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.

Oct 9, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brett Anderson (49) pitches the ball against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning of game three of the 2012 ALDS at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The first category up for consideration will be each team’s projected Opening Day starter.  In most cases the pitcher given the honor of starting the first game is the leader of the pitching staff, and the most accomplished on that team.  A team’s success often begins and ends with the top of their starting rotation.

1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners: I’m really getting tired of the A’s facing King Felix to open every single season.  But this ranking doesn’t just reflect that.  Felix is among the best of the best in the game today, has been for 8 years, and he’s just 26 years old.  He’s on a path straight to Cooperstown, and he’s still just getting started.  I really wish the Mariners would trade him finally, but sadly that probably won’t happen anytime soon.

2. Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels: He has emerged as one of the most dominant starters in the game, just about even with Felix Hernandez.  Weaver has also been an A’s killer over the years, and he’s signed long term with the Angels so he’ll continue to be a thorn in the side of the A’s for years to come.  What puts Weaver just behind Felix though is the fact that he has suffered from some shoulder problems recently that could become a chronic problem for him.  When he’s healthy though he’s just about unstoppable.

3. Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers: In Yu Darvish’s rookie season he showed flashes of pure dominance, as well as flashes of rabid inconsistency.  The switch from NPB to MLB is a major adjustment, and many of Darvish’s struggles can likely be attributed to that fact.  In 2013 as he begins to be more and more comfortable in the US and in MLB, his numbers should improve.

4. Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics: Based on pure talent, Anderson would likely leapfrog Darvish on this list, but Anderson’s extensive injury history has constantly held him back.  Anderson hasn’t been able to demonstrate consistent health, and until he can he won’t be able to emerge as one of the top left handers in the game.  When he’s right though he’s good, really really good, as he showed us all down the stretch in 2012.  We’ll all be crossing our fingers for a healthy 2013 for Brett Anderson.

5. Bud Norris, Houston Astros: Norris is a talented pitcher, there’s no doubt about that.  But he’s also the number 1 starter on a team that lost 106 games last year, so his ceiling can only be so high.  His peripheral numbers are not spectacular, but not bad either.  He strikes out a fair number of hitters, but he walks a ton as well.  If he can harness his stuff, he can certainly improve to more than a league average pitcher.

The A’s may fall short at the very front of the rotation compared to the other AL West teams, but where they pull ahead is in the total talent of their rotation.  That’s what carried them to the AL West title in 2012.  Tomorrow we’ll shift focus towards the offensive side of things, and examine the 3-4-5 hitters in each team’s lineup.

The Aussie lefty now has 3 career wins! (Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  The bottom of the 8th inning began to show signs of the horrors the A’s had experienced the last 3 nights in Texas as the bullpen looked poised to give up another lead.  Grant Balfour surrendered a leadoff single to Yorvit Torrealba, and after pinch hitter David Murphy flew out to left Ian Kinsler reached on an error by 3B Brandon Inge (his 3rd in 3 games).  This miscue cracked open the door for what could have been another back breaker delivered by the Rangers.  After a flyout to right field moved Torrealba to 3rd with 2 out, Josh Hamilton strode to the plate looking to do some major damage.  Bob Melvin played a gutsy card and brought in the lefty Jerry Blevins in perhaps the most crucial moment of the game.  At this point the A’s fans watching who remained conscious had to be having heart palpatations at the thought of watching another soaring home run off the bat of Hamilton put the Rangers in the lead for good yet again.  It was not to be, after getting behind 2-0, Blevins fed Hamilton a steady diet of sliders and got the new All Star votes record holder to pop out harmlessly to Cliff Pennington to end the threat.

ON THE HILL:  I don’t exactly know how Travis Blackley is doing it, but he is looking like he belongs in the Major Leagues right now.  I don’t know if he’s just riding the hot streak of his life, or if he had some sort of baseball epiphany that turned his whole career around, but what he’s doing on the mound is working for sure.  Blackley pitched 7 strong innings while scattering 7 hits and allowing just the single run, he walked no one and struck out 3.  Grant Balfour got into trouble that wasn’t entirely his fault, and that kept him from pitching a full inning, but he did add 0.2 innings of scorelss ball to his stat sheet for 2012.  Jerry Blevins had the extremely important 0.1 inning, retiring the only batter he faced.  Ryan Cook who as we all know was chosen as the A’s lone All Star Game representative in Kansas City this year locked down the save in true All Star form, retiring the side in order for his 7th save since becoming closer.

AT THE PLATE:  Remember Brandon Moss?  Many caught up in the newfound ground swell of support for Chris Carter after his productive start may have already forgotten about him.  He saw fit to remind everyone with a power display of his own, giving the A’s an important insurance run with his rocket home run, his 8th of the year.  Nobody in the A’s lineup registered more than 1 hit, with Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, Yoenis Cespedes, Seth Smith, and Derek Norris each accounting for the rest of the A’s 6 hits.  Cliff Pennington meanwhile slips closer and closer to the dreaded Mendoza line with his batting average sitting at .204.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The A’s head back to Oakland for a 3 game set against the very interesting Boston Red Sox starting tomorrow night, more on that in a moment though.

The rosters for the 2012 All Star Game were announced today and as I mentioned earlier Ryan Cook was selected as the lone member of the Athletics this year.  Many believe Josh Reddick was more than deserving of a spot on that roster, and with injuries he may still get that opportunity, I believe his absences from the roster is a major injustice and a slight to the Athletics organization.  Anyone who believes Reddick isn’t deserving of that type of recognition simply isn’t watching the games, Reddick has taken over this team with his play on the field, his leadership, and his overall attitude.  While I don’t expect players to make the All Star team based on leadership qualities, I think a guy who is number 7 in the AL in WAR and is in the top 10 in home runs is considered a major snub if he’s not selected to be an All Star.  All that said, I can’t argue with Ryan Cook going because despite his walk rates, he’s been pretty darn good all year.  So congratulations to Ryan Cook, do us all proud in KC.  Although I won’t watch on account of the San Francisco Giants fans bastardization of the whole voting process, I’ll be sure to check the boxscore at some point.

Back to the schedule that remains between now and then, the A’s and Red Sox tangle tomorrow night at the O.co Coliseum as Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2, 4.91 ERA) takes on studly rookie Jarrod Parker (4-3, 2.57 ERA).  Matsuzaka has to still be shaking the cobwebs loose after returning from Tommy John surgery, so this is a perfect opportunity for the A’s to get back on a little win streak.  I expect Josh Reddick to show his former team just what they gave up when they decided he was nothing more than a 4th outfielder.

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