Tag Archives: Houston Astros

Game 9 Recap

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The Rangers let one get away today. They had an 8th inning lead and a chance for a 3-3 road trip through two of the best teams in the AL and they let it get away from them. It wasn’t a game they played particularly well, but yet they had a 2-1 lead and Neal Cotts on the mound to try to get it to closer Joakim Soria. Just as quick as you snap your fingers it was gone. David Ortiz had sent one down the right field line and around Pesky’s Pole for a game-winning 3-run home run. Instead of 3-3 it became a 2-4 road trip. That still is not bad, it is exactly what I expected. I expected them to win the Yu Darvish and Martin Perez starts, seeing that they are the most experienced starters that they have right now. That is exactly what they did. They won 3-0 on Sunday and 10-7 last night. They sit at 4-5 and are now preparing for a 10 game homestand that starts on Friday against the Astros.

Instead of talking about big picture, lets discuss today’s game. It was Robbie Ross Jr. making his second start of the season going up against veteran Jake Peavy. Early on Robbie struggled with his control. He walked 4 hitters between the 2nd and 3rd innings. That brought out Ron Washington. It wasn’t to take him out of the game, but to give him a stern talking to. Nothing seems to bother Wash more than a pitcher who is not throwing strikes. It was just Wash and Ross out there, no catcher or other infielders. That got through to him as he did give up one run in that third inning, but then he calmly got David Ortiz to ground into a double play to end the inning. That was it as far as the scoring for the middle innings. Ross would only walk two more hitters and make it into the 6th inning. The score was still 1-0 when he was lifted. He did walk 6 hitters, struck out 4, but only gave up 2 hits. He still needs to work on his control, but only giving up one run allowed the Rangers to come back and have the lead late.

They would have to come back late because early on Jake Peavy was spectacular. He was able to control the plate and keep the Rangers off-balance. He ended up striking out 8 and walking 4. The only one who was seemingly having good at-bats against Peavy was Choo. He led off the game with a double and then had two walks against Peavy. Everyone else struggled through 6 innings. In the 7th though things turned around when Mitch Moreland took a 89 mph fastball deep into the right-field bullpen to tie the game. Up to that point it looked like even though they were only down a run that it was not meant to be their day. Moreland changed all of that with one swing. Then it looked like a game that the Rangers could steal. In the 8th they did just that. Elvis led off with a double and was eventually brought home on a sac fly by Alex Rios. All of a sudden the Rangers had a 2-1 lead and were 6 outs away from a victory and a series win.

That leads to today’s questionable decision of the game. It occured in the bottom of the 8th after the Rangers had taken a 2-1 lead. Alexi Ogando had been in since the 6th inning and had pitched very well. It was his best appearance of the season. His fastball velocity was up and he was able to keep it down in the zone and his slider was very filthy. He was able to strike out 4 hitters in those 1.2 innings. Instead of bringing in Cotts to start the inning he let Ogando start the inning. He proceeded to walk Jackie Bradley Jr. At that point the Red Sox decided to pinch hit with A.J. Pierzynski. Washington then had a decision to make go with Ogando or come in with Neal Cotts. Cotts was warm and ready to go, yet Washington stuck with Ogando. He was clearly hoping that Ogando could finish out the inning and that he wouldn’t have to use Cotts. Ogando stayed in and Pierzynski blooped one right down the right field line to put two on and no outs. Ogando would get Pedroia to ground out.Then Cotts would come in to face Ortiz with two runners on and one out. David Ortiz then went yard to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead and the game. I understand why you start the inning with Ogando, but why keep with him even after the Red Sox have pinch-hit with Pierzynski. It just goes back to the problem the Rangers have with the 8th inning. They don’t have one guy who is good enough to assume that role so it leads to confusion late in games about who to bring in. Today it cost them as David Ortiz just did David Ortiz things in helping the Red Sox win the game 4-2.

Notes from the Game

  • Shin Shoo Choo is an on-base machine. That is all he does is aim to get on base. Early on this season he has been hitting and walking a ton. Right now he is in the middle of a stretch that has seen him reach base in 8 of his past 10 plate appearances. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. I love seeing how he is able to work a pitcher and wait till he gets a pitch that he likes. He is also normally in the middle of any Rangers rally, whether he starts it or he keeps it going. I questioned whether he was worth the contract that they gave him, but after seeing him play I would say that he is.
  • -Alexi Ogando was filthy today. This is the Ogando that the Rangers wanted to win a rotation spot. He lacked control though all Spring. Today he was bringing it and in the 6th and 7th innings he was untouchable. He was able to locate his fastball on both corners and the slider was really biting. This Ogando can be a real asset in the bullpen as long as he can bring it on a consistent basis.
  • Adrian Beltre was sent back to Texas to be examined further, but he has not been put on the DL yet. Instead they did bring up Kevin Kouzmanoff to man 3rd and designated Seth Rosin for assignment. Now they have 10 days to either trade or send him back to the Philadephia Phillies. Hopefully the Rangers can find a way to keep  him, because he had shown some potential to be a solid weapon down in the bullpen.

The Rangers will have tomorrow off and will be back on Friday at home to begin a 10 game homestand starting with the Houston Astros. It will be Yu Darvish going up against Scott Feldman at  7:05.

My Favorite Moments as a Rangers fan

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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.