Tag Archives: Oakland A’s

Rookies help Rangers defeat the Mariners

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    The Rangers got back to .500 last night behind contributions from the two most inexperienced players on the roster, Nomar Mazara and Brett Nicholas. Nicholas was making his MLB debut last night and went 2-4 with a single … Continue reading →

Season in Review: September/October

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He pitched the Rangers to the Division Series can he pitch them into the ALCS today?

Hamels pitches Rangers to division in game 162

 

Yesterday was my 100th post and in those 100 posts we have covered everything from the disaster that was 2014 to the comeback that was 2015. It has been quite the journey and I hope the next 100 takes the journey from this postseason to possibly a World Series next season. We shall see. Today is the final part of our look back at 2015. It has been a roller coaster of a season so far. The Rangers started off down and in last place in April. They rose back to 2nd place by the end of May. In June they stayed afloat despite injuries to key players. In July they fell way back of the Astros and nearly fell out of third. In August after the trades they rose back to being in 2nd place and leading the wild card. The question became as we entered in September would the Rangers fall back in this month or would they continue to surge. The answer would become both. It was a great month and stressful month of baseball that ended with a celebration.

As we start the month the Rangers are in San Diego for their last interleague series of the season. They had just lost to Tyson Ross and been one-hit the previous night. They were able to bounce back though and win the next game 8-6. The highlight of the game though was Elvis Andrus stealing home.

That was old school Elvis right there. That was a good sign for the team as September was getting started. They won the next night in San Diego in extra innings when Mitch Moreland had the game-winning RBI double. The next day was an off-day and then it got serious as the Rangers were starting a 23-game stretch against AL West teams. This would be where it would be determined what the team would be. Would they be the 2nd wild card, AL West Champion, or out of the playoffs entirely? This 23 game stretch would go a long way to determining that. As we entered into the stretch the team was still leading the 2nd wild card and were 2 games back in the division. They still were in a good position but that all could change if they didn’t continue winning games.

They began the stretch with a 3 game series in Anaheim. C.J. Cron who dominated Rangers pitching all season led the Angels to the victory in the first game and they won 5-2. Derek Holland had maybe his last good start of the season the next day when he pitched 8 innings and held the Angels to 1 run and the Rangers won the game 2-1. They lost the series though the next day when Colby Lewis had another poor start and the Rangers lost 7-0. Not a great start but at least they won one in Anaheim. The next trip took them to Seattle. They struggled all season against Seattle and were facing a 4 game series against the Mariners. The Rangers at least needed a split and that is exactly what they got. Gallardo pitched well and the Rangers won 3-0. They won the next night 9-6 in a game that Cole Hamels pitched. They really relied on the long ball in that game. Shin Soo Choo, Mitch Moreland, Roughned Odor, and Joey Gallo all went deep. Hamels did his thing where he pitched 7 innings and did well enough to get the win. The last two games did not go as well they lost 6-0, and 5-0. I think it was exhaustion from the long road trip and the fact that maybe they had got what they needed and then relaxed. They ended the 10 game road trip with a 5-5 record and were still in the lead for the second wild card ahead of the Twins by one game and still in 2nd place behind the Astros by 2.5 games.

The success of the 10 game homestand would be determined by how they fared against the Houston Astros in the 4 game series. They first had to face the Oakland A’s and could not afford to really look ahead. They did not want to lose ground any further before the 4 game series. Colby Lewis was starting the first game and had not been pitching well heading into this start. 3 straight really poor starts, but on this night he was nearly perfect. He started the game by pitching 7 perfect innings. He gave up a hit to lead off the 8th, but the Rangers were still able to win 4-0 and get the homestand off to a good start. Gallardo got beat the next night though 5-3. The Rangers bounced back in the third game and won 12-4 in the series finale behind a solid start from Chi Chi Gonzalez. Choo who has been red hot at this point continued hitting in this game getting 3 hits and a home run.

Shin Soo Choo who was signed in the winter of 2014 due to his ability to get on base and hit for power had really done neither in his time for the Rangers prior to the All Star break in 2015. He had really struggled and was often times mentioned as one of the worst contracts in all of baseball. In the first half of 2015 he expanded his zone more often than not and looked way too cautious on defense causing him not to get to a lot of balls. The thought with Choo was to just get to the offseason and maybe they can  trade him and hand right field over to Nomar Mazara next season. The story was told that during the All Star break he talked to his wife and she told him to just be himself and to not think about the contract. He had been dwelling too much on how much he was getting paid and not enough on what he did to warrant getting that contract. He came back from the break and started taking more walks, getting more hits, and going after the ball on defense. Day-by-day his average started to go up, his OBP skyrocketed, and he started to hit for more power as he saw better pitches. It was remarkable to see what happened. He hit .274 in August and then in September he may have been the best hitter not just for the Rangers, but the best hitter in the entire American League. As he hit better the team played better. The lineup with him at the 2 hole started to flow better. It gave Fielder and Beltre numerous RBI opportunities. That is why Fielder and Beltre were among the RBI leaders for the month of September and October and that is all Choo. He was getting on base in half of his plate appearances. He hit for a .387 batting average and slugged .613. It may have been his best month as a pro. It was unbelievable to watch and renewed my faith in him heading into 2016. He was the comeback player in my mind from where he was in April to where he was in September.

As the Rangers headed into the season-defining series against the Astros they had momentum and were hungry. Would it be enough to defeat a good Astros team? The Astros had to be thinking they at least needed a split, the Rangers if they wanted to make a dent needed at least 3 and maybe to sweep to really grab the momentum. In the first game the Rangers were down 2-1 against Scott Kazmir when Mitch Moreland who started at first hit a 2-run home run to put the Rangers ahead and Prince Fielder hit a 2-run home run in the 8th provided breathing room. Moreland who normally doesn’t start against tough lefties started at first base when Bannister decided to experiment with Napoli in left field. Hamilton was still being bothered by a sore knee and actually had surgery to clean out his knee. Bannister instead of starting Ryan Rua or Ryan Strasbourger opted for Mike Napoli in order to get his bat in the lineup and to keep Mitch Moreland’s bat in the lineup. It was controversial at the time but it worked and helped the Rangers be able to compete against the tough left handers down the stretch. The second game went much like the first. The Rangers were down 5-4 in the middle innings and came back with a RBI double from Adrian Beltre to score Prince Fielder and tie the game in the 4th inning. The game stay tied until the 9th. Prince Fielder led off with a single. Drew Stubbs came on to pinch-run for him. Adrian Beltre singled and Stubbs went to 3rd. Mitch Moreland then came in to face Will Harris who was a righty that fared very well against lefties. Moreland was up to bat and no outs and he did this.

He delivered the Rangers to first place in the division. The Rangers had been the chasers since the first weekend of the season. They had been as far back as 9 games at one point and looked dead in the water. They played hard, won a ton of games and with this sac fly caught and passed the Astros and were in first place in the division for the first time all season. The season was not over yet. It was great to be in first midway through September, but the journey was not over yet. They still had two games against the Astros and if Houston came back and won the next two then all of this would have been for nothing. The next night after jumping into first place they were facing Cy Young favorite Dallas Keuchel. It would not be an easy game or so one would think. The Rangers took that momentum from the previous night and scored 6 runs in the first inning against Keuchel and ended up scoring 9 runs overall. Keuchel could not get out of the 5th inning. It was maybe his worst start of the season. Once again Choo was in the middle of it as he had another 3 hits, Fielder had 5 RBI’s, and Mike Napoli had 2 hits and a home run as well. It was a stunning night and the Rangers won 14-3. All of a sudden the Rangers are in position to get the sweep and put their foot down as the AL West leader. Lewis pitched well in the finale only allowing 2 runs and after a slow start the Rangers scored 5 runs in the late innings to complete the sweep and win 8-2. Choo was again in the middle of it as he picked up another 4 hits. As the series ended the Rangers were now in first place in the AL West by 2.5 on the Astros and 5.0 games on the Angels.

The Rangers got what they needed and now just needed to hold on down the stretch. Their first test came against the Mariners and they did not fare so well as they lost 2 of 3. Thankfully this was it for games against the Mariners. They then left for a road trip against the A’s and Astros. They needed to really sweep the last place A’s and win at least one against the Astros. They did sweep the A’s in scoring 26 runs in 3 games. They had some momentum heading into Houston. This would be the final series against the Astros and they were up 3.5 games at this point. They needed to win at least one, but they would be in first place even if they got swept. Game one saw Gallardo facing Scott Kazmir. Gallardo pitched well in 4.2 innings and the bullpen was lights out after that and the Rangers won 6-2. As I keep saying Choo was in the middle of this victory as he had 3 hits and a home run. Derek Holland continued his struggles as he had little to no control and the Astros came back in the middle innings and beat the Rangers 9-7.  Choo had another 2 hits in 4 plate appearances. Martin Perez pitched well in the finale giving up 2 runs, no earned, but Dallas Keuchel pitched like the Cy Young winner he is likely to be. The Astros won 4-2. The Rangers did get the one win they needed though and were still 2.5 games up as the final week of the season was getting started.

The last week of the season saw the Rangers facing a 3 game series against the Tigers and a 4 game series against the Angels, all at home. The team likely needed to win at least 4 to secure the division. They got halfway there by winning 2 of 3 against the Tigers. They lost the first game against Justin Verlander, but Cole Hamels got a victory in a game in which he pitched poorly. Gallardo finished off the series by pitching 5.1 innings and only giving up 2 runs. The Rangers were faced with a 4 game series against the Angels with a magic number of 2 to eliminate the Angels and 2 to eliminate the Astros. The team was pushing hard to get it finished, but it would not be easy. Derek Holland again struggled with his control but pitched well enough to only allow 3 runs. Adrian Beltre had a big 3-run double to provide some space with a 4-1 lead. The bullpen held on and the Rangers clinched a playoff spot and eliminated the Angels from the division race with a 5-3 win. The Rangers needed just one victory in their final 3 to clinch the division. They could not get it done on Friday night as the Angels won in the 9th with a base hit from Mike Trout and a RBI single from Albert Pujols to win it. Jered Weaver dominated in that game. They had a chance on Saturday and held a lead in the 9th of 10-6. They had come back from a 5-1 deficit in the 5th to tie and then take the lead with runs in the 6th and 7th innings. The Angels though came back with 9th inning lead off home run from Erick Aybar and Kole Calhoun off Shawn Tolleson, then Ross Ohlendorf was brought in and he could not get outs as the Angels came back to win 11-10. It was a punch in the gut. It was not known would the team rebound on Sunday? Would they face two one-game playoffs coming up on Monday and Tuesday? They set up Cole Hamels to pitch on the last day though for reasons such as this. He was magnificent. He gave up a home run in the first, but dominated after that. He pitched a complete game in game 162 and the Rangers won the game and won the division. It was Hamels’ best start as a Ranger and it came at the most opportune time. The Rangers needed him to come up big and he came up really big on this day. With that start he delivered the Rangers to the division series for the first time since 2011. It was the 6th division championship for the Rangers as a franchise. The Toronto Blue Jays would be waiting for them. On this day the team celebrated a long journey from last place all of last season and into April this season to AL West Champion in 2015. It was a great season. The division series did not go as planned. They won games 1 and 2 in Toronto, including an extra inning classic in game 2. They lost games 3 and 4 though when the pitching did not perform as expected. The Jays outlasted them in what was a classic Game 5 that saw so many things that we had never seen happen in the 7th inning. Jose Bautista capped it off with a monstrous 3-run home run that blew the top off of the Rogers Centre and he flipped his bat all the way to Ottawa.

That disappointment should not take away from what was a great season. 2015 had no expectations, especially after they lost Yu Darvish before the season and then definitely after they lost Derek Holland during the home opener. The team did not quit though and took on the attitude of their manager. They played hard on a night-in night-out basis. Players like Roughned Odor, Shin Soo Choo, Prince Fielder, and Mitch Moreland all came back from injuries or demotions this season and produced in a big way. The no name pitching staff kept them in the race for most of the first half while reinforcements recovered from injury. Then once healthy the team thrived and played very well. Jon Daniels also had maybe his best season as he brought in Wandy Rodriguez,Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, Will Venable, Mike Napoli, and Drew Stubbs and they all played a role in this team winning the division. Ross Detwiler did not work out as planned, but Yovanni Gallardo did and he pitched very well once the Rangers figured out how best to use him. Jeff Bannister in his rookie season as manager pulled all the right strings as the right time and got better as the season went along. I think he will be even better in his second season as he learns how to best use his bullpen.

There will be some changes for next season though. The Rangers will have a new coaching staff. Mike Maddux left to go to Washington. They let go of bullpen coach Andy Hawkins, and hitting coach Dave Magadan. Looks like Doug Brocail will replace Maddux and it has not been announced who will replace Magadan. They also have some free agents like Colby Lewis, Yovanni Gallardo, Mike Napoli, Drew Stubbs, and others. Next week I will be writing a full length offseason preview. I will look at possible trade candidates, positions they should look to improve, and possible free agent signings. I think now after writing this review I am finally ready to move on to 2016. Spring Training cannot get here soon enough.

Season in Review: June

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Joey Gallo makes his Texas Rangers Debut on June 2nd.

Joey Gallo makes his Texas Rangers Debut on June 2nd.

May was a great month for the Rangers, but at the very end the team suffered losses off the field in losing Adrian Beltre to a thumb injury and Josh Hamilton to a hamstring injury. They were in good position in the standings, but could they remain there while these players recovered? The other question became who would replace Beltre at 3rd? Would it be Ed Lucas or Thomas Fields? Would they bring up Odor from AAA and shift Alberto to 3rd? The completely out of the box idea was to bring Joey Gallo up from AA and have him play 3rd, but the though with that was that he was not ready for MLB pitching. The Rangers started the month with an off day before continuing their homestand against the Chicago White Sox. Word started leaking out the Rangers were considering bringing up Joey Gallo. Then late Monday afternoon it became official that Rangers prospect Joey Gallo would make his long anticipated MLB debut on Tuesday night. We would be able to see if he could contribute and fill that hole left in the lineup by Beltre. Lot of debate on both sides of this, is this harming his long term development, is he ready, and the other side saying why not, it gives the lineup another power threat. Up to this point in the season that Tuesday night game was the most excited I have been about watching a Rangers game in 2015. No one knew what to expect. None of the experts, coaches, or anyone knew how he would perform. I was expecting maybe a hit and 3 strikeouts going up against Jeff Szmardija. That is not even close to what we got. I will just let the video do the talking.

He hit a home run, a double, and a single. He was magnificent and helped lead the Rangers to a 15-2 win. It was eye opening really and showed the potential that he has. As a fan I knew that he wouldn’t do that every night, but it was great to see in his debut. That went to show that the Rangers might be able to survive this stretch. It was not going to be easy and the schedule was filled with lose able games, but if the Rangers could play close to or at .500 ball for the month I thought they would be okay for the long run.

The first half of the month they played a lot better than that though. They ended up winning 2 of 3 against the White Sox, 2 of 3 against the Royals and that gave them a 7-3 homestand and I believe their first winning homestand of the season. The offense was clicking during this stretch, Prince Fielder cooled down from his red hot May, and the team as a whole was playing well. What also changed was that at the end of May Jeff Bannister instituted a no-roles bullpen meaning that he could bring in whoever he thought was best for the situation. That ended up turning back into a roles bullpen midway through June, but the new role that was most important was Shawn Tolleson had become the new closer. He took over for an ineffective Neftali Feliz, who became a setup pitcher. Feliz, the once dominant closer, still had not regained his form from 2010-2011. The velocity was not there which made the secondary pitches less effective. After a month and a half of rough outings Bannister made Tolleson the closer and never looked back. Tolleson captured that role and helped to solidify the back end of the bullpen. It allowed the Rangers to hold on to those close games that they were losing in April and May.

The team just kept rolling though despite the injuries, they did lose a series on the road to the A’s. The won the first game, but lost the next two. The bullpen blew one game and Scott Kazmir dominated them in the other. The good thing through this point was that Chi Chi Gonzalez was still pitching well. He had taken over Ross Detwiler’s spot in the rotation in late May and was living up to the hype. He had nearly made the team out of Spring Training. He was one of the last cuts, but he went down to AAA and still pitched well and so when the Rangers decided they had given Detwiler enough opportunities they decided to bring Gonzalez up and see what he could do. At this point the team was just trying to make it till guys like Martin Perez, Matt Harrison, and Derek Holland could come back. Wandy was starting to cool down by this point in this season and looked to be on his last legs, but they did not really have a great alternative. The pitcher who was throwing well was Yovanni Gallardo. This was his best month of the season and he helped to carry the Rangers through this difficult stretch. He gave up 2 earned runs the entire month of June, pitched at least 7 innings in 3 of the starts, and helped the team win 3 of his 5 starts. He was great.

The turning point of the month though was when Delino Deshields pulled up lame with a hamstring injury on June 14th. The Rangers had won the first two games against the Twins, but lost on this Sunday and lost Deshields to the DL after this injury. The Rangers at this point called Odor back up to majors. While in AAA he had hit for a .352 BA, 5 home runs, and slugged .639. He really played well and the Rangers thought he was ready. So they threw him out there and he was ready and looked like the old Roughned Odor. This Odor would help the Rangers win the next three games against the Dodgers. They won the first two at home and including a walk off win off the bat of Robinson Chirinos in the second game. Then the series shifted to Los Angeles for the next two games. They would face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Joey Gallo had another one of those moments in LA against Kershaw.

He hit a monster shot off of Kershaw. Left-handers don’t normally do that against him, and left handed rookies definitely don’t do that. It was like Vin Scully said “a marble”. Just unreal and helped this team who had struggled against left-handers all season long beat perhaps the best left handed pitcher in all of baseball and win this 4 game series against the Dodgers. They did lose against Zack Greinke in the finale of the series, but even then it was only a 1-0 loss and it ended with a walk-off balk by Keone Kela. Anthony Ranaudo had started the game and pitched very well. The Rangers would then go to Chicago to face another tough lefty in Chris Sale, and while they did not do anything against Sale except for strike out 12 times, Colby Lewis kept them in the game by holding the White Sox to just one run. Then in the 9th, Mitch Moreland was brought on as a pinch hitter to face David Robertson with two runners on base and he did this.

He gave the Rangers the lead and the win. Remarkably enough the Rangers had not only survived this stretch without Beltre, Hamilton, and Deshields now, but they were winning a lot of games. They were at their high point of 6 games over .500 at 37-31, in second place in the West, and only 2.5 games behind the Astros. Things were looking really good. At this point only a matter of a week or so till Beltre and Hamilton both came back. Ryan Rua had just come back from the heel injury, and so things were looking like they might be able to catch the Astros before the All Star Break. That is normally the time when things start to take a turn south and boy did they ever for the Rangers. The injuries and all the tough pitchers that they faced took a toll on the whole team. They had been winning games for about a week or so at this point with smoke and mirrors. They were not scoring a high amount of runs, but were pitching just well enough to win games. After beating Chris Sale and the White Sox that changed. The pitching was still good, but the offense kept just scoring 2 runs, while the pitching was allowing 3. That caused them to lose the next two games in Chicago. Then the team went back home to face the A’s in a 3 game series and lost all 3 games as the pitching got a lot worse. Adrian Beltre did come back during this homestand, but it would take him while to get his timing back as he was learning to play with his injured thumb. Beltre coming back though did not help the pitching. Wandy Rodriguez started to only throw well on the road and throw up clunkers at home. The league caught up to Chi Chi and he started to not be as effective and Joey Gallo started striking out a lot more and being less effective. Hanser Alberto who had filled in a 2nd and 3rd was also not hitting and Prince Fielder had massively cooled down without Beltre in the lineup. Roughned Odor had come back and was playing great, but unfortunately no one else was. It was hard to win games. All of this would lead to the A’s sweeping them at home and then the Blue Jays took the first game of the series to end what had become a 6 game losing streak and just like that they were back at .500 and 5.0 games back in the division. Thankfully it was Yovanni Gallardo’s turn in the rotation. He would go up against the Blue Jays on that Saturday and would shut them out and help the team end that long losing streak. That was a trend this season was Gallardo pitching well against the Blue Jays. His being right handed and being able to pitch on the corners allowed him to be able to stay away from the power zones of the Blue Jays hitters. They would go on to lose the next day, but Chi Chi pitched well other than just one inning, but the offense couldn’t get enough runs to win the game. Then to end the month the Rangers went to a Baltimore and since it was on the road Wandy pitched well. He was great in this start as he pitched 5 innings, giving up 1 run, and striking out 7 and the Rangers won 8-1. Then on the final day of the month the Rangers won again 8-6 this time behind a good start from Colby Lewis and great offensive production.

The Rangers had some great highs in this month with the debut of Joey Gallo, winning 3 games against the Dodgers, and getting up as high as 2nd place in the division. They also had some lows and that was losing Deshields and then losing 6 straight and 7 of 8 at the end of the month. It was clear by the mid of June the team was running out of steam. They did get Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton back by the end of the month and had survived June. They finished the month with an overall record of 40-38, 5 games back in the division, and 1 game behind the Angels for second place. Overall they went 14-13 for the month, which allowed them to stay in the race through what was a difficult month of June. It was also great to see Joey Gallo finally in a Rangers uniform and he had some great and some not so great moments. Hanser Alberto proved that he could hit on this level and Roughned Odor showed that he was not a flash in the pan either. Odor would be perhaps the Rangers best player from the time he came back up through the month of July. We will continue detailing his remarkable return next week. Chi Chi Gonzalez was great in the rotation as well, but did show some holes. He had issues putting hitters away as he was not able to get swings and misses as often as he needed to.  The most important thing was that the Rangers were still in the race after this month. It could have very easily went very south with all the injuries, but Jeff Bannister and the team kept that from happening.

Next week I will come back and detail the month of July and the entire second half. July features the return of Delino Deshields, the return of Martin Perez and Matt Harrison, a 21-5 beatdown, and surprising trades that would completely turn around the fortunes of this team. May was the month that set them on the path to contending, June was about surviving, and July will be about becoming a true contender. That will be next Monday that I will write and continue with part 4 of the 2015 Season in Review.

2015 Season in Review: April

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Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam in Oakland.

Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam in Oakland.

 

The 2015 season came to an end last week for the Texas Rangers as they lost in 5 games to the Toronto Blue Jays. It was disappointing in how it ended but it doesn’t erase the good memories that were made this season. Wheras 2014 was a season on sadness, 2015 was a season of excitement and rejuvenation for the team and for the fans. Today I am kicking off a 6 part series that takes a look back at the 2015 season month-by-month. In this series we will look at the high points, low points, and turning points of each month. I feel like we can’t really move forward into the offseason and into 2016 before we look back and remember what made 2015 so great. Today we will be starting off with April.

Heading into the season there were no expectations for the season. I thought they would be lucky to finish 3rd in the division. They had not made any big offseason moves other than trade for Yovanni Gallardo and Ross Detwiler to fill out their rotation. They had picked up a guy with a famous name in the Rule V Draft, Delino Deshields Jr, and he made the team because the team did not want to lose him back to the Astros. Before Opening Day it did not look like Deshields would be anything other than a really good pinch runner. They had a rookie manager in Jeff Bannister who had been a baseball-lifer but had never gotten a chance at the big job. He was previously bench coach for Clint Hurdle in Pittsburgh. Who knew how he would handle the responsibilities and the bullpen. In Spring Training we had also learned that Yu Darvish would be out for the whole season with Tommy John surgery. Things were not looking good as the Rangers headed out of Surprise and headed to Oakland to begin the season. The Opening Day rotation looked like this: Yovanni Gallardo, Colby Lewis, Ross Detwiler, Nick Martinez, and Derek Holland. Holland missed most of Spring Training and was held back until the home opener. The bullpen was a bunch of right handed pitchers who threw hard, but didn’t have great control. The bullpen began with no left handers. The Rangers had decided against including Alex Claudio and Sam Freeman in the bullpen to begin with. They kicked off the season by splitting a 4 game series with the A’s. The highlight of that series was Keone Kela making his first MLB appearance in a tight situation in the second game and getting Marcus Semien to ground into a double play in order to preserve a 2-run lead in the 7th. It is funny to look back on now that we have seen how good Kela could be, but he wouldn’t have even been in that situation had Tanner Scheppers and Kyuji Fujikawa not been hurt. Kela, Shawn Tolleson, and Neftali Feliz were able to close out the first win of the season. Kela and Tolleson would go on as we now know to play very important roles in the bullpen. In April though Tolleson was the 8th inning guy and right hander who could also get lefties out.

They moved on from Oakland and came home for their home opener. The fans came out to pack the park for a beautiful Friday afternoon game. The plane flyover was there, the flag was extended across the field, and all the pomp and circumstance for Opening Day was brought out. Then the game started and it became a nightmare for the Rangers and the fans. Derek Holland started the game and pitched an inning, but his velocity was way down. He got through the inning, but did not come back for the second. It was later revealed that he had a shoulder strain. It was thought to just keep him out 4-6 weeks, but Holland did not make his return until mid-August. Ryan Rua, who started the season as the left-fielder, also sustained an injury. He broke his heel in that game and would be out till June. Shin Soo Choo sustained back spasms and had to be taken out of the game. Thankfully his did not require a DL trip. It was I called it at the time the worst home opener in Rangers history. As you would imagine they did lose the game 5-1, but that was not as important as who they lost. Wandy Rodriguez was brought up to replace Derek Holland in the rotation and Carlos Peguero replaced Ryan Rua as a corner outfielder. Both of these players would have their moments with the team such as Peguero in his second game with the Rangers as they finished up the home opening series with the Astros nearly had a walk off home run, but George Springer went back on the ball and slammed into the wall and stole what would have been a walk off home run. Rodriguez also was one of the Rangers better starters through the rest of April and May. He had that curveball dancing like it was 2010 and it was baffling hitters.

That was not enough to sustain the team as they only split two series and lost 5 series. The main culprit was not pitching but offense. They could not get hits with runners in scoring position(RISP), could not hit for power, and could not hit for average. Prince Fielder was hitting well over .300 for the entire month and was actually leading the league in hitting for most of the month, but everyone else was hitting at .200 or below. The team just struggled to score runs and when they had leads the bullpen could not hold the lead. The low point of the month had to be when the team was in Seattle trying to win their first series of the season. They had a 10-5 heading into the bottom of the 7th. The Mariners scored one run in the 7th, 3 runs in the 8th against Scheppers, Kela, and Feliz, and 2 runs in the 9th to win it. It was a demoralizing loss, but thankfully Nick Martinez was starting the next game. For some reason when Nick Martinez started games in April they won. The Rangers won every game Nick Martinez started in April. He was pitching well, locating his fastball on the corners, and the team was scoring runs for him. Looking back on it this season could have went farther south than it did, but guys like Nick Martinez and Wandy Rodriguez helped to stabilize the rotation for the first couple of months. It was not sustainable for an entire season, but without their performances in April and May they would have stood no shot at contending in September. In April though the team was just looking for a spark offensively. It happened near the end of the month in an extra inning game in Anaheim.

Leonys Martin hit a go ahead home run in Anaheim to help the Rangers walk out with a win. The Rangers had lost 5 out of 6 prior to that were not looking good. Martin hit that home run and helped to right the ship. Unfortunately they would go on to lose the next three against the Mariners, but it looked like the team was right on the verge of breaking out. The pitching was still really good, they were holding opponents down, the bullpen was pitching somewhat better, but they just needed to score runs. At the end of the month a surprising trade was announced that sent Josh Hamilton back home to Texas. Anaheim was ready to get rid of him after his shoulder surgery and his tumultuous offseason that saw him fail a drug test. MLB could not suspend him though is what an arbitrator ruled, but the Angels did not want him in Spring Training or on the team. Texas facilitated a trade that allowed Hamilton to come back to Texas and for Anaheim to pay a large majority of the remainder of his contract. The team was excited to see what Josh could bring. They needed to figure themselves out first before Josh came in. By the end of April there were signs that it was getting better, but they kept losing games. It was hard to see the progress.

The month of April ended with the record standing at 7-14 and they were 7.5 games behind the first place Houston Astros. Houston ran off to a surprising 15-7 start that saw them tied with defending AL Champion Royals for best record in the AL. The Rangers weren’t winning games but they had not given up hope. They looked at their team and saw a good starting rotation, a bullpen that needed work, and an offense that was ready to break out and start scoring loads of runs. All of that would not matter if they could not start winning games. Tomorrow we will look at the month that turned it around for the Rangers and that is May. That is when the fortunes of the team turned.

Rangers Win First Series of the Season

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Don’t look now but the Texas Rangers have won 2 in a row and 3 of the last 4. They won last night 7-1 against the AL West leading Houston Astros and are now on their first winning streak of the season. Prior to last night they had been 0-8 following a win. That all changed behind a dominant outing from Wandy Rodriguez and a solid offensive night. This win also marks the first series that the Rangers have won all season. They will be trying for their first sweep of the season tonight. The win improves their record to 10-16 on the season and they are now 7.5 in the division and just 0.5 game back from Seattle. It was a good night all around for the team as they played focused and hard. That came after their gritty come from behind 2-1 win on Monday night. Right now this stretch starting on Saturday Night with that 8-7 extra innings win against the A’s is their best stretch that they have had all season long. The offense has been more consistent, the starting pitching has been outstanding, and aside from a hiccup on Sunday the defense has been good. Does this mean that this team can compete this season? That will be determined by the team’s play over the course of the next few days, weeks, and months.

Instead of talking about the future lets focus on last night. They played really well from the first pitch to the end. The offense delivered with men on base and Wandy Rodriguez was nearly unhittable against his former team. It started when the team put up 4 runs in the first inning. Shin Soo Choo leading off the 2nd game in a row started the game with an opposite field double, then Andrus got a bunt single and advanced Choo to 3rd. Prince Fielder who has been outstanding with runners on base improved his batting average in that spot with a double down the left field line to score both Choo and Andrus and up his team high RBI total to 13. Carlos Peguero followed that up later in the inning with a 2-run home run, his first of the season. Before Wandy made a single pitch he already had a 4-0 lead. That allowed him to pitch free and easy knowing that he had a little cushion. He did allow a first inning home run to Luis Valbuena and he got into trouble in the second inning. That was when he allowed a single to Marwin Gonzalez, a double to Jason Castro, and then walked Robbie Grossman. That allowed Jose Altuve, who is a master with a bat in his hands, to hit with the bases loaded and either potentially tie the game or give the Astros the lead. Altuve has been excelling in these situations this season. He has a .429 BA with runners in scoring position and has 16 RBI’s. The score was 4-1 at that point. There was two outs in the inning and on the second pitch he left it high and over the middle of the plate. Altuve swung and lined it down the left field line and it looked for a split second like it might hit off the wall, but it curved foul into the stands. Altuve was clearly frustrated because he knew he missed one. On the 5th pitch Wandy Rodriguez got Altuve to hit a soft bouncer right back to the mound. Rodriguez picked it up and instead of going home, decided to turn around and throw it to first and was able to get Altuve there and get out of the inning unscathed. After that it was smooth sailing for Rodriguez. He retired the last 19 hitters he faced and overall the Rangers retired the last 22 batters that went to the plate. The Rangers did add 3 more runs to the board. In the 3rd Adrian Beltre hit a double past the third baseman to score Elvis Andrus from second. Then Carlos Corporan followed later that inning with a sac fly to score Beltre to make it 6-1. Kyle Blanks finished up the scoring with his team leading 3rd home run of the season to make it 7-1. Good night offensively, great night pitching, and no errors on defense. All in all maybe one of their best performances of the season.

Other Game Notes

  • I have to say again Wandy Rodriguez was outstanding last night. He threw 8 outstanding innings. That marks back-t0-back great performances from Rodriguez and on Monday from Ross Detweiler. That is coming against a team that had been on a 10 game winning streak. Rodriguez last night mixed it up very well between his overhand curveball and he was locating his fastball very well. I don’t expect that every time out, but when it does happen it is a pleasant surprise.
  • Kyle Blanks has really changed this team since he came up last week for the injured Mitch Moreland. It is going to present an issue for Jeff Banister when Moreland is ready to play again. Blanks gives this team the type of power that they haven’t seen in the lineup since Nelson Cruz departed two seasons ago. He is a threat to go deep every single at-bat. He also has been getting base hits and gives them someone from the right side of the plate that is a threat. He needs to be in the lineup every day. It will be interesting to see if the Rangers try Moreland or Blanks in left field. Unfortunately, both have a history of foot problems, so that could limit their options. For now though, Blanks continues to be outstanding and continuing to give the lineup depth.
  • Shin Soo Choo is back to being a leadoff hitter. That is where he started and played most of last season. Now he is back there as manager Jeff Banister is trying to jump start his lineup. So far so good. Choo who recently had been in a slump has seemingly come out of it since being reinserted into the lineup Friday night against the A’s. Since that point he is 6-21 (.286) and has upped his overall average to .167 on the season. He is seemingly seeing the ball better, taking more pitches, and making more solid contact. It has been nice to see him start to get back, because with and Blanks the lineup from 1-6 starts to look very good.
  • George Springer did it again. The Rangers have played the Astros 5 times this season and in 3 of those games Springer has recorder a highlight worthy catch. This is the one from last night.

 

 

 

That followed up the one from Monday night. Which looked like this.

 

 

 

If you remember he had the catch in Arlington off the bat of Leonys Martin that would have been a game-winning grand slam, but he brought back and kept the game tied and the Astros ended up winning. This guy is just remarkable in right field. The fact that this is just his second year makes me sick that as Rangers fans we are going to have to see him for several more years making catches like the two above. He did have to leave the game though after the first catch. He looked a little doozy from the collision with the wall. I imagine that he will be sitting out tonight’s game just to be cautious. Great catch though.

  • The Rangers go for the series sweep tonight. It will be Colby Lewis going up against Samuel Deduno at 7:05 p.m. Go Rangers!!!!!!

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

 

 

 

The Triple M Boys and the Rangers head home with a W.

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It was a nerve-wracking game through all 11 innings, but it was a nerve-wracking game that the Rangers came out on top of with a 5-4 victory. That improved their record to 7-11 and they finished the road trip 3-5. There was a lot that happened in this game, but the most important thing was that they finally got a hit with runners in scoring position. All weekend long they had been scoring in a variety of ways like wild pitches, walks, hit by pitch, sacrifice fly, and fielders choice groundout. The only hit they had with runners in scoring position was an infield single by Prince Fielder on Friday night that he barely beat out. That changed though in the most opportune moment. Mitch Moreland came through with two outs in the ninth with a single through the right side of the infield to score Delino Deshields Jr. It was a great series of at-bats in the 9th. The first two hitters had recorded outs, but then Prince Fielder singled, Adrian Beltre singled, and then Mitch Moreland tied the game with his single. The game remain tied till the 11th when Leonys Martin hit a home run that landed in the front row of seats in right field to make the score 4-3. Then another two out rally happened. It started with a walk by Adam Rosales, who had come on to pinch run for Adrian Beltre, and then Mitch Moreland hit another single. Elvis Andrus was then able to reach on an error by Erick Aybar and that allowed Adam Rosales to score. Feliz who had come on in the 10th, stayed out for the 11th and allowed 1 run, but was able to close it out 5-4.

It was a great win in a season that has not had many of them, but it exhibited the quality that manager Jeff Banister is trying to impart on this team and that is never ever quit. Yesterday, the Rangers never quit. Even when the Angels had come back to not only tie it, but go ahead in the 8th, the Rangers never quit. They kept playing till the 27th out. Hopefully, a win like this can spur a good stretch on this upcoming homestand. They definitely need it. A 4-2 homestand would get them closer to being back at .500. A 5-1 homestand would put them right at .500. Lets hope they can take this momentum into this important series against the Mariners.

Finally, Nick Martinez will get lost in the shuffle of the comeback, but he pitched well once again. He maneuvered his way through different jams, and did not allow a run. Make that 26 innings and only 1 earned run. He has not allowed an earned run in 3 of his 4 starts.  It has been remarkable to see him pitch this way. Martinez may not have got the win, but the team improved to 4-0 in the games he pitches and 3-11 when anyone else pitches. He is keeping this team afloat with every appearance that he makes. He has been not only their best pitcher, but one of the best pitchers in the AL in the first month of the season. Hopefully for this team’s sake he can continue it, because reinforcements are not on their way for probably another month or so.

Now the team comes home for a 6 game homestand that starts tonight against the Seattle Mariners and then with 3 this weekend against the Oakland A’s.

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 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!!!!!