Nine games, four losses and three full games trimmed from their lead over the Angels on the home stand, Texas will head to San Francisco to face Randy Johnson and the Giants in a three-game set.
Now, on paper, Texas should have no reason to fret.
But history says otherwise. Texas is 0-6 at AT&T Park; they are 7-12 against San Francisco all time.
Texas will face lefties in two of the games, as Randy Johnson goes in game one on Friday and Barry Zito in game two on Sunday.
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There are only three Rangers who have an average over .300 against southpaws: Omar Vizquel (.467), Ian Kinsler (.361) and Michael Young (.351).
As a team, Texas has a .358 on base percentage when facing a left-hander.
On Saturday, the Rangers will face a red-hot, basically-untouchable-at-the-moment Matt Cain, winner of seven straight and National League leader in wins with nine. Cain has tossed three complete games this season, and sports a deflated 2.39 ERA.
The right-hander will face a Texas offense that has been mired in an uncharacteristic slump; in the past week, the Rangers have been the third-worst offensive team in the league, hitting .241 with a .292 on base percentage.
The Angels, who have won six straight, are nipping at Texas’ heels in the standings, only a game and a half back of the division lead.
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