Question for Nolan

[NJO]

I see you have the Rangers as a best bet, and I was wondering if I could pick your brain a little as to why. I ask because I respect your writing and opinion.

Rogers' recent form is quite bad (12 runs in his last 10 innings), and he has gotten knocked around by the A's this year (12 runs in 12+ innings), and those 2 things have likely scared me off of the Rangers.

Any additional insight you could add [without giving away all of your secrets ] would be much appreciated.

 

[Nolan Dalla]

My bet on the Rangers is more motivated by the As rookie pitcher getting his first start against one of the best hitting lineups in baseball. ERA and minor league stats in Sacramento were not overly impressive and now he goes into Arlington, where it will be 95 degrees and facing a team that is playing much better after a very poor start. A. Rodriguez has been killing the As pitching (Zito, Mulder -- which are much better starters) and Rangers have been hitting lots of HRs lately (they lead the majors, I believe). Rangers pitching has been almost respectable the last few weeks -- allowing "only" a little over 4 runs per game (admittedly, the Rangers staff is terrible). Rogers has indeed had problems with As but pressure wil be off here as Rangers are basically left for dead (which usually means the team will start playing better -- see White Sox turnaround the last month). Rogers is a veteran, with inexplicablly bad results recently, but I expect him to have the edge tonight against a first-time starter.

-- Nolan Dalla