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 White Sox have been a bit of a disappointment given their offseason acquisitions, and they're currently in last place in what could be the best division in baseball, the surprising AL Central.
Past Meetings: The Rangers were 4-2 against the White Sox last year, which marked one of the few teams the Rangers had success against in their disastrous 2014 season.
Pitching Matchups: Tuesday — Colby Lewis (4-3, 4.70 ERA) vs. Jeff Samardzija (4-2, 3.84); Wednesday — Nick Martinez (4-1, 2.03) vs. Chris Sale (4-2, 3.66); Thursday — Yovani Gallardo (5-6, 3.88) vs. Carlos Rodon (1-0, 3.45).
What's Hot: Guess what? Prince Fielder is still red hot. The AL's batting leader is hitting .367 with a .406 on-base percentage over his past seven games, to go with two doubles and two homers with six RBIs. Nick Martinez worked seven innings and gave up two runs in a loss to Boston on Thursday, but it was his 16th straight start of allowing three or fewer earned runs. Shawn Tolleson was 3-for-3 over the last week in save chances, in which time he hasn't even allowed a single hit.
The White Sox's hottest hitter is DH Adam LaRoche, who is batting .333 over the last week (eight games, thanks to a doubleheader) with two homers, two doubles and six RBIs. Reigning rookie of the year Jose Abreu has just one homer in the last week but he is tied with LaRoche for the team lead in that time with six RBIs. Samardzija and Sale each worked at least seven innings and didn't allow an earned run in their last outing.
What's Not: Mitch Moreland was cooled off this past week, hitting just .208 over the last six games with one home run. Over that same time, Shin-Soo Choo is batting just .182 after he'd been on a tear. Colby Lewis' ERA over the last week, in just one start? A nice, cool 30.37. Ouch. Hard to be any worse than that.
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Alexei Ramirez, one of the best all-around shortstops in the game, is batting just .100 in the last eight games, while center fielder Adam Eaton is batting just .212.
Familiar Faces: Former Rangers catcher Geovany Soto is now behind the plate for the White Sox, splitting time with Tyler Flowers.
