Dallas Braden News

''The last few games have been good for us,'' Teixeira said. ''We're used to scoring that many runs.

The Oakland Athletics put McCarthy, a right-hander, on the 15-day disabled list with a sore shoulder Sunday, the latest injury setback for him.

Baseball is not a contact sport, that is, unless you want it to be. However, to keep it classy out there on the field, it's necessary to make as little violent physical contact as possible.

The Oakland A's probably aren't going to win the American League West this season, and Brandon McCarthy probably isn't going to win the AL Cy Young award.

The Texas Rangers picked up where they left off last year recently, dominating their AL West foes.

After 37 games, the Oakland A's sit in second place in the American League West with a 19-18 record.

Coming off of their first time getting swept this season, the Rangers now have to bounce back quickly for a two game series against the second place Oakland Athletics.

McCarthy threw a bullpen session Thursday in preparation for his Saturday start against Detroit, and he said that it went exactly as he had expected and that he will pitch as scheduled.

St. Petersburg -- , Fla. - The A's became the latest sports team to post an "It Gets Better" video, two weeks after starter Brandon McCarthy decried homophobia at baseball stadiums via Twitter.

What's new: The A's are rebuilding again, accumulating prospects for a potential future run while adding a few veterans, such as outfielders Coco Crisp and Seth Smith, and picking up 3B Brandon Inge.

Oakland manager Bob Melvin will probably be hard-pressed to squeeze a lot of wins out of the A's in May.

Bartolo Colon has been a big, beautiful, strike-throwing machine in his first month in green and gold.

During the day she's a teacher's aide at St. Bede Catholic School in Hayward. But on weekends and assorted evenings, Olga Miranda-Smalls works in guest services at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, directing fans to their seats at A's games.