Dexter Fowler is taking the best piece of hitting advice he has eve

JUPITER http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , Fla. (AP) — r received and applying it to his entire spring training approach.“Have a short memory,” Fowler said.Fowler had a 2018 worth forgetting.A career .262 hitter with an on-base percentage of .360, Fowler hit only .180 with an on-base percentage below .300 while battling nagging injuries much of the year. A foul ball that broke his foot ended Fowler’s season in early August, limiting him to 90 games – his lowest single-season total since the year he broke into the big leagues.“You learn from it and move on,” Fowler said.Now 32, Fowler is entering the third season of a five-year, $82 million contract. An All-Star with Chicago in 2016 when he posted a .393 on-base percentage to help lead the Cubs to their first World Series title in more than a century, Fowler scored 186 runs during a two-year stint with Chicago prior to joining St. Louis.Cardinals manager Mike Shildt is seeing a rejuvenated, more upbeat Fowler compared to the player who struggled last season.“With Dexter, I want that million-dollar smile to be more consistent,” Shildt said. “I want him to appreciate and enjoy what he’s doing and get back to a place that he’s coming from Russell Wilson Jersey , that he has a lot of records from, and that’s a place of success — not only individually but in team settings.”Jose Martinez, not Fowler, will start in right field on Saturday when the Cardinals open preseason play against the Miami Marlins. Left fielder Marcel Ozuna, working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery, will be the designated hitter in the opener and isn’t expected to play the field for the first couple of weeks.Fowler will make his Grapefruit League debut on Sunday, and Shildt has already announced that Fowler will hit second in the lineup, between Matt Carpenter and Paul Goldschmidt.“From an on-base standpoint he’s one of the elite on-base guys in the league,” Carpenter said of Fowler. “Obviously he’s a great base runner. If you can put what I do and what he does in front of guys like Paul Goldshmidt and Marcel Ozuna it’s a recipe, potentially, for a ton of runs.”Carpenter has reached base at no less than a .374 clip in five of the past six seasons. Goldshmidt has driven in at least 110 runs three times during his career. Ozuna drove in 124 runs in 2017 with the Marlins.Unlike previous seasons Martin Perez Jersey , Fowler most frequently hit in the sixth or seventh spot last season.“I’m accustomed to being in the top of the lineup,” Fowler said. “I’ve always been a guy who’s tried to get on base.” OAKLAND, Calif. — Having battled heavyweights for 10 consecutive games, the Oakland Athletics get a chance to enjoy the rivals knocking out each other when they open a three-game series against the last-place Texas Rangers on Friday night.Fresh from their first day off in three weeks, the A’s (84-57) will take the field 3 1/2 games behind Houston (87-53) atop the American League West.The Astros begin a tough series at Boston (97-44) on Friday night.Article continues below ...The A’s likewise find themselves 3 1/2 back of the New York Yankees (87-53) in the race for the top AL wild-card spot. Oakland won two of three from the AL East’s second-place team to slice one game off its deficit in a three-game series that ended Wednesday.The Yankees open a series at Seattle (78-62) on Friday. The Mariners are the A’s chief competition for the second wild-card spot, 5 1/2 games behind Oakland.In the Rangers, the A’s will be facing a team they’ve beaten in six of their last seven head-to-heads, including a three-game series also in Oakland last month in which Texas suffered 9-0 and 6-0 defeats before rebounding with a 4-2 win in the finale.After having started Liam Hendriks and Frankie Montas a total of three times in their last seven games to fill voids created by injuries to Sean Manaea and Brett Anderson, the A’s will try someone relatively new, right-hander Chris Bassitt, against the Rangers on Friday.Oakland gave the 29-year-old a shot the last time the A’s played a non-contender — Aug. 26 at Minnesota — and Bassitt did his job http://www.rangersfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-moore-jersey , limiting the Twins to one run on four hits over 4 2/3 innings, setting the tone for a 6-2 win.It was his first start since July 11.Bassitt (2-3, 3.19 ERA) has faced the Rangers twice in his career, once as a starter, and has compiled an 0-1 record with an 11.25 ERA. He has not faced the Rangers since 2015.The A’s went 5-5 in their rugged 10-game stretch against the Astros, Mariners and Yankees. Their reward over the final 21 games — a cupcake-filled finish that includes six meetings with last-place teams and six with fourth-place squads.A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano assured that he and his teammates will remain focused even with the opponents having lesser credentials than those the team just got done dueling.“We just keep the same attitude,” the rookie professed. “Everybody stays hungry and keeps battling. We’re more hungry every day, even when we win.”In Rangers right-hander Yovani Gallardo (8-3, 5.97), the A’s will see a veteran pitcher who beat them twice last season.That, however Delino DeShields Jersey , merely improved the 32-year-old’s career record against Oakland in 11 meetings, including 10 starts, to 2-5 with a 4.47 ERA.The Rangers took advantage of a soft stretch in their own schedule, winning three of their last five against the Twins and Angels.Nomar Mazara was the big bomber for Texas, collecting three home runs and three doubles among eight hits in 19 at-bats (.421) in the five games.Adrian Beltre also had three homers, and Elvis Andrus added two homers in that stretch during which the Rangers totaled 33 runs.