Tag Archives: Jeff Banister

Rangers Let One Get Away

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I had in my mind what all I was going to write about a 5-0 or 5-1 victory over the A’s. I was going to write about how the team seemingly played with more energy, more crispness, and more focus. They did not struggle with runners on base and were able to score runs. It was going to be a good win to get this series started. Then, the 8th inning happened and it quickly turned from a sure-fire win to an inexplicable loss. It was a nightmare inning and it was much like the 8th inning they had against Seattle when they had a 10-5 lead late and allowed 6 runs in the 8th to lose it. This time it was 5-0 and they allowed 7 runs to lose it. This loss drops their record to an AL Worst 7-15 and 8.5 GB in the  division. They are going the wrong direction and just cannot get themselves turned around. I wrote these two quotes 10 days apart. This first one was from April 20th after they lost that 5 run lead against the Mariners in Seattle:

“The saying is that good teams find ways to win games and bad teams find ways to lose games, well this was a game that the Rangers found a way to lose.” 

I had this quote just two days ago after they got swept against the Angels.

“their bullpen has been good except for games when they have been needed to close it out.”

I think it is finally time for us to admit that this team is not good. They will Josh Hamilton back in probably 3 weeks, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland back in likely June, and Martin Perez in July. It will be too late though because this team is likely to be 15-20 games under .500 by that point. I am not giving up hope, but this team is not giving me much reason for optimism. This time injuries I don’t think are playing a part. They just are not doing what it takes to win baseball games. I was mostly disappointed for the offense last night, because for the first time in about 2 weeks they actually looked like they were having fun, and to have it all fall apart due to the bullpen was terrible. The body language that they exhibited in that inning was definitely one of depression, because they knew that last night was a game that they really needed.

If we just take a look at the first 7 innings, there were several bright spots. Colby Lewis was really dealing last night. He was locating all of his pitches on the inside and outside corners. His curveball had lots of bite, and he was able to get plenty of strikeouts. He ended up with 8 on the night. He was absolutely dominant in 6 innings and really deserved a win for his effort last night. The offense too. Kyle Blanks hit an absolute no doubt home run down the left field line in the 2nd inning, the only question was would it stay fair. It did and it was his first home run in a Texas Rangers uniform. Prince Fielder also hit a home run to straight away center in the 4th, his second of the season to make it 2-0. Then they were able to manufacture one more run that inning. Adrian Beltre singled following the home run and was eventually sacrificed home off the bat of Jake Smolinksi to make it 3-0. They added two more runs in the 7th. Roughned Odor tripled to lead off the inning and then Leonys Martin hit a sac fly to get him home. Prince Fielder doubled down the left field line, was pinch ran for by Delino Deshields Jr, and then Adrian Beltre singled through the hole on the right side of the infield to score Deshields to make it 5-0. At that point as fans we are thinking with Tolleson, Kela, and Feliz all still in the bullpen the Rangers should be able to get 5 outs and close this game out.

Shawn Tolleson started the dumpster fire of an inning by allowing a leadoff home run to Mark Canha. That was a bad sign that maybe he didn’t have it. He then followed that with a single to Eric Sogard, he got Sam Fuld to ground out, but then walked Marcus Semien. It was clear by that point that he was not locating his pitches well. He then got Billy Butler to strike out. His pitch count was at around 26 by this point, so Banister decided to remove him in favor of Roman Mendez. Mendez has been good, especially good with runners on base, but he sometimes struggles with control. If Tolleson and Keone Kela are your 7th and 8th inning pitchers, then I don’t quite understand why didn’t Banister decide to go with Kela in this situation. The A’s are a team that is going to take advantage of Mendez’s control problems and they did. When he came in the score was 5-2. He proceeded to walk the first hitter to load the bases. Then he gave up a single to Josh Reddick that scored Stephen Vogt and Marcus Semien. Banister then decided to go with Feliz to try to end this rally. Yeah that did not happen. The next two batters hit a double and a single to make the score 7-5. The only reason that inning ended was a caught stealing that was upheld on review. Kela may not have made things better, but he needs to be in those type of situations. They are not going to win a lot of games, but if they can develop Kela as a potential closer option for the future, they need to do it. That involves putting the rookie in high-pressure situations to see how he responds. He ended up pitching the 9th and went 3 up and 3 down. It was a terrible inning that cost them the game.

Other Game Notes

  • Shin Soo Choo was back in the lineup after getting two games off so that he could put some extra time in the cage with Dave Magadan. He responded by ending his 0-21 stretch by getting a double in the 4th inning. That was his only hit of the game, but as we have seen throughout Choo’s career, his hits come in bunches. Normally when a cold stretch ends a long hot streak begins. Hopefully that is the case.
  • Defense was much better tonight. 0 errors. That was a big problem in the Angels series, but the infield played much better tonight.
  • Elvis Andrus extended his hitting streak to a team high 7 games with his double in the 5th inning. His batting average during these 7 games is .321. That is the Elvis that the team needs offensively. The double showed the kind of spark plug he can be. He hit a line drive down the left field line and was sprinting out of the box and was able to extend what normally would be a single for most players into a hustling double. They need more of that.
  • This season is going to be a test on Jeff Banister and his #nevereverquit attitude. This team is going nowhere fast and reinforcements are still weeks away from coming. Can he get this team to forget what happened last night and move on to the game tonight? The team has talked about how they do not want to see what happened last year happen this year, but right now they are in a tailspin. They need a win tonight to stop the losing streak, because getting a win Sunday against Sonny Gray is not an easy task.
  • They have the right guy on the mound hopefully to help them get a win. Nick Martinez will be going for the Rangers tonight against Drew Pomeranz. Martinez has a 2-0 record with a 0.35 ERA. He has only allowed one earned run in 26 innings. He has been able to stay within himself and never let the situation get too big. The team is 4-0 in his starts this season. His previous 3 starts the team was on a 2 game losing streak, a 3 game losing streak, and coming into this game they are on a 4 game losing streak. Each time he has been able to end the losing streak. Hopefully he can tonight. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Lets Go Rangers!!!!!!!!

 

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

 

 

 

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!!!!!!!!!

Texas Rangers Week 2 Roundup

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Time once again for the Texas Rangers Weekly Roundup. It was a disappointing week for the team. The week saw them lose 2 of 3 at home to the Angels and 2 of 3 on the road to the Mariners. The week also ended poorly as the Rangers blew a 5 run lead to the Mariners on Sunday to lose the series. Their record stands at 5-8 overall and they are 2 games behind the Astros for first place in the AL West. Thankfully for them and everyone else in the division no one has gotten off to a hot start like the Tigers have. If the Rangers can just survive this tough stretch and keep picking up games they should be able to stay in the race.

Top 5 Most Valuable Players of the Week

  1.  Prince Fielder. He still lacks power, but one has to think that it will come eventually. The one thing he is doing is racking up hits. He is doing it with men on base and without men on base. This last week saw him hit for a .368 BA, .850 OPS, and 2 RBI’s. The Rangers after Saturday night’s game against King Felix the team was hitting a league low .201. The only thing keeping them above the mendoza line is Prince Fielder and his .368 BA. One of things I did notice as well in both series was that neither team employed much of a shift on Fielder. That allowed him to be able to get some hits where normally a second baseman or shortstop would be. He has gotten rid of that shift by showing a willingness to hit it to all fields. If he can supply power with this average then he might be able to have a really great season.
  2.  Robinson Chirinos. This may come just on the basis of one game, but that one game was really good. On Tuesday night against the Angels his bat finally came alive. He came into the game 1-13. He left the game with 5 rbi’s, courtesy of a two run double and a 3 run home run. He followed that up on Friday with a solo home run that got the Rangers on the board and helped them to a 3-1 win. He played a big part in helping the Rangers get both wins on the week. Overall for the week he hit .364, wtih 6 rbi’s, and slugged 1.091. That will help solidify his role as starting catcher for this team.
  3. Nick Martinez. He may have only made one start but he was very good in that one start. He pitched another 7 innings against the Angels and allowed only 1 run, but 0 earned runs. That ups his streak to 14 innings without an earned run.  He showed veteran poise in those first two innings as the Angels threatened to blow it open early, but he maintained control and was able to get out of two difficult jams in the first two innings. After that he was able to coast through his last 5 innings. He has been a revelation so far this season and is helping to stabilize the rotation. His next start comes tonight against the Diamondbacks.
  4. Yovanni Gallardo. Each start he is throwing better. He struggled on opening night against the A’s and lost. He got better and picked up a win against Astros at home. Last week he pitched 6 scoreless innings on the road in Seattle and helped the Rangers to a hard fought 3-1 win. He was the pitcher the Rangers thought they were getting when they traded for him. A guy who is not overpowering, but pitches down in the zone and induces a lot of groundballs. In that start he got 14 groundball outs to be exact and 3 double play grounders. He also showed better control and never allowed the game to get out of control. Pitching like that he will win a good number of starts for the Rangers.
  5. Jeff Banister. I know he is not a player, he is the manager. I have to say I like that he is willing to try different lineups and not just stick with the same one over and over again. The Rangers have played 13 games and used 13 different lineups. He is using April to find out what works best. He has remained positive and is communicating with the players about what he expects. Finally, I liked that on Sunday he went for the win in bringing in Feliz in the 8th. Some managers will not be flexible and bring in their closer earlier than the 9th, but Banister wanted the win. It didn’t work out unfortunately, but he went for it and I like that in him. I think as long as he continues with that attitude he will be very successful.

Look Ahead to the Coming Week

The Rangers will finish up their 3 city, 8 game road-trip this Sunday. They will start the week tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks for a quick two game series. It will be Nick Martinez going up against former OU Sooner righty Chase Anderson. Anderson has no decisions so far this season with a 4.09 ERA in his 11 innings pitched so far this season. The Diamondbacks have won his last 3 starts at Chase Field and are 6-2 in his last 8 starts there. The series will conclude with a game tomorrow night. It will be Yovanni Gallardo going for win number 3 going up against Oklahoma native Archie Bradley. Bradley will be facing his 3rd opening day starter. He already has beat Clayton Kershaw on Opening Day, was in line for the win against World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner, but the bullpen faltered late. He has been pitching very well so far this season. He has a 1-0 record with a 1.42 ERA. The Rangers will have their hands full with both of these starters. The start time for both of these games will be at 8:40.

They will then be off on Thursday before resuming play with a 3 game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The starters for the Angels have not been announced. It looks like it will be Colby Lewis on Friday, Ross Detweiler on Saturday, and then likely Nick Martinez on Sunday. The Rangers will be looking to try to steal 2 out of 3 in this series and even up the season series with the Angels in their 3 game set.

Not a lot of games this week, but an opportunity to rebound and try to get back to winning baseball games. That will be the team’s mission going forward to Arizona and Los Angeles.

Top GIF’s Of the Week

 

 

 

 

Ranaudo doesn’t impress and the Rangers Lose to the Angels

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Yesterday afternoon was Anthony Ranaudo’s first start with the Rangers and lets just say it did not go well at all. He last 1.2 innings, giving up 6 runs, and picking up the loss in what turned into a 10-2 shellacking by the Angels. He threw 62 pitches to get 5 outs. His problem was that he would get ahead of the hitters, but could not put them away. He has good stuff, but not great execution. As the pitcher he has to have an idea of how to get a guy out. Lets take the Erick Aybar at-bat that led off the game. He quickly got ahead of Aybar 1-2 just throwing fastballs, but it took him another 5 pitches to record the out. He tried to just get him out with his fastball, but Aybar kept fouling it off. In the at-bat he threw 6 fastballs, 1 curveball, and 1 slider. He did record the out on a flyball to center field. It was like that in the two innings he pitched. It is something that he is definitely going to need to work on. I doubt he will be back next week when the spot in the rotation comes up. He definitely put the Rangers behind the 8 ball and it led to the Rangers losing the game and dropping their record to 4-6.

Not a lot else happened in this game. The lineup that Banister likes to use against left-handers predictably stunk as did the team against Hector Santiago. Santiago gave up 1 run in his 7 innings of work to improve his record the last two seasons in Arlington to 4-0. The problem the Rangers have when they try to trout out the lineup with a lot of right-handers is that Deshields is not a major league hitter, Smolinksi is not hitting well enough this early in the season, and the lineup functions better with Choo and Moreland in it than not in it. At least that is what my eyes tell me watching the game.

I am sure the team is thankful that now they get a full day off for the first time this season. 4-6 is not too bad considering they had to go on the road for a 4 game series in Oakland and then come home and lose their staff ace after one inning. I would have liked to have seen them do better than 2-4 on the homestand. The game that they should have won was the extra inning affair against the Astros on Sunday. They had numerous opportunities and just could not bring it home. Now they go out on the road for an 8 game roadie against the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Angels. Now game today and they will be back on Friday night at 9:05.

Rangers Get the Split: Rangers-A’s Series Recap

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Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

The Texas Rangers bounced back in a big way Thursday afternoon and got the series split they were looking for with a 10-1 victory. The bats finally woke up and contributed 4 home runs and tripled their output in runs from the first 3 games. It was a reassuring game not only for the team, but also for the fans. It was rough watching them get their brains beat in on Wednesday night when they lost 11-0. They bounced back nicely though and were able to walk out of Oakland with two wins, which is really what they were hoping to get. I am sure that they wanted to win all 4, but to get 2 is really good. Now they come home for a 6 game homestand against the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but before we get to the upcoming games, lets recap how they were able to get the win yesterday and talk about the series as a whole.

The offense got most of the headlines yesterday as they scored 10 runs, but my player of the game would have been Nick Martinez. He executed the game plan perfectly yesterday. He was throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters, and forcing them to swing at pitches they normally wouldn’t swing at. That is the kind of performance we saw on occasion last season, but not consistently. He was outstanding though, as he just kept the hitters off-balance and he never was really in trouble at all in his 7 innings. In my opinion that is how you beat the A’s. The A’s are a team that like to make pitchers work by not swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. They won’t chase and it gets them ahead in most counts and forces the pitchers into hitter’s counts. Doing that normally gets the pitcher’s pitch count up higher and gets him out of the game earlier. That is what happened with Yovanni Gallardo and Ross Detweiler. Neither one had much control and the A’s took advantage and were able to get them out of the game early. Colby Lewis and Nick Martinez though had control and were able to hold them down. That is how you beat them and hopefully Gallardo and Detweiler watched how Lewis and Martinez pitched them and will learn from it, because they will face Oakland many more times this season.

It did help Martinez though that the Rangers had scored 3 runs before he had even thrown a pitch. It was a very weird first inning as the A’s committed two errors, both trying to get out Leonys Martin on the bases. Martin had reached on a walk and then advanced to second after a single by Shin Soo Choo. Kendall Graveman then had him picked off of second by a mile, Martin barely even moved toward second, but the ball had flown into center field. That allowed Martin and Choo to advance to second and third. Then, on a ground ball by Adrian Beltre to Brett Lawrie, he threw home to try and get Martin, but the catcher dropped the ball allowing Martin to score.They ended up getting two more that inning, then the power bats showed up in the later innings. Mitch Moreland, Shin Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, and Roughned Odor all went deep to hit the Rangers first four home runs of the season. The highlight of the game had to be Beltre’s home run. The pitch before the home run he had done this.

The very next pitch he does this.

Beltre had got off to a slow start as he went 0-for in his first 3 games, but he rebounded with two hits yesterday, a single and that home run, his 396th of his career. That will be fun to watch as he pursues 400 over these next few weeks.

All in all it was a good win, good series split and now they get to head home and hopefully carry some of this momentum with them. Staff Ace Derek Holland will make his season debut tomorrow afternoon against the Houston Astros.

Other Series Notes

  • Jeff Banister made some changes to the lineup yesterday, but insisted it was not about non-production. It did work though to the tune of 10 runs. He moved Choo up from 5th to 2nd, Andrus down from 2nd to 7th, he flipped Fielder and Beltre, moved Rua up to 5th, and moved Odor up to 8th. It showed that Banister is willing to be flexible especially early this season as he gets a feel for what this team is. I would not be surprised if he uses April to see which lineup combinations work the best. It will be interesting to see if he uses that same lineup today or if he will revert to the previous lineup. We shall see. I thought it was a good move in order to shake things up after they had been shut out in 2 of the first 3 games.
  • Ryan Rua had his first good game of the season as he had 3 hits on the day. He got a single in the first to break up a stretch of 6 straight strikeouts and then went on to get two more hits, including a double in the 9th inning.
  • No errors on the day for the Rangers and for Elvis Andrus. It was a clean day for the team and that came after a keystone cops type of fielding performance on Wednesday night when they committed 4 errors. They committed 6 errors in the series, but the A’s also committed 6. It could just be a matter of trying to adjust to the regular season after 6 weeks of spring training. Hopefully this isn’t a season long story. I don’t think it will be, because they have several guys on the team who are good defensively.
  • Finally, the Rangers were lucky to get out with a split. They were outscored 20-13 in the series and it would have been much worse if not for the 10 runs yesterday. It was 19-3 heading into the game yesterday afternoon, but they got the win and walk out with the split. That is all that matters and all anyone will remember. It reminded me of the 1960 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates going up against the New York Yankees. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 58-27 in the series, but the Pirates won the series in 7 games when Bill Mazeroski hit the game-winning home run in game 7 of that series. It just goes to show in a series it doesn’t matter how many total runs you score, it just matters did you win the game or not?
  • Derek Holland goes up against the Houston Astros and Collin McHugh at 3:05 this afternoon as the Rangers will try to start their first winning streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!