander, however, is 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA in four career home starts versus Texas.

In his last start, Saunders allowed four runs in six innings of an 11-6 victory at Minnesota on Saturday for his first win since June 24 against Colorado.

"It's obviously nice for me," said Saunders, who's 1-2 with an 8.84 ERA in his last seven starts.

The Rangers counter with Scott Feldman (10-4, 3.91), who allowed three runs in six innings to beat Saunders and the Angels, 9-5 on June 30.

Feldman is 2-2 with a 5.88 ERA in six starts versus the Angels, but 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two outings this season.

Enjoying the best season of his five-year career, Feldman gave up two runs in seven innings while pitching on three-days' rest to earn the victory in a 4-2 win over Seattle on Sunday.

"I have seen this kid and he gets better every year," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu told the Rangers' official Web site.

Erick Aybar is 3 for 8 all-time against Feldman and had three hits, including a homer, Thursday for Los Angeles, which is 18-5 since losing two in a row to Texas on July 7-8.

Vladimir Guerrero homered for the first time in three games since missing almost a month with a strained left knee. He's batting .429 in five games against Texas this season.

"When the man gets hot, we all want to be on base for him," Los Angeles' Bobby Abreu said of Guerrero, who's been limited to 49 games due to injury. "He's going to drive in a lot of runs and we're going to score a lot of runs."

Batting .322, Abreu also homered Thursday to become the sixth major league player with 250 homers, 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs, 1,000 RBIs, 1,000 walks and 300 stolen bases.