Now that we are into the season this is going to be a new weekly feature of this blog. Every Monday I will publish a recap of the week. It will contain the best moment of the week, the Top 5 players of the week, and the best gifs of the week. If you don’t have time to read my game recaps just come here on Monday afternoons for a look at the week that was or what I like to call the Roundup.

It was an up and down kind of week. No, literally it was up and down. The Rangers lost on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. They won on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. No winning streaks last week and no losing streaks last week. It was certainly a weird week. The season got started on Opening Night with an 8-0 loss to the Oakland A’s. Sonny Gray took a no-hitter to the 8th inning when Ryan Rua delivered a single through the right side of the infield for the first hit of the game. The Rangers hit several balls hard, but most of them were right at were the fielders were standing. They won their first game of the season the next night 3-1 behind Colby Lewis and his 6 innings and a nerve-wracking debut of Keone Kela. Kela entered to start the 7th inning and proceeded to load the bases, but then he was able to get out of it with a double-play grounder off the bat of Marcus Simien. They closed the game and evened the record at 1-1.The A’s capitalized off 4 Ranger errors and Scott Kazmir shut down the offense and the A’s won 10-0. That dropped the record to 1-2.  The offense finally woke up in the afternoon to the tune of 4 home runs and 1o runs as the Rangers won the final game of the series 10-1. Nick Martinez was sharp that afternoon in limiting the A’s to 1 run in 7 innings of work. The Rangers were able to get the split in an important season-opening series on the road.

The Rangers then returned home for a 3 game set against interstate rivals the Houston Astros. Friday afternoon was the home opener. All of the pomp and circumstance were there, the flyover was there, the crowd was fired up, and staff ace Derek Holland was on the mound to help deliver a victory for the Rangers. The only fly in that ointment though was the Holland only made it through the first inning in what setup to be one of the weirdest home openers in Texas Rangers history. Holland left the game in the second inning with what was later diagnosed as a subscapular strain. He went on the 60 day DL Satuday morning and cannot even pick up a baseball for four weeks. He will be out till at least June 10th. Shin Soo Choo and Ryan Rua also were taken out of the game early due to injury. Choo had back spasms and Rua left because of a sprained ankle.  The Rangers ended up losing the home opener 5-1 to send their record to 2-3. They again bounced back on Saturday with an impressive performance from Yovanni Gallardo, who was able to get his first win in a Rangers uniform. Gallardo showed more control and stayed strong under pressure as he was in trouble for most of the night. The Rangers lost a heartbreaker on Sunday 6-4 in a game that they left 15 men on base. Leonys Martin looked to have a walk-off grandslam until George Springer caught it at the wall and brought it back for the 3rd out of the 10th inning. That is a quick recap of the two series from this past week. If you want more detail feel free to read my previous recaps of the games.

Top 5 Players of the Week

1. Colby Lewis, 1-0, 3.38 ERA, 13.1 innings pitched, 9 k’s, 2 BB, .208 OBA. Lewis had one bad stretch all week and that was a 5 batter stretch against the Astros. He allowed 2 home runs, a triple, and double to give the Astros the only 4 runs he would allow. From the 3rd to the 8th the only batter who reached base was Jed Lowrie who reached due to an error. He was similarly dominant against the A’s on Tuesday night. He struggled in the first, but settled down after that and pitched 6 innings in that game. He won Tuesday and could have still won yesterday if the offense could have capitalized on their opportunities. He did get a no-decision though which is better than a loss.
2. Prince Fielder, .379 BA(11-29), .438 OBP,3 RBI’s, and .886 OPS. I don’t quite know what to think of this week for Fielder. He is hitting the ball to all fields, and is getting base at a great clip, but he is not hitting for any power. 9 of those hits are singles and so it is hard to say he had a great week, because they pay him to hit home runs and knock in runs and he only had 3 rbi’s all week. The offense does need someone who is getting on base and that is what he is providing right now. Hopefully as the weather gets warmer the home runs will come. I believe they will. I believe this is part of a strategy devised by Fielder and hitting coach Dave Magadan to get teams to play Fielder more stright up, instead of shifting so much. We will see if the plan works out.
3. Keone Kela, 2 holds, 2.25 ERA, 4 appearances, 4 innings. 1 earned run, 3 K’s, 2 BB’s. He has a look about him on the mound. He is unflappable. The moment for me was easily the double play grounded he induced from Marcus Semien. 1 out bases loaded and he goes up there and gets the ground ball he needed to allow the Rangers to still have a chance to win. I could certainly see him at some point taking over the closers position if Feliz continues to be just so-so on the mound. Tanner Scheppers will get off the DL hopefully Tuesday night. That will allow Kela to have a more flexible role instead of just being the 7th inning guy.
4. Nick Martinez, 1-0, 0.00, 7 innings, 4 hits, 5 K’s, 2 BB’s, and a .174 OBA. Colby’s two starts were really good, but Nick Martinez against the A’s was great. He executed the Rangers gameplan perfectly. He threw first pitch strikes, he was economical with his pitch count, he kept the A’s hitters off-balance all day, and did the job the Rangers needed him to do. He was outstanding and showed great poise as well out there on the mound. With Holland now out two months more is going to be expected of him and the rest of the starting staff.
5. Adrian Beltre, .188 BA, 1 home run, 2 2b’s, and a triple, .406 slugging. He got off to a 0-13 start to the season, but since then has been 6-21. He has warmed up and is now looking like the Adrian Beltre we are used to. The offense will look better with a productive Fielder and Beltre.

The Best Gifs of the Week