The Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers Do Battle in the American League West

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The Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers Do Battle in the American League West

The Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers Look To Start off the second half of the season on the right foot when the match up in the first game of the second half of the season.

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The reigning American League champions begin the season's second half atop the American League West, once again in great shape to win their second straight division crown.

On Thursday, the Rangers and Mariners open a four-game series at Safeco Field, and Seattle manager Eric Wedge said starting the second half strong against a division rival is key.

"We've got a lot of baseball left, but anytime you're playing a team in your division ahead of you, it's important," Wedge said. "Coming out of the All-Star break, giving these guys some much-needed time off, I'd like to come out playing well."

After a rough season in 2010, Seattle's bats have more pop this year, but the team's pitching remains its calling card. Three Mariners hurlers -- Felix Hernandez, Brandon League and Michael Pineda -- were named to the All-Star team, the first time since 2003 Seattle had multiple pitchers at the Midsummer Classic.

Seattle's pitching as a whole has been impressive this season, setting two pre-All-Star Game franchise marks: Most strikeouts (633, three more than the 1998 team) and lowest ERA (3.22, compared to the 3.60 mark posted in 2003).

Texas, meanwhile, entered the All-Star break on quite a run, winning a season-high seven consecutive games and sitting 10 games above .500, also a season high.

"It's a good springboard for us into the second half," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Our level of confidence is very high, and it will have to be high, because coming out we're back in our division. We've just got to make sure we continue to play the baseball we're playing."

For the Rangers, some may view the Midsummer Classic coming at a bad time, but Washington said that doesn't matter.

"Right now, the break is on the schedule, I think everybody wants it," Washington said. "I don't care if you're going bad or if you're going good, you want the break, because it is on the schedule, and you look forward to it."

Washington announced Sunday he will stay on rotation with his starters, meaning Derek Holland will take the ball in Thursday's opener. Holland has struggled at times this season, but tossed a shutout in his last outing. Prior to that start, there was talk of Holland going to the bullpen, but Washington said the recent start didn't factor into the decision.

"I wasn't having Holland pitch for his spot," Washington said. "I don't think I ever wavered in my confidence in Holland. Did he need to do that for Holland? Yes, he certainly did. Did he need to do that for Ron Washington? No. I'm not out there on that mound, so he has to do that for Holland."

Holland will be followed in the rotation by Colby Lewis, C.J. Wilson, Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando.

Texas' seven-game winning streak is its longest entering the All-Star break. The club's previous high was four, done three times prior. They will carry momentum over to the second half and take down Seattle in game one of the series.

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