Hamilton makes his triumphant return to Texas in late May.

Today, we pick up our 2015 Season in Review by looking back at the month that changed it all for the Rangers and that is May. Prior to May 1st it looked like this was going to be another difficult season for the team. They were in last place, they were not hitting, and had suffered some key injuries. It was all the ingredients that could have led to another lackluster season and another last place finish. This Texas Rangers team refused to quit and refused to accept that as its destination. It seemed like as soon as May hit a reset button was pressed and everything that happened before was forgotten and May 1st was a brand new start.

There was one thing that was not forgotten and that was Roughned Odor’s tough start to the season. Odor struggled all through April and that continued into May and on May 11th Odor was demoted to AAA. He was hitting .144 and was swinging at anything and everything near the plate. He was not playing with the same edge and swagger he had played with in 2014. He was clearly pressing and just was not himself. So the Rangers sent him down and brought Thomas Fields up and him and Adam Rosales shared 2nd base responsibilities. The great thing about this was that Odor recognized that he was struggling and went down to AAA and got to work. Tomorrow I will detail how he was brought back up in June and redeemed himself the rest of the season.

The other news that happened at the end of April that I didn’t write about yesterday was that Mitch Moreland was placed on the DL on April 29th. He had surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. That caused him to miss the first two weeks in April. As we head into May they are last place in the division, are struggling offensively and are headed into Houston for a very important series with the 1st place Houston Astros. The Astros came into the series on May 4th winners of 10 in a row. They were rolling and ready to start running away with the division. The Rangers came in not having won a series and having just went 1-5 on a homestand. They were 8.5 games back in the division. If Houston swept this series the Rangers would have been 11.5 games back and that would have probably been it for the Rangers. They needed something positive to happen and they needed to make a statement. To me this is the turning point not only for the month but maybe the biggest turning point of the season. They went into Houston and stopped the 10 game win streak by hanging around against likely AL Cy Young Winner Dallas Keuchel and then beating the Astros bullpen. The pitcher that faced Keuchel was Ross Detwiler. The same Detwiler who would be removed from the rotation later this month. Detwiler was spectacular on this day. He was taking advantage of the Astros aggresiveness and was able to move the ball up and down and keep the hitters guessing. The Rangers ended up winning 2-1 late on a sac fly by Robinson Chirinos. Then the Rangers came and won the next day too 7-1 behind strong pitching from Wandy and they finished up the sweep by winning 11-3 in the final game of the series behind strong pitching from Colby Lewis and an offensive explosion from Carlos Peguero and Shin Soo Choo. All of a sudden the Rangers went from being down 8.5 to down 5.5 and that got the team going as it was their first series win and first sweep of the season.

They took this momentum from Houston to Tampa, but couldn’t duplicate the success. They split a 4 game series with the Rays. Wandy though did set a club record in the final game of the series by retiring 34 straight hitters from his start in Houston to his start in Tampa. He continued to mow down hitters at an astonishing rate. It was also at this point that Prince Fielder became a full time DH. It was thought that Fielder would never accept that and that he would always want to play the field. Bannister convinced him it was better for the team though that he accept a role as permanent DH. Fielder accepted it because he knew Moreland was a much better 1st baseman defensively. That really was a big move that did help the team and it should not be understated. Fielder also continued to just mash the ball. May was Fielder’s best month by far. It was during this time that he started to gather buzz as not only comeback player of the year,but as MVP as well. He was still hitting well over .350, was hitting with power as he hit 10 home runs in the month of May, and was driving in runs as well. He really put the team on his back and was able to carry them to several wins in May.

After getting a split they went back to Texas to face the defending AL Champion Kansas City Royals. They won the first game 8-2, lost game 2 7-6 in a back and forth affair, won game 3 5-2, and lost game 4 6-3. They ended up with a split, but that was good especially with how well the Royals had been playing. It was a good measuring stick series for the Rangers and it showed that they could play with the best in the league. Then they lost 2 of 3 to the Cleveland Indians to end with a 3-4 homestand. It continued a bad trend that lasted for the whole month and that was an inability to really win at home. They were the best team in the league though on the road and that is where they went next. They went on a 9 game to Boston, New York, and Cleveland. I remember thinking at the time if they could go 5-4 that would be really good. Then they lost the first game in Boston 4-3 and it was not looking good, but that would be their last loss until the last game of the trip. They went on to win the next two games in Boston, sweep the Yankees, and then win 2 of 3 in Cleveland. It was also in Cleveland where Josh Hamilton made his return in a Rangers uniform. Things were looking good, the pitching was there, the offense was surging, and players were returning and getting healthy. It was fun to watch this team again as they were playing great baseball on a night in night out basis. They were playing well and having fun doing it. It was great to see as a fan see the joy return back to this team. Their place in the standings was also improving. After the 7-2 road trip they were tied with the Angels at 23-24, they were half a game back of the Mariners, and 6.5 games back of the Astros. Things were looking up, then it was time to go home.

Normally going home is a good thing, but not for this Rangers team. At this point in the season the home record was 6-13, by far the worst in the AL. If this team was going to seriously compete they needed to play better at home.  Their first test was once again facing Boston, this time in Arlington though. Josh Hamilton was also making his return to Arlington in a Rangers uniform. They did not get off to a good start in losing to Red Sox rookie pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez 5-1. Josh Hamilton had a response the next night. This is how he announced his arrival in his 2nd game back.

He belted two home runs and helped lead the Rangers to a home victory and a good response to the loss the previous night. The Rangers then won the third game against the Red Sox 8-0 in Chi Chi Gonzalez’s first MLB start of his career. Hanser Alberto was also brought up at this point to become the 2nd baseman in place of Thomas Fields.  The Rangers would go for their 1st home series win on Sunday afternoon with Wandy Rodriguez up against Joe Kelly. Rodriguez once again pitched a good game as he made it into the 6th inning with only 3 runs given up. The problem was the Rangers had only scored two. Both bullpens would make the 3-2 Red Sox lead stand up until the 9th inning. That was when normally reliable closer and former Ranger Koji Uehara was brought in to close the game. Hanser Alberto led off by reaching first on an error by 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval. He was then sacraficed to second by Delino Deshields Jr, and moved to 3rd on a soft ground out by Shin Soo Choo. At this point there were 2 outs and Prince Fielder was coming up to the plate. Instead of facing him with a runner on 3rd he intentionally walked Fielder to get to Adam Rosales who had replaced Beltre in the field, more on that in a minute. Bannister then decides to pinch hit with Josh Hamilton. Then this happens.

Josh Hamilton with the winner. Unbelievable. It was the last game of May and it would be the last game Josh Hamilton would play for the Rangers till the end of June. He sustained a hamstring injury earlier in the Red Sox series and after this game they decided to place him on the DL. Adrian Beltre also suffered a thumb injury in this game and after the season it was revealed that it was a torn thumb ligament, so Beltre was also placed on the DL. It was a great win and a great month. The Rangers ended the month with an overall record of 26-25 and they went 19-11 in the month. Prince Fielder ended up winning AL Player of the month for May. He had a .377 batting average, 9 home runs in the month, 28 RBI’s, 46 hits in the month, a .430 On base % (OBP), and .656 Slug %. It was his best month in all of those categories. He was simply dominant through this stretch.

As we headed into June though dark clouds started to surround this team as Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre both were going to miss significant time. For as well as the team played in May could they keep it up in June without Hamilton and Beltre? Who was going to be brought up to replace those guys on the roster? Tomorrow I will be writing about the up and down month that was June. Part 3 will be about the debut of hyped prospect Joey Gallo and his unbelievable debut and how the Rangers would respond to these injuries.