1-Hit Wonder

Posted on April 5, 2016 by colonelsportsnation

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

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

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

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

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

Notes from the Game

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

Preview of Tonight’s Game

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

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

Player to Watch tonight

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

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

Season in Review: August

Posted on November 4, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Sam Dyson closes out the game against the Astros

Sam Dyson closes out the sweep against the Astros

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Season in Review: July

Posted on October 26, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Delino returned in July from his hamstring injury.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rangers-Jays ALDS Game 4 Preview

Posted on October 12, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

The Rangers lost last night 5-1 to extend this series to this afternoon’s game 4. They struggled with Estrada’s changeup all night and were not as sharp in the field as they needed to be. Martin Perez though pitched a … Continue reading →

Texas Rangers-Toronto Blue Jays ALDS Preview

Posted on October 7, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Game 1: Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays October 8th, 2:30 p.m. (CST) Game 2: Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays October 9th, 11:30 am (CST) … Continue reading →

Rangers Clinch AL West

Posted on October 5, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Cole Hamels pitches the Rangers to the AL West Championship

At no point in April through July did I have any idea that I would be writing that headline. The Rangers started off the season 8-16 and were already 8 games back of the Astros by the end of the April. They lost every game of a series in that month and did not even win a home series until the last day of May. Nick Martinez was their best starter in April and can’t even get on the field now in September. Wandy Rodriguez was mowing people with that curveball and now pitches for the Kansas City Royals. Kyle Blanks was getting important hits in the 3 weeks he was healthy. Tanner Scheppers and Neftali Feliz were your 8th and 9th inning relievers. When I type that out it feels like that was a whole different season. Yet it was not and even though the team played well in May, the bottom dropped out from mid-June to mid-July.

They stood at 8 games back when they made the trade for Cole Hamels. That was the turning point of the season was that week. That was the week that they lost 21-5 to the Yankees. I just remember thinking the team can go one of two directions after that game. They can continue playing like garbage and play out the string or they can try to turn it around and get back into contention. They picked the latter. They came back to win the next two games against the Yankees and get an improbable split. Then they made the blockbuster trade for Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman. Then in the last 30 minutes before the deadline they picked up Sam Dyson for Tomas Telis. That transformed their bullpen from a liability to a strength and allowed them to be able to hold on to these games that they were blowing. Then in August when they started to play well Jon Daniels did it again bringing back fan favorite and right-handed bat Mike Napoli. That strengthened their lineup against LHP. They still stood 8 games back and with just a 10% chance according to Baseball Prospectus (BP) to win the division. The sweep of that series is really when the team started to believe and when the organization started to believe that they might have a chance at this. The sweep kept them alive in the wild card chase but also they picked up 3 games on the Astros to get to within 5 I believe. They were still behind the Angels, but they were getting much closer to them as well.

The team kept playing well from August through much of September and the Astros just kept creeping back to the pack. I began to look at the schedule and thought that if they were going to move into first place it would likely be during that 10 game homestand and the 4 game series with the Astros. Sure enough they did when Mitch Moreland hit the go ahead sac fly to score Drew Stubbs that allowed them move into 1st place. I have to say though that they gave me plenty of pause about their ability to finish it off this week. I thought they would do it Friday, but Jeff Weaver and his 84 mph fastball and his 67 mph curveball were just too much for the Rangers. They just could not slow down their bats enough to be able to get solid wood on the ball. It was as if they were facing a right handed Jamie Moyer. Then I thought for sure they could hold a 4 run 9th inning lead, but nope that was not meant to be either. Yesterday though seeing Cole Hamels pitch like he did shows why Jon Daniels went out and got him. He put up one of the best pitching performances in Rangers history. The other ones that I can think of are Nolan Ryan’s two no-hitters, Kenny Rogers perfect game against the Angels, Cliff Lee in game 5 of the ALDS and game 2 of the ALCS, Derek Holland in game 4 of the World Series, Yu Darvish nearly pitching a perfect game against the Astros in his first start in 2013, and now we have the Cole Hamels complete game in game 162 to clinch the division. Feel free to rank those in your mind however you would like, but Hamels’ game belongs up there. The bullpen was fried from being used so much this week and needed at least 8 and preferrably 9 innings from him and that is what he gave them. The Angels last 26 hitters were 0-23, with two walks and a HBP of Mike Trout. He was masterful in keeping his pitch count down and just getting outs. That is why Jon Daniels brought him here is for games like these and for the postseason games that will follow. In 2010 and 2011 the division was so down that there was not much of a race either year. This year though it was a true 3 team race all the way till the end. Thankfully the Rangers came out on top.

Now they take their talents to Toronto to face the surging Blue Jays. Will they win that series? Who knows. It will be a difficult series, the Blue Jays bring in a great offense, but only have decent pitching. The Jays bullpen is vulnerable. The Rangers must keep it close through the early innings and be stubborn at the plate and try to get to that bullpen early. The pitching strategy has to be to keep the ball low. The Jays will crush anything that is left up. I imagine the rotation will be Lewis, Hamels, Gallardo, and Holland. The Blue Jays do not fare as well against right handers but absolutely crush left-handers. The Jays are the favorite to win this series, the analysts I imagine will be picking this series to go 3 or 4 games tops with the Blue Jays winning it. The Rangers are there though and anything can happen once we start playing the games. The thing I like is the Rangers experience in the playoffs. On the Blue Jays Mark Buerhle, David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, and Russell Martin have previous playoff experience. Buehrle, Price, and Tulo have all played in a World Series. For the Rangers Mike Napoli, Mitch Moreland, Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Cole Hamels, Derek Holland, Yovani Gallardo, Colby Lewis, and Josh Hamilton. Of those players Napoli, Moreland, Andrus, Hamels, Holland, Lewis, and Hamilton have played in multiple World Series. The Rangers bring in vast experience in playoff series and I like to think about this, but the Rangers have not lost an AL Playoff series since 1999. Sure they were not even in the playoffs from 2000-2009, but they won both the ALDS and ALCS in 2010 and 2011. They have that going for them too. The Rangers are there though and not alot of people thought we would be saying that. I think my preseason prediction was that they would finish 3rd in the division behind the Angels and Mariners and finish right around 82-84 wins. They outplayed my expectations though and I could not be happier. This has been one of my favorite seasons to follow the Rangers and I really hope it does not end anytime soon. The AL is wide open and if they can get past the Blue Jays the Royals and whoever wins the wild card game is very beatable. Anything can happen in October. We shall see. Game 1 is Thursday with the time of the game to be announced soon.

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.