Last week, it looked like Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington might not keep his job long enough to face the Oakland Athletics - the team he coached for 11 years before landing his current position.
Now, Washington not only gets a chance to face his old club, he also has momentum on his side.The Rangers go for their third consecutive win on Friday night when they open a three-game series against the Athletics at McAfee Coliseum.
Washington's job appeared to be in jeopardy when Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said he'd take a look at the leadership of the team after Texas (11-18) ended a nine-game road trip with seven straight defeats from April 18-24.
The Rangers, however, responded with a 4-2 homestand during which they averaged 6.7 runs and batted .319. They won consecutive series against Minnesota and Kansas City - a surge that may have saved Washington's job despite Texas finishing with a franchise-record 17 losses in April.
"I'm judged on wins and losses. We haven't been getting a whole lot of wins, so it falls on me. I can handle that," Washington said after his club beat Kansas City 2-1 on Thursday. "I'm still here, and we're going to still fight. I can't say it doesn't bother me. ... I just know just as bad as we were, things can turn around. The guys in that clubhouse believe it. I believe it."
Washington, who joined the Rangers before the 2007 season after 11 years as a coach with the A's, has an 86-105 overall record. He went 10-9 against his former club in 2007, including 4-6 in Oakland.
The Athletics (18-12) showed Thursday they have the firepower to take on the Rangers, routing the Los Angeles Angels 15-8 to earn a split of the four-game series.
"We've got enough good hitters on this team where we're going to score a decent amount of runs," said Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby, who had two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Oakland's offense, however, has been inconsistent. It totaled 29 runs and 36 hits in two wins against the Angels, but was held to one run and 10 hits in the two losses.
Another performance like Thursday's would likely be plenty for Oakland starter Joe Blanton (2-4, 4.07 ERA), who held Seattle to two runs in seven innings of a 4-2 victory on Sunday - his second win in two road starts. The right-hander, however, is 0-4 in five starts at McAfee Coliseum despite posting a 3.97 ERA in those games. He was 7-5 with a 2.69 ERA there last year.
Blanton has won his last four starts against the Rangers to improve to 6-2 with a 4.75 ERA in 11 career games - 10 starts - against them. Texas shortstop Michael Young, who had a 14-game hitting streak snapped Thursday, is 8-for-25 (.320) with two home runs in his career against Blanton.
Texas will turn to right-hander Vicente Padilla (3-2, 3.79), who's coming off his best game since the Rangers acquired him before the 2006 season.
Padilla held Minnesota to seven hits on Sunday as he posted the first shutout by a Texas right-hander at hitter-friendly Rangers Ballpark since July 29, 2001. It was the third career shutout for Padilla, who's 3-1 with a 4.66 ERA in nine career games - seven starts - against Oakland.
