Texas Rangers (67-52) at Baltimore Orioles (42-79)

A family member of mine took her life recently, so I am going to just post what Mike Lipka said on Yahoo! Sports, and give my thoughts at the end. I was planning on posting all the way through this and doing a preview of the weekend games, but honestly, my brain just isn't really able to concentrate right now. I hope you faithful readers understand. Thanks.

By MIKE LIPKA, STATS Writer for Yahoo! Sports

The Baltimore Orioles were solely responsible for the Texas Rangers’ last four-game losing streak, sending the AL West leaders stumbling into the All-Star break with a sweep.

This time, they’d settle for simply extending Texas’ skid, which is at three as the Rangers arrive in Baltimore to begin a four-game series against their former manager Buck Showalter’s Orioles on Thursday night.

The Rangers (67-52) remain comfortably ahead of Los Angeles and Oakland as they chase their first division title since 1999, but they allowed 24 runs while getting swept in a three-game series at Tampa Bay this week.

“You just move on,” manager Ron Washington said. “We’ll be better equipped the next time we see them. Stay tuned.”

Texas first must end a five-game road losing streak and improve its 4-12 record in AL East ballparks this year. The Rangers are 12-21 overall against that division, including 2-4 against the last-place Orioles.

Baltimore (42-79) swept a four-game series in Arlington from July 8-11, which remains the Orioles’ lone road sweep this season.

Showalter, who replaced interim Orioles manager Juan Samuel on Aug. 3, managed Texas from 2003-06 and still lives in Dallas. He said he has always supported the Rangers.

“It’s the first time I won’t be pulling for them, the next four days,” Showalter said. “That’s pretty much the way I look at it. There’s a lot of people I respect over there.”

The Orioles won eight of their first nine games under Showalter, but they’ve dropped four of their last five, including two of three to visiting Seattle this week.

Their problems may continue against Texas’ Colby Lewis, who continues to pitch well despite going 0-4 in his last five starts.

Lewis (9-9, 3.28 ERA) hasn’t won since July 16 at Boston, but poor run support has been the primary reason. The right-hander has a 2.76 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 32 2-3 innings in his last five outings, but the Rangers have scored a total of four runs for him in that stretch.

“You’ve got to roll with the punches,” Lewis said after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Red Sox. “If I go out there and give a quality start and keep my team there, we’re one swing away from getting a win.”

Lewis, who spent the last two years pitching in Japan, hasn’t started against the Orioles since June 1, 2003.

Baltimore’s Brian Matusz (4-12, 5.28) would prefer to forget his two starts against Texas this year. He’s 0-1 with an 18.56 ERA in those outings, lasting a total of 5 1-3 innings and surrendering two homers to Vladimir Guerrero.

The rookie left-hander, who hopes to avoid matching teammate Kevin Millwood and Philadelphia’s Roy Oswalt for the major league lead in losses, is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last two home starts, but he struggled at Tampa Bay on Saturday, giving up five runs in four innings of a 7-3 loss.

It’s unclear if Matusz will have to face Rangers third baseman Michael Young, who has missed Texas’ last two games with a stiff neck.

“Right now it’s kind of a hour by hour kind of thing,” Young said Wednesday. “I get more treatment and it feels better. So I imagine that will continue.”

The Orioles likely won’t avoid major league batting leader Josh Hamilton, who is 11 for 24 with two homers and three doubles against Baltimore this year.

 Forecast: I like Lewis over Matusz for several reasons. First, I like Lewis, as noted above, he has indeed pitched well. The Rangers are cold right now, they aren't fielding well and they aren't hitting well, but the pitching is still there. If they can start getting better gloves on the field, which shouldn't be too big a stretch, they should put up some good numbers. I also like Lewis as the Rangers just got swept by a really good team, the Rays. They NEED to come out and play this series well for the fact they need to get the mindset mojo working again. Some teams you simply look at as playing the part of a 'slump-buster' and that really is what Baltimore is going to be for the Rangers right now. Look for a healthy score from the Rangers in the opening, and as I shoot from the hip on this one, lets gander a score of 7-2, Rangers, of course.