Sport: MLBPick Selection: Oakland
At 3:35 pm, our selection is on the Oakland A's over Texas. I'm sure the Rangers thought they were getting a great boost to their team when they traded Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix and Francisco Cordero to Milwaukee for Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz before the trade deadline. But I'm wondering if the Rangers thought they had a different roster of pitchers when they pulled that trigger? Cordero had been a workhorse for Texas and one of the best setup men in baseball the first half of the season. Reliable setup men are hard to come by, so perhaps the Rangers thought they could just clone Cordero or pull some kid out of the minors to take his place. In fact Cordero is such a valuable commodity, the Brewers made him their closer over struggling Derrick Turnbow and Cordero has been perfect since the acquisition picking up 3 saves in the process. News flash for the Rangers: pitching wins games and your pitching, especially without a guy like Cordero, isn't that good. Since that trade, the Rangers have gone 5-7, even with Lee's big bat in the lineup every day. Things don't get any easier for them this afternoon as they face one of their biggest nightmares, the A's lefthander Barry Zito. Oakland is an astonishing 22-5 in Zito's 27 starts against Texas (9-2 in his last 11 home starts vs. the Rangers). Zito is especially tough during day games with a 3-1 record and 2.70 ERA, as is Oakland this year with a 29-16 record. Texas struggles in the daytime with an 11-18 mark. Take the A's. As always, good luck...Al McMordie. And don't miss my nighttime totals winner, or my NFL plays.
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