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Gallardo walks a tightrope to get the Rangers the Victory

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The Rangers picked up their first home victory last night 6-2 behind a gutsy performance from Fort Worth native Yovanni Gallardo. Gallardo allowed 2 runs in 5.2 innings, but could have allowed much more as he was in jams much of the night. In the 3rd, he was in a bases-loaded jam with two outs when he struck out Chris Carter, in the 4th he had runners on second and third with one out, and was able to get Marwin Gonzalez to ground and Jake Marisnick to pop out. Then in the 5th he allowed a leadoff single to Jose Altuve and was able to pitch around that. That was the difference between last night and Opening Night is that he was able to pitch out of the jams, and that he was very economical with his pitch count. He actually left the game with only 90 pitches. That is the Yovanni Gallardo this team is going to need. The pitcher who is in control of his fastball and slider and mixing it up well and shows that veteran guile in tight situations. If he can do that he can succeed in the American League.

There were other things that happened obviously like the Rangers scoring 6 runs with only 2 of them being earned. The Astros committed 3 errors and the Rangers were able to take advantage to the tune of the 4 runs. That is what it takes sometimes to win, a team has to do the small stuff it takes. One of those small things is when a team gives the Rangers extra outs they must take advantage. That is why I thought Elvis Andrus’ at bat in the 5th was probably the biggest at-bat of the game. The Astros had just committed an error at 1st base that allowed a runner to score, but still kept the bases loaded. Elvis then comes up and singles through the left side of the infield to score two more runs and make the advantage 5-1 and pretty much close up the game.

There was not alot more that happened fortunately. There were no more injuries last night and so the Rangers move forward with the team they have and win the game to even their record at 3-3.

Other Game Notes

  • Adrian Beltre had what Emily Jones called a little league home run last night. He tripled to the right field corner, but rounded third a little bit wide, drawing a throwing error from shortstop Marwin Gonzalez that allowed him to walk home with the first run of the night.
  • As far as the injury news is concerned yesterday Derek Holland was placed on the 60-day DL and Ryan Rua was placed on the 15-day DL with his sprained ankle. Jon Edwards and Carlos Peguero were called up as injury replacements. Both actually got into the game. Peguero started in right field and went 2-5 with an RBI and Jon Edwards came on in relief of Gallardo in the 6th, but walked both hitters he faced allowing 1 run to score.
  • Shin Soo Choo didn’t play and is still day-to-day with back spasms.
  • The Rangers play the Astros in the rubber game of this series at 2:05 this afternoon. It will be Colby Lewis going for his second win of the season against Dallas Keuchel who also won his first start of the season. It should be a solid matchup as both are looking to continue on the success they had in their opening starts of the season. The Rangers will once again be looking for their first winning streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!

So Yeah That Just Happened

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The Texas Rangers nightmarish home opener was yesterday afternoon and it was anything but grand. The result of the actual game was a 5-1 loss to Collin McHugh and the Houston Astros, but it was inconsequential when compared to the injuries that befell this team during this game. As a fan I was sitting at home just thinking seriously this is happening again

It started in the first inning with Derek Holland. During the inning he was not able to touch 90 mph on anything and seemed to not throw his fastball at all. He was throwing a mixture of changeups and curveballs. It led to him giving up a home run to Jed Lowrie. He was able to get out of it though, but that would be all that he would pitch. Anthony Bass came on in the second inning and all of a sudden red flags went up. What is wrong with Holland? Tom Grieve and Steve Busby thought that maybe he was just ill, Evan Grant on twitter speculated the same thing. Either way he was out of the game and it was a couple of innings before they reported that it was tightness in the back of his left shoulder. Even more red flags popped up. There is never anything good that comes when talking about pitchers and their shoulders. After the game they reported that it was a strain of the subscapular muscle and that he would be out at least 4-6 weeks and maybe longer. He is not even supposed to pick up a baseball for 4 weeks. I am leaning toward that it will be closer toward 8 weeks,but we shall see. Holland said that he had to keep himself from doing something stupid when he got the diagnosis. I feel terrible for him because he has worked so hard especially after the knee injury last year. He was ready to assume the role of staff ace after Yu Darvish went down with Tommy John surgery. He had a good spring training, a good tuneup start earlier in the week and was ready to go.Unfortunately he will have to wait till likely June to resume his season.

It would have been a bad day to just lose Holland to an injury, but Shin Soo Choo had to leave early due to back spasms and then Ryan Rua had to leave because of a foot injury. Choo seemed to be doing better after the game and will be day-to-day, but Rua will be going on the DL today. Carlos Peguero, who was one of the last cuts in spring training, will likely be called up to take his spot. Peguero and Smolinksi will probably split time in left field until Rua can come back.

As far as Holland is concerned, they may give his spot to Anthony Bass until they feel Ranaudo or Gonzalez is ready to go. The rotation as of now looks like it will be Gallardo, Lewis, Detweiler, Martinez, and Bass. Not exactly what the Rangers were hoping for back in February. That is what the team has right now. They have to make due and try to continue to win games and survive. They cannot let what happened last year happen again. The offense should still be fine. The pitching just needs to do enough to keep them in games.

Other Game Notes

  • Prince Fielder continues his hot start to the season. He had another 3 hits and is hitting .421 on the season so far. He is hitting the ball to all fields. It is obvious he is trying to become a more well-rounded hitter and trying to get around the massive shifts that accompany each of his at bats.
  • What gets lost in the game story with all the injuries is that Anthony Bass pitched really well and had maybe the play of the season so far. 

    He also pitched 5 innings and only allowed 1 run. That really allowed the Rangers to be able to stay in the game through the early innings. Then Mendez and Feliz kind of took them out of the game. If Bass can pitch like that and pitch like he did in Spring Training, he might be able to fill that hole until reinforcements are ready to go. All hope is not lost yet. It still is just the first week of the season. Holland will hopefully be back by June, Martin Perez should be back by July or August, Chi Chi Gonzalez should be ready by May or June. The Rangers have rotation depth, they just didn’t expect to have to use it this early. That is what makes baseball so unpredictable.

  • The Rangers and Astros play again tonight in game 2 of the series at 7:05. It will be Yovanni Gallardo making his second start of the season and first start at home going up against veteran right-hander Roberto Hernandez. Go Rangers!!!

 

 

 

 

Rangers Lose 11-0

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Rangers play bad and lose worse in game 3 of this opening series against the Oakland A’s. There is no need for a doctorate degree to determine why they lost this game. Kazmir dominated, Detweiler pitched poorly, and the defense did not help out at all last night as they committed 4 errors. The good thing is that this was only 1 game. It only counts as one loss and so if they can win today they still will have got the split they were looking for. Last night just like opening night they were done in with their pitching and lack of offense. I said it last year on this blog that there is a formula for this team to win games. The starter gives the team 6 innings, allowing 2 or fewer runs, the offense scratches together 3 or more runs, then the bullpen closes it out. That is what happened Tuesday with Colby Lewis and they won. On Monday Gallardo struggled in his 5 innings and yesterday Detweiler was even worse in his 4.1 innings.

Gallardo and Detweiler have one thing in common, and that is they are both from the National League (NL). There is always a period of adjustment for NL pitchers. They go from having to face 8 hitters and a pitcher to facing good to great hitters from 1-9 in the lineup. In the past we have seen that with Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, and even farther back Pedro Astacio, and Mark Clark. Gallardo and Detweiler both showed flashes, it just comes down to control, throwing first pitch strikes, and being able to put away hitters when there is 2 strikes in the count. If they can do that they will give themselves a better shot at winning. The good thing is that their next starts will be at home in Arlington.

Other Game Notes

  • Elvis Andrus through the first 3 games has 4 errors. I know it is a small sample size and it is just the first week of the season. That is kind of concerning though and something to watch. I am sure it will get better and he will not commit errors every game. He has made some spectacular plays too, so I am sure it is just a matter of bad luck.
  • Ross Detweiler was very bad tonight and I know I just got done saying that, but something to watch is that the bullpen has no left handers and Chi Chi Gonzalez is back in Round Rock just sitting there waiting for the call. Lone Star Ball’s Adam Morris even tweeted this last night during the game. lsb tweet If Detweiler continues pitching poorly and Gonzalez gets off to a good start this month do the Rangers call up Gonzalez in May and put Detweiler back in the bullpen where he was for the Nationals last year? That is a storyline to follow because if Chi Chi pitches well the Rangers will want to find a spot for him in the rotation.
  • Thought it was weird to already give Beltre a day off in the field in game 3. I kind of expected Rosales to get the start at 3rd today with it being a day game after a night game.
  • The Rangers play a matinee game today to close out the series. It will be Nick Martinez going up against Kendall Graveman at 2:35 as the Rangers go for a split in this weird series. Wouldn’t surprise me to see the Rangers squeak out another 3-1 or 2-0 victory. Go Rangers!!!

 

Rangers Rebound Behind Fielder and the Kid

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Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam

Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam

The Rangers get that first win of the season and the first win for manager Jeff Bannister with clutch hitting from Prince Fielder and pitching from rookie Keone Kela. The final was 3-1 as Colby Lewis picked up his first win of the season. The story of the game though was Keone Kela. The rookie made the team after an outstanding Spring Training that saw him pitch 9.2 innings and 11 strikeouts and allowed a .167 Opponents Batting Average (OBA). Bannister thought so highly of him that he installed him as the team’s 7th inning guy. That for a guy that a year ago was pitching in Double-A for Frisco. There was a lot more pressure last night for Kela than I am sure he faced at all last year. Kela doesn’t wilt under pressure. He was a 12th round draft pick for the Rangers and worked his way up from there to being in the majors at age 21.

That takes us to last night. Colby Lewis had just went 6 innings, allowing only 1 run with 4 strikeouts, and 2 walks. He had kept the A’s off-balance off night and allowed the only run in his last inning as he was tiring. Kela was brought in for his first major league appearance in a big spot. Normally you see managers try to bring in rookies in low pressure situations so that they can get the nervousness out of the their system. Bannister showed enough trust in Kela though to not bring him in on Monday to get that first appearance out of the way. Kela came in and quickly allowed the first two batters to reach base. Billy Butler lined a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch that Kela left up. Then he walked Ike Davis. So two runners on and no outs and only up two.  Mike Maddux came to visit and Prince Fielder came up to him and according to Kela told him to, “man up and throw strikes”.  After that he struck out Brett Lawrie with 3 curveballs. Stephen Vogt then lined a hard line drive single to Shin Shoo Choo in right field, and thankfully because Butler was the lead runner they had to hold him at 3rd. The crowd starts to get loud, pressure ratchets up as it looks like the bullpen might blow another lead, and Marcus Semien is coming to the plate. He works the count to 3-2 and on the 7th pitch he gets Semien to ground into a game-saving double play.

What a double-play turn by Elvis Andrus. I loved Kela’s reaction to that, he clearly was able to breath a sigh of relief after that play. He was struggling, he did not have any fastball command and had to rely on his changeup and curveball to get him out of the inning and he did. I think he is going to be a solid piece to the bullpen. If he can perform in that situation then I think he can handle any situation. He will be an interesting story to follow throughout the season. Tanner Scheppers is scheduled to be back next week and that means that Tolleson will slide into that 7th inning role, but I could see him and Kela splitting that role in order to keep both of them fresh. Having both of them also gives the bullpen needed depth.

After that Tolleson and Feliz were able to close the door on the victory and the Rangers now just need to get one of the next two to consider this series a success. The goal was a split and they are halfway there. Ross Detweiler will make his Rangers debut tonight against Scott Kazmir and Nick Martinez will throw on Thursday afternoon in the finale of the series against Kendall Graveman.

Other Notes from the Game

  • Prince Fielder is looking pretty solid thus far this season. He is actually looking like a good hitter and not just a pull-happy home run guy. From the Spring Training games I saw and the two games so far this year, he is hitting to the opposite field and driving it, and he is finding holes in the shift as well. He is also making solid contact with everything. Last night he provided the two biggest hits the bloop single to center that scored Roughned Odor for the first run of the season, and then solid line drive to Craig Gentry that skipped underneath his glove that scored both Martin and Andrus. If he can do that from the 3 spot the rest of the lineup will be fine.
  • Adrian Beltre celebrated his 36th birthday last night by putting on a show defensively. Colby Lewis was struggling in the first inning. Sam Fuld had beat out an infield single and then he walked Eric Sogard. That is when Beltre came to save the day. He caught a popup deep into foul territory and caught it over his shoulder with his back to the infield. Then he started a double play off the bat of Billy Butler to get out of the inning. He also made a great stop and throw to get Eric Sogard out in the 8th inning. Happy belated birthday to Adrian Beltre.
  • There was also a nice hit-and-run by Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin that preceded Fielder’s rbi double in the 5th inning. Martin had reached on a line drive single to center. The A’s then tried to pick him off by pitching out on the first pitch because the scouting report on Martin says he tries to run on the first pitch. This time he didn’t. He left on the second pitch when the Rangers called the hit-and-run and Andrus was able to place it right where the shortstop was and the ball rolled into the outfield and Martin was able to go third on the hit.
  • Tonight’s game is at 9:05 p.m. and will be Ross Detweiler against Scott Kazmir. Go Rangers.

 

 

Thunder Have Successful Weekend

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The Oklahoma City Thunder finished off their 3 game road trip by beating the Philadelphia 76ers and the Detroit Pistons. That improves their record to 7-13. Each game though was more of a struggle than it should have been, but thankfully this is the NBA and not college football where style points matter. At this point in the season with where the Thunder are any win will do. It is pretty clear that they are still trying to figure out how to play together once again. Most teams figure this out in preseason, but the Thunder were only able to play one scrimmage and one game together before Kevin Durant went down. It may be a couple of weeks before they start to look like themselves on a consistent basis. Last night though was a step in the right direction.

Going into the game last night in Detroit, the Pistons had lost 11 in a row, including losing the previous night to the 1-18 76ers. It has been a struggle thus far for Stan Van Gundy in Detroit as he tries to remake their team. The Thunder though got off to a terrible start. Too many turnovers, missed shots, and too little defense played in the first quarter led to them being down at one point by 11. They just kind of came out really flat and with not a lot of energy. They cut the lead down to 7 by halftime. The Thunder sometimes have played down to their competition, but thankfully tonight it did not cost them. In the third quarter they came out with more energy on both ends of the court. They were flying around and switching actively on defense and attacking the offensive glass. They ended up with 13 offensive rebounds in the 2nd half alone. They only average 10 offensive rebounds per game. The main contributor in that area was Serge Ibaka. He ended up with 13 rebounds total and 6 offensive rebounds. He was positioning himself well and was able to get several putbacks off of missed shots. That helped to turn the tide for the Thunder. They ended up outscoring the Pistons by 9 in the third quarter to take a 2 point lead. The Thunder ended up getting it to as much as 8 after this Russell Westbrook dunk.

Oh my goodness. What a dunk. I was afraid he might have broken his hand or broken the rim. He tomahawked that thing. I have seen some powerful Westbrook dunks, but oh my goodness that may have been one of the best ones. It even earned the play of the game from the Pistons broadcast team. That is how good it was. Have I mentioned how good it is to have him and Durant back. They just make sitting through a game in early December worth every penny.

The problem with that dunk though was this is not Harlem or any streetball court where you get to walk-off after a powerful dunk. They still had to play the last 6 and a half minutes. The Pistons did not go away instead they made one last charge and go to within one at 93-92 with about a minute left to go, but Durant calmly received a pass on the next possession and splashed through a 3 of his own to make it 96-92. The Pistons would add two more points and then Josh Smith would attempt a game-winning 3 with one second left and it went wide to the right and the Thunder held on for a 96-94 win.

There are some areas that they need to improve and I am sure they will. They need to play consistently on defense, continue to attack the glass, and continue to share the ball. There were some bright spots. Kevin Durant bounced back from scoring 10 points on Friday against the 76ers to scoring 28 points against the Pistons. He was more active and his shot was falling last night. Jeremy Lamb continued his solid play with 12 points last night. He was attacking the rim with floaters and made 2 more 3 pointers. Serge Ibaka had a double-double last night with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Finally Westbrook played a solid floor game with 22 points, 7 assists, and 11 rebounds.

They now return home for a 2 game homestand this week against the Milwaukee Bucks and the red-hot Lebron James’. Should be interesting to see how this team fares at home against two good Eastern Conference teams. I can’t wait till Thursday, any time Lebron and KD are on the court together it is great. At this point they still need wins. They are 4.5 games behind Phoenix for the 8th seed.They just need to continue to win.

Sports Blog Reboot

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I have decided after a lot of thought to diversify what I write about. I have spent this year primarily writing about news with the Rangers. I have really enjoyed doing that and when news comes with the team I will get back to writing about it. I am also a devoted fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder and every time I think about their slow start and what this season could be, I want to write about it. So I will start writing about OKC Thunder basketball as well as keeping up with the latest news coming from Arlington as it pertains to the Texas Rangers.

As far as my background with the Thunder it goes back to the day the team moved here back in 2008. I have spent my entire life in the Oklahoma City metro area. This is where I have lived, went to school, and graduated from college. That entire time I lived with the thought that our city would be nothing more than just a minor league city. We had minor league baseball teams, hockey teams, arena football league teams, roller hockey teams, and finally basketball teams. I never thought I would get to see OKC host a major league sports team. In 2008 it happened and I couldn’t believe it. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop or for something to happen and it be taken away, but nothing of the sort has happened. The Thunder have brought a renewed vitality and energy to our city. In my childhood I always grew up with 2 different seasons in our state, Football season and football off-season. Now with the Thunder there is excitement around the city and state all year long. It has been a thrill to see our team grow up from the young team that started 3-29 in 2008 to an annual Western Conference Finalist and one of a handful of teams that year in and year out has a shot to win the NBA Championship. Ever since seeing the team just come up short in Game 6 against the Spurs last May I have been looking forward to this season.

That brings me to the present day. Seeing player after player go down with injury, the team start to lose all these close games that they are accustomed to winning, and the record bottom out at 3-12 made me wonder if they would be able to come back from this. Then Westbrook came back last Friday and Durant came back on Tuesday and all hope was restored. Now instead of would they be able to come back from this, the narrative flips to how great of a story will this be if in June they are the ones hoisting the Larry O’ Brien trophy. If after all of this that has happened they are able to rebound and win the title that would be an unbelievable story. One that I want to write about on a regular basis. One that I want to chronicle as we move forward through this season. That is what I am going to do starting today.

Today the record stands at 5-13 and they will be facing the Philadelphia 76ers tonight as they try to start the climb back to being .500. It will not be an easy climb, and there will be peaks and valleys along the way, but this feels like it could be a really special season for the Thunder. For the first time since the 2009-2010 season they will be the hunters and not the hunted. I am looking forward to the next several weeks and months as this team moves forward through the season. There will be so much intrigue and drama with every game. All of these games will feel like must wins and I can’t wait to write about it. Hopefully, this will be a fun season and I will not curse this team like I felt like I cursed the Rangers 2014 season. I will continue to write about the Rangers when there is any news. There should be news coming from the winter meetings next week. We will see what Jon Daniels and his crew will do. For the most part though I will be writing about the Oklahoma City Thunder and their games as they try to climb back up the standings.

Where Have I Been

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I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything. More than anything the constant losing just beat me down. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to say about what was going on. At times it was very hard to watch. Especially the losing streaks in June and July. I will say though that September was very encouraging for this team. They beat several teams that were playoff bound and the sweep in September helped to nearly keep the Oakland A’s out of the playoffs. Several players made positive impressions in the seasons final weeks.

Rougned Odor was one of these players. September was his best month. He had a .296 BA and .826 OPS, and had more hits and runs in September than any other month. It was clear as the season went along he got more comfortable.  He has established himself in my mind as the 2nd baseman going forward. I know Profar is likely to be healthy come Spring Training, but they both have one season under their belt and in my mind Odor’s season was much better. He made better contact and was very solid defensively. He still needs to continue to get better. He profiles in my mind as a Dustin Pedroia type, a guy who gives maximum effort and his power is generated by his quick swing. I could certainly see him with his left-handed swing and the short porch there in Arlington going for 15-20 home runs when his body matures. Profar we really don’t know. He is coming off of a serious shoulder injury that kept him out all of 2014. He reportedly will be cleared to throw in January. That will still give him time to be ready for camp in March. I think being out all season puts him behind the 8 ball and not having the same level of success that Odor had last year will result in him being sent to Triple-A to start the year. If I was management and Odor is healthy to break camp, I would go with him and send Profar to Round Rock to get at-bats every day. That way he can get comfortable again playing in games. Then he will be ready if someone gets hurt or if you need a better utility player. I think it is more important to get him at-bats every day and be in the field on a daily basis as he works his way back from the shoulder injury.

Derek Holland was another player who came back from injury and looked like the player the Rangers have envisioned since he came to the majors in 2009. With the injury to Yu Darvish he came back and became the staff ace the team needed in September. He came in throwing strikes, being economical with his pitches, and lasting 7 or 8 innings every time out. In the past he would put up those performances but follow it up with performances where he could not get out of the 3rd or 4th inning. He looked as fresh as he has ever looked and gave fans something to look forward to in 2015. A Darvish-Holland one-two punch in the rotation is very formidable. Darvish is very overpowering and Holland is very economical. Those two are the reason I do not expect the Rangers to be major players in the free agent pitching market. There is no reason to overpay to get a James Shields or a Jon Lester to come here when you have Darvish and Holland in the top two spots. To get Shields would also require giving up the number 4 pick in the draft and they are not going to do that.

Now that we are talking about the rotation for next year lets talk about what I think the Rangers should do this offseason. Here is my list of objectives for Jon Daniels and his staff this offseason.

1) Decide who will be the top 4 of your rotation. Darvish and Holland will be one-two, but who else will be in the rotation? I don’t mind a competition for the number 5 spot, but having spots 3 and 4 open will not be good for next years team. I would try hard to bring back Colby Lewis. He is a proven veteran that showed the variety of injuries he suffered from in 2012 and 2013 would not end his career. He is another that got better as the season went along. In April and May he could not get back the 5.2 innings mark, but from July 31st to the end of the season he averaged 7 innings per start. That includes two complete games and one of them being a shutout. Next years team needs that veteran presence and leadership in the rotation. I wouldn’t pay outrageously for him, but I would bring him back. I think you offer a 1 year contract with a easily reached option like 130-150 innings for a second year and make the contract worth about 3 or 4 million and the option year for about 5 or 6 million. I think he wants to come back, but he also wants to test the market while healthy for the first time since coming back from Japan. In the end though the Rangers lack of depth in the rotation and his ties to the area will bring him back for 2015 and possibly 2016. Second, go ahead and make Nick Tepesch your number 4 starter. He has been there for two years now and has gotten better each season. He is a solid number 4 guy who gets ground balls and can provide innings. Then in Spring Training have a camp competition between Nick Martinez, Lisalverto Bonilla, Luke Jackson, and Chi-Chi Gonzalez for the number 5 spot. All of those guys are talented and ready for the opportunity. The good thing is there will be depth this year.

2) Get everyone healthy and have them remain healthy. Just getting back healthy players will cause them to be much better next season. I am expecting them to compete for the division title with the Angels next year. Next season Prince Fielder, Shin Shoo Choo, Jurickson Profar, Engel Beltre, Mitch Moreland, Tanner Scheppers,  and Martin Perez after the All Star Break will certainly help this team. It will give them needed depth in their lineup, bullpen, and bench.

3) Stay on top of Elvis Andrus this offseason. Last offseason the story goes he didn’t do a throwing program and that caused his shoulder to be fatigued in Spring Training and him to miss game. He also came in to camp overweight and both of those things caused him to lose range defensively, steal less bases than ever before, and just overall not have as good of a season. In his exit interview he promised to get a couple of weeks rest and then get after and come into camp in better shape next year. For the Rangers to compete they need an Elvis that is dedicated and in the best shape of his life. He needs to be able to drive the balls into the gaps, cause havoc on the bases, and play gold-glove level defense. He cannot slack off this offseason like last year. He has to be the team leader the Rangers need him to be. 2015 will be year 7 of the Elvis experience and it needs to be the year he takes a step forward offensively and in his role in the clubhouse. Rangers management and coaching staff needs to be checking on Elvis wherever he is and make sure that he is ready for camp in February.

4) As far as a free agent target I have heard talk about Torii Hunter and Michael Morse. I would not mind either of those guys. Hunter might want to finally sign here, since he already lives in the Dallas area in the offseason and is near the end of his career. Hunter could be a good guy to slot into the number two hole in the lineup and he can still hit and he can still field. They are letting Alex Rios go and so they need someone to fill the right field spot and Hunter could certainly be that guy. Morse is a guy who can be a strong right-handed DH. You can platoon him with Mitch Moreland. Moreland can still spell Fielder at first base and play some in the outfield as well. Bringing Morse in gives you a stronger bench and a lineup that will hit for more power. They could also decide that they like Smolinski and put him in right field. He certainly impressed after he came back from injury and will get a look in Spring Training for a starting job.

I think that is it. For the most part just getting healthy will solve a lot of their problems. The Rangers this past season were like the 1997 Spurs that had one terrible season, ended up in the lottery, got the number one pick, and drafted Tim Duncan. The Rangers don’t need to blow it up and rebuild. What the end of the season proved is that they are not far away. The A’s went all in and came up short and will probably rebuild next season, the Mariners still have great pitching but no offense, and the Angels will still be really good. A healthy Rangers team with one or two tweaks will be back in the race in 2015 and with a new energetic manager in Jeff Bannister. I would not be surprised at all to see them back in the playoffs next season.

I will try to write more this offseason as stuff happens. I am still hopeful and still a big time baseball fan. I have been through the good times and the bad time and will never stop believing in my Rangers.

Rangers Young Guns Continue to Struggle

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perez

 

The last two games we have seen one of the questions marks heading into the season manifest itself in a negative way. That question was could the Rangers young starters be relied upon to help this team through these first two months of the season. This month we have seen that the answer is no. Going into opening day the Rangers had 4 young starters in the rotation: Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross Jr., and Nick Martinez. For the first 3 weeks they were good to great. Perez was great to start the season. He started 4-0, and had back-to-back complete game shutouts. Since then, he is 0-3 with higher than a 12.0 ERA. Then yesterday it was revealed that he has been suffering from elbow inflammation and will have to go on the DL. Nick Tepesch will be called upon to replace him when he takes his start on Wednesday. Then you have Robbie Ross Jr. who has not had a good start since April 25th against the Mariners, when he went 6.0 innings only giving up 2 runs. Since then, he has allowed 17 runs in his last 15.1 innings pitched. Overall, he is 1-4 with a 5.04 ERA. Finally, you have Tanner Scheppers who got injured in April, but who may have lost his rotation spot regardless. Tanner could not stay out of the big inning. The Rangers were taking a chance when they entrusted these guys with the keys to the rotation, and so far it just hasn’t worked out.

Out of the 3 I imagine Martin Perez will continue getting chances to start. He has a track record of success as a starter. He pitched well in the second half last year and pitched well for most of April. I imagine throwing the back-to-back complete game shutouts is what caused the elbow injury to flare up. Since those starts he clearly has not been the same. Hopefully they will give Perez as much time as he needs to recover and that when he does come back he will be able to have the same success he had in April. As far as Scheppers and Ross I imagine that they will be back in the bullpen very soon. Washington may have to make a decision and switch roles for Nick Martinez and Robbie Ross Jr. Martinez is stretched out and can easily slide into the starter role. Ross has experience in the bullpen and will be able to pick it up very quickly. Something needs to change. I loved the move to bring up Odor and Sardinas, now it might be time to shake up the rotation. Insert both Tepesch and Martinez. They just need to survive until Derek Holland and now Martin Perez can come back. They need to stop this slide. They are now right at .500 and 4 games back of the A’s. Thankfully the A’s are not playing much better or the deficit would be larger. The Rangers will be starting a 3 game series this week in Houston. The offense is starting to come back around, now it is the rotation’s turn to start pitching better.

Tonight it will be Colby Lewis for the Rangers and Brad Peacock for the Astros. Last time out Colby pitched against the Rockies and gave up 7 runs in 3.1 innings. He became the third starting pitcher to get hit hard in that series. He will be looking for better success tonight against the Astros. Game time is at 7:10.

Yu (Almost) Does it Again

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Stop me if you have heard this one before, Yu Darvish almost throws a no-hitter. Twice last season against the Astros Yu Darvish almost threw no-hitters. One of them came in the second game of the season when he came just one out shy of a perfect game. Tonight, once again he came within one out of a no-hitter against the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox. Prior to this start Darvish had been in a little bit of a slide, having struggled in his last two starts against the Oakland A’s, and just been alright in his start against the Angels. To back that up he had given up 10 runs in his last 3 starts. So, to say he wasn’t pitching up to his standards would be an understatement. That makes what happened tonight even more surprising.

Tonight, he had control of everything through the first six innings. From the second through the 4th he even struck out 6 straight. He was able to find a balance between his fastball and slider and he had his fastball command back. Going into the 7th it looked like he had a shot at a perfecto. He did have that until David Ortiz stepped up to the plate with two outs. Up to that point he had control of his pitch count and had two outs in the inning. He started Ortiz off 3-0 and came back with a fastball over the plate to make it 3-1. Then, Ortiz skied to right field, but Rougned Odor was playing shallow right due to the shift and he kept drifting back till he was in medium deep right field. Alex Rios was also coming in, but never called Odor off and then Odor lost and it dropped in. The question became will this be an error or the first hit allowed? It took a few minutes, but the scorekeeper ruled that it had been an error on Alex Rios for not calling off the second baseman. That meant that even though the perfect game was gone, the no hitter stayed in tact. He started to lose his control though. He walked the next hitter as the dropped fly ball obviously got to him. He did get through the 7th and then the 8th with no hits allowed. The problem was his pitch count was still climbing. In addition to ending the perfect game the dropped fly ball forced him to throw about ten more pitches in that inning. In the 9th instead of just 103 pitches, his count was 113. It was obvious he was running on fumes, but he was able to rally and get the first two outs. He got Pedroia on a sharp grounder to Adrian Beltre, and he struck out Victorino swinging. Then, it came down to David Ortiz once again. It came down to Big Papi, the guy who ended the perfect game with his misplayed fly ball. It was Darvish vs Ortiz with a no-hitter on the line and Darvish was at 121 pitches. Darvish also has never thrown a complete game shutout in the major leagues. If he could get one out, he would get his first no-hitter, complete game, and shutout. On this night though, it was not meant to be. Ortiz hit a ground ball past Odor and through the shift into right field and it was over. Washington then proceeded to make the slow walk to the mound and took him out of the game with 126 pitches. He then got the standing ovation he so earned tonight. The last time he got within an out there was some people who discounted the performance because it was just the Astros. There can be none of that tonight as the Red Sox are the defending champions and their lineup is full of good hitters. Tonight Darvish was just better than them. He was as dominant as we have ever seen him.

Even though Darvish did not get it done, the Rangers did get a much needed win. After losing 9 of 12, and getting blown out by the Rockies in 3 straight games this week, the Rangers have responded by throwing back-to-back shutouts. That is a good response. This team will only go as far as the pitching will take them. They do not have a great offense, but they potentially have a great pitching staff. They have played their best when their starters have pitched deep into games. As I mentioned earlier that will be a key for this team going forward. Tonight it was all about Darvish though. He was great and when the offense scores runs like they did the team is great.

 

Notes from the Game

  • Elvis moved back into his number two spot tonight and responded by going 4-5. It was the most hits he has had in a game since April 5 against Tampa Bay. Washington had moved him down in the order earlier this week in order to get his head straight. He started hitting better in the Rockies series and so Wash decided it was time. In my opinion the offense has been at their best when Choo and Andrus are at the top of the order.
  • Rougned Odor made his second start at second base tonight as well. He got his first MLB hit with a single to right fielder Shane Victorino. He finished the game 1-4, but was part of the misplay in right field and was not able to get to the ball Ortiz hit into right field to end the perfect game. He still has a few things to learn.
  • Fielder continued his hot May with an RBI single in the 3rd. He is now hitting .321 this month.
  • Tomorrow it will be a battle of lefties as Jon Lester will take on Martin Perez. Lester is coming off of a 1 hit, 15k performance against the A’s. Perez is looking to reclaim the form he had in April. He has suffered back-t0-back bad starts against the A’s and Angels. Game time will be at 8:05.

Rangers End Losing Streak

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Colby throwing last night against the Angels

Colby throwing last night against the Angels

An MLB season is full of peaks and valleys. Every team goes has them. The difference between the good and bad teams is that the good teams are able to stay on their peaks longer and able to not be stay too long in the valley. The Rangers this past week have been in the valley. They lost two winnable games last weekend in Seattle and then got obliterated in 3 games at home against Oakland. Heading into this series they had lost 5 of their last 6 games to fall 3 games back in the division. The whole team was struggling. The pitching was very poor in Oakland and the hitting was not much better. They had not hit a single home run in their last 6 games. Fortunately they had a day off on Thursday to get their heads straight. Last night they began a 3 game series against division rival Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It was Colby Lewis against Hector Santiago. In this game the Rangers would be counting on Lewis to help end this losing streak and he delivered.

The key to getting this win though would be for the offense to start coming through, specifically Elvis Andrus and the middle of the order. Elvis was in the middle of a 3-36 slump and so yesterday he had a 1-on-1 meeting with Ron Washington to see where his head was at. Washington said that the meeting was about Elvis’ energy or lack thereof, “He hasn’t been playing with that energy lately, and I think he’s accepted that energy is a part of it. I think he knows we’ve been hurting, and he may be trying to do too much.” The thinking is that when Adrian Beltre went down he tried to be more of a run producer rather than a guy who creates havoc on the bases and tries to score runs. That has led to him hitting way too many ground balls. His ground ball percentage is 89.4 and that leads the major leagues. Washington is trying to get him back to driving the ball to the opposite field and being the spark plug of the offense. That is the game inside the game that was going on last night. The meeting seemed to help as Elvis as he did have an RBI single in the 7th inning. It will be something to watch though over the next few days to see if Elvis can continue to break out of that slump.

Colby Lewis though was the main story. He continues to work his way back from his hip injury that kept him out all last season. Last night was his 4th start and with each start he is looking better and better. He showed a greater command of his fastball last night as well as velocity, and better control of his breaking pitches. That was clearly shown by how many swings and misses he was getting. The Angels were late all night on his sneaky fastball and were not expecting the sharp break from his curveball. There were some things he still needs to work on though and that is holding runners on. Twice in last night’s game after getting a runner on first base the Angels stole second. They were able to get great jumps due to Colby’s deliberate delivery. After the game Colby said that was by design, “I was already 0-and-1 both times and the batter ended up taking the fastball to get me to 0-and-2.I thought my job at that point was just to focus on the hitter at the plate.” Overall though it was another step forward. He ended up pitching 5.2 innings, allowing 2 runs, striking out 6, and walking one. The only reason he did not pitch deeper into the game was Washington felt like he wanted to go lefty-lefty with a one run lead and be able to hold the runner on first base. The Rangers were able to get out of the 6th and then eventually they won 5-2 to break their 4 game losing streak.

The other story of the game was the offense coming through. For the first 5 innings it looked like a repeat of what we saw in Oakland. It was a lot of swinging early in counts and weak popups. That changed in the 6th inning when Shin Shoo Choo hit one out of in deep center field past a jumping Mike Trout. Then 4 batters late after a Prince Fielder infield single, yes I said a Prince Fielder infield single, Alex Rios yanked one out to left center field to give the Rangers a 1-run lead. The Rangers tacked two more on in the 7th with a Choo single and an Andrus fielder’s choice. Choo was getting things done last night, he went 3-4 with 2 RBI’s, and a run scored in the game. He was taken out of the game last night in the bottom of the 7th with renewed ankle soreness. It is the same ankle that has been bothering him for about 10 days now. He is day-to-day at this point and might play in today’s game. Last night was his first game back in the field since the injury and so I am sure that they are just being cautious with him.

It was a good win and one that the Rangers needed. There will be other valleys during this season, but they responded to this one with perseverance. They just kept doing what they do and eventually it worked out. Today it will be Matt Harrison in his second start of the season going up against Garrett Richards. Harrison will be trying to continue the success he had against Seattle on Sunday. In that start he pitched 6 innings and allowed only two runs. He looked like the Matt Harrison from 2012 that won 18 games. If the Rangers can continue to get that they will be in good shape over the long run. The start time for tonight’s game is 8:05