Tag Archives: Mitch Moreland

Seattle’s Cruz Missile Hits Rangers

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That was a tough loss and I have been thinking of the words to say since yesterday afternoon when it happened and all I can come up with is inexcusable. That was a loss that should not have happened and is a loss that goes to show you that this team might not be good. 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. They had a 7-2 lead and a 10-5 lead and yet lost the game 11-10 behind a monster game from Nelson Cruz and another disappointing outing from Ross Detweiler. As I have said I have faith in about 3/5 of the rotation: Gallardo, Lewis, and Martinez. Gallardo has won his last two starts, Lewis has suffered a no-decision and a loss in his last two starts, but has pitched well in both, and Martinez has not allowed an earned run in either of his starts. Those three are giving the team a chance to win, but right now Detweiler is not. He has been awful in all three starts and is probably another bad start away from going to the bullpen. That is just a loss that is infuriating, because they should have won. It was right there in front of them, but they could not close the door on the Mariners. That makes 3 straight series losses after opening the season with a split at Oakland. Their record right now sits at 5-8 as they head to the desert to face the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Before moving on the Diamondbacks series lets recap the game from yesterday.

Tom Grieve and Steve Busby were talking about in the first inning how Detweiler needed to avoid the middle of the plate and up, which has led to problems in his other two starts. Austin Jackson steps to the plate and of course he leaves one up and over the plate and Jackson deposits it over the fence in left field for a quick 1-0 lead, Nelson Cruz follows that up with a solo home run of his own to make it 2-0. That is all though in the first two innings. The Rangers then come back with a 7 spot in the third inning. It was the most offense they had shown all week long. Martin got it started with a bunt single, then a throwing error allowing Andrus to reach, a single by Prince Fielder allowing Martin to score, a ground out by Shoo allowing Andrus to score, a single by Adam Rosales allowing Fielder to score, a groundout by Odor allowing Beltre to score, and then punctuated by a 2-run home run off the bat of Jake Smolinkski. Leonys Martin coming up again ended the scoring barrage by singling home Carlos Corporan and making the score 7-2. That should have been a good enough lead to hold through the middle innings and get to the bullpen, but Detweiler comes back in the bottom of the third and walks the first hitter. That cannot happen and of course Robinson Cano would then single, and Nelson Cruz would hit his second home run of the game. That made the score 7-5 and after two more singles that would be the end of the day for Ross Detweiler. He would finish the day 2.1 innings, 5 runs, and 3 home runs allowed. He now has a 10.95 ERA through 3 starts and has not even been able to get 4 ground ball outs in his last two starts. He said after the game, “I’ve never had a point in my career where I just could not get a ground ball. I think I found something I can clean up.”

That was not the only reason they lost though, the team did bounce back and score 3 runs in the 6th. They did so with a Shin Soo Choo single, a single from pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland, and a RBI-groundout from Roughned Odor. That made the score 10-5 as Anthony Bass was able to hold the Mariners down from the time he entered in the 3rd all the way to the 7th inning. That is when the game got away from the Rangers. Tolleson allowed one run in the 7th to make it 10-6. Then Scheppers came in for the 8th and proceeded to walk 3 of the 4 hitters he faced and then he was removed for Keone Kela, who walked Robinson Cano to make the score 10-7. It was at that point manager Jeff Banister went for the win, he brought in Neftali Feliz for a 5 out save. He needed someone to be able to get out of this bases loaded jam and someone to face Nelson Cruz. Feliz throwing 96 mph and 97 mph for the first times since probably before the Tommy John surgery was able to get Nelson Cruz, but allowed a two run single to Kyle Seager, because that is what Seager does is beat Rangers pitching. Feliz finished out the inning and the Rangers took a 10-9 lead to the 9th inning. There was a moment that I would have liked Banister to handle differently. First, with two outs Corporan worked a walk. At this moment they could have removed Corporan and put in Delino Deshields Jr. in as a pinch runner. He could have tried stealing second, or when Martin doubled down the left field line maybe Deshields could have scored on that. It would have given them options and a better chance at scoring the run. They did not though and Andrus ended up flying out to center field harmlessly to end the inning. Predictably enough Feliz tired from the stress in the 8th inning quickly gave up the one run lead and then the game after Nelson Cruz won it with a walk-off single.

It was a game that was theirs for the taking, but they ended up giving the game and the series away to the Mariners. Now they move on to the second city on their 3 city roadtrip and hopefully will learn from this, be able to get better from it, and not let this season get away from them.

Other Game Notes

  • What we will forget about this game because of the loss is that the offense was really good for the first time since the last game in Oakland. They bottomed out after Saturday night’s loss to King Felix. Their batting average was the worst in the league at .201. They bounced back big though yesterday getting 13 hits, scoring 10 runs, and getting 4 extra base hits. That is the kind of production they are going to need going forward. That is what made this such a tough loss, is because their offense actually performed, but unfortunately it came in a losing effort.
  • Anthony Bass performed solidly again. He came on in relief of Ross Detweiler and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings. He has been outstanding as the long man so far this season. He is keeping the Rangers in several of these games that seem like lost causes. If Detweiler performs poorly again Saturday against the Angels I would not be surprised to see Bass filling that role if only temporarily until the team feels like one of their younger starting pitchers on the farm are ready to go.
  • I did not have a problem with Banister bringing in Feliz in the 8th. It is a vital situation there and the team wants who they feel is their best pitcher to try to finish it off. The issue that I did have though is that he allowed Kela to just pitch to one hitter. I would have brought Feliz in for Cano and held Kela out. If Feliz ran into trouble in the 9th, maybe Kela can be brought in to relieve a tiring Feliz and hopefully finish the game out. Banister left himself with no options except to keep pitching Feliz until he was able to close it out or lose the game. That is one area that is clear that he is still learning is how to properly manage the bullpen. I feel Banister has done a good job so far, but I wish he would have handled that situation just a little bit differently.
  • Oh and count me in the camp that I wish the Rangers had signed Nelson Cruz either of these last two offseasons. His power is something the Rangers have been lacking these last two seasons. The team thought they were getting that with Fielder and Choo, but neither has provided near the amount of power that Cruz brings to the lineup.
  • Mitch Moreland did pinch-hit in yesterday’s game and did play the field in the final 3 innings and it looks like for now he will avoid elbow surgery.
  • The Rangers are off today as they make their way to the desert for a quick 2 game series against the Arizona Diamonbacks. Nick Martinez will be going for win number 3 on Tuesday night and carry a 14 inning, no earned run streak in the game. First pitch is at 8:40 CT. GO Rangers!!!!!

 

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 Stop Losing Streak Behind Martinez and Resurgent Offense

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Nick Martinez collects his second win of the season in win against the Angels

Nick Martinez collects his second win of the season in win against the Angels

 

 

The Rangers ended their first losing streak of the season with an 8-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and improved their record to 4-5. Nick Martinez picked up his second win of the season as he continued his strong start with 7 innings of 1 run baseball. Jeff Banister having changed up the lineup again saw his team score 8 runs and hit 2 home runs. I guess this says that he needs to be changing the lineup everyday. It was a good team win though. The pitching was solid, the offense was great, and the defense helped keep the Angels off the board in key situations. Jeff Banister could not ask for a better win in the given situation. Lets get to what actually happened in the game though.

It was Nick Martinez going up against Drew Rucinski, who was making his first major league start. Martinez got off to a tough start. He allowed Erick Aybar a sharp single into the right-field corner, but Choo came up firing and was able to throw Aybar out at second. Mike Trout followed with a double and Albert Pujols walked putting runners at first and second with 1 out. He was able to get out of it with a lineout from Matt Joyce and a ground out from Rangers nemesis David Freese. In the bottom of the first the new Rangers top of the order was able to produce a run. Roughned Odor walked, stole second, and Mitch Moreland singled up the middle to get him home. They functioned as the top two hitters should and I loved Moreland’s approach with two strikes in that at-bat. He shortened his stroke and was able to hit a sharp grounder up the middle. It was nice to see him thinking there about just getting a base hit, rather than continuing to try for the home run. It looked like the lead would be short-lived though in the bottom of the inning as the Angels once again put pressure on Martinez. They were able to load the bases with one-out and their fastest runner coming to the plate in Erick Aybar. I thought for sure it would be difficult to get a double play grounder, but sure enough they did. Aybar hit it sharp enough at Odor that he was able to turn it quick enough to get Aybar out at first. Through two innings Martinez was up to 38 pitches. As I am watching this I am thinking that he may only be able to make it through 5 innings.  From there though he was able to calm down. It helped that the bats woke up in the bottom of the second inning.

The Rangers were able to put 3 more runs on the board all with two outs in the inning. They finally got a break to go their way when Mike Trout and Matt Joyce were converging on a drive to left center off the bat of Robinson Chirinos when neither one of them were able to catch it even though both were in position to catch it. That allowed two runs to score and allowed the Ranger players to be able to take a deep breath and just relax from that point forward. Odor followed up Chirinos’ double with one of his own that landed right in front of a dive from Mike Trout. That allowed the Rangers to be able to put 3 on the board that inning and extend the lead to 4-0. It was certainly an inning the team really needed and it allowed Martinez to settle in and pitch his game.

After the big second inning, Martinez retired 12 of the next 14 hitters from the third through the sixth inning and the score expanded from 4-0 to 8-0. The Angels didn’t even really pose another threat till the 7th inning. That is when the first two runners reached due to a single and throwing error from Adrian Beltre. After that though he was able to get out of the inning with only one run allowed. There could have been more, but Carlos Peguero was able to track down and catch Mike Trout’s drive to the wall. All in all Nick Martinez threw 7 innings. allowing 1 run, but 0 earned runs, 5 hits. 3 BB’s, 1 K. That makes it 14 innings he has thrown so far without giving up a single earned run. His ERA is still 0.00. He showed a lot of poise and maturity out there being able to get out of those first and second inning jams. Right now I feel decently confident about 3/5 of the rotation. I feel like Martinez is poised to be a really solid member of this rotation. He will have his bad starts from time to time, but he is continuing that success he had down the stretch of last season. The Rangers are going to need that if they have any dreams of competing. If they can get solid starts from Martinez every fifth day that will go a long way toward keeping that dream alive.

Other Game Notes

  • Robinson Chirinos had his first big game of the season. He caught a break in the second with that deep drive double to left center that landed between Trout and Joyce. The home run though was no joke. He drove that to deep left center field. It was a no doubter and gave him 5 rbi’s on the night. That was good for Robinson as he was in a 1-13 slump entering this game and had not had many quality plate appearances so far. He looked confident at the plate and the double in the second may be what he needed in order to get going. With it being a day game today I expect him to get the day off today and Carlos Corporan will be behind the plate.
  • Elvis Andrus has left the building. All Spring Training they talked about how Elvis had worked on changing his stance and tried to get stronger in order to be able to drive the ball into the gaps and into the outfield. In the past it looked like any hit he got was just a soft hit line drive. Last night he was driving the ball. He had two hits, but easily could have had 3 if not for Erick Aybar making a fantastic play with the infield drawn in. One of those two hits was a home run. It was Elvis’ first home run since May 21st of last year and snapped a string of 481 at-bats without a home run, the longest active drought in the major leagues. If he continues to get the bat behind the ball and driving it, the next drought will not be anywhere close to as long. The Rangers don’t need him to be a home run hitter though. They survived last season having Alex Rios hit 6th and only hit 4 home runs. What the Rangers need is for him to be getting on base, causing havoc on the bases, and helping to drive people in.
  • Prince Fielder strikes again with two more singles in his 4 at-bats, but he almost did hit a home run though. Jose Alvarez left one hanging in the fifth and Prince thought he had it, but he just got underneath it and flew out to right-fielder Collin Cowgill. He gets his average up to .405 though and for the first time this season, we did not see a massive shift from the Angels in his at-bats. Word is getting around that Prince is not pulling the ball anymore. That actually allowed him to get his second single when he hit it right back up the middle where the shortstop normally would have been.
  • And can we please calm down the talk on Carlos Peguero being like Nelson Cruz. Peguero has looked good so far, don’t get me wrong. I think he has been very solid and is filling in for Ryan Rua very nicely. He needs to do it longer than 5 games to be considered Nelson Cruz. Cruz even had to prove he could do it longer than 5 games. I remember back before he became the monster he is today that everytime the Rangers called him up he would hit two home runs in the first game he would play and then would go into a massive slump. Peguero is doing good, but lets calm down the Nellie Cruz talk until May or June. Lets see what he does over these next few weeks. For now I prefer the comparison to Kevin Kouzmanoff prior to his back injury from last season. A veteran who was given another shot and excelled until he got hurt.
  • It is an afternoon game today as it will be Anthony Ranaudo making his first start for the Rangers going up against the Angels Hector Santiago. Ranaudo was called up last night and Phil Klein was sent down after the game last night. Santiago will be looking to continue his success in Arlington from last season when he went 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA against the Rangers in their home ballpark. Ranaudo will be looking to make a good first impression on the Rangers coaches and management as he tries to keep in the rotation. Ranaudo will likely be given a short leash as Anthony Bass will be ready and waiting in the bullpen should Ranaudo falter. The game is today at 1:05 and will end this stretch of 10 straight days with games to open up the season. The Rangers get their first day off tomorrow before heading to Seattle to face the preseason division favorite Seattle Mariners. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!

 

Offense continues to be a lightweight in Loss to Angels

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The Texas Rangers got off to a good start last night leading 3-0 after the first inning, but couldn’t build on it and the Angels came back to take the first game of this series 6-4. Ross Detweiler picked up his second loss of the season and the Rangers fell to 3-5.  He was good the first time through the order in limiting the Angels to just no runs. After that though the Angels went 7-17, 2 home runs, and 2 BB’s to go from 3-0 to 5-3. He showed the same tendencies he showed last week against Oakland. He is going to have to pitch much better or they will banish him to middle relief. He has to show that he can control his fastball and throw it in the lower portion of the strike zone and be able to mix up his pitch selection in order to make it through a lineup 2 or 3 times without the hitters picking up on what he is doing. Right now, he is leaving his fastballs up and over the plate and American League hitters will make you pay for that. The Rangers want him to succeed and will give him every opportunity to succeed, because they don’t want to have to go to Anthony Ranaudo and Chi Chi Gonzalez this early in the season. If come Mid May or early June and he is still struggling they will certainly pull the trigger on a switch. Sometimes the team finds out that a player is just not meant to be a starter. Detweiler could be that type of pitcher, tantalizing stuff but just can’t control it enough to be a quality starting pitcher. The Nationals seemed to think the same thing as they went back and forth with him between the bullpen and the rotation. It will be up to Jeff Banister and management to make a determination down the line on Detweiler on if he can be a starting pitcher for this team.

He was not the only reason they lost though. The offense continues to struggle. They did score 3 runs in the first, but after that could not get any other rallies going. Right now they are a soft hitting singles team. They have hit 4 home runs on the season and they all came last Thursday against the A’s. No home runs in the other 7 games. They don’t have a lot of power, but you would figure a lineup with Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre, and Mitch Moreland would be able to generate more than 4 home runs. Right now, Prince Fielder has become the $24 million dollar singles hitter. He is hitting for a high average at .394, and getting on base at a .444 clip, but he only has two extra base hits and is not even getting close to hitting home runs. The Rangers need some boom to their lineup and Fielder isn’t really providing it. He only hit 1 home run in Spring Training too and so it could just be a matter of him trying to regain his timing coming back from neck surgery and as he gets more comfortable the power swing will return. If not this offense will be in trouble because they are expecting I would figure at least 30 home runs from this guy. That is where the problems lie is that they have to work so hard to get any runs. It is not a bloop and a blast. It is a hit, followed, by another hit, and followed by another hit to get a run in. Right now they don’t have 3 guys in a row who are hitting well enough to consistently produce runs. 6 of the 9 starters in the lineup are hitting below .200 and Mitch Moreland is trending that way hitting .217 right now. The offense will continue to struggle every night until they either start producing home runs or players like Martin, Choo, Andrus, Moreland, and Odor can get hits at a more consistent rate than they are right now. Hopefully that will start tonight, if not the Rangers could be in for a 3rd straight loss.

Other Game Notes

  • Man do I hate David Freese. It seems like everytime we face the Angels now he does something to the Rangers. Last night it was hitting a solo home run. Its just like Game 6 wasn’t enough for him, he just has to continue to torture Ranger fans and remind them of Game 6 everytime he steps to the plate. Why couldn’t the Cardinals have traded him to somebody in the National League. I would have much preferred that.
  • Something else to watch, Chirinos has gotten off to a very slow start offensively this season and was even pinch hit for in the 9th inning. He is another one who could be in danger of losing his starting spot. Carlos Corporan has been hitting very well in his starts behind the plate and if he keeps it up they might make him the starter. Chirinos is 1-13 on the season with 4 strikeouts. I am sure with the way the offense is struggling 1-9 that Banister might want to put the more offensively gifted catcher Corporan behind the plate. Jorge Alfaro does wait in the wings for probably next season to get his shot at starting.
  • Stolmy Pimentel made his first appearance for the Rangers last night as well. The bullpen really needed a guy to come in and take innings and he certainly did last night. He pitched from the end of the 6th inning into the 9th inning before he tired out and had to be relieved by Roman Mendez. That allowed Feliz, Tolleson, and Kela to all get a day off. Now there is two games left in this series then the whole team gets a day off. Tanner Scheppers should also be returning either tonight or tomorrow. That will give the bullpen more depth and allow guys to get more rest.
  • Tonight it will be Nick Martinez going for his second win of the season against the Angels starter Drew Rucinski. Martinez is trying to build on his strong start against the A’s last Thursday and help to end the first losing streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!

Rangers Leave the Game on Base in Loss to Astros

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

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

 

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

Rangers 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!!!!!

Where Have I Been

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I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything. More than anything the constant losing just beat me down. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to say about what was going on. At times it was very hard to watch. Especially the losing streaks in June and July. I will say though that September was very encouraging for this team. They beat several teams that were playoff bound and the sweep in September helped to nearly keep the Oakland A’s out of the playoffs. Several players made positive impressions in the seasons final weeks.

Rougned Odor was one of these players. September was his best month. He had a .296 BA and .826 OPS, and had more hits and runs in September than any other month. It was clear as the season went along he got more comfortable.  He has established himself in my mind as the 2nd baseman going forward. I know Profar is likely to be healthy come Spring Training, but they both have one season under their belt and in my mind Odor’s season was much better. He made better contact and was very solid defensively. He still needs to continue to get better. He profiles in my mind as a Dustin Pedroia type, a guy who gives maximum effort and his power is generated by his quick swing. I could certainly see him with his left-handed swing and the short porch there in Arlington going for 15-20 home runs when his body matures. Profar we really don’t know. He is coming off of a serious shoulder injury that kept him out all of 2014. He reportedly will be cleared to throw in January. That will still give him time to be ready for camp in March. I think being out all season puts him behind the 8 ball and not having the same level of success that Odor had last year will result in him being sent to Triple-A to start the year. If I was management and Odor is healthy to break camp, I would go with him and send Profar to Round Rock to get at-bats every day. That way he can get comfortable again playing in games. Then he will be ready if someone gets hurt or if you need a better utility player. I think it is more important to get him at-bats every day and be in the field on a daily basis as he works his way back from the shoulder injury.

Derek Holland was another player who came back from injury and looked like the player the Rangers have envisioned since he came to the majors in 2009. With the injury to Yu Darvish he came back and became the staff ace the team needed in September. He came in throwing strikes, being economical with his pitches, and lasting 7 or 8 innings every time out. In the past he would put up those performances but follow it up with performances where he could not get out of the 3rd or 4th inning. He looked as fresh as he has ever looked and gave fans something to look forward to in 2015. A Darvish-Holland one-two punch in the rotation is very formidable. Darvish is very overpowering and Holland is very economical. Those two are the reason I do not expect the Rangers to be major players in the free agent pitching market. There is no reason to overpay to get a James Shields or a Jon Lester to come here when you have Darvish and Holland in the top two spots. To get Shields would also require giving up the number 4 pick in the draft and they are not going to do that.

Now that we are talking about the rotation for next year lets talk about what I think the Rangers should do this offseason. Here is my list of objectives for Jon Daniels and his staff this offseason.

1) Decide who will be the top 4 of your rotation. Darvish and Holland will be one-two, but who else will be in the rotation? I don’t mind a competition for the number 5 spot, but having spots 3 and 4 open will not be good for next years team. I would try hard to bring back Colby Lewis. He is a proven veteran that showed the variety of injuries he suffered from in 2012 and 2013 would not end his career. He is another that got better as the season went along. In April and May he could not get back the 5.2 innings mark, but from July 31st to the end of the season he averaged 7 innings per start. That includes two complete games and one of them being a shutout. Next years team needs that veteran presence and leadership in the rotation. I wouldn’t pay outrageously for him, but I would bring him back. I think you offer a 1 year contract with a easily reached option like 130-150 innings for a second year and make the contract worth about 3 or 4 million and the option year for about 5 or 6 million. I think he wants to come back, but he also wants to test the market while healthy for the first time since coming back from Japan. In the end though the Rangers lack of depth in the rotation and his ties to the area will bring him back for 2015 and possibly 2016. Second, go ahead and make Nick Tepesch your number 4 starter. He has been there for two years now and has gotten better each season. He is a solid number 4 guy who gets ground balls and can provide innings. Then in Spring Training have a camp competition between Nick Martinez, Lisalverto Bonilla, Luke Jackson, and Chi-Chi Gonzalez for the number 5 spot. All of those guys are talented and ready for the opportunity. The good thing is there will be depth this year.

2) Get everyone healthy and have them remain healthy. Just getting back healthy players will cause them to be much better next season. I am expecting them to compete for the division title with the Angels next year. Next season Prince Fielder, Shin Shoo Choo, Jurickson Profar, Engel Beltre, Mitch Moreland, Tanner Scheppers,  and Martin Perez after the All Star Break will certainly help this team. It will give them needed depth in their lineup, bullpen, and bench.

3) Stay on top of Elvis Andrus this offseason. Last offseason the story goes he didn’t do a throwing program and that caused his shoulder to be fatigued in Spring Training and him to miss game. He also came in to camp overweight and both of those things caused him to lose range defensively, steal less bases than ever before, and just overall not have as good of a season. In his exit interview he promised to get a couple of weeks rest and then get after and come into camp in better shape next year. For the Rangers to compete they need an Elvis that is dedicated and in the best shape of his life. He needs to be able to drive the balls into the gaps, cause havoc on the bases, and play gold-glove level defense. He cannot slack off this offseason like last year. He has to be the team leader the Rangers need him to be. 2015 will be year 7 of the Elvis experience and it needs to be the year he takes a step forward offensively and in his role in the clubhouse. Rangers management and coaching staff needs to be checking on Elvis wherever he is and make sure that he is ready for camp in February.

4) As far as a free agent target I have heard talk about Torii Hunter and Michael Morse. I would not mind either of those guys. Hunter might want to finally sign here, since he already lives in the Dallas area in the offseason and is near the end of his career. Hunter could be a good guy to slot into the number two hole in the lineup and he can still hit and he can still field. They are letting Alex Rios go and so they need someone to fill the right field spot and Hunter could certainly be that guy. Morse is a guy who can be a strong right-handed DH. You can platoon him with Mitch Moreland. Moreland can still spell Fielder at first base and play some in the outfield as well. Bringing Morse in gives you a stronger bench and a lineup that will hit for more power. They could also decide that they like Smolinski and put him in right field. He certainly impressed after he came back from injury and will get a look in Spring Training for a starting job.

I think that is it. For the most part just getting healthy will solve a lot of their problems. The Rangers this past season were like the 1997 Spurs that had one terrible season, ended up in the lottery, got the number one pick, and drafted Tim Duncan. The Rangers don’t need to blow it up and rebuild. What the end of the season proved is that they are not far away. The A’s went all in and came up short and will probably rebuild next season, the Mariners still have great pitching but no offense, and the Angels will still be really good. A healthy Rangers team with one or two tweaks will be back in the race in 2015 and with a new energetic manager in Jeff Bannister. I would not be surprised at all to see them back in the playoffs next season.

I will try to write more this offseason as stuff happens. I am still hopeful and still a big time baseball fan. I have been through the good times and the bad time and will never stop believing in my Rangers.

The Cost of Competing

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DANIELS

 

In professional sports every team is seeking a window. A window that while open gives them a chance at winning their sports ultimate prize. It could be the Lombardi Trophy, Stanley Cup, World Series, or NBA Finals. General Managers spend their lifetimes trying to acquire enough talent to be able to open that window. Windows normally only stay open for a very short time.  Very few GM’s actually get to open that window. That is why when teams get there they normally overspend in order to maximize that window. They never want to admit that the window is closed or is closing. This takes me to the Rangers and the decisions the front office has made to try to keep the Rangers window open.

Jon Daniels has been the Rangers GM since October of 2005. He spent the first 5 years of his tenure rebuilding the Rangers from the ground up. He rebuilt through shrewd trades, under the radar signings, and through the draft. Instead of moves made to compete immediately he slowly started to acquire more and more talent. He brought in players like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, and Yu Darvish. All along he said that he wanted to get the Rangers to a point where they could compete every season. He didn’t believe in a window of opportunity. The Rangers made it to back-to-back World Series in 2010-2011 and came within an out of winning the 2011 World Series. Since then the Rangers have gotten farther and farther away from making it back to the World Series. They lost a 5 game lead with 7 games remaining in 2012 and then lost the Wild Card playoff game to the Orioles. Then in 2013 in a season full of injuries they lost a one game playoff to the Tampa Bay Rays. This season just shy of Memorial Day they sit 7 games back of division leaders Oakland.

This takes me to the point of the article. In order to stay in contention teams have to make trades that normally they wouldn’t make. Jon Daniels has made several in-season trades and now this season they are seeing that once full minor league system drained by all that talent that was traded away. It started in 2011 with the Koji Uehara trade that sent Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter to the Orioles. It was a sound trade at the time because the Rangers needed bullpen help, but Uehara did not provide anything and was left off of the World Series roster in favor of Mark Lowe.  In 2012 there was the trade for Ryan Dempster that sent Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva to the Chicago Cubs. The team needed a starter after Colby Lewis went down with an injury, Neftali Feliz had Tommy John, Roy Oswalt and Yu Darvish were not pitching well, and so they traded for Dempster. One thing we saw with Dempster is what we see with most NL pitchers who make the transition to the AL. They do not pitch as well. Dempster in his time here did go 7-3, but with a 5.09 ERA, and in September that ballooned to 5.68 ERA in the month.  The big problem now is that Kyle Hendricks has blossomed in the Cubs organization and is on the verge of being called up. Ryan Dempster is no longer in MLB and was not resigned after the season.

In 2013 they made another trade with the Cubs this time for Matt Garza. They gave up Neil Ramirez, C.J. Edwards, Justin Grimm and Mike Olt to complete the trade. That made sure they got him, but while here Garza continued to be the head case he has been throughout his career. He called people out on Twitter, his behavior was unpredictable on the mound, and his performance just wasn’t what the team thought they would get. He ended up 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA, and allowed 5.02 Runs per 9 innings. The Rangers needed to make this trade because Colby Lewis had not come back, Matt Harrison was out for the season, Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm were not able to pick up the slack, and they needed a veteran to help them get back to the playoffs. It just did not work either as the Rangers season ended in game 163 to the Tampa Bay Rays. Then this past offseason Daniels really wanted to shake things up. He traded longtime Ranger Ian Kinsler to the Tigers for Prince Fielder, let Nelson Cruz go without a multi-year contract offer, traded fan favorite Craig Gentry to the A’s for Michael Choice, and signed Shin Shoo Choo. Only one of those has really worked out.

Having to trade prospects is the cost of competing. It is what general managers will call a necessary evil, because the here and now is more important than the future. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out for the team acquiring the veteran. That is what the Rangers have found out as they have had to trade numerous prospects in order to stay in contention. That is what makes a GM’s job very difficult, weighing the question of whether or not to make a trade, and the future consequences of making that trade. Every GM battles with that decision in the offseason and especially during the month of July. Jon Daniels I am sure did not make any of these trades lightly. He knew what could happen, but he wanted to give his team a chance at getting back to the playoffs. The problem has come this year as the team has faced numerous injuries and no longer has the depth to cover up those injuries. Here is a sobering thought, if none of those trades had been made, here is what the Rangers lineup would look like.

LF Shin Shoo Choo

2b Ian Kinsler

1b Chris Davis

3b Adrian Beltre/ Mike Olt

RF Alex Rios

DH Mitch Moreland/ Mike Olt

CF Leonys Martin

C Robinson Chirinos

SS Elvis Andrus

This is the downside of trying to keep the window open. Does it produce exciting pennant race baseball? Yes it does. Does it bring regret later? It does that as well. Every team that competes for a period of time goes through that and now is the Rangers time to go through it. It may lead to a couple of down seasons, but players like Joey Gallo, Luke Jackson, and Jorge Alfaro are just a year or two away from being ready to contribute. That will give the team the shot in the arm that it needs and the ability to compete for the World Series again.

The Major Issues affecting the Rangers

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The team celebrates Choo's walk to end the game.

The team celebrates Choo’s walk to end the game.

 

The Rangers lost again last night 12-1 to the Colorado Rockies to fall to 17-16 and 2 games back in the division. They have now lost 8 of their last 11 games and are clearly going in the wrong direction. This all comes after the run they went on in the middle of April till late April when they won 4 straight series to surge into first place in the division after sweeping the Oakland A’s. The question becomes what has changed from then to now? Why are they struggling so much? Finally, how do they get it turned around?

Lets start with what has changed from then to now. During that stretch of winning 4 straight series they were mainly relying on getting solid starting pitching, decent bullpen work, and timely hitting. They were not scoring a ton of runs, but they were scoring them at the right time. It was during that stretch also that the starting staff was pitching its best. Martin Perez had thrown those back-to-back shutouts, Robbie Ross was pitching well, Colby had just come back, and Yu was pitching deep into games and being very efficient. Since then though, the league has made adjustments to Perez and he has followed the shutout streak with 2 very underwhelming starts. He has given up 13 runs in his last 9.2 innings pitched. He hasn’t been able to pitch into the sixth in either start. He seems to be pitching the same, but not getting the same results. That is another thing, the starters as a whole are not lasting as deep into games as the teams needs them to. For example, in the A’s series last week in Texas neither Darvish or Perez were able to get through the 5th inning. It also doesn’t help that Colby and Matt seem to have pitch counts put on them. The two of them are both coming back from injuries that kept them out all of 2013, and so it makes sense that the team would be overly cautious in their first few starts. If they are going to do that, then guys like Darvish, Perez, and Ross have to pitch deeper into games. If they don’t it will put a lot more stress on an already thin bullpen. Alexi Ogando has already pitched in 18 of the Rangers 33 games. That is just asking for trouble. He is an arm injury waiting to happen if they keep using him at this rate.  The starters just have to pitch into the 6th and preferably the 7th inning.

Offensively, the lineup is just out of balance. Elvis has been in a slump that has lasted for the last couple of weeks and it has seen him drop in the order to number 9. That happening though has caused Ron Washington to have to experiment with who to hit in the number 2 spot. He has went with Josh Wilson, Dan Robertson, and Leonys Martin. None of them has seemed to work, but even if it did, the middle of the order has been struggling. Alex Rios is still putting up solid numbers, but Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre are hitting with little to no power. Beltre just got his first home run of the season last night and Fielder is still just hitting .233 with just 11 RBI’s. The bottom of the order is really not doing much especially with guys like Donnie Murphy, Josh Wilson, and JP Arencibia hitting down there. They also just are not getting the timely hits that they need. Last night there were several instances of getting runners on base and they couldn’t drive them in. To me it is inexplicable to play two games in Colorado and score only 3 runs. That is a place that with as big of an outfield as they have that they should have been able to score a few runs. Really the only player who seems to be doing his job at the plate is Shin Shoo Choo. He continues to get on base at a ridiculous .500 clip and his average is .370. In his role as a leadoff hitter he is doing his job, but no one else seems to be doing theirs. That is what is holding the offense back is everyone doing their part.

Now the question becomes how do they fix this? How do they get back to playing better baseball and winning games. It has to start with the starting pitcher. The starters must be able to pitch into the 6th or 7th innings. That will take the stress off an already overworked bullpen. Right now it seems the bullpen is running on fumes. Last night Washington even ran Mitch Moreland out there for an inning so he didn’t have to use anybody else in the game. Alexi Ogando will be more effective if he is not being called on to pitch every single day. The big help for the staff will be improved health. Derek Holland and Tanner Scheppers both should be back in the next few weeks. That will allow Robbie Ross and Tanner Scheppers to go back to the bullpen and provide some relief. Robbie I would imagine would take over being the long man and middle relief option and Scheppers would be the 8th inning guy. Then there is that guy Neftali Feliz who is sitting down there in Triple-A still trying to work his way back. He is dealing with soreness and general fatigue right now, but he should be back to pitching soon and hopefully will be option come June. That would provide some serious punch to their bullpen. Having all of those guys come back will certainly help the pitching staff. Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison need to have the shackles taken off of them. Lewis has shown to be as healthy as he has been since probably 2011. The Rangers just need to let him pitch deeper into games. He still has yet to pitch more than 5.2 innings in a game. That will be happening soon though for both of them and that will help the bullpen and the team out as well.

The offense needs Elvis Andrus. They need Andrus to spray line drives all over the field and cause havoc on the basepaths. They need his energy and enthusiasm for the game. The offense has been at their best when Choo and Andrus have been getting on and providing opportunities for Fielder, Beltre, and Rios. If Andrus can go back to just hitting the ball and move back up in the order that should provide a little bit of balance that the offense needs. Once again I say that the offense needs Prince Fielder to produce. They are paying him $24 million this season, and they brought him here to be the major run producer that the team lacked last season. So far he has not been able to be that guy.  This offense is just waiting for him to go on a prolonged streak and when he does it will make the whole lineup look better. Beltre will get better pitches to hit, and Alex Rios will see more runners on base as a result too. Health on offense will also help as well. Jurickson Profar is starting the process of coming back as he is now swinging a bat and throwing, so hopefully he will be back by the beginning of June. Geovanny Soto will be back too come June and so that will mean no more at-bats for Arencibia. Having those guys back will provide some punch to the bottom of the order and less key at-bats for guys like Donnie Murphy and Josh Wilson. The key though is getting Elvis back on track and having Fielder start hitting on a more consistent basis and for more power. If they do that and they get healthy the offense should be fine.

To wrap up, like I said before the season if they could survive these first two months and be at or above .500 they would be fine the rest of the season. That spurt we saw in the middle of April goes to show me that this team can play on that level. For a few days they had the best record in the AL, so they can be as good as any team in the AL. It is just a matter of balance and people doing their jobs. The starters must pitch deep into games, the bullpen must be able to hold onto leads, and the offense must provide timely hitting. In the lineup everyone needs to do their job. Right now they are not doing that and so the team just needs to survive this stretch and hopefully get it turned around starting tonight at home against Colorado in a weird home and home series. Tonight starts a 5 game homestand as it will be Colby Lewis against Jorge De La Rosa. Lewis needs to continue to build off of the success that he had in his last start against the Angels. Note to Colby, don’t give Troy Tulowitzki anything to hit. The guy is a beast right now. Game time is at 7:05 tonight.

Rangers Win in the 9th Again!

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Josh Wilson scores go-ahead run

Josh Wilson scores go-ahead run

 

The Texas Rangers once again won with a dramatic 9th inning rally. This team has faced adversity by losing multiple players to injury, yet here we are on April 23rd and with a win today they will be in first place and have the best record in the AL. I can’t wait to see how well this team plays once they have their full compliment of players. This attitude of never quitting is the best attribute that Ron Washington imparts to his team. Washington is no Tony Larussa or Buck Showalter as far as a tactician, but his teams always play hard and never stop trying until the final out is recorded. Time and time again this season we have seen that. In actuality this team should not be 13-8. They still are missing 2/5 of their starting rotation, 2nd baseman Jurickson Profar, 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre, left fielder Shin Shoo Choo, and last night they lost back-up 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Despite all of that Ron Washington has them playing and believing that they can still win games. It is like those Real Texas Baseball commercials where Washington says, “We are going to win, because that is what we do”. It is a cheesy line, but the players have bought into that and are playing like that every night. The expectation now is to just win and they are doing just that.

Last nights game as mentioned above was another example of this attitude and belief that has permeated among the team. We are just going to fast forward to the 9th inning. The A’s had a 4-3 lead and closer Luke Gregorson on the mound. Mitch Moreland, who had been sitting due to a lefty on the mound, pinch-hit and led off with a double that got past Coco Crisp. It looks like if the Rangers execute they should be able to at least tie the game. Robinson Chirinos then bunts Moreland over to third. So, one out and Leonys Martin coming up to try to drive him in. All it would take is a deep fly ball or a base hit, but instead Martin bunts and Moreland gets a late break and is thrown out by a mile. Now there are two outs with Martin on first and little to no chance to win the game. After the game Washington revealed that there was some miscommunication and that Martin was not supposed to be bunting there. At the time it looked like it might cost them the game. Martin then stole second to give himself a chance at scoring with a base-hit. Josh Wilson was up at the plate trying to extend the game. Wilson had made an error earlier in the game at third that allowed the A’s to be able to score the go-ahead run. He was certainly looking for redemption from his mistake. He got it as he lined a ball to deep left field off of the wall and Martin scored to tie the game. Wilson got a double from it. Then, two pitches later Michael Choice singled up the middle to give the Rangers the lead. Incredibly the Rangers went from their final out and final strike to having the lead in a matter of minutes. It was a remarkable turnaround. Joakim Soria then came in to close it out and he was able to go 1-2-3 and the Rangers somehow won this game. With the win the Rangers improve to 13-8 and the A’s fall to 13-7. They also won their fourth straight series and continued their winning ways.

Notes from the Game

  • Nick Martinez started the game and pitched pretty well. He struggled and was very lucky to make it through the first two innings. The Rangers established him to an early 2-0 lead, but the A’s came back with 2 in the bottom of the first to tie it. Then in the second he walked two guys and had runners on second and third with only one out. It looked like he was just about to get pulled if he had walked another batter or allowed the two runners to score. He got Jed Lowrie to fly to medium center field and Leonys Martin then threw a laser to Robinson Chirinos and he tagged out John Jaso to end the inning. After that he settled down a bit and was able to get through 5 innings only allowing two more runs. He saved the bullpen for today by getting through 3 more innings. It was a successful start though and I imagine he will be back up at some point later on this season.
  • The Rangers lost 2 more players in this game. Kevin Kouzmanoff left in the fourth inning with what is being described as back tightness and Pedro Figureroa left after one pitch complaining about pain in his elbow. The Rangers have 2 wins in this series and 3 players lost to injury. Shin Shoo Choo will still be out today, but is expected to be back this weekend when the team travels to Seattle. There will be more news about Figueroa and Kouzmanoff later today.
  • In the 6th inning the Rangers were able to properly execute a wheel play. The A’s were threatening, but the Rangers were able to bait Eric Sogard into bunting to Josh Wilson. Wilson then turned around to fire it to Andrus who had run over to cover third and get the out and minimize the chance the A’s had at scoring.
  • The bullpen once again pitched very well. Aaron Poreda came in and pitched an inning, Shawn Tolleson came in and pitched an effective 1.2 innings, and then after Figueroa left with an injury Ogando came in and finished the 8th. Soria then was able to close it down. Washington has had to mix and match early on this season, but it doesn’t really seem to be affecting the bullpen. Everyone continues to pitch very well. The bullpen is becoming a strength of this team, much like it was last season.

Preview of Today’s Game

Today’s game will be an afternoon start at 2:35. It will be Martin Perez facing Sonny Gray. These two are among the best young pitchers in the entire AL. Perez has been outstanding early on this season. He has a 3-0 record and a 1.86 ERA. He also has thrown 17 consecutive scoreless innings. His last time out he threw his first complete game shutout against the Houston Astros. He will look to continue that success today against the A’s. In his career he is 2-3 with a 5.79 ERA against the A’s. He has made a lot of improvement since the last time he has played them.  It will not be easy as the A’s will be looking to not get swept for the first time this season.

For the A’s it will be Sonny Gray. Gray has been as good if not better than Perez early on in the season. Gray is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Gray was the A’s Opening Day starter and has won each time out. It will be Gray’s first start against the Rangers. It will be interesting to see how the Ranger hitters approach this matchup as they will have a scouting report, but not previous at-bats to call back on. I expect the first time through the order they will be feeling him out and the next two times they will have more success.

 This will be a good test for both pitchers as they will be counted on to deliver in these types of situations throughout the year. The winner of this game will be in first place come tomorrow. Still a lot of baseball to be played, but if the Rangers continue to play hard and pitch well they will give themselves a shot to win late. That Michael Choice gets Game-Winning Hitis all you can ask for.