Rangers Completely Dominate Mariners

Posted on April 13, 2016 by colonelsportsnation

I have been trying to think about what to focus on for today’s recap of last night’s 8-0 win against the Mariners that completed the first series win and a winning road trip for the Rangers. Do I focus on Holland’s first real good start since last August? How about Beltre’s 5 RBI night and 3-run home run that puts him 4th among primary 3rd basemen all-time? I could also focus on Andrus continuing his hot start to the season with 3 hits last night and his 5th RBI of the season. Mazara also had another hit, but made two unbelievable plays in the outfield. Ryan Rua had another couple of hits from the bottom of the order. Roughned Odor made plays on the basepaths and had another RBI hit. Prince Fielder recorded his 10th RBI of the season, just 9 games into the season. Ian Desmond made a couple of amazing plays in left field as well. It was just a complete team effort. They followed up last nights 14 hit performance with 12 hits last night. Their pitching recorded their first shutout of the season. The defense was still stellar even though they did have an error. When they play like this there is not many teams in all of baseball that can beat them. Last night the Mariners could not even stay close as the Rangers improved to 5-4 and jumped into first place of the AL West.

There was so much to like about last night’s game, but to me the most important development was Derek Holland’s performance. Holland is the X-factor in this rotation. If he can stay healthy and pitch like he did last night this rotation goes from good to possibly great. Holland last night showed improved control from his first outing as he only walked one guy. He also showed that even though his velocity may be down from what it was 3-4 years ago that when the moment calls for it he can still get it up to 95-96 mph. That moment last night was an at-bat against Robinson Cano. Cano had worked him over in the first inning on his way to a 10 pitch lineout. He was fouling everything off and then finally lined out to Delino Deshields in center. Then in the 5th he came back with two runners on and down 5-0, but one swing away from making it 5-3. Holland really attacked him and went after him with 94-95 mph sinkers. He ended up striking him out on 6 pitches and got out of the 5th with no runs allowed. It was an encouraging outing and one that he can learn from and continue to improve upon as we go throughout this 2016 season. Just think about this possible rotation come the end of May if everyone stays healthy: Hamels, Darvish, Perez, Lewis, and Holland. If Holland can continue to pitch well that will be one of the best rotations in all of baseball. I really hope that he can stay healthy. Holland throughout his Rangers career has been one of my favorite and my most frustrating pitchers to watch. I think back to Game 4 of the 2011 World Series. The Rangers had just went down 2-1 after Albert Pujols hit 3 home runs in Game 3 and Holland was facing a must win for the Rangers. He went out and pitched the game of his life that gets forgotten because of what happened in games 6 and 7 of that series. He pitched 8 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. It seemed like after that he was ready to take that next step to being one of the best lefthanders in all of baseball. Instead he has suffered from inconsistency in 2012-2013 and injuries in 2014-2015. He now is at a crossroads in his career as he faces a team option at the end of this season. The question of whether the Rangers will pick that option up depends a lot on how he does this season. The team has not had any extension talks with Holland and is in a wait-and-see mode with the pitcher. I hope that he can continue these performances.

The game also showed that Nomar Mazara can not only hit, but he can play some outfield. He made a remarkable play diving after a ball down the left-field line and then made a play running into the wall to catch a ball. Defense was thought to be a question mark with Mazara as some scouts have said that he is a little slow of foot. He showed tons of range though last night as he made those two plays. He also recorded a single in his first at-bat to make that 6 hits in his first 3 games. He just has been a phenom in these first 3 games. He has shown an advanced understanding of the strike zone and great bat control as well. It is not going to stay like this, but he has shown that whenever he is here to stay that he will be ready for each and every challenge thrown his way.

Preview of Today’s Game

2:40 p.m. Texas Rangers vs Seattle Mariners, A.J Griffin(1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs Taijuan Walker (0-0, 3.00 ERA), Fox Sports Southwest

A.J. Griffin makes his second start of the season. He went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs and was able to get the win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last Friday night. It was his first win since September 12, 2013. It was an encouraging start that saw Griffin get better the deeper into the game he got. The Rangers have secured the series win and a winning record for the road trip, so they need to be careful not to have a let down in today’s game. The key for Griffin today will be location. The Mariners have not hit well in this series, but if Griffin gives them free passes they will be ready and waiting to break through and get Griffin out of this game early. He must control his curveball and make it enticing enough to swing at. He must have confidence in his fastball and locate it on the corners and be sure not to miss over the plate. The game today is at 2:40 so the air will not likely be as thick making hitting the ball out of the ball park a lot easier than it is during night games.

Taijuan Walker will be going for the Mariners. He is coming off a dominating 7 inning,2 run performance against the A’s. Walker presents some of the same challenges Iwakuma presents. He is a tall, lanky righty that is coming downhill right at the hitter. His fastball can really eat up right handed batters as he is coming straight downhill at them. Walker can struggle with walks though. He averages about 2.0 walks per 9 innings. The Rangers must be patient, take advantage when he does leave one over the plate, and run up his pitch count early. If Walker gets into a groove early it could make for a long day for the offense.

Player to Watch

Yesterday I chose Derek Holland and was right. I said he would pitch into the 7th inning only giving 1-2 runs and would pick up his first win and quality start of the season. He went 6.2 innings, 0 runs allowed, and did win. That was my first right pick of the season.

Today I am going with Roughned Odor. I think Walker will pitch very well against the righties in the lineup, but I think Odor with his bat speed will be able to turn around a Walker fastball. I could definitely see 1-2 hits today and I think he will make a play on the basepaths that will make a difference in today’s game.

The Rangers try to end this road trip on top before coming home to start a 4-game series against the potentially still undefeated Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night. Hopefully they will not be looking ahead to that and Cole Hamels starting on Thursday. Go Rangers!!!!

Rookies help Rangers defeat the Mariners

Posted on April 12, 2016 by colonelsportsnation

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The Rangers got back to .500 last night behind contributions from the two most inexperienced players on the roster, Nomar Mazara and Brett Nicholas. Nicholas was making his MLB debut last night and went 2-4 with a single … Continue reading →

1-Hit Wonder

Posted on April 5, 2016 by colonelsportsnation

Fireworks explode over the stadium at the end of the national anthem as the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners line up before their game on opening day on Monday, April 4, 2016, at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/TNS) 1182888

The Rangers somehow won their opening day game 3-2 against the Mariners yesterday with only one hit. It was enough though as the Rangers took advantage of some shoddy Mariners defense, walks by Felix Hernandez, and aggressive base running by Roughned Odor all in the 5th inning. Cole Hamels and the bullpen made sure that the 1-run lead would be enough and it was as Shawn Tolleson closed the door in the 9th inning. It was a great win, because the Seattle Mariners had won 8 straight Opening Day games behind the pitching of Felix Hernandez, but the Rangers were able to steal this one away and end that long winning streak. I am still scratching at my head at how it happened, but it did and the Rangers move forward to game 2 as the only AL West team to have won yesterday. The Angels lost 9-0 to the Cubs, the A’s lost to the White Sox 4-3, and the Astros were postponed by inclement weather in New York. Lets dive deeper into the game though because only 5 runs were scored, but a lot of notable things happened in the game.

The game started with the introductions, the flyover, and Bobby Jones and Tom Grieve threw out the first pitch as they are celebrating their 50th year in baseball in 2016. Cole Hamels was very sharp for most of the day, but he missed over the plate twice in the first two innings and that led to solo home runs by Robinson Cano and Ranger-killer Kyle Seager. For the longest time that looked like it would be enough. Felix was not as sharp as normal, but the Rangers were not hitting him at all the first four innings. He walked one batter in each of the first two innings, but settled down after that to get the Rangers in order in the 3rd and 4th innings. One thing the Rangers did do through these first 4 innings was make Hernandez work.

That takes us the 5th inning the score was 2-0 and the Rangers still had not gotten a hit. Odor showed patience at the plate and worked a 5-pitch walk to start the inning. That is one thing I noticed throughout the game is a better approach at the plate by the hitters against Felix Hernandez. It was noticeably different than what we saw last season when the Rangers faced Hernandez or any tough pitcher really. Odor then made things happen by stealing 2nd and making sure his hand did not come off the base during the tag. Tom Grieve and Steve Busby even made note of that during the broadcast that runners will have to be more careful with their slides this season and makings sure they never lose contact with the base. So Odor is on second and then continues to be aggressive by running to 3rd on a ground ball to Kyle Seager. Seager I think was caught off guard by Odor and took his eye off the ball in trying to make a quick tag and did not catch the bouncing ball. Odor was on 3rd and Elvis Andrus was on 1st. Robinson Chirinos then sacrifice bunted Andrus over to 2nd. Delino Deshields then took the Rangers 2nd walk of the inning and it was followed by another walk by Shin Soo Choo which scored a run to make it 2-1. That brought up Prince Fielder with the bases loaded. He proceeds to drop a fly ball right in front of left-fielder Nori Aoki for the only hit of the day by the Rangers. That tied the game. There was still only one out when Adrian Beltre came to the plate and he hit a smash ground ball to shortstop Ketel Marte and he botched it and it gave the Rangers their 3rd run of the inning, the lead, and eventually the win. 3 walks, 2 errors, and 1 hit led to 3 runs for the Rangers. It goes to show that sometimes its not who hits the ball the most or hardest, but it is the team who takes advantage of the opportunities they were given. The Mariners hit two long home runs, but could not do anything other than that, the Rangers had one hit, but made the most of the opportunities the Mariners gave them in the 5th inning.

Neither team really threatened after that. The Mariners had a base-runner in the 6th after an Elvis Andrus throwing error, and the runner advanced on a wild pitch by Cole Hamels, but did not advance further after Hamels finished off the inning with a strikeout of nemesis Kyle Seager. The Mariners then got two more runners on in the 7th, but Hamels once again came through with a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. That was it as Diekman and Tolleson came in to finish off the game. Cole Hamels ended up going 7 innings, with 2 runs allowed, 4 hits, 8 k’s, and 3 BB’s and getting the win. Felix Hernandez took his first Opening Day loss of his career in going 6 innings, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 1 hit, 6 k’s, and 5 BB’s. It was also Felix Hernandez’s first loss against the Rangers since a 1-0 loss back on June 13, 2014. He won all 5 starts made against the Rangers last season. The approach was a lot better today. I remember that the games he pitched against them last season the players were defeated before they even stepped into the batters box. Today they looked confident and appeared as if they had a better plan of attack against him. That helped lead to the victory and a 1-0 start to the 2016 season.

Notes from the Game

There was a weird play in the 1st inning. Shin Soo Choo had stolen 2nd base and the catcher was talking to the umpire and then the umpires conferred and they ruled that Prince Fielder had interfered with the catcher in falling over the plate. Rule 6.06(c) states that if the batter is ruled to have interfered with the catcher then the batter will be called out and the runner will return to their previous base. Fielder fell across home plate in order to get away from the pitch, but in doing so he came across the area that Chris Ianneta was throwing into and the umpire ruled that he had interfered. Jeff Bannister said when asked about that call, “That’s the first time in my career I’ve seen a hitter have to move to avoid getting hit by a baseball, fall across the plate and get called for obstruction or interference. But it’s the rule.” That short circuited what could have been a run-scoring inning by the Rangers.
The defense was outstanding for the most part today. Elvis did have the throwing error in the 6th inning, but other than that everything else was clean. He and Roughned Odor made the two plays of the game. Elvis made a play in the 3rd inning going to his right, he got the bouncing ground ball did a 360 degree spin and then threw the ball on the run accurately to first base to get the speedy Ketel Marte. It was a great play that was one of the top plays of the day on SportsCenter last night. Roughned Odor also had a great play ranging very far to his right almost the right field line where he snagged a ground ball and threw to Shawn Tolleson who was sprinting to first base to get Kyle Seager. Ian Desmond also looked comfortable in left field. He only had a ground ball hit to him as there was only one fly out the entire game by the Mariners.
Speaking of no fly outs, Cole Hamels was outstanding today. He was making his 3rd Opening Day start of his career and even though he gave up 2 early home runs to Cano and Seager, he was still able to buckle down after that and pitch an outstanding game. He kept everything low in the zone and forced the Mariners into 8 strikeouts and 10 ground ball outs. That is how you have to pitch in Arlington throughout the season. Hamels also pitched well in the couple of times that he got into trouble. He showed his veteran poise out there in being able to get out of trouble each time the Mariners looked like they might tie the game. If his performance down the stretch and in the postseason last year did not convince people, hopefully this performance will show that he is the ace of this staff, even when Yu Darvish comes back. I also thought him and Robinson Chirinos worked very well together. It was well known last season that he preferred to work with Chris Gimenez, but he is out with an ankle infection right now. Chirinos did spend the offseason working to develop a better relationship with Hamels in order to be ready for the upcoming season and put himself in a position to be able to be his catcher. I would say it worked out yesterday as they seemed to be on the same page the whole game. This will be something to follow as we go throughout the season though and see if they can maintain that chemistry.
On the other side Mike Montgomery was outstanding late in the game for the Mariners. He came in relief for Hernandez in the 7th and was able to mow through the heart of the Rangers order in the 7th and the 8th. He struck out 4 of the 7 hitters he faced and only allowed one base-runner, a walk to Mitch Moreland. He had his curveball and slider working very well. He also showed very good life with his fastball. I did not expect that.
Overall both starters were very good, kept the hitters off-balance all game, the Mariners made a few mistakes in one inning and the Rangers capitalized to the tune of 3 runs. That allowed them to win the game on the back of a strong start by Cole Hamels and shutdown relief by Jake Diekman and Shawn Tolleson. Sometimes that is all it takes.

Preview of Tonight’s Game

Game Time 7:05 p.m., Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox Sports SW, Hisashi Iwakuma vs Martin Perez.

Tonight is game two of the series and the Mariners will send recently resigned pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to go against Martin Perez. Iwakuma pitched very well in his two starts against the Rangers last season. The 34 year old right-hander went 7 innings in each of his two starts and gave up 3 runs in one start and 2 runs in the second start and picked up the win in each start. The Rangers have actually not won a game started by Iwakuma since August 24, 2013 and he has not taken a loss against the Rangers since July 4th, 2013. He has been outstanding against this team whether it be in Seattle or Texas. That will be something to keep an eye on tonight to see if the Rangers can break through against Iwakuma and be able to pick up a win. Martin Perez will also be making his first start of the season. He has had a good Spring Training and Bannister decided to reward him with the number 2 spot. Perez is coming into a big year. He is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery and so a lot more will be expected out of him. He has the stuff and makeup to be an outstanding pitcher in this league. It is more mental with him. Can he keep himself from losing his focus during a game and stay mentally engaged through the 6 or 7 innings that he pitches. That is something he struggled with last year was if someone made a mistake behind him or if he walked a batter he would let it snowball in a hurry instead of being able to shut it off. The biggest example of this was the beatdown by the Yankees last season. He had a great first inning, the Rangers came and scored 5 runs in support of him, but then he allowed a leadoff double to Chris Young and before you know it the Yankees had tied the game at 5 and he was out of there. He pitched much better after that game, but the mental lapses still were a problem. He is going to have to be much better with that this season and I expect he will be. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has said he expects Martin Perez to have a breakout season in 2016. He has everything he needs to be great. He pitches with good velocity, he is able to spot his fastball and changeup on either corner of the plate, and he keeps the ball low. The bullpen is fresh though and so don’t be surprised if Bannister decides to go to them early if need be. No need to force Perez into a high pitch count situation if it is not necessary.

Player to Watch tonight

Roughned Odor. This could be another low scoring game in which his ability to make plays could be crucial. I expect him to go 1-3, but get on-base twice and watch out if he gets on-base because he is going to make things happen once on-base. That is where he is the most dangerous. If the Rangers win I expect Odor will have a large hand in it on both the offensive side and with his glove as well.

Should be a great game tonight. Hopefully the Rangers win this game and the series. Go Rangers!!!!!

Season in Review: August

Posted on November 4, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Sam Dyson closes out the game against the Astros

Sam Dyson closes out the sweep against the Astros

It has been a crazy week with my work schedule changing for a few days and not having a lot of free time to continue to write this series, but I am back now and am committed to finishing the series this week. I want to finish the review so that we can move on to writing about about what the Rangers will do this offseason. We left off last week with the trade deadline. The Rangers had just acquired Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman from the Phillies and Sam Dyson from the Marlins. Cole Hamels gave them that ace starter they had lacked since Yu Darvish went down in Spring Training. Jake Diekman, a lefty, and Sam Dyson, a righty, helped give the bullpen more depth than it had previously. Both of those guys were power pitchers. Diekman is a lefty that can throw up to 100 mph and Sam Dyson is a righty with a mid 90’s sinker. It was like Jon Daniels gave Jeff Bannister a couple more toys to play with. Bannister immediately put these guys in as late inning relief guys. The team sent down rookie Keone Kela, who had been the Rangers 7th and sometimes 8th inning pitcher, in order to get him rest. He had been pitching a lot for this team. As we head into August the team is playing better having beat the Yankees in the last two games of the 4 game series and then starting off the series with the defending champion San Francisco Giants by beating Madison Bumgarner on Friday.

Cole Hamels made his start in the second game of the series and 1st day in August. Unfortunately for him it was against the team that he did not have good numbers against. He has struggled against the Giants throughout his career to the tune of a 4.33 ERA and just 3 weeks prior this start he had faced them in a Phillies uniform and allowed 9 runs in 3.1 innings. This time though he was not great, but he did pitch 7.2 innings and he did allow 5 runs. He did leave with the lead though, but unfortunately the bullpen could not hold it and the Rangers lost in extra innings when Hunter Pence hit a home run to put the Giants on top. The next day the Rangers sent Martin Perez to the mound and he was spectacular. He was efficient with his pitches, he got tons of ground balls and had a shot to get a complete game shutout. It was the complete opposite of his previous start against the Yankees in that 21-5 debacle. It was marvelous to watch and showed how much potential Perez has as a starter in this league. Controversially though Bannister removed Perez with one out in the 9th inning of a 2-0 game. Perez’s pitch count was only at 80 pitches, but Bannister felt like he did not want to put too much stress onto Perez’s arm this soon after Tommy John recovery. He had also just given up a double and the tying run was at the plate. He brought in Jake Diekman who walked his only batter. Then Sam Dyson came into the game to try to finish it, because Shawn Tolleson was unavailable. He gave up base hits to the first two guys he faced and a run. It was now 2-1 with Hunter Pence again at the plate and this happened.

A double play to end the game and the series. The Rangers won the series against the Giants and had seemingly righted the ship heading into the series against the division leading Houston Astros. At this point in the season the Rangers were looking more like a wild card team, but also keeping an eye on the division. They were 8 games back of the Astros and really needed a sweep if they were going to compete for the division. They won the first behind Adrian Beltre’s 3rd cycle of his career and won the game 12-9. The Rangers came back the next night from a 2-0 deficit and won 4-3. The bullpen was able to lock down the game and a series win by pitching 4 innings of scoreless relief coming on after Yovanni Gallardo pitched 5 innings. Now we get to the finale of the series and this a game the Rangers really needed to win to make some headway and catching the Astros. Picking up one game is good, but being able to pick up 3 games on the division leader would be huge. It was going to be Scott Kazmir against Nick Martinez. Kazmir had dominated the Rangers all season whether it was when he was with the A’s or Astros the Rangers had just not been able to figure him out. Nick Martinez though having out dueled Madison Bumgarner in his previous start felt confident. He once again pitched well only allowing 1 run in 5 innings. The Rangers like they had been doing throughout this homestand got on the board early and were able to hold on late. They scored 3 runs in the first and 1 run in the second for a 4-0. That would be the only runs they would score. The Astros got one back in the 4th, 2 back in the 6th to make it 4-3. A bullpen combination of Sam Freeman, Spencer Patton, Jake Diekman, and Sam Dyson held them scoreless the last 3 innings to take the sweep with another 4-3 victory. All of a sudden the Rangers were back above .500 at 54-53 and 5 games back in the division. The Rangers bullpen was pitching lights out and the offense was doing just enough to get wins. It was nerve-wracking to watch but fun all the same.

Following that series which got them closer in the division race the rest of the month was going to be about the wild card. They had series against the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Baltimore Orioles. These were all teams that they were either chasing or teams that were chasing them for one of the two wild card spots. They also had two series against their nemesis this season the Seattle Mariners. These three weeks would either help them climb up the standings for the wild card heading into September or if they did not play well it would end any chance they had at the postseason. They did not get off to a great start losing 2 of 3 to the Twins in Minnesota. Then they came back home to face the Rays. They started off with come from behind win that saw Delino Deshields hit his first MLB home run in the 7th to tie it and then they were able to go ahead on a Josh Hamilton sac fly and win 5-3. They won 12-4 the next night as they hit Rays All Star and ace Chris Archer pretty hard. That win moved them in front of the Rays in the wild card standings. The Rangers won 5-3 the next day to complete the sweep. The momentum would continue as they won 2 of 3 against the Mariners. Then they went on the road to face the Tigers who were still holding on to slim hopes that they could get back in the race. The Rangers would face them in a 4 game series in Detroit. They lost the first game 4-0 as Alfredo Simon pitched a one-hitter against them. They bounced back the next night and won 2-0 behind another dominant outing from Colby Lewis. They won again on Saturday 5-3 with another good start from Yovanni Gallardo. They finished off the series with another win 4-2 as Cole Hamels picked up his first win in a Rangers uniform. Hamels had pitched well his previous two starts in Rangers win, but was not the pitcher of record in either start.

As we headed into the final week of August the Rangers at 64-59 were only 3.5 games behind the Astros for the division lead and they were in the second wild card spot having jumped 4 teams from the beginning of the month till August 24th. They had jumped over the Twins, Angels, Orioles, and Rays to take over the second wild card spot behind the Jays/Yankees who were tied in the AL East. The Rangers were legitimately surging as we headed into their series against the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays were also on fire since the trade deadline. They had been 6 games back in the division behind the Yankees and made all of that up in just 3 and half weeks. They were not only beating teams they were embarrassing opponents. Their run differential was increasing by the game. Both teams had been among the best teams in baseball in August as they started play in Arlington. The Rangers held a late 5-4 lead as Shawn Tolleson came into the game to try to close it out. He walked 2 of the first 3 hitters. He was trying to hit the corners and was not getting the calls and the Jays were not swinging. He had two runners on with only one out with Justin Smoak coming to the plate. Smoak flew out to make it two outs. Then Tulowitzki came to the plate and hit a single to left to tie the game. Josh Donaldson then hit a soft grounder that Adrian Beltre could not field cleanly that allowed the go-ahead run to score and the Rangers lost 6-5. It was Tolleson’s 2nd blown save of the season. Derek Holland in that game was good not great, but good enough to get the win. It was his second start of the season. He was dominant in his debut allowing only 2 runs against the Mariners. He looked like the Derek Holland of old though which was going to be great for the team in the homestretch of the season. The other news from that game was that they lost Roughned Odor due to a ripped fingernail. He would not go on the DL, but would sit out the next few games as it recovered. The next night it was David Price going up against Colby Lewis. The Jays won 12-4 as they were able to take advantage of Lewis’ flyball tendencies to hit two home runs and the bullpen was not able to stop the bleeding as they allowed 7 runs of their own. After the game Jeff Bannister called the next game a must win. He said ,”To go where we want to go, we’ve got to come back and play well tomorrow. We have to have our ‘A’ game. We have to be focused tomorrow and find a way to grind one out however it goes. We can’t give another one away.” It would be Yovanni Gallardo on the mound going up against Marco Estrada. Gallardo had pitched well and won the only game in the Rangers previous series against the Jays. On this day he pitched well again. It continued a strong stretch of games in the month of August for Gallardo. This day he was able to 5.1 with no runs allowed again. Estrada also pitched really well only allowing 1 run in 6 innings. Then Liam Hendriks came in out of the bullpen and this happened.

Deshields hit a 3-run inside the park home run to extend the lead to 4-0. The Rangers were able to close it out after and win 4-1. That was a hard-fought victory that the team really needed. It was good to see bounce off the mat and get the win. From there they had a 3 game series against the Orioles and one game against the Padres to close out the month. They swept a struggling Orioles team that really played itself out of the playoffs during this stretch by losing 4 straight and 9 out of 10 to fall to 5.5 games back in the wild card and 11 games back in the AL East. The Rangers were going the opposite direction. They beat the Orioles 4-1, 4-3, and 6-0. They finished off the month by heading to San Diego to play the Padres. The final game of August though saw them lose 7-0 and be dominated by Tyson Ross.

It was still a great month that saw great play, lots of adversity, and resilence in the face of doubt. They ended up the month going 18-10. They were in the lead by a game for the 2nd wild card spot and were only 4 games back in the division. They did all this despite losing Josh Hamilton for some time, losing both Carlos Corporan and Robinson Chirinos for the entire month, losing Odor for a few games at the end of the month, Prince Fielder struggled again this month, and Colby stumbled down the stretch in August by having 2 bad starts in a row. They survived all of that because the bullpen was fantastic for most of the month, Odor was still hitting great, and the starters pitched very well. The story that I did not get to that I will write more about in September was Shin Soo Choo hit well in the first two weeks after the All Star Break. The story is not that though it is that he was able to continue that throughout August as well. He took over the 2 hole in the lineup for Bannister and never looked back. Him and Deshields were a lethal combination at the top of the order. Choo started walking more, starting making more contact, and was hitting for power. He became the player the Rangers thought they were signing back in 2014. I will write more about that tomorrow as I get in September. September is really when he took off and became the best hitter in the lineup.

Tomorrow I will be writing about the end of the regular season. The Rangers are in a 3-team race as we head into September for the division, and they are holding onto the lead in the 2nd wild card spot as well. They are in a good position. They have 7 games against the Astros in September and loads of divisional games. I will write about their chase to get the divsion and how the title was won in game 162.

Season in Review: July

Posted on October 26, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Delino returned in July from his hamstring injury.

The 2015 season unlike many others was a true roller-coaster season. It was the season that saw the Rangers race to last place in the division after one month and then soar to 2nd place in the division after two months. As we pick up our season in review in series in July the Rangers have now settled into the race with the Angels for second place in the division and are in the wild card race as well. The team was able to maintain through June as they dealt with various injuries to Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, and Delino Deshields Jr. By the end of June Beltre and Hamilton had returned but Delino had not yet returned. It was during this point that we really were able to see how important Deshields was to this team. It hurt losing him more than it did Beltre and Hamilton.

Deshields, who was a Rule V pick from the Astros, had never played above Double-A before this season. He had decent minor league numbers in the Astros organization, but Houston did not have any room on their 40 man roster for Deshields. So he was left unprotected and the Rangers chose him in the Rule V draft last winter. They liked his speed and what he could possibly add to this team. He showed enough to make the team out of Spring Training, and the Rangers did not want to send him back to the Astros and so they kept him. At first Bannister did not really know what to do with him, and so he was just a late innings pinch runner. Then later in April he showed he could swing the bat, so he became the 4th outfielder. In May Leonys Martin got hurt and so he played some center field and hit really well. Bannister started hitting him leadoff and that is when the offense took off. Deshields could get on with a bunt, a softly hit ball in the infield, or he could drive it into the gap. Once on base he could make things happen with his legs. He could steal a base, go first to third, or even score from first on a ball in the gap. The offense and the lineup were rolling with him and Choo at the top of the order, but then he strained his hamstring on June 14th. That would keep him out till July 5th.During that span the team averaged just 3.1 runs per game and their record was 8-11. Deshields quietly was the MVP of this team. When he was getting on base at a good clip they would win, when he wouldn’t they would lose. Without him at the top of the order they were really struggling at this point to figure out how to produce runs. Odor, Alberto, and Choo were some of the lead off hitters used. Bannister was trying to find something that would work consistently. He put those at the leadoff and guys like Moreland and Andrus hitting second. It just was a mess. Then on July 5th Deshields came back and was immediately reinserted back into the leadoff spot and Odor was placed in the 2 hole. That seemed to work out big for the team. It did not show up in wins immediately for the team, but there was a different look that had not been there before.

The Rangers even with Deshields back in the lineup ended up getting swept at home by the Angels in a series that was not even close. That was another first half trend was that they struggled in beating teams from the AL West all first half long. They finished the first half 11-23 against the AL West. It is hard to compete for the division with such a poor intra-divsional record. That is something that would have to improve after the break. The Rangers finished up the first half with a couple of series against NL lightweights Arizona and San Diego at home. Unfortunately they lost both games to the Diamondbacks and lost 2 of 3 to the Padres. It was pretty clear at this point that the team was exhausted and running out of steam and it was pretty hard to see if they would be able to compete in the second half. Some shocking changes had also taken place during this stretch. On July 4th the Rangers designated for assignment former closer and Rookie of the year,Neftali Feliz. He was the former electric closer who had helped them reach the World Series in 2010 and 2011 and was converted to a starter in 2012, but blew out his arm and had to have Tommy John surgery. He came back in 2013, but did not have the same velocity. He was in the minors for much of 2014, but was called up after Joakim Soria was traded midseason and became the closer again. In 2015, the velocity still was not there and the consistency was not there either. With Matt Harrison needed to be activated off of the 60-day DL the Rangers decided to DFA Feliz. They ended up releasing him after the 10 days and he signed on with the Detroit Tigers. It was hard to see because it is hard to picture those World Series teams without Feliz and hard to not see him in a Rangers uniform anymore. He was supposed to be our Mariano Rivera. A guy who would close for several years and several potential postseason runs. It was not meant to be though. The team moved forward with Shawn Tolleson and others in the bullpen. Chi Chi Gonzalez was also sent down after struggling for a few starts. He got off to a great start, but hitters adjusted to him and he could no longer miss bats. He was sent down with the command being to work on his swing and miss pitches so that he can put MLB hitters away. Right before the All Star Break Matt Harrison made his triumphant return as well from another back injury. He missed all of 2013 with a back injury, then came back in 2014 and pitched in April and May, but had another episode with his back and missed the rest of 2014. He tried again in 2015 and diligently worked his way back through Spring Training, Extended Spring, and a 30-day rehab assignment in the minors. Finally on Wednesday July 8th he made his return against the Diamonbacks. He replaced Wandy Rodriguez in the rotation. He threw 4 innings, giving up 6 runs, and striking out one. The most important thing was not the result or the runs, but it was that he was back and that he made it through the start without getting hurt again. The team then lost 2 of 3 to the Padres to finish out the first half.

At the break the Rangers were 42-46 and were fortunate to only be 6 games back in the division, but they were also 5.5 games back of the Angels for second and for the wild card as well. It was going to be an uphill battle if the Rangers were going to contend. They needed to play better inside the division, play better at home, get better starting pitching, and find a way to beat lefthanded pitching. Each of those things are what was dragging the team down. It was also at this point that the Mariners were closing in on them for third place. It was a time to relax and recharge the batteries for the stretch run. The race was far from over. The Astros had not been in a true pennant race and so it was anybodies guess on how they would play down the stretch. It was up to the Rangers though to play better themselves and get back into the race. Prince Fielder represented the Rangers in the All Star game in Cincinatti and represented well. He got a 2 run opposite field single and the AL ended up winning 6-3. That closed the book on the first half of the season.

The second half got started with a very important 9 game road trip. The Rangers closed out the first half poorly and would need to really play well in the second half to get back into contention. They started the road trip in Houston for a 3 game series against the division leaders. It did not go as well as you would hope. They lost the first game 3-2, but there was good news in this game. Martin Perez made his long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery in this start. He pitched decently. He made it through 5 innings only giving up 3 runs, struck out 2, and walked two. So all in all not bad for a debut. The offense though could not get a big hit that would have allowed them to win the game. They did bounce back and win the second game behind a huge game from Roughned Odor. He had 3 hits including a triple and a home run. He made the Astros mad with his over the top showmanship and caused a benches clearing argument to occur when Hank Conger tried to say something to Odor. Roughned Odor responded to the benches clearing incident with this.

A bat-flipping triple. This would not be the last time Odor would drive an opponent crazy and it is one of the main reasons why his teammates and fans love him. He plays the game with a swagger that helps him play better and the team as a whole play better. That is the Odor the team was missing in April and May. The Rangers ended up winning this hard fought game that saw both teams and managers get in each others faces. It was a needed win. They could not follow that up with a win in the rubber game of the series as Dallas Keuchel, another lefty, shut them down to help the Astros to a 10-0 win. The Rangers left from there to go to Denver to face the Rockies in a 3 game series. Nick Martinez had a poor start as the Rockies scored 7 runs in the first two innings. He would calm down though and not give up any more runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. The bullpen then went to work shutting down the Rockies from the 5th through the 8th innings. This work by the pitching staff allowed the offense to slowly be able to chip away at that lead. Finally in the 9th, Adrian Beltre did this.

Your browser does not support iframes..

He tied the game with a double, but unfortunately Tanner Scheppers could not hold the Rockies down in the 9th. He gave up 3 hits and a walk-off win in the 9th to lose it. Not the start the Rangers wanted. They lost 3 out of 4 to start the second half and were now 9 games back in the division and were 6 games under .500. Then the team started to turn it around. They won the next two nights in Colorado and went to Los Angeles to face the Angels and won the first two games there including a come back 7-6 win against the Angels to win the series. They lost the final game of the road tri 13-7 but finished a respectable 5-4 on the road trip to momentarily get the boat back floating instead of sinking.

Then they went home on a trip to finish the month. It was at this point that the Trade Deadline rumors were starting. Were the Rangers in on Cole Hamels, were they trying to compete or sell this season, and would the Rangers trade Gallardo to a true contender? All of these questions were out there as the Rangers started a homestand by facing the New York Yankees in a 4 game series. Jon Daniels had to be pondering all of these as he looked at what was out there. At this point in the season the Rangers were still 4 games under .500, 8 games back in the division, and 5 games back of the second wild card behind 5 other teams. It would have been natural for him to really consider selling and saying that they will be ready with Yu Darvish to go all in next season and try to acquire minor pieces here and there to help fill out the roster and get ready for next season. Then the team lost back-to-back games against the Yankees to start out the 4 game series. They lost 6-2 behind another lackluster start from Matt Harrison,in what would be his last start for the organization. Then the next night they scored 5 runs in the first inning against Chris Capuano and could have scored more. Joe Girardi took Capuano out and put Diego Moreno in the game and he was able to end the first inning. Martin Perez was on the mound for the Rangers in his 3rd start after coming back from Tommy John surgery and followed that up with not being able to get out of the second inning. The Rangers allowed 11 runs to all of a sudden go from up 5-0 to down 11-5. It was an embarrasing night and probably rock bottom for team. They lost the game 21-5. Wandy Rodriguez came in after Perez and gave up 7 more runs in what was the last appearance he made in a Rangers uniform. Adam Rosales even came in to pitch in the 9th. It looked like that was maybe it. It was hard to convince myself the team could compete after a night like that. At this point the Rangers were 8 games back in the division still and were just not playing well at home. Then the tide started to turn as we neared the end of the month. It was July 29th and the Rangers had two games left against the Yankees and after getting beat down 21-5 they could go one of two directions. They could either pack it in or respond the only way they knew how and that is by winning. Jeff Bannister and the team adopted the phrase Never Ever Quit for this season. This team was not about to lay down after that 21-5. That was the line in the sand moment. The players rebounded by winning 5-2 the next night behind a great outing from Colby Lewis. Then looking for a split in the series beat the Yankees with a walkoff from Josh Hamilton off feared left handed closer Andrew Miller on a hit the looked and sounded like this.

It was also during these last two days that word got out that the Rangers had acquired Cole Hamels. It would not be announced till July 31st, but it was agreed upon on July 29th. The deal was Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman from the Phillies for Alec Asher, Jered Eickhoff, Jake Thompson, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Williams, and Matt Harrison. It took a lot of players to get him here, but the Rangers got it done and had their ace in hand for the home stretch. The question would be could he have the same impact that Cliff Lee had on the team back in 2010. We shall see and it was a trade that showed the depth that Jon Daniels had spent years developing for a moment like this. The trade nationally looked like a trade that was made in order to compete in 2016, but Jon Daniels was giving this year’s team a chance to compete. Jake Diekman was also included in the trade to help improve the bullpen. Jon Daniels also went and got Sam Dyson right before the deadline for catcher Tomas Telis to help fortify the bullpen even more. All of these were players the Rangers would have under control for at least the next 3 seasons. It was a trade that worked in the present and in the future.

With this news and excitement the Rangers finished off the month by beating the Giants and Madison Bumgarner 6-3. It was a mismatch except for Nick Martinez actually outpitching Bumgarner and the Rangers winning. Their ace was in hand and their bullpen was made stronger and the team was suddenly on a 3 game winning streak that brought their record to 50-52 on July 31st. They were seven games back in the division and still in 3rd place. The team liked their position more than they did just a few days prior. Having Cole Hamels gave this team confidence every 5 days that they would have a shot at winning. Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman being brought in also helped a bullpen that had already been pitching pretty well and helped them become great.

As we close the book on July, the month was mainly about surviving. The team had stretches where they played well and not so well. For the month the overall record was 11-14. They struggled pitching, struggled holding leads, struggled hitting the ball consistenly, and just could not win games. The credit goes to Jon Daniels though for continuing to believe in this team and bringing in the resources for them to be able to play better down the stretch and better they did.

Tomorrow we will take a look at August when the Rangers surged from 3rd place to into the Wild Card lead by the end of the month and were making an assault on the lead the Astros held in the division.

Season in Review: June

Posted on October 22, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Joey Gallo makes his Texas Rangers Debut on June 2nd.

May was a great month for the Rangers, but at the very end the team suffered losses off the field in losing Adrian Beltre to a thumb injury and Josh Hamilton to a hamstring injury. They were in good position in the standings, but could they remain there while these players recovered? The other question became who would replace Beltre at 3rd? Would it be Ed Lucas or Thomas Fields? Would they bring up Odor from AAA and shift Alberto to 3rd? The completely out of the box idea was to bring Joey Gallo up from AA and have him play 3rd, but the though with that was that he was not ready for MLB pitching. The Rangers started the month with an off day before continuing their homestand against the Chicago White Sox. Word started leaking out the Rangers were considering bringing up Joey Gallo. Then late Monday afternoon it became official that Rangers prospect Joey Gallo would make his long anticipated MLB debut on Tuesday night. We would be able to see if he could contribute and fill that hole left in the lineup by Beltre. Lot of debate on both sides of this, is this harming his long term development, is he ready, and the other side saying why not, it gives the lineup another power threat. Up to this point in the season that Tuesday night game was the most excited I have been about watching a Rangers game in 2015. No one knew what to expect. None of the experts, coaches, or anyone knew how he would perform. I was expecting maybe a hit and 3 strikeouts going up against Jeff Szmardija. That is not even close to what we got. I will just let the video do the talking.

He hit a home run, a double, and a single. He was magnificent and helped lead the Rangers to a 15-2 win. It was eye opening really and showed the potential that he has. As a fan I knew that he wouldn’t do that every night, but it was great to see in his debut. That went to show that the Rangers might be able to survive this stretch. It was not going to be easy and the schedule was filled with lose able games, but if the Rangers could play close to or at .500 ball for the month I thought they would be okay for the long run.

The first half of the month they played a lot better than that though. They ended up winning 2 of 3 against the White Sox, 2 of 3 against the Royals and that gave them a 7-3 homestand and I believe their first winning homestand of the season. The offense was clicking during this stretch, Prince Fielder cooled down from his red hot May, and the team as a whole was playing well. What also changed was that at the end of May Jeff Bannister instituted a no-roles bullpen meaning that he could bring in whoever he thought was best for the situation. That ended up turning back into a roles bullpen midway through June, but the new role that was most important was Shawn Tolleson had become the new closer. He took over for an ineffective Neftali Feliz, who became a setup pitcher. Feliz, the once dominant closer, still had not regained his form from 2010-2011. The velocity was not there which made the secondary pitches less effective. After a month and a half of rough outings Bannister made Tolleson the closer and never looked back. Tolleson captured that role and helped to solidify the back end of the bullpen. It allowed the Rangers to hold on to those close games that they were losing in April and May.

The team just kept rolling though despite the injuries, they did lose a series on the road to the A’s. The won the first game, but lost the next two. The bullpen blew one game and Scott Kazmir dominated them in the other. The good thing through this point was that Chi Chi Gonzalez was still pitching well. He had taken over Ross Detwiler’s spot in the rotation in late May and was living up to the hype. He had nearly made the team out of Spring Training. He was one of the last cuts, but he went down to AAA and still pitched well and so when the Rangers decided they had given Detwiler enough opportunities they decided to bring Gonzalez up and see what he could do. At this point the team was just trying to make it till guys like Martin Perez, Matt Harrison, and Derek Holland could come back. Wandy was starting to cool down by this point in this season and looked to be on his last legs, but they did not really have a great alternative. The pitcher who was throwing well was Yovanni Gallardo. This was his best month of the season and he helped to carry the Rangers through this difficult stretch. He gave up 2 earned runs the entire month of June, pitched at least 7 innings in 3 of the starts, and helped the team win 3 of his 5 starts. He was great.

The turning point of the month though was when Delino Deshields pulled up lame with a hamstring injury on June 14th. The Rangers had won the first two games against the Twins, but lost on this Sunday and lost Deshields to the DL after this injury. The Rangers at this point called Odor back up to majors. While in AAA he had hit for a .352 BA, 5 home runs, and slugged .639. He really played well and the Rangers thought he was ready. So they threw him out there and he was ready and looked like the old Roughned Odor. This Odor would help the Rangers win the next three games against the Dodgers. They won the first two at home and including a walk off win off the bat of Robinson Chirinos in the second game. Then the series shifted to Los Angeles for the next two games. They would face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Joey Gallo had another one of those moments in LA against Kershaw.

He hit a monster shot off of Kershaw. Left-handers don’t normally do that against him, and left handed rookies definitely don’t do that. It was like Vin Scully said “a marble”. Just unreal and helped this team who had struggled against left-handers all season long beat perhaps the best left handed pitcher in all of baseball and win this 4 game series against the Dodgers. They did lose against Zack Greinke in the finale of the series, but even then it was only a 1-0 loss and it ended with a walk-off balk by Keone Kela. Anthony Ranaudo had started the game and pitched very well. The Rangers would then go to Chicago to face another tough lefty in Chris Sale, and while they did not do anything against Sale except for strike out 12 times, Colby Lewis kept them in the game by holding the White Sox to just one run. Then in the 9th, Mitch Moreland was brought on as a pinch hitter to face David Robertson with two runners on base and he did this.

He gave the Rangers the lead and the win. Remarkably enough the Rangers had not only survived this stretch without Beltre, Hamilton, and Deshields now, but they were winning a lot of games. They were at their high point of 6 games over .500 at 37-31, in second place in the West, and only 2.5 games behind the Astros. Things were looking really good. At this point only a matter of a week or so till Beltre and Hamilton both came back. Ryan Rua had just come back from the heel injury, and so things were looking like they might be able to catch the Astros before the All Star Break. That is normally the time when things start to take a turn south and boy did they ever for the Rangers. The injuries and all the tough pitchers that they faced took a toll on the whole team. They had been winning games for about a week or so at this point with smoke and mirrors. They were not scoring a high amount of runs, but were pitching just well enough to win games. After beating Chris Sale and the White Sox that changed. The pitching was still good, but the offense kept just scoring 2 runs, while the pitching was allowing 3. That caused them to lose the next two games in Chicago. Then the team went back home to face the A’s in a 3 game series and lost all 3 games as the pitching got a lot worse. Adrian Beltre did come back during this homestand, but it would take him while to get his timing back as he was learning to play with his injured thumb. Beltre coming back though did not help the pitching. Wandy Rodriguez started to only throw well on the road and throw up clunkers at home. The league caught up to Chi Chi and he started to not be as effective and Joey Gallo started striking out a lot more and being less effective. Hanser Alberto who had filled in a 2nd and 3rd was also not hitting and Prince Fielder had massively cooled down without Beltre in the lineup. Roughned Odor had come back and was playing great, but unfortunately no one else was. It was hard to win games. All of this would lead to the A’s sweeping them at home and then the Blue Jays took the first game of the series to end what had become a 6 game losing streak and just like that they were back at .500 and 5.0 games back in the division. Thankfully it was Yovanni Gallardo’s turn in the rotation. He would go up against the Blue Jays on that Saturday and would shut them out and help the team end that long losing streak. That was a trend this season was Gallardo pitching well against the Blue Jays. His being right handed and being able to pitch on the corners allowed him to be able to stay away from the power zones of the Blue Jays hitters. They would go on to lose the next day, but Chi Chi pitched well other than just one inning, but the offense couldn’t get enough runs to win the game. Then to end the month the Rangers went to a Baltimore and since it was on the road Wandy pitched well. He was great in this start as he pitched 5 innings, giving up 1 run, and striking out 7 and the Rangers won 8-1. Then on the final day of the month the Rangers won again 8-6 this time behind a good start from Colby Lewis and great offensive production.

The Rangers had some great highs in this month with the debut of Joey Gallo, winning 3 games against the Dodgers, and getting up as high as 2nd place in the division. They also had some lows and that was losing Deshields and then losing 6 straight and 7 of 8 at the end of the month. It was clear by the mid of June the team was running out of steam. They did get Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton back by the end of the month and had survived June. They finished the month with an overall record of 40-38, 5 games back in the division, and 1 game behind the Angels for second place. Overall they went 14-13 for the month, which allowed them to stay in the race through what was a difficult month of June. It was also great to see Joey Gallo finally in a Rangers uniform and he had some great and some not so great moments. Hanser Alberto proved that he could hit on this level and Roughned Odor showed that he was not a flash in the pan either. Odor would be perhaps the Rangers best player from the time he came back up through the month of July. We will continue detailing his remarkable return next week. Chi Chi Gonzalez was great in the rotation as well, but did show some holes. He had issues putting hitters away as he was not able to get swings and misses as often as he needed to. The most important thing was that the Rangers were still in the race after this month. It could have very easily went very south with all the injuries, but Jeff Bannister and the team kept that from happening.

Next week I will come back and detail the month of July and the entire second half. July features the return of Delino Deshields, the return of Martin Perez and Matt Harrison, a 21-5 beatdown, and surprising trades that would completely turn around the fortunes of this team. May was the month that set them on the path to contending, June was about surviving, and July will be about becoming a true contender. That will be next Monday that I will write and continue with part 4 of the 2015 Season in Review.

Season in Review: May

Posted on October 21, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Today, we pick up our 2015 Season in Review by looking back at the month that changed it all for the Rangers and that is May. Prior to May 1st it looked like this was going to be another … Continue reading →

Rangers-Jays Game 5 Preview

Posted on October 14, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

This is it. By the end of the day today the Rangers season will be over or they will be advancing to the ALCS to face either the Royals or Astros. It has come to this after two uninspiring … Continue reading →

Winning Streak Crashes Down

Posted on May 27, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

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!!!!!!!

Rangers Let One Get Away

Posted on May 2, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

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!!!!!!!!