Tag Archives: Houston Astros

Rangers Enter the Stretch Run

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

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.

Winning Streak Crashes Down

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

Other Game Notes 

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

7 is the Lucky Number for the Rangers

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

Other Game Notes

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

Make that 4 in a Row for the Rangers

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

Rangers Win First Series of the Season

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

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

Texas Rangers Week 3 Roundup

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

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

Top 5 Players of the Week

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

A Look Ahead

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

Finally the GIF Of the week

 

 

 

Freese beats Rangers Again

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

Rangers win behind the Prince and the Young Gun

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Fielder and Martin help the Rangers toward a big road win.

Fielder and Martin help the Rangers toward a big road win.

The Rangers bounced back to win last night in the first of the two game series against the Diamondbacks 7-1 behind another great effort from young gun Nick Martinez and power-hitting first baseman Prince Fielder. There was more to it than that, it was what can be called a team win. Leonys Martin and Elvis Andrus were good at the top of the lineup, Fielder was good in the middle of the lineup, and the pitching was very solid. After the disappointing loss on Sunday it was good to see the offense bounce back late and get 6 runs in the last two innings, and to see the bullpen be able to close it out. It was a good win overall and evens their record on the trip to 2-2 and 6-8 overall.

The actual game was quite interesting. Nick Martinez and Chase Anderson were involved in the pitchers duel part of the game and the bullpens were involved when the offense for the Rangers finally broke through. Martinez came in with a streak of 14 innings without an earned run. It was 5 innings shy of matching the Rangers record for most consecutive innings without an earned run to start a season. The streak came to an end at 15.1 innings as the Diamondbacks put together two softly hit singles through the infield and then an RBI groundout. That allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game. That is where it stayed as both starters, Chase Anderson and Nick Martinez really settled in. Martinez was able to make it through 6 innings. It could have been longer, but an error by Roughned Odor extended the inning in the 6th and caused him to throw 12 more pitches. Those pitches were high stress as the bases were loaded in a tie game, but Martinez was able to get out of it with another ground out.  Martinez finished the game with 13 groundball outs. Chase Anderson though was able to match him and even do one better, he went 7 innings in his start. The Rangers could not really threaten Anderson in his 7 innings. The best they could do was the first inning when Leonys Martin led off with a double, went to third on a high chopper groundout by Andrus, and then Fielder laced a double to deep left center field to score the run. After that Anderson only gave up 1 more hit in his last 6 innings. He kept the Rangers off-balance with a good mixture of fastballs and changeups. The Rangers did make him work though and after 7 innings he was removed. The score was still tied 1-1.

In the 8th the Diamondbacks brought on former starting pitcher Daniel Hudson. Hudson who had to undergo Tommy John surgery in back-to-back years and is trying to reinvent himself as a late inning reliever was brought on to help keep the game tied. He immediately got in trouble though as Smolinski reached on a error with one out. Then he walked a patient Leonys Martin. Elvis who had been struggling to this point in the game, was able to chop the ball over the 3rd basemen’s head into left field and score the go-ahead run. Then Martin was able to score on a double steal of 3rd when the ball was thrown away into left field. Prince Fielder followed that up with this.

 

 

That was Fielder’s first home run of the season. It was a no-doubter. He got close to a home run with his lined double into the gap in left center in the first, but this one he got all of. That gave him another multiple hit game. It was his 9th game with multiple hits and 3 of the last 4 games he has multiple hits. He has been hitting it just has been of the single or double variety. It was nice to see another team not employ a shift on Fielder. As long as he continues to drive it to all fields the shift will not be on. It is up to him to not fall back into bad habits though. For now though, he is showing how great of a hitter he is, and not just a power hitter. He is carrying this offense on his broad shoulders. That home run made it 5-1 and they tacked on two more for good measure in the 9th and Scheppers was able to close out the 7-1 win for the Rangers.

Other Game Notes

  • Have to continue talking about Nick Martinez. Right now I would say he is the best pitcher the Rangers have. He is doing exactly what you would expect an ace to do and that is stop losing streaks. Each of his last two starts he has come in with the team on a two game losing streak and was able to pitch well enough to end it. He has made three starts so far this season and each of them have came after a loss. He has pitched well in every game he has started. Make that 20 innings pitched so far with only 1 earned run. He has been outstanding as last night he showed he could get groundball outs in bunches. Last night he showed that he can pitch well without getting run support. In his previous two starts he got 10 runs of support and 8 runs of support. Last night it was 1 in his 6 innings of work. He did what it took to keep it a tie game and give the Rangers offense a chance in the late innings. He just continues to impress and hopefully he can keep that up through these next two months without Derek Holland.
  • Leonys Martin has been really good on this trip. He is 8-17 for a .470 BA and he is showing patience at the plate as well. He saw 31 pitches last night in his 5 plate appearances. He worked a walk twice and even in one of his outs he still saw 6 pitches. He is clearly seeing the ball better and showing that he knows what it takes to be a leadoff hitter in this league. It not only takes the ability to hit, but also the ability to get on base. Last week he was removed from his leadoff responsibilities due to his lack of plate discipline. Manager Jeff Banister gave him two days off from the leadoff role and ever since then he has been more patient and has started to really hit. If he gets on base that is when things happen for this offense, because Prince is hitting very well with runners in scoring position. If Martin can continue to get on base that will give Prince someone to drive in.
  • A couple of player continue to struggle though, Shin Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre. Choo since returning from having back spasms in the home opener is 2-22 and with only 2 walks. Beltre is 4-33 since a multiple hit game against the Astros on April 11th. Combined they are 6-55 and the big problem is they hit back-to-back in the lineup often times. The offense would be a lot better if the team could get more consistent contributions from both of these guys. Fielder has done his part for this team. It is time for Beltre and Choo to snap out of it and start playing like the All Stars that they can be.
  • Nice to see the bullpen bounce back after a tough game against Seattle on Sunday. Kela, Tolleson, and Scheppers combined to throw the last 3 innings and did not give up any runs. There was also only 1 walk and that was by Keone Kela. Tolleson though came in with maybe the biggest out of the game. Kela had allowed a walk and single and had runners on 1st and 3rd with NL MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt coming up. Banister decided to make a double switch at that point and go to Shawn Tolleson. Tolleson rewarded his faith by getting Goldschmidt to strike out on a 94 mph 4 seam fastball. At that point it was still a tie game. Good call by Banister to go with the more experienced Tolleson in that situation.  I also thought it was a good move by Banister to get Scheppers in a less high-pressure situation. Since coming back from the injury on Friday every situation has been high pressure for him and obviously it was too much for him on Sunday. In his one inning of work last night though he pitched his one inning with only 1 hit and got the strikeout to end the game. He was certainly in more control and that is the pitcher the Rangers are going to need in the 8th inning for them.
  • The Rangers will go for their first series win again tonight in the final game of this quick 2 game series. The Rangers have lost in their last 3 opportunities to win a series. They will be going for their first tonight. It will be a matchup of Opening Day starters Yovanni Gallardo and Archie Bradley. Gallardo will be going for his 3rd straight win and Bradley will be looking for his 2nd win of the season. First pitch is tonight at 8:40. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!

Rangers Leave the Game on Base in Loss to Astros

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

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

 

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

Rangers Homestand Recap and Road Trip Preview

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  The Rangers just concluded a very succesful 10 game homestand. They went 7-3 in the homestand and won all three series. They took 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros, 3 of 4 from the Seattle Mariners, and 2 … Continue reading →