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Rangers-Angels Preview

Sep 20, 2010 - 1:48 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Texas (83-64) at Los Angeles (72-76), 10:05 p.m. EDT

As they close in on their first AL West title in 11 years, the Texas Rangers probably aren't too thrilled to face Jered Weaver on the road.

The right-hander will try to keep the Rangers from moving a step closer to the postseason by maintaining his perfect record against them in Anaheim on Monday night.

Texas (83-65) has a nine-game lead over Oakland, but continued its recent struggles away from home in the start of a 10-game swing against its three divisional foes.

The Rangers dropped two of three last-place Seattle over the weekend, and are 7-15 on the road since Aug. 7. In Sunday's 2-1 defeat, Texas had 10 hits but left 11 runners on base.

"We just couldn't get the big hit to score runs today," second baseman Ian Kinsler said.

The Rangers' chances of bouncing back don't appear strong against Weaver (12-11, 2.96 ERA), who has a major league-best 1.56 ERA at home this season. The right-hander, though, is 3-3 in his past 10 starts there despite a 1.23 ERA, and he's received no more than three runs of support per outing.

Weaver appears to have a better chance to collect a victory with the Rangers arriving. He's 5-0 with a 2.40 ERA in nine career home starts against Texas, and has won four consecutive matchups there including two this season.

Weaver has given up one unearned run, six hits and five walks in those two starts, and is 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA in four meetings this season. He's 6-4 with a 3.44 ERA entering his 19th career start against the Rangers, the most versus an opponent.

Weaver is coming off one of the best performances of his career, a 7-0 victory Wednesday in Cleveland. He retired 21 of 22 batters and struck out seven while snapping his career-worst slide at four.

Another strong outing from Weaver could give the Angels their season-high fifth straight home victory after a 1-8 stretch there. Los Angeles enters this series after taking two of three over AL wild-card leader Tampa Bay to finish off a six-game trip.

In Sunday's 6-3 victory, Bobby Abreu had a pair of home runs and rookie Peter Bourjos hit a tiebreaking three-run shot.

"Right now we're playing our game," Abreu said. "We're pitching good and we're scoring some runs. The whole thing."

The Angels will try to keep rolling against Derek Holland (3-3, 4.12), who has struggled on the road throughout his brief career but was impressive in his previous outing there.

The left-hander is 2-9 with a 5.72 ERA in 13 lifetime starts away from home over the last two seasons, but allowed three hits over five scoreless innings in an 8-1 win over Toronto on Sept. 8. Holland followed by giving up four runs - one earned - and four hits over four frames Tuesday in an 11-4 win against Detroit.

Holland is 2-2 with a 4.44 ERA in four career starts against the Angels, and earned a 4-3 win on May 17 at home by allowing three runs over 5 1-3 innings.

Los Angeles has won four of six at home over its AL West rivals, but trails the season series 7-5.

Nelson Cruz, who is 7 for 29 against Weaver, is batting .391 for five homers and seven RBIs in an 11-game hitting streak.