Okay, no take all my statements from the previous paragraph and the exact opposite was what I expected to see.

May 15, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Dan Straily (67) pitches the ball against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve been hard on Straily for much of the time he’s been with Oakland, and he’s earned that criticism with his inability to command the strike zone, and to keep opposing hitters in the ballpark.  But last year when the possible acquisition came up of the likes of Chase Headley of the San Diego Padres, Straily’s name came up, and the Athletics balked at such an asking price.  For much of the season this year as Straily got knocked around, questions began to arise as to exactly why the A’s weren’t willing to deal the young right hander.  Tonight, he showed us all why the A’s wanted to keep him in the fold.

There wasn’t much in the way of activity, as you could expect in a 1-0 game (just the 13th such game in Arlington’s history).  Straily was the story tonight.  He allowed just 2 hits in 7 scoreless innings, he struck out 5, and walked none.  He was relieved after just 88 pitches, he certainly could have gone further, but with a lockdown bullpen there was no need for Bob Melvin to risk it.  Besides, Straily would be guaranteed to go into his next start versus the San Francisco Giants with a boatload of confidence.  This was a glimpse of the Dan Straily we’ve all been waiting to see, I won’t proclaim that he has arrived just yet, but this was encouraging in a big way.

Yoenis Cespedes provided the game’s lone offense with a solo home run to dead center field in the top of the 3rd inning versus Yu Darvish.  While his numbers may not bear it out, he is making an impact with the long ball.  This was his team leading 9th home run of the season.  The A’s had their chances to give themselves some breathing room, but they failed in those chances, leaving 11 men on base.  They’ve left 26 runners on in the last two games, but they’ve come out on top in both games.

The A’s are 25-22, just 4.5 games behind the division leading Rangers, and have a chance to sweep them in Arlington, which undoubtedly is a rare feat.  They’ll send Jarrod Parker (2-5, 6.04 ERA) to the mound against a former Athletic Ross Wolf who will be making his season debut for the Rangers in place of Nick Tepesch who was scratched due to a blister on his middle finger.  Wolf appeared in 11 games for the A’s in 2010 and posted a 4.26 ERA in 12.2 innings of work.  This is his first major league action since then.  The A’s can give Wolf a rude welcome back to the Show tomorrow as they attempt to complete this sweep of their division rivals.

May 20, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Pat Neshek (left) celebrates the victory with catcher Derek Norris (36) after the game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

To say Tuesday night’s duel between Dan Straily and Yu Darvish is a mismatch would be an understatement of incredible proportions.  Straily has struggled in Oakland for the most part, save for a couple instances of effectiveness.  Darvish on the other hand is emerging as an ace, and has the ability to strike hitters out with extremely high efficiency.  This doesn’t bode well for the Athletics chances Tuesday night.  Now, I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but that’s the clear reality of the situation.

With the A’s victory in the opener, they immediately eliminate the threat of being swept in Arlington.  If they lost this game, and lose the second game in all likelihood, the series finale on Wednesday would become that much more difficult to take when the Rangers smell a sweep.  This team does possess the best record in the American League at 29-16, so clearly they’re winning a lot of series.

The matchup on Wednesday could possibly favor the Athletics though, as Jarrod Parker and Nick Tepesch square off.  Of course the A’s have never seen Tepesch, and he’s never seen the A’s, so which team that benefits remains to be seen.  With tonight’s win though and the possibly favorable matchup Wednesday the A’s stand a realistic chance of taking this series in Texas.

So while tomorrow may not be destined to go in the A’s favor, if Dan Straily can keep the Rangers offense reasonably at bey, they would stand a chance against their solid but not infallible bullpen if they can get Darvish out of the game.  The “work the pitch count” strategy doesn’t always work, but many teams have a soft underbelly in their bullpen that can be exploited if they are forced into duty.

If the A’s wish to seriously get back in the race for the AL West in the short term, winning this series versus the Rangers will go a long way towards accomplishing that.  After leaving Arlington the A’s will get another chance to play the Houston Astros, against whom they are 6-0 this season.  While I don’t necessarily expect them to continue that absolute dominance by sweeping them again, this is a series they absolutely should be winning with relative ease.  They fattened up their record in the early going against them, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t aim to do that once again this coming weekend.  These are games they have to win, because if they don’t then the ones like Tuesday’s matchup against Yu Darvish become even more tough to deal with.

May 19, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52), shortstop Jed Lowrie (8), pitcher Adam Rosales (17) and first base Brandon Moss (37) celebrate after the game against the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum. Oakland won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Needless to say the returns of both Coco Crisp and Chris Young give an exponential boost of legitimacy to the everyday lineup.  It may be a harsh truth but a lineup featuring Michael Taylor and Luke Montz with any level of frequency above the occasional rest days for the regulars is not indicative of a contending team.  That’s not to say they can’t possibly be useful parts of a contending team, but in complementary roles only.  Having 3/4 of the original starting outfield back has, and will continue to pay dividends for the team.

The starting pitching may finally be coming around as well.  Despite the announcement Friday that Brett Anderson had a stress fracture in his foot and would miss an extended period of time, the starting pitching showed signs of life this weekend.  Jarrod Parker turned in his strongest start of the season Friday night against James Shields, Tommy Milone gutted out 6 effective innings when he clearly was struggling, and despite not being on his best A.J. Griffin kept the A’s in the game so they could come back and complete the sweep of the Royals.  The A’s will need those three to carry the load in Anderson’s absence, and at this point relying on his return and effectiveness upon that return would be foolish.

Josh Donaldson is playing at an All-Star level.  Not a “well the Athletics have to get one representative so it might as well be him” level, but a legitimate All-Star level.  Through Saturday’s game, Donaldson ranked in the top 10 in the AL with a 1.9 WAR, that’s not AL third baseman, that’s AL position players.  He’s in elite company there.  His 152 wRC+ ranks only behind Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria at third base.  His .323/.393/.544 slash line compares favorably with just about anyone in the AL not named Miguel Cabrera.  He may get shunned from the All Star Game due to a lack of name recognition, but at this point he undoubtedly deserves a spot.

Perhaps the biggest reason for short term optimism though is the fact that Yoenis Cespedes may be primed for a breakout.  Watching him in person on Friday night, the ball is jumping off his bat again.  Even when he’s making outs, he’s starting to make hard contact.  His .202 BABIP screams of bad luck.  While he hasn’t been making solid contact this year either, bad fortune hasn’t helped the cause.  If that BABIP starts to climb, he can carry the A’s back to the level where they were.

This upcoming three game set with the Texas Rangers in Arlington will be a big test for the Athletics on their path back into the upper echelon of the American League.  They will have to contend with one of the best pitchers in the AL right now in Yu Darvish on Tuesday night, both Yu and the A’s love strikeouts so making contact will come at a premium that night.  If the A’s can take game 1 of the series against Josh Lindblom, that will do wonders for their chances to take this series.  In case you forgot, the last time we saw Lindblom he was walking off field in Oakland after Yoenis Cespedes sent a rocket down the left field line for a 3-run walk off home run to complete a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, hopefully Yoenis reminds reintroduces himself to Lindblom, if he does then the Athletics may be in business.