The Rangers are coming off another series win, and look to make it two in a row on the road trip before heading to Florida to take on the Rays.

Series at a Glance

Texas Record: 77-53 (1st AL West)
Kansas City Record: 60-73 (3rd AL Central, 12 GB)

Season Series: 3-2 Royals
Rangers Record at Kansas City: 2-1

Notable Transaction: January 18, 1985: As part of a 4-team trade: The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Danny Darwin to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Jim Sundberg to the Kansas City Royals. The New York Mets sent Tim Leary to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Kansas City Royals sent Don Slaught to the Texas Rangers. The Kansas City Royals sent Frank Wills to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent Bill Nance (January 30, 1985) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.

4-team trade! That’s notable in itself.

Probable Starters:

Monday 1:10 CDT TEX: RHP Yu Darvish (13-9, 4.31 ERA/3.63 FIP) – KC: LHP Bruce Chen (10-10, 5.13 ERA/4.51 FIP)

Tuesday 7:10 CDT TEX: LHP Matt Harrison (15-8, 3.30 ERA/3.94 FIP) – KC: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (3-3, 3.86 ERA/3.68 FIP)

Wednesday 7:10 CDT TEX: RHP Ryan Dempster (4-1, 4.58 ERA/4.31 FIP) – KC: LHP Will Smith (4-7, 5.45 ERA/4.86 FIP)

Thursday 7:10 CDT TEX: RHP Scott Feldman (6-11, 5.01 ERA/3.78 FIP)- KC: RHP Luke Hochevar (7-13, 5.34 ERA/4.53 FIP)

Projected Royals Lineup
1 RF David Lough (L)
2 SS Alcides Escobar
3 LF Alex Gordon (L)
4 DH Billy Butler
5 C Salvador Perez
6 3B Mike Moustakas (L)
7 CF Lorenzo Cain
8 1B Eric Hosmer (L)
9 2B Tony Abreu (B)

Bench
C Brayan Pena (B)
C Manny Pina
2B Johnny Giavotella
OF Jarrod Dyson (L)
OF Jeff Francoeur

Bullpen
CL RHP Greg Holland
SU RHP Aaron Crow
SU LHP Tim Collins
MID RHP Kelvin Herrera
MID RHP Louis Coleman
MID LHP Francisley Bueno
MID RHP Vin Mazzaro
LR LHP Everett Teaford

(source MLBDepthCharts)

For more information on the Royals see FanSided’s Royals page, Kings of Kauffman.

After losing six straight games, Feldman has won six of seven partly thanks to some better luck but mainly due to the fact that he has been throwing a lot of strikes. He has walked only three people in his last seven games ranging 41.2 innings. Obviously, that isn’t the only aspect to being successful, and Feldman wasn’t exactly wild like Yu Darvish during his rough stretch, every little bit counts. Feldman has also seen more groundballs as well. All of it is coming at exactly the right time. Feldman, at this point, isn’t a fill-in. He essentially took Roy Oswalt’s spot and he will keep it until he falters.

Alexi Ogando came in for another save as Ron Washington is allowing Joe Nathan to rest up. Interesting how Washington is going with Ogando instead of Mike Adams – who came in for the final out in the eighth inning – for the ninth two nights in a row. This is probably to give Adams a rest too, as he only needed to face one batter. However, the fact that the middle relievers and long men got two more days of rest because of Feldman and Matt Harrison bodes well as they have been overworked for a while.

The Rangers offense was led today by Mike Olt and Josh Hamilton who had two RBIs each and two weeks ago no one would have thought that would be the case. Olt because he might not have even been a Ranger past July 31 and Hamilton because it looked like he would never hit again (OK, a little overreaction there.)

The Hamilton situation has gotten really dicey right now and I would think that this is the last we will see of Hamilton in a Rangers jersey. From Nolan Ryan to Ron Washington’s comments to Hamilton’s comments himself have been telling. The Rangers are frustrated with Josh and Josh probably does need a change of scenery.

Olt with an RBI on a single and a sacrifice fly was nice to see as he is still facing his first action above AA. We all knew that it would take time but to see him contributing this quickly shows why Jon Daniels was so slow to give him up for anybody.

The Rangers will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon. It would be their first sweep since the middle of June when they swept the Astros and Padres in back-to-back three game series.

August 3, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Alexi Ogando (41) celebrates with catcher Geovany soto (8) after beating the Kansas City Royals 5-3 at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-US PRESSWIRE

Moreland’s homerun was notable not just because it provided the winning runs but also because it was hit off of Jose Mijares. Mijares is a left-handed pitcher and Ron Washington usually sits Moreland against southpaws. He only had 25 at bats entering the game against left handed pitchers and hit .200/.259/.360 with only 1 homerun. The confidence Washington showed in Moreland might be a turning point with Moreland sitting yesterday against C.J Wilson, a lefty. With Mike Olt needing at bats, Moreland may still sit but with Mike Napoli probably staying at catcher there will be more opportunities for Moreland against left handers.

This game, believe it or not, was the first win in three games against the Royals this season and it almost got away. I alluded to the missed opportunities for the Royals, but the Rangers also had their share of runs left on the bases. Both teams hit into two double plays and the Royals even scored a run due to one with the bases loaded.

Harrison pitched well, regaining his form into the seventh inning and getting the win and getting out of trouble early. Of note as well, I’m not sure if the Kansas City gun was hot but both Scheppers and Ogando hit 100 mph on the night which shows the raw talent the Rangers have in the bullpen. We know what Ogando can do in short inning stints now but it was nice to see Scheppers do that. He was a high draft pick for the Rangers and a good fastball is just part of the package but it is very promising.