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 Padres stood pat at the trade deadline and have pretty much just treaded water since then, as evidenced by their 5-5 mark over their last 10 games. They have some good players, but have underperformed this year and can pretty much only play spoiler at this time.
Past 2015 Meetings: The Padres took two of three games from Texas leading into the all-star break when the Rangers were playing very poorly.
Pitching Matchups: Monday — Colby Lewis (14-6, 4.38 ERA) vs. Tyson Ross (9-9, 3.42); Tuesday — Yovani Gallardo (11-9, 3.14) vs. Andrew Cashner (5-13, 4.05); Wednesday — Cole Hamels (2-1, 3.89, as Ranger) vs. Ian Kennedy (8-12, 3.94).
What's Hot: Delino DeShields is starting to heat up again, and it's made a big difference in the Rangers' lineup. In his past six games, he's hitting .435 with a .500 on-base percentage. During that time, he has two triples and a homer of his 10 hits. Adrian Beltre is also getting hot again, batting .409 over the same time with a triple, two homers and a team-high six RBIs. Yovani Gallardo has put up two consecutive scoreless outings, including his domination of the hot-hitting Blue Jays.
Yonder Alonso is hitting .421 with two RBIs in his last six games. Ian Kennedy is coming off the best outing of the Padres' three pitchers, as he allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings
What's Not: Colby Lewis had one of his not-so-great outings, which are usually followed by several great ones, his last time out when he allowed five runs in five innings. Prince Fielder's batting just .240 in his last six games and continues his drought of no extra-base hits which is now at two weeks.
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Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner are both coming off rough outings last night and three of the Padres' big off-season acquisitions, Justin Upton, Melvin Upton and Matt Kemp, are all struggling over the last week with batting averages less than .200.
Familiar Faces: Padres GM A.J. Preller is the former right-hand man of Rangers' GM Jon Daniels and was with the organization for years before taking the Padres' gig last September and overhauling the roster with blockbuster trades and signings. Will Venable was acquired by the Rangers a couple of weeks ago in a waiver trade with the Padres.
