Gil LeBreton 
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With Rangers in recession, times about to get tougher
Previous Columns
Gil LeBreton
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ARLINGTON — When the doorbell rings tonight, my advice to the Texas Rangers is not to answer it.
At their doorstep will be the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and, if recent biorhythms prevail, the visit likely won’t be a happy one.
If the free-falling Rangers can’t win a series at home from the San Diego Padres — last in hitting in the National League, third-to-last in pitching — what in mercy’s name can they expect against the first-place Angels?
The three-game series begins tonight with the Rangers’ Vicente Padilla going against Angels right-hander Sean O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan is a rookie, yet as San Diego’s Chad Gaudin showed Sunday, pedigree doesn’t mean anything these days against the slumping Rangers lineup.
Gaudin held the Rangers to one hit in eight innings, striking out nine, as the Padres stifled the hosts 2-0. Michael Young singled for the Rangers with one out in the first inning, and the home team never managed another hit the rest of the night.
As feeble as that sounds, trust me, it looked worse in person. Eight of the nine Rangers in the lineup struck out at least once against Gaudin. After Young’s single, no Ranger reached as far as second base.
When asked the simple question, "Why?," Rangers manager Ron Washington answered, "I wish I knew. If I knew, I would’ve taken care of it.
"We couldn’t smell a hit."
Rangers fans already know the numbers and how the bats lapsed into a deep coma around the time (June 2) that outfielder Josh Hamilton went on the disabled list.
On June 1, the Rangers had a 30-20 record and a 4 1/2 game lead over the Angels. Since that day the Rangers have gone 10-14; the Angels have won 16 of 24.
The Rangers seemed to scoff at the notion Sunday that this three-game series will be a showdown to see who’s the best in the American League West.
"I don’t think you can call it a showdown," Young said. "We recognize that they’re a team in our division. But we expect a lot of ourselves, no matter who we play.
"Whoever happens to win this series, the season is not going to be over. There is still going to be a lot of work to do."
The Angels will begin the series, however, having won five games in a row and 12 of their last 15. They’ve recorded sweeps in two consecutive road series.
As a team the Angels are batting .277 — tied for the highest batting average in the American League. They’re also batting .283 with runners in scoring position — the second-highest mark in the major leagues.
The timing, in other words, couldn’t be worse for a Rangers bunch that appears to be completely lost at the plate.
Someone asked Washington after Sunday’s game if that signaled a red flag with the first-place Angels coming to town.
"It ain’t no red flag for the Angels series," Washington grumped in return.
"We’ll see what happens."
Fresh in his mind had to be the meek hitting effort against Gaudin. The Rangers wasted a solid proxy pitching performance (six-plus innings, two runs, no walks) by Tommy Hunter.
As the manager said, the Rangers have mostly gotten dependable efforts from their starting pitchers, and the team has mostly played steady defense.
"We’ve just got to get on track offensively," Washington said.
Here is this week’s dilemma, however:
The Rangers have struggled the past two nights against the likes of Kevin Correia and Chad Gaudin. The Padres beat them with a lineup that included, among others, Everth Cabrera, Scott Hairston, Kyle Blanks, David Eckstein and Eliezer Alonzo.
The Angels, meanwhile, come to town with a lineup that will include Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu and Rangers killer Vladimir Guerrero.
You could argue, in other words, that there may be nobody in the San Diego lineup, except for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who could even start for the Angels.
Tommy Hunter’s fill-in effort was wasted, but the Rangers did receive some good news Sunday when it was announced that the injured Hamilton soon will be going on a rehab assignment.
"Of course it’s been a big factor," Washington said, "because he’s a difference-maker in our lineup.
"But at other points in the season, other teams have had to miss their big bat, too. We’ve just got to keep going.
"You never know when we’re going to break out of it."
No, we don’t. And neither do they.
And — ding-dong! — here come the first-place Angels.
Bad timing.
