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OAKLAND, Calif. -- With the Texas rotation ravaged by injuries early in the season, Martin Perez has more than filled the void. Perez pitched his second consecutive shutout to extend his scoreless innings streak to 26 and the Texas Rangers wrapped up a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 3-0 victory Wednesday. "Hes been the glue," manager Ron Washington said. "Hes held it together. Hes the one guy in that rotation whos been in it from last year who hasnt had a blip yet." The Rangers have been without Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis already at times this season but still find themselves in first place thanks to some strong play from fill-ins and major improvement from Perez. Perez (4-0) outpitched Sonny Gray (3-1) in a heralded matchup of emerging stars, allowing just three hits and two walks in his first start since throwing a three-hitter against the White Sox for his first career shutout. "I dont want to think too much about my ERA and the games that Ive thrown before," Perez said. "Im going to focus on my game today. We had a great game." Perez, who also threw eight scoreless innings against Houston on April 13, is the first Rangers pitcher to have three straight scoreless starts since Kenny Rogers had four straight over 30 innings in 2005. Perez also joined Charlie Hough in 1983 as the only Texas pitchers to have three straight starts of at least eight scoreless innings. "He knows how to pitch," Washington said. "He has weapons and he can throw them all for strikes and he has poise. He does a great job of staying with the game plan and thats something that hes learned from last year, how to study, how to go out there and just execute his pitches." Donnie Murphy homered and Michael Choice scored one run and drove in another for the Rangers, who moved a half-game ahead of Oakland in the AL West with their first sweep of the As since August 2011. The As never even threatened Perez on their way to getting swept at home for the first time since September 2012 against the Angels, ending a streak of 32 straight home series with at least one win. "Youre going to have your little lumps in the road," As third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "Everybody knows that here. We just have to come back." Oakland got leadoff singles from Jed Lowrie in the fourth and Derek Norris in the fifth for its first two hits off Perez. But Perez followed each of those hits by getting the next batter to hit into a double play, giving him a major league-leading 11 groundball double plays. Donaldson doubled with one out in the seventh, but was stranded there when Alberto Callaspo grounded out with runners on first and second to end the inning. "He keeps the ball off the barrel of the bat," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Hes pitched really well this year. The reason he can get deep in games is hes not striking a lot of guys out, hes just keeping it off the barrel of the bat." Gray allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings to end a six-game winning streak in the regular season dating to last September. He fell behind when Choice led the game off with a walk and scored on Alex Rios triple. The Rangers were poised for a possible big inning when Rios was originally ruled safe at home on a grounder Lowrie at shortstop. But Melvin challenged the call and Rios was ruled out on instant replay. Choice, traded from Oakland to Texas in the off-season, added an RBI single in the fifth and Murphy hit his first homer of the season in the sixth to make it 3-0. NOTES: Rangers 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff was held out with a sore back. ... Scott Kazmir (2-0) will take the mound against Brett Oberholtzer (0-3) on Thursday when Oakland opens a four-game series in Houston. ... Texas is off Thursday before beginning a three-game series in Seattle on Friday. 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Hes even holding a bat on one of his 2014 baseball cards. So far, hes playing like his picture.ATLANTA - Danny Ferry can only watch from afar, surely with plenty of satisfaction at the juggernaut he created, undoubtedly offset by a sense of melancholy that hes not along for the ride.Make no mistake, the Atlanta Hawks are Ferrys baby. He acquired nearly every player on a team that stunningly has the best record in the NBA.Even one of his harshest critics, who led the protests against Ferry after the general managers racially charged comments about Luol Deng, gives credit where credit is due.Clearly, Danny Ferry is largely responsible for putting together the winning team that we are enjoying here in the Atlanta community, the Rev. Markel Hutchins told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday.That said, there is essentially zero chance of Ferry returning to the team he created.Not this season.Not ever.I certainly hope that Danny Ferry gets a job as a general manager somewhere else, Hutchins said. He has expressed what I believe is sincere repentance off the court. Nobody should be condemned forever. He deserves restoration. But, he quickly added, that should not happen with the Atlanta Hawks.Ferry went on indefinite leave in September, just a few days after the scandal broke, and has been in limbo ever since. Hes apologized through public statements, met with civil rights leaders in private, and paid a huge price for repeating bigoted comments about Deng that someone else wrote in a scouting report.Now, nearly five months removed from the initial furor, Ferry has clearly suffered enough for his sin.I would welcome him with open arms, said Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll, one of many players Ferry brought to Atlanta. I dont feel hes a racist. I think he genuinely learned from his mistakes.The reality is, theres no impetus for the Hawks to bring Ferry back, not with the team holding a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference and extending its franchise-record winning streak to 18 in a row with a 105-99 victory over Portland on Friday night. His return would undoubtedly lead to renewed protests and create an unnecessary distraction. Besides, the Hawks are up for sale, so this can of worms will get kicked down the road to the next owner.Yet, in this greatest of seasons for the Hawks, thats the elephant in the room. There will be some huge decisions to make this summer, especially with free-agent-to-be Paul Millsap and what is expected to be plenty of salary cap flexibility.No one knows exactly who will be making those calls. Whoever it is, that person will face the enormous challenge of following in Ferry footsteps. He completely rebuilt the roster after taking over as general manager in 2012, while maintaining a competitive team that still went to the playoffs the lastt two seasons.ddddddddddddFerry defied the NBAs conventional logic, which held that major overhauls had to be accompanied by lots and lots of losses (see: Philadelphia 76ers).He did it a totally different way, said Kyle Korver, who bought into Ferrys vision right from the start. I think theres a whole lot of owners who would rather do it that way, rather than lose for five years and hope their draft picks turn out at the end of the day. Danny is going to have another job. Theres not any doubt about that.The only Atlanta holdovers from the pre-Ferry era are All-Stars Al Horford and Jeff Teague, and even Teague would have been out the door if Ferry had not matched a four-year, $32-million offer sheet from Milwaukee in 2013. Some wondered if Teague, who had been highly inconsistent to that point, was worth the money. Now, he looks underpaid.Hes not the only one. The Hawks have a lower payroll than all but four teams. Check out these bargains:— Millsap will be making his second straight All-Star appearance since signing a two-year, $19-million free-agent deal with the Hawks. Nondescript in Utah, hes now recognized as one of the NBAs best all-around players.— Korver, a backup most of his career, was acquired from Chicago for cash and a trade exception, then re-signed with the Hawks for four years at $24 million. Hes one of the best — if not the best — shooters in the league.— Carroll had bounced around to four teams until he landed in Atlanta for a two-year deal costing a mere $5 million. A defensive standout, hes improved offensively and hasnt met a loose ball he wasnt willing to dive for.Thanks to Ferry, the Hawks are also one of the leagues deepest teams. The draft produced Dennis Schroder and Mike Scott. Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore were below-the-radar free agents. Pero Antic was plucked out of Europe. Shelvin Mack initially came aboard on a 10-day deal.Almost as impressive was the list of players Ferry sent packing. Shortly after taking over as GM, he somehow persuaded Brooklyn to take Joe Johnsons max contract and Utah to accept the greatly overpaid Marvin Williams. In addition, Ferry didnt make much of an attempt to re-sign longtime Hawks stalwart Josh Smith, who was such a flop in Detroit that he got cut this season.And, of course, Ferry passed over better-known coaches to hire a little-known assistant from San Antonio.Mike Budenholzer could very well be the NBAs coach of the year.Under different circumstances, Ferry would be a lock for executive of the year.At the very least, he deserves another chance.It just wont be in Atlanta.___Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry@ap.org or www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '