On Deck will be here all season to provide you with everything you need to know (and a few things you don't) about every Rangers series during the 2015 season.
The Opponent: The Angels are keeping pace with the Rangers and well behind the first-place Astros. Now they're dealing with some internal turmoil after the resignation of GM Jerry Dipoto.
Past 2015 Meetings: The Rangers are just 2-4 this year against the Angels, but to be fair, all six of those games came in April when the Rangers were one of the worst teams in baseball.
Pitching Matchups: Friday — Garrett Richards (8-5, 3.54 ERA) vs. Chi Chi Gonzalez (2-3, 2.59); Saturday — Hector Santiago (4-4, 2.58) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (5-3, 3.91); Sunday — C.J. Wilson (6-6, 3.78) vs. Colby Lewis (8-3, 4.13).
What's Hot: Rougned Odor is still raking at the plate. Since his return from the minors, he's leading the Rangers in just about every offensive category thanks to a new approach at the plate. In his last six games, he's hitting .458 with a homer and three RBIs. The Rangers' bullpen is starting to put it together again, as Tanner Scheppers, Sam Freeman, Keone Kela and Spencer Patton have combined for 11 1/3 scoreless innings.
Mike Trout is doing Mike Trout things and hitting .400 over his last six games with three home runs and a double. All three starting pitchers the Rangers will face this weekend are coming off outings in which they worked at least seven innings and none of them allowed more than two runs in those outings.
What's Not: Leonys Martin had a huge game-winning RBI on Thursday night, but he's still hitting only .208 over his last seven games. Shin-Soo Choo is batting .214 over that same time with only six hits, but he's made them count as three have left the yard.
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Albert Pujols has hit 24 home runs in a bounce-back year, but right now he's not going too well as he's batting just .150 over his last six games.
Familiar Faces: The Rangers will face their former teammate C.J. Wilson, who has struggled against his old squad to the tune of a 6.59 ERA in his nine career starts against them. Josh Hamilton was an AL MVP for the Rangers before falling out of favor with Rangers fans and signing a big deal with the Angels. After two years and an admitted relapse, the Angels had enough and shipped him back to Texas while paying the majority of his remaining $80 million-plus on his contract. Remember Dan Robertson? It's OK if you don't, but he was a solid outfield option for Texas a year ago and he's now roaming the outfield for the Rangers.
