Season in Review: August

Posted on November 4, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

Sam Dyson closes out the game against the Astros

Sam Dyson closes out the sweep against the Astros

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rangers Enter the Stretch Run

Posted on August 5, 2015 by colonelsportsnation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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