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MATCH-UP MOTTOS
THURSDAY, 9/26: Jerome Williams vs. Matt Garza: One last job
Jerome Williams is going up against a strong competitor in Matt Garza, although Williams does have a competitive streak in him as well. Even though Williams was forced to skip his start after getting hit in the foot with a pitch he'll be looking to put up as strong of a start as possible against bitter rival Rangers. The Angels could very well knock the Rangers out of wild card contention with a four game sweep, though it's highly unlikely. If it's going to happen it's going to happen with Williams.
FRIDAY, 9/27: C.J Wilson vs. Alexi Ogando : Bitter foes
The old ace of the Rangers is going up against the injury prone semi-ace of the Rangers staff. Ogando has been red hot his past few starts and he'll look to continue that streak against the Angels this weekend. You can believe the Rangers are going to be competing hard to make sure they can at least get their feet in the playoff door. Hopefully things work out better for the Angels in this case, but with Wilson (who is chronically terrible against the Rangers) and Williams leading the charge things aren't looking too good for the Angels.
SATURDAY, 9/28: Garrett Richards vs. Derek Holland: Rookie rampage
Aside from Richards last outing he has been incredible since starting off the season terribly in the rotation. His ERA has skydived from a high 5 to a 4.09 ERA. This bodes well for Richards, who is competing strongly to make sure he has a spot in the rotation next year. He may not have been ready this year, but he's shown that he has undergone massive improvements to his game that should put him right in the rotation. This works out well for the Angels since Holland is a known chump against the Angels.
SUNDAY, 9/29: Jason Vargas vs. Yu Darvish: Final showdown
This is Jason Vargas' last time starting for the Angels before hitting free agency, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Last time out he absolutely manhandled the A's, and now he's looking to boost up his free agency stock with one final push against the Texas Rangers. Good thing he has a strong track record against the Rangers, with a sub-3 ERA in his career against them. It won't be an easy task with Darvish going for the Rangers. Darvish has never been beaten by the Rangers before, so this is going to be quite the test for both parties involved.
MISERY INDEX
The index reading for this series is: Killing them softly
Everybody expected the Rangers to make the playoffs this year, as always. What no one expects is for the Angels to be their undoing. A bad series for the Rangers here and their playoffs hopes could falter fast. Let's hope the Angels put the squeeze on them this week. If they win it won't be because of big, flashy hitting. It'll be because of our pitching; killing them softly with pitching is the name of the game this weekend.
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