Tag Archives: Colby Lewis

Winning Streak Crashes Down

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8 was not meant to be today as the Rangers lost to the Cleveland Indians 12-3 today to finish the road trip 7-2 and to take their record to 23-24. Not a lot can be said about this game other than Colby was off of his game today. He was missing his spots, his slider was flat, and the Indians took advantage with the 8 run third inning that saw Carlos Santana put an exclamation point on the inning with a 3-run home run that made the score 10-0. Probably before that the game was practically over, but that really sealed it. Anthony Bass came on and pitched 4.1 innings and newly-recalled Jon Edwards pitched 1.0 inning. So the winning streak ends, the question will be can they take this momentum that was gathered on this trip and take it home and play well there.Their home record this year is an abysmal 6-13. They are tied with Oakland with the fewest home victories in all of MLB. In the past they have been able to establish a clear home field advantage at Globe Life Park. The test will come with these next two series, because they have seemingly hit their stride these last 9 games and with a struggling Boston Red Sox team and a middle of the road Chicago White Sox team coming to town they need to take care of business and start winning some of these home series. If they do that then they will not only get back to .500, but put some distance between themselves and .500 and start to creep closer to the Astros. May was about righting the ship. They solved their offensive issues and solved the issues they had with the bullpen. June will be about if they can maintain this level of play? If they can I expect them to be within shouting distance of the Astros come the All Star Break. I am not going to go on and on about this game. They lost 12-3, they deserved to lose 12-3, and now they come home.

Other Game Notes 

  • Delino Deshields Jr. made his debut at second after this game got out of hand. Word around the beat writers and other people that follow the team is that he had been working at second these last few weeks and it was only a matter of time before he got in a game at second. It was not a surprise that Jeff Banister would use this an opportunity to play him there. It will be interesting to see if this is a temporary thing or something that he might use to get Deshields in the lineup more. Martin is struggling offensively, but is a great defender in center and has a strong enough arm to keep runners honest on the bases. Making Deshields the starting second baseman would allow him and Martin to both be in the lineup. I could imagine Deshields would lead off and Martin could hit 9th and give them a speed presence at the top and bottom of the lineup. It is something to watch for though over these next few weeks as Banister and the coaching staff try to maximize the talent they have on this team.
  • Josh Hamilton did get his first hit in his second tour of duty with the team with a single in the 7th with a liner to the left fielder and he was thrown out trying to extend it into a double. The timing is getting better with every game. He is starting to make better contact every at-bat and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a good game at some point during this home stand. It is starting to come around. He did strike out one time, but he made solid contact in the other three at-bats. Anything that he can contribute though will just make this team that much better. The good thing is that the Rangers are not counting on him to be the Josh Hamilton from 2008-2012. They just want him to be a presence in the number 5 spot and provide protection for Fielder and Beltre and drive in runs when given the opportunity.
  • Mitch Moreland extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Elvis Andrus did not get a hit for the first time in 28 games in his career in Cleveland. Prince Fielder’s streak of multiple hit games also came to an end at 5 games. He still did get a hit though.
  • Finally, it was an extremely successful trip. To go into Boston, New York, and Cleveland and win 7 of 9 is huge. I was thinking before the trip that 4-5 was more likely. I thought they might have a chance to get two in Boston, 1 in New York, and 1 in Cleveland. They surpassed my wildest imaginations. Now they need to come home and go at least 5-2. Banister is going to be preaching that if he hasn’t already that they need to protect their home field. He was on MLB Network’s High Heat yesterday and said as much that they need to put their foot in the ground at home and protect their home field. I will be surprised if they don’t get back home and play with a little bit of an edge during this home stand.
  • The home stand starts tomorrow against the Boston Red Sox at 7:05. It will be Nick Martinez going up against Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez will be called up from the minors and will be making his MLB debut tomorrow. Sometimes in these situations it favors the pitchers because there is no solid scouting report and the hitters have not faced this pitcher. Hopefully the offense can take advantage of any nervousness that Rodriguez may be feeling in his first start. Whatever happens though will happen tomorrow night in Arlington. Go Rangers!!!!!!!

7 is the Lucky Number for the Rangers

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The Rangers won again last night to make it 7 in a row with a 4-3 win against the Cleveland Indians. That gets their record to 23-23 and they are back where they started at the beginning of the season. This is not an accomplishment. It is hopefully a stepping stone to better things like leading the division or being involved in the wild card race. In the division they are 6.5 games back of the Houston Astros and tied for second with the Angels. In the wild card they are 3.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers for the second wild card. They still have 116 games left on the season and so a lot could happen between now and then. They are setting themselves up nicely with this winning streak to at least be involved in the race and as we enter into June that is all that the team could ask for is a chance.

Lets talk about last night though, because a lot had to happen for them to claim their 7th win in a row. It was Wandy Rodriguez making the start for the Rangers going up against Danny Salazar for the Indians. Rodriguez was coming off of a dominant performance against the Red Sox and Salazar has been up and down, but is leading the league with 12 k’s/9 innings. Rodriguez got off to a little bit of a rocky start as he allowed first inning solo home runs to Jason Kipnis to lead off the game and to Ryan Rayburn to stake the Indians to a 2-0 lead. He settled down after that and was able to get through the next two innings unscathed. The Rangers threatened in the 1st and 3rd but couldn’t push anything across. The Indians came back with a leadoff double in the 4th off the bat of Ryan Raburn and were able to score him with a sac fly to make it 3-0. At that point the offense was struggling and it looked like it just might not be their night. Then in the 5th things started to turn around. Leonys Martin worked a one-out walk and then on a 1-2 count Salazar plunked Shin Soo Choo to bring up Prince Fielder as the tying run. Fielder had already lined it to the opposite field for singles in his first two at-bats off of Salazar’s fastball. Tom Grieve called this in the broadcast booth that Salazar might try to throw his changeup to Fielder and that Fielder might have a chance to hit a home run. That is exactly what happened. Click on the video to watch Fielder tie this game with his 10th home run of the season

 

 

All of a sudden we have a brand-new game, but the Rangers still needed to get through 5 innings. Wandy came back out for the 5th and nearly gave away any momentum the Rangers had gained from that Fielder home run. He proceeded to walk the bases loaded in the 5th with one out and Michael Brantley coming to the plate. Brantley could have blown the game wide open with a base hit, but Wandy buckled down, got his control back, and was able to strike out Brantley. Ryan Raburn was next and he was 2-2 with a home run and a double at that point. Rodriguez got him that time though by getting him to pop out. Somehow Wandy navigated that mine field that he had set up and did not give up any runs. The score remained 3-3. Wandy got into trouble again the 6th when he gave up a leadoff double to Nick Swisher and then walked Yan Gomes. Banister decided to leave him in there to face lefty Brandon Moss. Rodriguez made sure that was a good decision by striking out Moss. Then Tanner Scheppers was brought into the game to get out of the inning and that is exactly what happened. Scheppers got Mike Aviles to line out and Jose Ramirez to ground out. The final three innings was a bullpen game for both sides as Salazar and Rodriguez were both taken out in the 6th inning. The only difference was between the performance of both bullpens was the at-bat between lefty Nick Hagadone and Mitch Moreland in the 8th inning. Josh Hamilton had just lined out sharply to Carlos Santana at first. Mitch Moreland though took a similar pitch that was given to Hamilton and did this to it.

 

 

That gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead and the combination of Ross Ohlendorf in the 8th and Shawn Tolleson in the 9th was able to put the game away for win number 7 in a row. Love how this team is playing and Prince Fielder is driving the bus, but don’t forget about Mitch Moreland. He is finally starting to realize his potential. After missing two weeks due to elbow surgery to remove loose bodies in there, he has picked right up where he left off in April. He is hitting for average and power. He takes a 10 game hitting streak into today’s game. Hitting number 6 in the lineup he is providing depth to the lineup and that is something this team didn’t have in April as Prince was hitting above .300 and everyone else was at below .200 batting averages. Win number 7 and the Rangers go for their longest winning streak since an 8 game streak in 2013 against the Indians in the finale of the 3 games series and the finale of the 9 game road-trip. Hopefully they still have the energy to get above .500 for the first time all season.

Other Game Notes

  • Just have to mention it again Prince Fielder is crazy, insanely, red-hot right now. He has 3 hits in each of the last 4 games and multiple hits in 5 straight games. It is hard to properly put into perspective what Fielder is doing right now other than it is fun to watch and I hope it lasts as long as possible. He is absolutely putting this offense on his back, but unlike April he is getting help. Choo is hitting over .300 this month, Beltre is hitting over .300 this month, Moreland is hitting, Blanks was hitting while Moreland was done, and Deshields is providing a solid presence at the top of the lineup. Fielder is the one who is driving this car though. They are a dangerous team right now for any pitcher to face and that is because of what Fielder is doing.
  • Josh Hamilton once again was 0-4, but only one strikeout. It is going to be important that he lay off that changeup down and in or down and away. If he can be patient and force pitchers to throw him strikes he will have better success. That has been his problem the last three seasons is that he too often would swing at those pitches and get himself out and pitchers know that. They know they don’t have to throw Josh Hamilton strikes to get him out. He will just wildly swing away at anything. If this season is going to be different he has recognize those pitches and not swing at them. He did have a couple of good at-bats though and made solid contact on that line drive in the 8th. It would have been a base-hit but it was hit right at where Santana was standing. He will be batting 5th again today so we will see how he does this afternoon.
  • Elvis Andrus backed up a good game offensively with another 3 hit night last night. That makes him 5-8 in this series. He has always loved playing in Cleveland and his numbers bear that out. He did make his 11th error though last night in the 9th and nearly cost the Rangers the game. It was a grounder that he was going to his left on and it looked to be an easy ground out that would have ended the game, but it got under his glove and went for an E-6. That makes 11 errors in 46 games and if not for Marcus Semien in Oakland and his 17 errors he would lead all AL shortstops in errors. He makes a great play behind the bag earlier in the game, but the frustrating thing is he will make errors on the simple groundballs. That has got to stop. This team needs him to be good on the hard plays and on the easy plays as well.
  • Today it will be Colby Lewis in the finale going up against Carlos Carrasco at 11:10 this morning. Rangers will be going for win number 8. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!

Make that 4 in a Row for the Rangers

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The Texas Rangers won their 4th game in a row last night 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Rays and secured a winning road trip. These past few games the Rangers have started to appear like the team that we all thought they would be. A good offensive team, with good starting pitching, and a decent bullpen. This week they have had all of those things. Ross Detweiler, Wandy Rodriguez, and Colby Lewis all combined to hold the Astros to 3 runs over 23 innings. Last night it was Nick Martinez who helped pitch the Rangers to a win. He wasn’t as dominant as the other three. He actually had to be taken out with 2 outs in the 5th inning. He had already given up 3 runs in the inning and had thrown 35 pitches and so manager Jeff Banister decided to go to the bullpen to help pick him up in that situation. The bullpen was able to come in and shut the door and help the Rangers get the victory. The Rangers now sit at 12-16 and sit just a 0.5 game out of second place. The climb to get back to .500 continues. It may not happen this quickly but they are starting to trend back in the right direction and reinforcements to the lineup are on the way.

It was a good win last night. The offense took advantage of their opportunities early and the bullpen was able to hold on late. The offense really made Chris Archer work last night. Archer prior to this start had been one of the hottest starting pitchers in the AL. He had a sub 2.00 ERA and lead the league in strikeouts, but last night the Rangers really made him work. They did a good job laying off the slider that was off the plate, especially Delino Deshields Jr. He had a great at-bat in the second inning when he drew a bases loaded walk that gave the Rangers their first run of the game. It was an 8 pitch at-bat that Archer really tried to get him to chase and Deshields refused and worked the walk. Choo followed that up with another walk to make it 2-0. Then Elvis Andrus lined a single up the middle to score Roughned Odor and Shin Soo Choo. It was a hit that in April the team couldn’t seemingly get. They would make the pitcher work, but then couldn’t follow through with a big base hit that plated multiple runners. Last night they did though. Prince Fielder also got a RBI single in the 4th following a Deshields walk that led off the inning. That made it 5-0 and would be enough for the win. The Rays made it interesting late with a Kevin Kiermaier home run to make it 5-4, but Feliz came on in the 9th and was able to lockdown the win. Still a long way to go in this season, but it is clear since the calendar turned to May the team has had a renewed energy and spirit about themselves. The body language has been better and they are looking like they are having more fun with the game. It seemed like at least to me in April that everyone was feeling pressure to deliver and when they didn’t everybody would just be feeling really down. No more though, the team is loose, they are having fun, and they are collecting wins along the way.

Other Game Notes

  • I said earlier reinforcements are on the way. It appears Mitch Moreland and Josh Hamilton will both be playing for Round Rock this weekend as they both try to make their way back to the big league team. Moreland if he shows he is healthy at the plate and in the field could be back as soon as early next week. I imagine with Hamilton the team will take their time with him, let him get back into game shape. It could be probably a week to 10 days for him, unless there is an injury that necessitates a roster move being made. It will be interesting to see who the Rangers decided to drop to make room for these guys. Carlos Peguero has been playing much better on this trip. He is 5-9 in the last 3 games, with 3 home runs and 5 RBI’s. I would have said him before, but not now. Deshields Jr. has been showing the patience that the team wishes Leonys Martin had. He has also been stealing bases and getting a couple of hits. It would be hard to drop him off the team. Kyle Blanks with the way he is hitting and being right-handed will not be sent back. It looks like it will probably Jake Smolinksi that will get sent down when Moreland is ready. I don’t know who when Hamilton is ready though. Stay tuned to that.
  • Nick Martinez was very sharp for 4 innings. He was doing what he normally does. He was pitching inside, pitching to contact, and allowing his defense to make the plays behind him. Then it all came unraveled in the 5th. He started to try to get the hitters to chase and was missing the plate. The hitters were being patient and they were taking advantage when he would fall behind in the count. It led to 4 base hits, 3 runs, and a walk. After 35 pitches in the inning Banister decided he had seen enough and brought Alex Claudio in to face James Loney, and he got him to ground out to end the inning. It is definitely a growing moment for Martinez. We sometimes forget that this is just his second season and he is going to have moments like that. The good thing though is that the team won and improved to 6-0 in starts made by Martinez. Hopefully he can learn from that and be better in his next appearance.
  • Tonight the Rangers go for win number 5. It will be Yovanni Gallardo on the mound going up against Nathan Karns. Gallardo has pitched well this season, but has not recorded a win since April 17th. He has mainly been let down by his defense in his last 3 starts. The Rangers committed multiple errors in each of those games. He is a pitcher that tends to get lots of ground balls and if the defense is leaky it can look like he pitched a lot worse than he actually did. If the defense can continue the solid play that we have seen in these last 4 games he should pitch pretty well. We shall see though. Game time is at 6:10 tonight. Go Rangers!!!!!!!

Rangers Win First Series of the Season

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Don’t look now but the Texas Rangers have won 2 in a row and 3 of the last 4. They won last night 7-1 against the AL West leading Houston Astros and are now on their first winning streak of the season. Prior to last night they had been 0-8 following a win. That all changed behind a dominant outing from Wandy Rodriguez and a solid offensive night. This win also marks the first series that the Rangers have won all season. They will be trying for their first sweep of the season tonight. The win improves their record to 10-16 on the season and they are now 7.5 in the division and just 0.5 game back from Seattle. It was a good night all around for the team as they played focused and hard. That came after their gritty come from behind 2-1 win on Monday night. Right now this stretch starting on Saturday Night with that 8-7 extra innings win against the A’s is their best stretch that they have had all season long. The offense has been more consistent, the starting pitching has been outstanding, and aside from a hiccup on Sunday the defense has been good. Does this mean that this team can compete this season? That will be determined by the team’s play over the course of the next few days, weeks, and months.

Instead of talking about the future lets focus on last night. They played really well from the first pitch to the end. The offense delivered with men on base and Wandy Rodriguez was nearly unhittable against his former team. It started when the team put up 4 runs in the first inning. Shin Soo Choo leading off the 2nd game in a row started the game with an opposite field double, then Andrus got a bunt single and advanced Choo to 3rd. Prince Fielder who has been outstanding with runners on base improved his batting average in that spot with a double down the left field line to score both Choo and Andrus and up his team high RBI total to 13. Carlos Peguero followed that up later in the inning with a 2-run home run, his first of the season. Before Wandy made a single pitch he already had a 4-0 lead. That allowed him to pitch free and easy knowing that he had a little cushion. He did allow a first inning home run to Luis Valbuena and he got into trouble in the second inning. That was when he allowed a single to Marwin Gonzalez, a double to Jason Castro, and then walked Robbie Grossman. That allowed Jose Altuve, who is a master with a bat in his hands, to hit with the bases loaded and either potentially tie the game or give the Astros the lead. Altuve has been excelling in these situations this season. He has a .429 BA with runners in scoring position and has 16 RBI’s. The score was 4-1 at that point. There was two outs in the inning and on the second pitch he left it high and over the middle of the plate. Altuve swung and lined it down the left field line and it looked for a split second like it might hit off the wall, but it curved foul into the stands. Altuve was clearly frustrated because he knew he missed one. On the 5th pitch Wandy Rodriguez got Altuve to hit a soft bouncer right back to the mound. Rodriguez picked it up and instead of going home, decided to turn around and throw it to first and was able to get Altuve there and get out of the inning unscathed. After that it was smooth sailing for Rodriguez. He retired the last 19 hitters he faced and overall the Rangers retired the last 22 batters that went to the plate. The Rangers did add 3 more runs to the board. In the 3rd Adrian Beltre hit a double past the third baseman to score Elvis Andrus from second. Then Carlos Corporan followed later that inning with a sac fly to score Beltre to make it 6-1. Kyle Blanks finished up the scoring with his team leading 3rd home run of the season to make it 7-1. Good night offensively, great night pitching, and no errors on defense. All in all maybe one of their best performances of the season.

Other Game Notes

  • I have to say again Wandy Rodriguez was outstanding last night. He threw 8 outstanding innings. That marks back-t0-back great performances from Rodriguez and on Monday from Ross Detweiler. That is coming against a team that had been on a 10 game winning streak. Rodriguez last night mixed it up very well between his overhand curveball and he was locating his fastball very well. I don’t expect that every time out, but when it does happen it is a pleasant surprise.
  • Kyle Blanks has really changed this team since he came up last week for the injured Mitch Moreland. It is going to present an issue for Jeff Banister when Moreland is ready to play again. Blanks gives this team the type of power that they haven’t seen in the lineup since Nelson Cruz departed two seasons ago. He is a threat to go deep every single at-bat. He also has been getting base hits and gives them someone from the right side of the plate that is a threat. He needs to be in the lineup every day. It will be interesting to see if the Rangers try Moreland or Blanks in left field. Unfortunately, both have a history of foot problems, so that could limit their options. For now though, Blanks continues to be outstanding and continuing to give the lineup depth.
  • Shin Soo Choo is back to being a leadoff hitter. That is where he started and played most of last season. Now he is back there as manager Jeff Banister is trying to jump start his lineup. So far so good. Choo who recently had been in a slump has seemingly come out of it since being reinserted into the lineup Friday night against the A’s. Since that point he is 6-21 (.286) and has upped his overall average to .167 on the season. He is seemingly seeing the ball better, taking more pitches, and making more solid contact. It has been nice to see him start to get back, because with and Blanks the lineup from 1-6 starts to look very good.
  • George Springer did it again. The Rangers have played the Astros 5 times this season and in 3 of those games Springer has recorder a highlight worthy catch. This is the one from last night.

 

 

 

That followed up the one from Monday night. Which looked like this.

 

 

 

If you remember he had the catch in Arlington off the bat of Leonys Martin that would have been a game-winning grand slam, but he brought back and kept the game tied and the Astros ended up winning. This guy is just remarkable in right field. The fact that this is just his second year makes me sick that as Rangers fans we are going to have to see him for several more years making catches like the two above. He did have to leave the game though after the first catch. He looked a little doozy from the collision with the wall. I imagine that he will be sitting out tonight’s game just to be cautious. Great catch though.

  • The Rangers go for the series sweep tonight. It will be Colby Lewis going up against Samuel Deduno at 7:05 p.m. Go Rangers!!!!!!

Rangers Let One Get Away

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I had in my mind what all I was going to write about a 5-0 or 5-1 victory over the A’s. I was going to write about how the team seemingly played with more energy, more crispness, and more focus. They did not struggle with runners on base and were able to score runs. It was going to be a good win to get this series started. Then, the 8th inning happened and it quickly turned from a sure-fire win to an inexplicable loss. It was a nightmare inning and it was much like the 8th inning they had against Seattle when they had a 10-5 lead late and allowed 6 runs in the 8th to lose it. This time it was 5-0 and they allowed 7 runs to lose it. This loss drops their record to an AL Worst 7-15 and 8.5 GB in the  division. They are going the wrong direction and just cannot get themselves turned around. I wrote these two quotes 10 days apart. This first one was from April 20th after they lost that 5 run lead against the Mariners in Seattle:

“The saying is that good teams find ways to win games and bad teams find ways to lose games, well this was a game that the Rangers found a way to lose.” 

I had this quote just two days ago after they got swept against the Angels.

“their bullpen has been good except for games when they have been needed to close it out.”

I think it is finally time for us to admit that this team is not good. They will Josh Hamilton back in probably 3 weeks, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland back in likely June, and Martin Perez in July. It will be too late though because this team is likely to be 15-20 games under .500 by that point. I am not giving up hope, but this team is not giving me much reason for optimism. This time injuries I don’t think are playing a part. They just are not doing what it takes to win baseball games. I was mostly disappointed for the offense last night, because for the first time in about 2 weeks they actually looked like they were having fun, and to have it all fall apart due to the bullpen was terrible. The body language that they exhibited in that inning was definitely one of depression, because they knew that last night was a game that they really needed.

If we just take a look at the first 7 innings, there were several bright spots. Colby Lewis was really dealing last night. He was locating all of his pitches on the inside and outside corners. His curveball had lots of bite, and he was able to get plenty of strikeouts. He ended up with 8 on the night. He was absolutely dominant in 6 innings and really deserved a win for his effort last night. The offense too. Kyle Blanks hit an absolute no doubt home run down the left field line in the 2nd inning, the only question was would it stay fair. It did and it was his first home run in a Texas Rangers uniform. Prince Fielder also hit a home run to straight away center in the 4th, his second of the season to make it 2-0. Then they were able to manufacture one more run that inning. Adrian Beltre singled following the home run and was eventually sacrificed home off the bat of Jake Smolinksi to make it 3-0. They added two more runs in the 7th. Roughned Odor tripled to lead off the inning and then Leonys Martin hit a sac fly to get him home. Prince Fielder doubled down the left field line, was pinch ran for by Delino Deshields Jr, and then Adrian Beltre singled through the hole on the right side of the infield to score Deshields to make it 5-0. At that point as fans we are thinking with Tolleson, Kela, and Feliz all still in the bullpen the Rangers should be able to get 5 outs and close this game out.

Shawn Tolleson started the dumpster fire of an inning by allowing a leadoff home run to Mark Canha. That was a bad sign that maybe he didn’t have it. He then followed that with a single to Eric Sogard, he got Sam Fuld to ground out, but then walked Marcus Semien. It was clear by that point that he was not locating his pitches well. He then got Billy Butler to strike out. His pitch count was at around 26 by this point, so Banister decided to remove him in favor of Roman Mendez. Mendez has been good, especially good with runners on base, but he sometimes struggles with control. If Tolleson and Keone Kela are your 7th and 8th inning pitchers, then I don’t quite understand why didn’t Banister decide to go with Kela in this situation. The A’s are a team that is going to take advantage of Mendez’s control problems and they did. When he came in the score was 5-2. He proceeded to walk the first hitter to load the bases. Then he gave up a single to Josh Reddick that scored Stephen Vogt and Marcus Semien. Banister then decided to go with Feliz to try to end this rally. Yeah that did not happen. The next two batters hit a double and a single to make the score 7-5. The only reason that inning ended was a caught stealing that was upheld on review. Kela may not have made things better, but he needs to be in those type of situations. They are not going to win a lot of games, but if they can develop Kela as a potential closer option for the future, they need to do it. That involves putting the rookie in high-pressure situations to see how he responds. He ended up pitching the 9th and went 3 up and 3 down. It was a terrible inning that cost them the game.

Other Game Notes

  • Shin Soo Choo was back in the lineup after getting two games off so that he could put some extra time in the cage with Dave Magadan. He responded by ending his 0-21 stretch by getting a double in the 4th inning. That was his only hit of the game, but as we have seen throughout Choo’s career, his hits come in bunches. Normally when a cold stretch ends a long hot streak begins. Hopefully that is the case.
  • Defense was much better tonight. 0 errors. That was a big problem in the Angels series, but the infield played much better tonight.
  • Elvis Andrus extended his hitting streak to a team high 7 games with his double in the 5th inning. His batting average during these 7 games is .321. That is the Elvis that the team needs offensively. The double showed the kind of spark plug he can be. He hit a line drive down the left field line and was sprinting out of the box and was able to extend what normally would be a single for most players into a hustling double. They need more of that.
  • This season is going to be a test on Jeff Banister and his #nevereverquit attitude. This team is going nowhere fast and reinforcements are still weeks away from coming. Can he get this team to forget what happened last night and move on to the game tonight? The team has talked about how they do not want to see what happened last year happen this year, but right now they are in a tailspin. They need a win tonight to stop the losing streak, because getting a win Sunday against Sonny Gray is not an easy task.
  • They have the right guy on the mound hopefully to help them get a win. Nick Martinez will be going for the Rangers tonight against Drew Pomeranz. Martinez has a 2-0 record with a 0.35 ERA. He has only allowed one earned run in 26 innings. He has been able to stay within himself and never let the situation get too big. The team is 4-0 in his starts this season. His previous 3 starts the team was on a 2 game losing streak, a 3 game losing streak, and coming into this game they are on a 4 game losing streak. Each time he has been able to end the losing streak. Hopefully he can tonight. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Lets Go Rangers!!!!!!!!

 

Texas Rangers Week 3 Roundup

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As I type this it has been made official that Josh Hamilton will be apart of the Texas Rangers. That will be the most interesting story once he is activated off the DL in mid-to late May. If you want to read all my thoughts on this trade I wrote about it on Friday night once it looked like this was going to happen. As far as this past week is concerned the team went 2-3. They split their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks and lost 2 of 3 to the Angels. They ended the week on a high note by coming back to win an extra innings affair with the Angels to finish the 8 game roadtrip 3-5. It was an inconsistent week. The offense for the most part struggled mightily with runners in scoring position. They only had 1 hit till Mitch Moreland’s single with two outs in the 9th that tied the game. It was glaring to watch this past weekend the team come up multiple times in key spots and only be able to score when the Angels made a mistake like a walk, hit-by-pitch, or a wild pitch. This is going to have to change if the team is going to win games moving forward. The Josh Hamilton trade may or may not help, but this offense needs to get better all around. It is up to the players to improve.

A player that could change the entire look of the offense is Shin Soo Choo. He started to draw more walks this past weekend, which is a positive. Hopefully that means that he is seeing the ball better. If that is happening then it may mean he is not too far away from reverting back to the gap hitter that the Rangers thought they were hitting. It seems like he has come up in numerous spots and not been able to come through. I feel like the offense is a consistent Shin Soo Choo away from really exploding. Elvis Andrus went 4-12 over the weekend, which constitutes a little bit of hot streak for him. Mitch Moreland and Leonys Martin have been hitting well now for the last two weeks. Prince Fielder has been consistently good all season. Adrian Beltre is starting to warm up. If Choo can join these guys this offense can be good even before Hamilton gets here. Then Hamilton doesn’t have to be looked at as the savior of the team. He can just do his thing and be another contributor to the offense.

Top 5 Players of the Week

  1.  Leonys Martin. I have got to go with Martin. He may not have the highest batting average (BA) for the week or the highest of other categories, but he is helping to drive this team. Nearly every rally this past week was either started or involved at some point Martin. He came through with the go-ahead HR yesterday against the Angels. He stole 3 bases, drove in 4 runs, tied for most hits on the team for the week, tied for most total bases, and saw more pitches in his plate appearances than anyone on the team. He is starting to become what the Rangers need in their leadoff hitter. It has been great to see him take that next step. Manager Jeff Banister demoted him after a slow start in the first week and a half. Since being reinserted as leadoff hitter he has been more patient, he has used the bunt more, and he has been hitting well against both left-handers and right-handers. That is why he was my top player for the week.
  2. Mitch Moreland. It was a tossup in my mind between him and Martin. I guess what swayed me was the home run yesterday afternoon and the fact that Moreland only had pinch hitting appearances in Arizona. Moreland in only 13 at-bats had 5 hits, 2 doubles, 3 rbi’s, and a .438 OBP. He was outstanding over the weekend. Martin had the go-ahead hit, but it would not have got to that point unless Moreland has the game-tying hit with two outs in the 9th inning. It was the exact opposite of what the team had done all weekend. Instead of flying out or grounding out, Moreland hit a hard single through the infield. Moreland, finally healthy for the first time in a few years, is starting to figure it out. He is able to hit it to all fields now. It seemed prior to this season that he was strong. His home runs to right field were bombs, but he was just that a dead pull home-run hitter. That cannot be counted on consistently. That is why he would struggle with a low .200 BA. Banister feels like he can hit him wherever he needs him as well. He is providing consistent production and that is what this team really needs.
  3. Nick Martinez. He continues his hot start to the season. He went 1-0, but the team went 2-0 in his starts this past week. He finally gave up an earned run against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. That was it though. He pitched 12 innings this week with only 1 earned run. Overall he has 26 innings with only 1 earned run and a 0.35 ERA. He has not been a dominant starter such as Yu Darvish, but he has been able to make the right pitch when needed. He has the ability to run his fastball in on right-handers and cause them to hit easy grounders or pop-ups. He will not pitch like this all season, but he will be good. He does not fold when the pressure is on, that is often times when he pitches his best. He gave up 3 base hits to Kole Calhoun yesterday, but was able to always get out of the jam. That was especially difficult with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols being the next two hitters in the lineup. Right now the team is also 4-0 in his starts compared to 3-11 in everyone else’s. It has been great to watch such a young pitcher make drastic improvements in such a short period of time. I am looking forward to seeing what else he can do this season.
  4. Adrian Beltre. Beltre went into Arizona in the middle of a drought. He was in the middle of a 4-33 slump. That changed though this week as time off and time in the cage helped to improve his batting average. He had a .316 BA, 1 home run, 1 RBI, 10 total bases, and played some stellar defense at 3rd. He started double plays off of line drives on both Saturday and Sunday. He also stole his first base of the season. He is starting to look the Adrian Beltre that we have come to know and love these past 4 seasons.
  5. Prince Fielder. I have had Fielder higher in past columns this season, and it is not that he has been bad, it is that other players are starting to play well too. Fielder had a week like any other. He hit .300, had his first home run of the season, 4 RBI’s, 10 total bases as well, and contributed, and had a .864 OPS. He was himself. Those numbers are very similar to what he has been doing. He is still hitting it to all fields and still providing consistent production from the number 3 hole.

A Look Ahead

  • This week they will face two 3 game series against the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s. Both of these teams are what many considered the preseason favorites to win the AL West. If the Rangers want to contend these are teams that they are going to have to beat to be real contenders in this division.
  • The pitching matchups in the Mariners series will be Yovanni Gallardo versus Taijuan Walker on Monday night, Ross Detweiler against J.A. Happ on Tuesday night, and Felix Hernandez against Wandy Rodriguez on Wednesday night. No easy matchups in this series. Hopefully Detweiler has used his time off to work on his fastball command. He was too often leaving it up and over the plate in his first 3 starts. He said after his last start that he had seen something on video that was causing his ball to stay up. The key will be keeping the ball down and getting ground balls.
  • The pitching matchups in the Angels series haven’t been determined yet. For the Rangers it will likely be Colby Lewis on Friday, Nick Martinez on Saturday, and Yovanni Gallardo on Sunday. The Rangers will have to get hits with runners in scoring position and be able to pitch well if they want to play well in this series.
  • The homestand starts with the Rangers looking for their first winning streak of the season. I know it sounds incredible that in 18 games they have yet to win two in a row, but it is true. They are 0-6 following a win this season. Hopefully that can change tonight with a win against the Angels.
  • The standings in the AL West look like this
  1. Houston 11-7  0 GB
  2. LA Angels 9-10 2.5 GB
  3. Oakland 8-12  4.0 GB
  4. Seattle  7-11 4.0 GB
  5. Texas   7-11  4.0 GB

Finally the GIF Of the week

 

 

 

Freese beats Rangers Again

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I really hate David Freese. It seems he exists on this earth to not just be a baseball player, but to also beat the Texas Rangers on a consistent basis. It started with Game 6 of the 2011 World Series and continues to this day as he now plays third base for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Last night it was him hitting a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 7th to put the Angels on top 3-2, which is where they would stay.  On a day that the news broke that the Rangers were going to acquire Josh Hamilton,the offense clearly showed that they needed him as they only scored two runs and could only muster 3 hits. The pitching was good enough as Wandy Rodriguez went 5 innings in his first MLB start since last May. The bullpen made one bad pitch, that cost the game, but other than that was pretty solid. It was the offense that really struggled once again as they were only able to score two runs. It is going to have to be better than this. They have got some tough games coming up and they will need to score runs to survive this 9 game stretch.

Wandy Rodriguez started this game for the Rangers and was good. He got better as he got deeper into the game. He was in bend don’t break mode as he was in jams in 4 of the 5 innings he pitched, yet he didn’t break and ended up only giving up 1 run. It could have been much worse. I even was thinking it is a miracle he has not allowed more runs. He kept pitching and kept getting guys out at opportune times. I believe he has earned himself another start. If he can do this then the Rangers might have found a decent pitcher off the scrap pile. His overall numbers in his first start since last May were decent: 5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 3 BB, and 5 K’s. He got deep enough in the game that Banister could line up his bullpen to finish the game out. Banister was going to go Scheppers, Kela, Tolleson, and Feliz to end it. Scheppers got through the 6th with no runs allowed. Then it was Keone Kela’s turn. He very nearly got out of it with no runs allowed either. He took a sharp line drive back at his head, but was able to avoid the ball and catch it was his glove. He then turned around and had Mike Trout doubled off 2nd, but he didn’t throw it as hard, he kinda looped it to 2nd and Trout was able to beat the throw there.That continued the inning and allowed David Freese to then hit a two run home run to left center to put the Angels on top 3-2. The Rangers did make a late rally in the 9th trying to tie the game. They put runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs and Elvis Andrus at the plate. Andrus had a great at-bat, constantly fouling off several pitches, and on the 8th pitch he grounded out to of course David Freese to end the game. That dropped the Rangers record to 6-10 and started another two game losing streak. They have not lost more than two in a row, but cannot win more than 1 in a row. Hopefully this means that they will win today.

Other Game Notes

  • Prince Fielder had another multiple hit game as he went 2-4. One of those hits was an infield single that helped them score their second run of the game. He ran as hard as I have seen him to run to barely beat out the throw allowing Carlos Corporan to score. The other was a line drive to left center that was nearly a double but Mike Trout cut it off before he could reach second.
  • Choo’s slide continues. He is now 2-30 on only has 1 hit on this entire road trip. There was talk about national sports writers when news started to come out about the Josh Hamilton that Choo would have been involved in a bad contract swap. Unfortunately for the Rangers he was not. I am afraid this contract as well as Elvis’ are going to hang around the Rangers neck like an anchor, weighing this entire team down. Hopefully Choo can get it figured out and get back to being the on-base machine he was prior to coming to Texas.
  • Today’s game matches up the top two pitchers on the staff from that 2011 World Series team, Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson. Lewis struggled in his last start against the Mariners. He was constantly up in the zone and was lucky to have only given up 3 runs as he gave up 10 hits and had two walks. It could have been much worse. Hopefully he can pitch much better than that. Wilson was able to fan 8 Astros over 6.2 innings in his last start. Neither pitcher has pitched well against the opposition. Wilson is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA against the Rangers in 8 starts. Colby Lewis is 2-7 with 5.77 ERA against the Angels since 2010. It should be interesting to see either one of these pitchers can have success tonight. Game time will be late again 8:05 CT tonight. GO Rangers!!!!!

Rangers Leave the Game on Base in Loss to Astros

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The Rangers continued the early season trend of losing-winning-losing by dropping the game to the Astros 6-4 in 14 innings. That drops their record through the first week of the season to 3-4. It was a game that they should have won, nearly did win, and then ultimately lost. The offense continued to be flat for much of the day. They just could not generate runs with men on base. The number that sticks out to me from this game is that they left 15 men on base in 14 innings. Bill Parcells use to say when he coached the Cowboys that for every 100 yards the offense gains they should have 7 points. So, if the total yardage was 400, the team should have 28 points. Yesterday, was like watching a team gain 450 yards but only score 10 points. The Rangers put themselves in position to score in several innings, but they could not get the run across the plate. They only had one run scoring hit and that was Leonys Martin’s 2 run single. That was the problem was not getting the hit in clutch situations.

Lets recap the game as a whole though. Colby Lewis started against Dallas Keuchel. Lewis did great except for one 5 batter stretch in the second inning. He allowed a home run to Luis Valbuena, then got the next two hitters out, but then he allowed a triple to Colby Rasmus, a double to Marwin Gonzalez, and a 2 run home run to Jake Marisnick to make the score 4-0. The Rangers loaded the bases in the 4th, but Adam Rosales grounded into an inning ending double play. Then in the 7th, the bases were loaded again, but this time Leonys Martin hit the first pitch of the at-bat up the middle to score two runs. That made the score 4-2. The Rangers were again able to load the bases again in the 8th and scored a run off a bases loaded walk to Roughned Odor and a sacrifice fly from Carlos Corporan. The Rangers loaded the bases again in the 10th with Leonys Martin coming to the plate and that is when this happened.

 

A heart-breaker for Rangers players and fans as that would have ended the game and given the Rangers the series. On the telecast they showed Adrian Beltre and Prince Fielder both ready to celebrate the win that was not meant to be due to George Springer’s remarkable play of the season worthy catch.

Hank Conger then hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run in the top of the 14th to make the score 6-4. The Rangers though as they had done all day gave themselves a shot to win in the bottom of the inning. They loaded the bases with two outs and Odor was coming to the plate. He had a great at-bat against Samuel Deduno, but ended up lining out to right-fielder George Springer. It was a long afternoon and one I am sure the Rangers would like to have back. They were inches away from winning the game, but they also wasted numerous opportunities. They easily could have had 8-10 runs in this game, but they just could not get a hit when it mattered. That is the breaks of the game though.

Other Game Notes

  • Colby Lewis was outstanding in this game. He had a tough 5 batter stretch in the second inning, when he just momentarily lost control. After that though he retired 15 of the next 16 hitters with Jed Lowrie being the only batter to reach and that was due to an error by Roughned Odor. He used his curveball more yesterday than he normally does. He is usually a fastball, changeup, and slider type pitcher. Yesterday that 12-6 curveball was working very well and so he kept using it. It was a nice adjutment made by Colby after that rough second inning.
  • One weird stat revolving around this Rangers team is that the batters have been hit by pitches 11 times in the first 7 games. Stephen Vogt was asked about all the times the Rangers got hit in the A’s series and he said that they were just crowding the plate and not really looking to avoid the contact. I noticed it seemed like they were not really getting out of the way. Look for opposing managers to bring this up to umpires in future series if this continues, because the umpire can rule that they didn’t avoid contact and force them to stay in the box.
  • Two players I wish could have just come up with one hit: Mitch Moreland and Shin Soo Choo. Choo came on in the 8th after being out since Friday due to back spasms and Moreland came on as a pinch hitter for Adam Rosales in the 8th as well. Neither one registered a hit in that 8th inning rally and neither one had a hit in the extra innings either.
  • I will say that the bullpen was great for the Rangers. Mendez, Feliz, Tolleson, Kela, Klein, and Verrett kept the Astros scoreless from the 8th to the 14th inning. They gave the Rangers chances, but the offense couldn’t capitalize. One thing to watch though tonight in the game is that Feliz and Tolleson have pitched 3 days in a row and Kela has pitched the last two days. It will be interesting to see how Banister handles his bullpen if it is a close game.
  • The Rangers try to get back to .500 tonight and continue their string of losing-winning-losing-winning tonight against the Angels. It will be Ross Detweiler on the mound against Matt Shoemaker at 7:05 tonight. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!

Rangers Get the Split: Rangers-A’s Series Recap

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Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

The Texas Rangers bounced back in a big way Thursday afternoon and got the series split they were looking for with a 10-1 victory. The bats finally woke up and contributed 4 home runs and tripled their output in runs from the first 3 games. It was a reassuring game not only for the team, but also for the fans. It was rough watching them get their brains beat in on Wednesday night when they lost 11-0. They bounced back nicely though and were able to walk out of Oakland with two wins, which is really what they were hoping to get. I am sure that they wanted to win all 4, but to get 2 is really good. Now they come home for a 6 game homestand against the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but before we get to the upcoming games, lets recap how they were able to get the win yesterday and talk about the series as a whole.

The offense got most of the headlines yesterday as they scored 10 runs, but my player of the game would have been Nick Martinez. He executed the game plan perfectly yesterday. He was throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters, and forcing them to swing at pitches they normally wouldn’t swing at. That is the kind of performance we saw on occasion last season, but not consistently. He was outstanding though, as he just kept the hitters off-balance and he never was really in trouble at all in his 7 innings. In my opinion that is how you beat the A’s. The A’s are a team that like to make pitchers work by not swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. They won’t chase and it gets them ahead in most counts and forces the pitchers into hitter’s counts. Doing that normally gets the pitcher’s pitch count up higher and gets him out of the game earlier. That is what happened with Yovanni Gallardo and Ross Detweiler. Neither one had much control and the A’s took advantage and were able to get them out of the game early. Colby Lewis and Nick Martinez though had control and were able to hold them down. That is how you beat them and hopefully Gallardo and Detweiler watched how Lewis and Martinez pitched them and will learn from it, because they will face Oakland many more times this season.

It did help Martinez though that the Rangers had scored 3 runs before he had even thrown a pitch. It was a very weird first inning as the A’s committed two errors, both trying to get out Leonys Martin on the bases. Martin had reached on a walk and then advanced to second after a single by Shin Soo Choo. Kendall Graveman then had him picked off of second by a mile, Martin barely even moved toward second, but the ball had flown into center field. That allowed Martin and Choo to advance to second and third. Then, on a ground ball by Adrian Beltre to Brett Lawrie, he threw home to try and get Martin, but the catcher dropped the ball allowing Martin to score.They ended up getting two more that inning, then the power bats showed up in the later innings. Mitch Moreland, Shin Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, and Roughned Odor all went deep to hit the Rangers first four home runs of the season. The highlight of the game had to be Beltre’s home run. The pitch before the home run he had done this.

The very next pitch he does this.

Beltre had got off to a slow start as he went 0-for in his first 3 games, but he rebounded with two hits yesterday, a single and that home run, his 396th of his career. That will be fun to watch as he pursues 400 over these next few weeks.

All in all it was a good win, good series split and now they get to head home and hopefully carry some of this momentum with them. Staff Ace Derek Holland will make his season debut tomorrow afternoon against the Houston Astros.

Other Series Notes

  • Jeff Banister made some changes to the lineup yesterday, but insisted it was not about non-production. It did work though to the tune of 10 runs. He moved Choo up from 5th to 2nd, Andrus down from 2nd to 7th, he flipped Fielder and Beltre, moved Rua up to 5th, and moved Odor up to 8th. It showed that Banister is willing to be flexible especially early this season as he gets a feel for what this team is. I would not be surprised if he uses April to see which lineup combinations work the best. It will be interesting to see if he uses that same lineup today or if he will revert to the previous lineup. We shall see. I thought it was a good move in order to shake things up after they had been shut out in 2 of the first 3 games.
  • Ryan Rua had his first good game of the season as he had 3 hits on the day. He got a single in the first to break up a stretch of 6 straight strikeouts and then went on to get two more hits, including a double in the 9th inning.
  • No errors on the day for the Rangers and for Elvis Andrus. It was a clean day for the team and that came after a keystone cops type of fielding performance on Wednesday night when they committed 4 errors. They committed 6 errors in the series, but the A’s also committed 6. It could just be a matter of trying to adjust to the regular season after 6 weeks of spring training. Hopefully this isn’t a season long story. I don’t think it will be, because they have several guys on the team who are good defensively.
  • Finally, the Rangers were lucky to get out with a split. They were outscored 20-13 in the series and it would have been much worse if not for the 10 runs yesterday. It was 19-3 heading into the game yesterday afternoon, but they got the win and walk out with the split. That is all that matters and all anyone will remember. It reminded me of the 1960 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates going up against the New York Yankees. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 58-27 in the series, but the Pirates won the series in 7 games when Bill Mazeroski hit the game-winning home run in game 7 of that series. It just goes to show in a series it doesn’t matter how many total runs you score, it just matters did you win the game or not?
  • Derek Holland goes up against the Houston Astros and Collin McHugh at 3:05 this afternoon as the Rangers will try to start their first winning streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!

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.