August 2015

Sam Dyson closes out the game against the Astros

Ranger pitchers walked 8, closer Shawn Tolleson was not available, Nick Martinez only went 5 innings, and a tired bullpen was tasked with closing out the last 4 innings of the game yet the Rangers were able to hold on and win this game 4-3. It was the same score from the night before yet this time, the Rangers scored early to jump ahead and were able to hold on to the lead through the middle and late innings. I will say this for the bullpen, they have been awful for most of the season, but these last two nights they have been asked to close out tight ballgames against a good opponent and each time they have done their job. I give a lot of credit to Sam Freeman, Spencer Patton, Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, and Shawn Tolleson. Each of those guys played big roles in closing out these last two wins.

Freeman, who was clearly tiring from being used in 7 out of 10 games in the homestand, did walk two, but was able to get a huge strikeout of Luis Valbuena with the bases loaded. Spencer Patton came on and was easily able to get through his 1.1 innings, and that included an impressive strikeout of phenom Carlos Correa. Jake Diekman came on in the 8th for the second straight night and gave up a hit and a walk, but was also able to get a double play grounder and a flyout to get through with no damage. Finally, with Shawn Tolleson not available Sam Dyson was brought in to close out the game and it did get a little bit hairy when he hit Jose Altuve to put two runners on base with only one out. Dyson though bounced back and struck out Carlos Gomez and got Carlos Correa to ground out to end the game. Thankfully, the team has today off to rest and travel to Seattle and the bullpen should get the next two days off as Cole Hamels will be pitching Friday night and hopefully he will be able to give the team 7-8 innings and allow guys like Sam Freeman, Jake Diekman, and Sam Dyson an extra day to rest. They were each used extensively in the Giants series and in the Astros series. The Rangers have been playing a lot of close games lately necessitating using the bullpen in high stress situations. If the Rangers can get the bullpen pitching this well on a more consistent basis that would help them in this playoff race, because that is their biggest achilles heel and could be what keeps them from either the wild card game or seriously competing for the division. I mentioned that as one of the keys for the rest of the season yesterday and time and again through this homestand they delivered with the exception being the first two games of the Yankees series, and the middle game of the Giants series.

They finished the homestand 7-3 and the offense and bullpen were the biggest reasons why. This is the standard of play that they are going to need through these last two months to stay in the race and be able to possibly make the playoffs. The playoffs a long shot as soon as a week ago can happen for this team. As we stand on August 6th they are 5 games back of the Astros, with 7 games remaining against Houston, they are two games back of Toronto for the second wild card spot, and 3 games back of the Los Angeles Angels for the first wild card spot. The race is right there in front of them and they have plenty of veterans who know what it takes to get there. Elvis Andrus, Colby Lewis, Adrian Beltre, Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland, Cole Hamels, Derek Holland, and Prince Fielder have all been to the playoffs multiple times and can pass down that wisdom to the younger players about what it is like to play in a pennant chase in August and September. They can share what it was like to not only make the playoffs, but to make a World Series. Each of those players have played in a World Series and knows how hard it is to get there and how much work it takes on a daily basis. With that experience they can not only race for the wild card, but also make things interesting for the AL West. The Astros have played great,but they have never competed this late in the season. Their experienced players are primarily Carlos Gomez and Scott Kazmir. It will be interesting to see how they react to these games as we get deeper into the season. The Rangers at 5 games back are not out of it in the division race. That should still be the goal and it is an attainable goal, especially with how this homestand went. Things have changed very quickly and it looks like the Rangers are ready for the stretch run.

Other Notes

Carlos Correa is scary good. I wrote earlier this season about dreading the Rangers having to face George Springer for the next several years, but Correa is in another class. Not a lot of people outside of Houston and baseball fans know his name, but that will change if the Astros make the playoffs and Correa is put on a national stage. He is outstanding both offensively and defensively. That guy will in the next 2-3 years be put up there with the likes of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. Just amazing how well he has played at such a young age. Wednesday on Baseball Tonight they made the Miguel Cabrera comparison from Cabrera’s rookie season and I find that an apt comparison. Both are guys who had great success early, had great talent, and looked older than they were. We will see what happens in the future, but I was definitely impressed in my first extended viewing of Carlos Correa.
The starters have to pitch more innings. I know the heat plays a role in the starters not pitching as long, but the bullpen is fried. They sent Keone Kela down to get some rest, Sam Freeman is approaching his high in innings pitched and appearances, and Shawn Tolleson just got done pitching 6 out of 7 days. The starters need to give some relief to the bullpen by pitching at least 6-7 innings. I am afraid that we will get to September and the guys that Banister has been able to count on will have nothing left. That is why it is key this month especially that the starters pitch longer. If that happens then maybe we will get to September and the key late inning relievers will be able to pitch their best.
The team travels to Seattle for a 3 game series, and it is right before the start of the 20 day stretch where the team will face almost nothing but wild card contenders. The Rangers cannot be looking past the Mariners. They must be trying to stay focused on a night in, night out basis. The goal entering every series is to win that series. If they win 2 out of every 3 they will be in the playoffs come October. Just stay focused on defense, get hits with runners in scoring position, and make smart plays on the basepaths. That will give them a chance to win every game they play.
The New York Mets have Harvey Day, and the Texas Rangers now have Hamels Day. The next Hamels Day is Friday night when the Rangers play the Mariners in the Pacific Northwest at 9:05 p.m. It will be Cole Hamels against Hisashi Iwakuma. The Rangers will try to extend their 4 game winning streak and continue their season long good play on the road. Go Rangers!!!!!

Jeff Banister congratulating catcher Chris Giminez after hard fought victory over the Astros

Well here we are and it is August 5th and the Texas Rangers are at .500 and solidly in the playoff race for the wildcard and for the AL West. People say August is the dog days of summer for the baseball season, but this year it could the month that the contenders separate themselves from the rest of the pack. This month alone the Rangers will have series against the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, and Baltimore Orioles. Those are all the teams they are competing against for one of the two AL wildcards. Those series starts on August 11th and run through August 30th. That 2 1/2 week stretch will really determine if they will still be in the race come September 1st.The success of this past week has given them the opportunity to still be in the race as we move forward into August. Lets take a look back at where we were a week ago today and where we stand today, because in my opinion this week will go down as the turning point in the season.

It started right after the 21-5 beat down at the hands of the Yankees. That was hitting rock bottom for the team. They had scored 5 runs in the first to force out Chris Capuano, but then allowed 21 runs unanswered and didn’t get a hit the rest of the night. It was an absolute embarrassment in front of the home crowd. The team could have went one of two directions after that game, they could have started to pack it in like they did in that game and play out the string looking forward to next season or they could rally and say now is the time to turn it around. It would have been easy to pack it in, the bullpen had blown big leads in the first two games of the series against the Yankees and they had just given up 21 runs. The team though decided to rally and were able to earn a hard-fought win the next night behind the pitching of Colby Lewis. Lewis has been the rock on the pitching staff this year and was the perfect guy to pitch the night after that beat down. He was able to keep the Yankees off-balance and the maligned bullpen was able to hold on to get the win.

The win though was an after-thought after news started to come out during the game that the Rangers were closing in on a deal for Phillies ace Cole Hamels. As the night progressed news started to come out that it was close, that they were finalizing a deal, and then player names started to come out. It turned out to be a pretty big trade and it can be looked at as a win-win for both sides. The trade ended up being Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, and cash from the Phillies for Matt Harrison, Jorge Alfaro, Jake Thompson, Nick Williams, Alec Asher, and Jerad Eickhoff. It was quite the haul for the Phillies, but the Rangers got that number one starter that the 2015 Rangers have been missing and someone to combine with Yu Darvish next season to have a formidable rotation for 2016 and beyond. That news started to come out Wednesday night and the trade was actually finalized on Friday afternoon before the trade deadline. The Rangers proceeded to play Thursday night and won a back-and-forth game with a walkoff hit from Josh Hamilton against Yankee closer Andrew Miller, who is dominant against left-handers. Just like that they end up the Yankees series with a split.

They follow-up that series with a 3 game series against defending World Champion San Francisco Giants. The Cole Hamels trade was announced Friday morning and they also completed a trade for Marlins reliever Sam Dyson at the deadline. Game one of the series saw struggling Nick Martinez facing World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner. It was a clear mismatch and add to that the Rangers are one of the worst teams against left-handed pitchers. Yet, they were able to score 6 runs in the first two innings against Bumgarner and jump out to a 6-2 lead with much of that coming from home runs from Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre. Nick Martinez settled down after the second and was able to pitch into the 7th and not give up any more runs. All of a sudden the Rangers are on a 3 game win streak following 21-5 and with Cole Hamels on the mound on Saturday night for his first start.

Cole Hamels made his first start since pitching a no-hitter against the Cubs the previous Saturday. The Giants have hit Cole Hamels hard in the past including scoring 10 runs against him on July 10th. Buster Posey has a over .400 batting average in his career against Hamels. So, not the best matchup for the Rangers newest acquisition in his first start, but he did pitch well. He pitched 7.2 innings, giving up 4 runs, and leaving with a 3 run lead. The problem was that it was now up to the bullpen to close out this game and unfortunately the lead was lost by Tanner Scheppers. Scheppers who has consistently being inconsistent this year gave up the 3 runs that tied the game and was removed without even getting one out. The game went into extra innings where the Giants hit two home runs in the 11th inning to come from behind and win. That hurt as the bullpen blew another multiple run lead. Scheppers has played a big part in blowing those leads and he was promptly put on the DL the next day with left knee inflamation.

That setup a rubber game matchup Sunday afternoon between the Giants and Rangers. It was Martin Perez against new Giant acquisition Mike Leake. Leake who came over from the Reds in a trade deadline deal had been pitching well the whole month of July. He pitched well on Sunday as well, but he did give up a 2-run home run to Josh Hamilton and he was clearly outmatched by Martin Perez. Perez coming off the 21-5 start in which he could not get out of the second inning pitched as well as we have seen him pitch since last season. He was absolutely brilliant in getting 15 ground ball outs, striking out 6, and only throwing 80 pitches in 8.1 innings. He was controversially taken out though after a double off the bat of Angel Pagan. Banister decided to go to Jake Diekman to face Nori Aoki. Diekman proceeded to walk Aoki on 4 pitches. Banister then went to Sam Dyson to try to get a ground ball double play. Dyson did just that, but not before giving up a run and loading the bases with one out. The Rangers did walk out with a victory in the game 2-1 and a series win.

That set them up well heading into the next series against the division leading Houston Astros. The Rangers heading into the series were behind by 8 games and really needed a series win to stay in the race for the AL West. That is just what has happened. They ambushed Lance McCuller in game one and forced him out of the game in the first after scoring 6 runs, and they proceeded to tack on 6 more runs to win 12-9. Adrian Beltre in that game continued his hot hitting by hitting for his third career cycle in his first four at-bats. They followed that up by squeaking by last night 4-3 on the backs of a lock-down bullpen. Sam Freeman was able to escape a one out bases-loaded jam and Shawn Tolleson closed it out in the 9th by escaping a 1st and 3rd situation with no outs by getting a groundout from Marwin Gonzalez, a strikeout from Jason Castro, and a strikeout to end the game against Jose Altuve. He was absolute nails in being able to lockdown the save and the win. All of a sudden the Rangers are back at .500, 6 games back of the Astros with 8 games remaining against the Astros, 3 games back of the Angels for the first wild card, and 2 games back of the Blue Jays for the second wild card.

The season ends in just under two months from today and the Rangers are in a good position, but they are going to have to continue to play good baseball and can’t afford any long losing streaks. In my opinion it is a 4 team race for the two wild cards. Those teams are the Los Angeles Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Texas Rangers. The Rays, Twins, Tigers, and White Sox are all within striking distance, but I just don’t think they have enough to stay in the race through this month. The Angels, Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rangers have enough to battle all the way till the end of the season. The key for the Rangers will be playing better at home and against teams under .500, getting more innings from the rotation, and the bullpen being able to hold on to leads and getting the ball to closer Shawn Tolleson. The team has played well against contenders, but is well under .500 against teams that have records under .500. That is easily correctable as is the home record. The Rangers have more games at home than on the road the rest of the season and so the ability to win at home is key if they want to be in the playoffs. The rotation has to be able to pitch through the 6th inning and provide that bridge to the late inning guys. The team has struggled in middle relief and if the starters can get into the 7th that will help them be able to close out more of these games. Finally, Shawn Tolleson has been solid as a closer when he has gotten the ball, but these last two months it will be up to the middle and late inning guys to get him the ball with the lead. If they can do that they will be able to win more games down the stretch. This stretch from August 11th till August 30th will tell a lot and so as fans keep an eye on that and to the standings. I am sure they will look a lot different on August 11th than they do on August 30th. We will see if the Rangers will still be in the race come September.

Monthly Archives: August 2015

Rangers Sweep Astros

Rangers Enter the Stretch Run