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A's playing for pride against Rangers

Sep 15, 2007 - 12:58 PM Texas (69-78) at Oakland (73-76) 3:55 pm EDT

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) - The Oakland Athletics are trying to salvage some pride as the season winds down.

Oakland, which has not finished under .500 since 1998, continues its three-game series with the equally woeful Texas Rangers on Saturday.

The Athletics, who have won four of five, need to win eight of their last 13 games to avoid a losing season. T hat is something that they are not used to, considering the A's have made the playoffs in five of the last seven seasons.

Joe Blanton takes the mound for Oakland, which rallied from six-runs down to post an 11-9 victory on Friday. Blanton (13-9, 3.77 ERA) is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA over his last six starts, and is 5-2 with a 4.86 ERA in 10 appearances - nine starts - against Texas.

The Rangers counter with Brandon McCarthy (5-9, 5.04), who is winless since July 31. McCarthy returned from the disabled list on Tuesday after missing a month with a stress fracture in his right shoulder.

McCarthy, who is 1-5 with a 4.38 ERA in his last 11 starts, was on a 45-pitch limit and allowed three runs and three hits in two-thirds of an inning of a 4-1 loss to Detroit.