(My Sportsbook) - Having won four of their last five games, the Rangers bats were probably a little sad to see last night's game get rained out. The pitching staff probably enjoyed the break, though.

Getting an extra day's rest, Vicente Padilla will start for the Rangers tonight in the finale of a now two-game set with the visiting Oakland Athletics.

A steady rain forced a delay of exactly one hour on Tuesday night in Arlington and with showers in the forecast over the next several hours, the game was postponed and is slated to be made up as part of a doubleheader on May 29.

Oakland's Josh Outman was scheduled to start opposite Padilla, but while the Rangers are simply just pushing all of their starters back a day, Outman won't start now until Sunday's series finale with Seattle. Dallas Braden will toe the rubber tonight for the A's instead.

Padilla has won his last five decisions against Oakland and hasn't lost to the Athletics since April 15, 2006, a span of nine starts. For his career, the righty is 5-1 with a 4.55 earned run average in 12 meetings with Oakland, 10 of which have been starts.

The 31-year-old hasn't exactly been pitching well as of late, however. Padilla has given up four or more runs in each of his last three starts and enters tonight's contest with a poor 8.27 ERA on the season. He did pitch a season- high 6 2/3 innings his last time out, allowing four runs in a no-decision at Baltimore this past Friday.

For Braden, he has split his first four starts of the year despite pitching to a 2.52 ERA. He took a tough-luck loss in Toronto on April 19 even though he allowed just a run in 7 1/3 innings of a 1-0 setback. The left-hander faced Tampa Bay on Saturday and earned a win behind a season-low 5 2/3 frames of work in which he gave up just a run on four hits and three walks.

Braden is 0-2 with a 5.12 ERA in six games (3 starts) lifetime versus Texas.

The A's probably weren't too disappointed with last night's rain out, as injuries have begun to plague the club. Infielders Nomar Garciaparra and Mark Ellis landed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday and expected staff ace Justin Duchscherer was transferred to the 60-day DL as well.

Both Garciaparra (right calf strain) and Ellis (left calf strain) left Tuesday's 5-4 loss to Texas, a game that saw four Oakland players in total exit early.

Also, Jason Giambi was not slated to start yesterday due to issues with both hamstrings. Instead, Eric Chavez was slated to start at first in his place. Chavez is normally a third baseman, but has been unable to throw across the diamond due to a strained right elbow. It is thought he would be on the DL if not for the injuries to Garciaparra and Ellis.

For the Rangers, they are likely to again be without slugger Josh Hamilton, as he has missed the last three games due to a strained rib cage muscle. Texas will likely decide by this weekend if he needs to be placed on the DL or not.

Texas won 12 of 19 encounters with Oakland in 2008, including six of the nine games played in Arlington. The Athletics have lost in 10 of their last 13 visits to Rangers Ballpark.