Season in Review: September/October

Posted on November 5, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

He pitched the Rangers to the Division Series can he pitch them into the ALCS today?

Hamels pitches Rangers to division in game 162

Yesterday was my 100th post and in those 100 posts we have covered everything from the disaster that was 2014 to the comeback that was 2015. It has been quite the journey and I hope the next 100 takes the journey from this postseason to possibly a World Series next season. We shall see. Today is the final part of our look back at 2015. It has been a roller coaster of a season so far. The Rangers started off down and in last place in April. They rose back to 2nd place by the end of May. In June they stayed afloat despite injuries to key players. In July they fell way back of the Astros and nearly fell out of third. In August after the trades they rose back to being in 2nd place and leading the wild card. The question became as we entered in September would the Rangers fall back in this month or would they continue to surge. The answer would become both. It was a great month and stressful month of baseball that ended with a celebration.

As we start the month the Rangers are in San Diego for their last interleague series of the season. They had just lost to Tyson Ross and been one-hit the previous night. They were able to bounce back though and win the next game 8-6. The highlight of the game though was Elvis Andrus stealing home.

That was old school Elvis right there. That was a good sign for the team as September was getting started. They won the next night in San Diego in extra innings when Mitch Moreland had the game-winning RBI double. The next day was an off-day and then it got serious as the Rangers were starting a 23-game stretch against AL West teams. This would be where it would be determined what the team would be. Would they be the 2nd wild card, AL West Champion, or out of the playoffs entirely? This 23 game stretch would go a long way to determining that. As we entered into the stretch the team was still leading the 2nd wild card and were 2 games back in the division. They still were in a good position but that all could change if they didn’t continue winning games.

They began the stretch with a 3 game series in Anaheim. C.J. Cron who dominated Rangers pitching all season led the Angels to the victory in the first game and they won 5-2. Derek Holland had maybe his last good start of the season the next day when he pitched 8 innings and held the Angels to 1 run and the Rangers won the game 2-1. They lost the series though the next day when Colby Lewis had another poor start and the Rangers lost 7-0. Not a great start but at least they won one in Anaheim. The next trip took them to Seattle. They struggled all season against Seattle and were facing a 4 game series against the Mariners. The Rangers at least needed a split and that is exactly what they got. Gallardo pitched well and the Rangers won 3-0. They won the next night 9-6 in a game that Cole Hamels pitched. They really relied on the long ball in that game. Shin Soo Choo, Mitch Moreland, Roughned Odor, and Joey Gallo all went deep. Hamels did his thing where he pitched 7 innings and did well enough to get the win. The last two games did not go as well they lost 6-0, and 5-0. I think it was exhaustion from the long road trip and the fact that maybe they had got what they needed and then relaxed. They ended the 10 game road trip with a 5-5 record and were still in the lead for the second wild card ahead of the Twins by one game and still in 2nd place behind the Astros by 2.5 games.

The success of the 10 game homestand would be determined by how they fared against the Houston Astros in the 4 game series. They first had to face the Oakland A’s and could not afford to really look ahead. They did not want to lose ground any further before the 4 game series. Colby Lewis was starting the first game and had not been pitching well heading into this start. 3 straight really poor starts, but on this night he was nearly perfect. He started the game by pitching 7 perfect innings. He gave up a hit to lead off the 8th, but the Rangers were still able to win 4-0 and get the homestand off to a good start. Gallardo got beat the next night though 5-3. The Rangers bounced back in the third game and won 12-4 in the series finale behind a solid start from Chi Chi Gonzalez. Choo who has been red hot at this point continued hitting in this game getting 3 hits and a home run.

Shin Soo Choo who was signed in the winter of 2014 due to his ability to get on base and hit for power had really done neither in his time for the Rangers prior to the All Star break in 2015. He had really struggled and was often times mentioned as one of the worst contracts in all of baseball. In the first half of 2015 he expanded his zone more often than not and looked way too cautious on defense causing him not to get to a lot of balls. The thought with Choo was to just get to the offseason and maybe they can trade him and hand right field over to Nomar Mazara next season. The story was told that during the All Star break he talked to his wife and she told him to just be himself and to not think about the contract. He had been dwelling too much on how much he was getting paid and not enough on what he did to warrant getting that contract. He came back from the break and started taking more walks, getting more hits, and going after the ball on defense. Day-by-day his average started to go up, his OBP skyrocketed, and he started to hit for more power as he saw better pitches. It was remarkable to see what happened. He hit .274 in August and then in September he may have been the best hitter not just for the Rangers, but the best hitter in the entire American League. As he hit better the team played better. The lineup with him at the 2 hole started to flow better. It gave Fielder and Beltre numerous RBI opportunities. That is why Fielder and Beltre were among the RBI leaders for the month of September and October and that is all Choo. He was getting on base in half of his plate appearances. He hit for a .387 batting average and slugged .613. It may have been his best month as a pro. It was unbelievable to watch and renewed my faith in him heading into 2016. He was the comeback player in my mind from where he was in April to where he was in September.

As the Rangers headed into the season-defining series against the Astros they had momentum and were hungry. Would it be enough to defeat a good Astros team? The Astros had to be thinking they at least needed a split, the Rangers if they wanted to make a dent needed at least 3 and maybe to sweep to really grab the momentum. In the first game the Rangers were down 2-1 against Scott Kazmir when Mitch Moreland who started at first hit a 2-run home run to put the Rangers ahead and Prince Fielder hit a 2-run home run in the 8th provided breathing room. Moreland who normally doesn’t start against tough lefties started at first base when Bannister decided to experiment with Napoli in left field. Hamilton was still being bothered by a sore knee and actually had surgery to clean out his knee. Bannister instead of starting Ryan Rua or Ryan Strasbourger opted for Mike Napoli in order to get his bat in the lineup and to keep Mitch Moreland’s bat in the lineup. It was controversial at the time but it worked and helped the Rangers be able to compete against the tough left handers down the stretch. The second game went much like the first. The Rangers were down 5-4 in the middle innings and came back with a RBI double from Adrian Beltre to score Prince Fielder and tie the game in the 4th inning. The game stay tied until the 9th. Prince Fielder led off with a single. Drew Stubbs came on to pinch-run for him. Adrian Beltre singled and Stubbs went to 3rd. Mitch Moreland then came in to face Will Harris who was a righty that fared very well against lefties. Moreland was up to bat and no outs and he did this.

He delivered the Rangers to first place in the division. The Rangers had been the chasers since the first weekend of the season. They had been as far back as 9 games at one point and looked dead in the water. They played hard, won a ton of games and with this sac fly caught and passed the Astros and were in first place in the division for the first time all season. The season was not over yet. It was great to be in first midway through September, but the journey was not over yet. They still had two games against the Astros and if Houston came back and won the next two then all of this would have been for nothing. The next night after jumping into first place they were facing Cy Young favorite Dallas Keuchel. It would not be an easy game or so one would think. The Rangers took that momentum from the previous night and scored 6 runs in the first inning against Keuchel and ended up scoring 9 runs overall. Keuchel could not get out of the 5th inning. It was maybe his worst start of the season. Once again Choo was in the middle of it as he had another 3 hits, Fielder had 5 RBI’s, and Mike Napoli had 2 hits and a home run as well. It was a stunning night and the Rangers won 14-3. All of a sudden the Rangers are in position to get the sweep and put their foot down as the AL West leader. Lewis pitched well in the finale only allowing 2 runs and after a slow start the Rangers scored 5 runs in the late innings to complete the sweep and win 8-2. Choo was again in the middle of it as he picked up another 4 hits. As the series ended the Rangers were now in first place in the AL West by 2.5 on the Astros and 5.0 games on the Angels.

The Rangers got what they needed and now just needed to hold on down the stretch. Their first test came against the Mariners and they did not fare so well as they lost 2 of 3. Thankfully this was it for games against the Mariners. They then left for a road trip against the A’s and Astros. They needed to really sweep the last place A’s and win at least one against the Astros. They did sweep the A’s in scoring 26 runs in 3 games. They had some momentum heading into Houston. This would be the final series against the Astros and they were up 3.5 games at this point. They needed to win at least one, but they would be in first place even if they got swept. Game one saw Gallardo facing Scott Kazmir. Gallardo pitched well in 4.2 innings and the bullpen was lights out after that and the Rangers won 6-2. As I keep saying Choo was in the middle of this victory as he had 3 hits and a home run. Derek Holland continued his struggles as he had little to no control and the Astros came back in the middle innings and beat the Rangers 9-7. Choo had another 2 hits in 4 plate appearances. Martin Perez pitched well in the finale giving up 2 runs, no earned, but Dallas Keuchel pitched like the Cy Young winner he is likely to be. The Astros won 4-2. The Rangers did get the one win they needed though and were still 2.5 games up as the final week of the season was getting started.

The last week of the season saw the Rangers facing a 3 game series against the Tigers and a 4 game series against the Angels, all at home. The team likely needed to win at least 4 to secure the division. They got halfway there by winning 2 of 3 against the Tigers. They lost the first game against Justin Verlander, but Cole Hamels got a victory in a game in which he pitched poorly. Gallardo finished off the series by pitching 5.1 innings and only giving up 2 runs. The Rangers were faced with a 4 game series against the Angels with a magic number of 2 to eliminate the Angels and 2 to eliminate the Astros. The team was pushing hard to get it finished, but it would not be easy. Derek Holland again struggled with his control but pitched well enough to only allow 3 runs. Adrian Beltre had a big 3-run double to provide some space with a 4-1 lead. The bullpen held on and the Rangers clinched a playoff spot and eliminated the Angels from the division race with a 5-3 win. The Rangers needed just one victory in their final 3 to clinch the division. They could not get it done on Friday night as the Angels won in the 9th with a base hit from Mike Trout and a RBI single from Albert Pujols to win it. Jered Weaver dominated in that game. They had a chance on Saturday and held a lead in the 9th of 10-6. They had come back from a 5-1 deficit in the 5th to tie and then take the lead with runs in the 6th and 7th innings. The Angels though came back with 9th inning lead off home run from Erick Aybar and Kole Calhoun off Shawn Tolleson, then Ross Ohlendorf was brought in and he could not get outs as the Angels came back to win 11-10. It was a punch in the gut. It was not known would the team rebound on Sunday? Would they face two one-game playoffs coming up on Monday and Tuesday? They set up Cole Hamels to pitch on the last day though for reasons such as this. He was magnificent. He gave up a home run in the first, but dominated after that. He pitched a complete game in game 162 and the Rangers won the game and won the division. It was Hamels’ best start as a Ranger and it came at the most opportune time. The Rangers needed him to come up big and he came up really big on this day. With that start he delivered the Rangers to the division series for the first time since 2011. It was the 6th division championship for the Rangers as a franchise. The Toronto Blue Jays would be waiting for them. On this day the team celebrated a long journey from last place all of last season and into April this season to AL West Champion in 2015. It was a great season. The division series did not go as planned. They won games 1 and 2 in Toronto, including an extra inning classic in game 2. They lost games 3 and 4 though when the pitching did not perform as expected. The Jays outlasted them in what was a classic Game 5 that saw so many things that we had never seen happen in the 7th inning. Jose Bautista capped it off with a monstrous 3-run home run that blew the top off of the Rogers Centre and he flipped his bat all the way to Ottawa.

That disappointment should not take away from what was a great season. 2015 had no expectations, especially after they lost Yu Darvish before the season and then definitely after they lost Derek Holland during the home opener. The team did not quit though and took on the attitude of their manager. They played hard on a night-in night-out basis. Players like Roughned Odor, Shin Soo Choo, Prince Fielder, and Mitch Moreland all came back from injuries or demotions this season and produced in a big way. The no name pitching staff kept them in the race for most of the first half while reinforcements recovered from injury. Then once healthy the team thrived and played very well. Jon Daniels also had maybe his best season as he brought in Wandy Rodriguez,Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, Will Venable, Mike Napoli, and Drew Stubbs and they all played a role in this team winning the division. Ross Detwiler did not work out as planned, but Yovanni Gallardo did and he pitched very well once the Rangers figured out how best to use him. Jeff Bannister in his rookie season as manager pulled all the right strings as the right time and got better as the season went along. I think he will be even better in his second season as he learns how to best use his bullpen.

There will be some changes for next season though. The Rangers will have a new coaching staff. Mike Maddux left to go to Washington. They let go of bullpen coach Andy Hawkins, and hitting coach Dave Magadan. Looks like Doug Brocail will replace Maddux and it has not been announced who will replace Magadan. They also have some free agents like Colby Lewis, Yovanni Gallardo, Mike Napoli, Drew Stubbs, and others. Next week I will be writing a full length offseason preview. I will look at possible trade candidates, positions they should look to improve, and possible free agent signings. I think now after writing this review I am finally ready to move on to 2016. Spring Training cannot get here soon enough.

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.

Rangers Enter the Stretch Run

Posted on August 5, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Things That Must Happen for the Rangers to Make it Back to the Playoffs

Posted on March 28, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

Fielder hits his first home run at Globe Life Park We are now just 3 days away from the start of the regular season. It has been a long six weeks for the Rangers as they have dealt with … Continue reading →

Spring Training Day 4 Recap

Posted on February 20, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Day 4 of camp was a pretty big day as all players are now in camp. Prince Fielder and Elvis Andrus were the last two players to arrive. Elvis came in rocking a James Harden-like or Abraham Lincoln-like beard. Prince … Continue reading →

My Favorite Moments as a Rangers fan

Posted on February 4, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

The Texas Rangers have existed as a franchise since 1961 when they were born as the Washington Senators. Then in 1972 they moved the team to Arlington, Texas and became the Texas Rangers. This countdown takes a look at my 10 favorite moments as a Rangers fan. All of the moments tend to range from 1996-2013. I am 30 years old and have been a Rangers fan since about 1992. I didn’t go to my first game till 1994. I know I am leaving out several moments like Nolan Ryan’s no hitters, Kenny Rogers perfect game, Julio Franco All Star MVP, and several other moments from before 1996. I apologize for that, it just is that I was really too young to really appreciate it and remember it. So here are my favorite moments from 10-6.

10. The Rangers clinching the AL West in Oakland in 2010 with a Jorge Cantu Home run.

2010 was a breakthrough season for the Texas Rangers. The theme was, “Its Time”. It meant that it was time to break through and start winning. They had been making a steady climb up hill from 2007-2009. In 2010 the expectation was not to just compete, it was to win. All season long they made moves to help them win. They traded prospects for Cliff Lee, Bengie Molina, and Jorge Cantu. They were serious. The Lee and Molina moves worked out splendidly, but Cantu not so much. Cantu had always been known as a guy who drives in runs. Yet, in his almost two months with the Rangers he had yet to drive in any runs heading into the game against the Oakland A’s on September 21st. The Rangers were one win away from the clinching the division that day, but going into the 8th inning the score was 3-3. Cantu had an RBI single in his previous at-bat, and in the top of the 8th Cantu sent a long flyball to left-center that carried out over the wall and put the Rangers ahead 4-3. They would go on and hold on to that lead and clinch the division that day. That was pretty much the only thing Cantu did in a Rangers uniform. Mitch Moreland would go on to replace him at first base in the playoffs.

9. Nelson Cruz hits 6 home runs in 2011 ALCS.

The ALCS in 2011 was between the two best teams in the AL that season in the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers. The Rangers were led by their powerful lineup with Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, and Adrian Beltre. The Tigers were led by MVP candidates Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. They came into the series having beaten the Yankees in 5 games and the Rangers came in having beaten Tampa Bay 3 games to 1. It was a series that was a season in the making. The Rangers won 96 games and the Tigers won 95 games and due to a Rangers win and a Tigers loss in-game 162 the Rangers had the home field advantage. It was going to be a competitive series. The one thing no one was expecting though was the kind of show Nelson Cruz was going to put on. Cruz hit 6 home runs in this series. Two of them were hit in crucial moments. He hit a walk-off grand slam to win game 2 and he hit a 3-run home run in the 11th inning in game 4 to extend the lead to 7-3 and help the Rangers win that game. He followed that with two more home runs, one in-game 5 and one in-game 6. He helped carry the Rangers to the World Series that year. He won the MVP in this series with a .364 BA, 1.273 slugging%, 6 Home Runs, and 13 RBI’s. He was a machine that series. The Rangers ended up winning the series 4-2 and made it back-to-back AL pennants.

8. Rangers 11-10 Comeback against the Angels on August 1st, 2012.

This series came in late July early August. This series had importance to both teams. After a slow start the Angels had rallied to within 3 games of the Rangers division lead. The Angels wanted all 3 games to give them momentum heading into the home stretch and tie up the division. They did take the first two and were in great position to take game 3 up 7-1 going into the bottom of the 5th. The Rangers turned it around though with a four run 5th finished off by Elvis Andrus’ RBI single to score Ian Kinsler. So from there it stayed 7-5 till the 8th when David Murphy had an RBI single to score Adrian Beltre. That is when things offically got crazy. In the 9th Kinsler hits the game-tying home run and sends it to extras. Then in the 10th the Angels respond with a solo home run by Chris Iannetta and a 2-run home run by Albert Pujols. So you are thinking well they did come back, but it just was not meant to be tonight. The score was 10-7 and was 3 outs away from a loss that night and a series sweep that would have tied up the division. The Rangers under Ron Washington are a never say die group and on this night they responded in an unbelievable fashion. Nelson Cruz gets things started with a home run to make it 10-8. Michael Young reaches on an error, David Murphy walks, and then a single by Mike Napoli to load the bases with no outs. From what looked like a sure loss to a game you would expect them to win just like that. Mitch Moreland then singles to right field to make it 10-9 and Elvis Andrus steps up to the plate to win it with a 2-run single on a ground ball that gets by Alberto Callapso. The Rangers win the game and the Angels end finishing in the 3rd in the division.

7. Yu Darvish nearly throws a perfect game against the Astros in game 2 of 2013 Season.

Yu Darvish came over from Japan in the winter of 2011. The Rangers then proceeded to sign him to a contract in 2012. He came into 2012 hyped as the next great pitcher. He didn’t quite live up to that potential. He struggled his first few months with high pitch counts and a lack of control. He could not quite figure out how he wanted to attack hitters. It wasn’t till the last two months that he started to figure it out. He ended the 2012 season as the Rangers best pitcher and started the AL Wild Card game. Going into 2013 there was high expectations for Yu Darvish. It was expected that he would take that next step and become one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. He didn’t get the opening day start, Matt Harrison did due to his overall performance in 2012. Darvish though left no doubt in game 2 who was the better pitcher. In his first start of the season against the Houston Astros he proceeded to retire the first 26 hitters of the game. He was using a mixture of fastballs, curveballs, and an improved slider. He kept the Astros off-balance all night. It wasn’t until the 27th hitter came to the plate did he give up a hit. It was a ground ball single up the middle by Marwin Gonzalez past Darvish that rolled into the outfield. Darvish continued to bring it every 5th day the rest of 2013 as he went 13-9 with a 2.83 ERA and a league-leading 277 strikeouts. Finally, he finished second to Max Scherzer in AL Cy Young voting.

6. Juan Gonzalez hits 5 home runs in ALDS against Yankees in 1996.

Juan Gonzalez was one of the most feared hitters in baseball in the 90’s. He won two MVP awards. He would go on to win it in 1996 and again in 1998. Each time he was among the league leader in home runs and RBI’s. Going into this series no one knew how he was going to do or how the team was going to perform. It was the Rangers first time on the postseason stage. Many of their players were experiencing this for the first time. It was thought that going up against the more experienced Yankees would be too much for them. For most of the players you would be right, but Juan Gonzalez had one of the best series from an outfielder in postseason history. He hit 5 home runs in 4 games in that series. He was an unstoppable force, but unfortunately no one else could get their bats going and so after winning game 1, the Rangers proceeded to lose the next 3 and were done. That doesn’t take away from what Gonzalez did in those 4 games. He was spectacular, and his efforts will not be soon forgotten.