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Angels hope to continue surge toward another AL West title

Aug 30, 2008 - 10:15 AM Texas (66-70) at LA Angels (82-52) 9:05 pm EDT

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- If Jered Weaver continues his past success against the Texas Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim should continue their march to becoming the first team in the majors to claim a division title.

Weaver and the Angels will attempt to reduce their magic number of winning the American League West to nine on Saturday when they play the Rangers.

Even though he hasn't posted a win in three starts, Weaver (10-10, 4.38 ERA) has to be thrilled by the sight of Texas as he is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA against the Rangers this season. In eight career starts against Texas, the righthander is 2-1 with a 2.26 ERA.

Weaver has been victimized by poor run support during his winless spell as Anaheim has provided him with only seven total runs in that time. Such was the case again on Monday. Despite Weaver allowing two runs and three hits with eight strikeouts over seven innings, the Angels fell to Oakland, 2-1.

With a 17-game lead over Texas, the Angels appear to be on their way to their fourth division title over the past five years. They also are primed to break their 1986 team record of needing 153 games to clinch the division.

The Rangers will counter with Scott Feldman (5-5, 5.01), who will be looking to build off his first win in over a month.

The righthander yielded three runs - two earned - and eight hits over seven frames in Monday's 9-4 victory over the Royals, ending a stretch in which he went 0-2 with a 6.33 ERA over his five previous outings.