Tag Archives: Prince Fielder

Rangers Season Comes Crashing Down

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  The 2015 campaign for the Texas Rangers came to a sudden halt yesterday afternoon with a 6-3 defeat that was much closer than that. Toronto advances to its first ALCS since 1993 and the Rangers once again fall just … Continue reading →

Rangers-Jays ALDS Game 4 Preview

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

Texas Rangers-Toronto Blue Jays ALDS Preview

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

Rangers Clinch AL West

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Cole Hamels pitches the Rangers to the AL West Championship

Cole Hamels pitches the Rangers to the AL West Championship

 

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

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

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

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

Sale Shuts Down Rangers

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Tonight was just one  of those nights where nothing went right for the Rangers and they lost 9-2.  Games like this happen every so often when you play 162. Nick Martinez was not sharp at all and Chris Sale was his usual dominant self. That is a combination that will lead to a loss every time. I had predicted a 5-2 home stand before it started and with a win tomorrow they will finish the home stand 5-2. I kind of expected them to lose this game. The Rangers are very lefty heavy and so they will struggle against dominant left handers like Sale, Clayton Kershaw, and others. Tonight was not that much of a surprise. It became even less of a surprise when Prince Fielder was given the night off and Josh Hamilton was kept out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury. So no Adrian Beltre, Fielder, and Hamilton and all of a sudden it felt more like a Spring Training lineup going up against maybe the best left hander in the AL. The loss drops the Rangers record to 27-26.

Other Game Notes

  • Joey Gallo followed his monster debut and predictibly struggled against Chris Sale. He went 0-3 against Sale with 3 strikeouts. He did come up against another left-hander in the 9th, Zach Duke and hit his second home run and hit it again into the upper right field porch once again. He will strike out, but I think it was a great learning experience for him.
  • Prince Fielder who is 4-25 in his career against Chris Sale was given his first night off the season. Not a bad decision. He has been struggling in this home stand so I am sure instead of continuing that slide Banister decided to give him the night off with the thought being that he will be rested and ready for tomorrow.
  • The bad news that came out after the game tonight was that Josh Hamilton’s minor hamstring tightness is not so minor. After having an MRI it was determined that he will be out 3-4 weeks. It was strained on a play in the outfield on Saturday night where he chased down a ball in the corner. It was made worse on the walk-off hit on Sunday when he was rounding first. The Rangers did not have him before Memorial Day and still were winning games. They will find a way. This could keep Gallo on the team longer than the 3 weeks timeline if Hamilton is not back yet. Gallo has played the outfield so he can fill in the out there so that the Rangers can keep his power in the lineup. I imagine he will be put on the DL tomorrow and I do not know who they will call up. Jake Smolinski is already on the team. They could call up Roughned Odor to put another player on the bench, Michael Choice is on the 40 man roster but has struggled all season, I guess the more likely option is a pitcher to fill out the bullpen. We will see tomorrow. The option is short term Deshields Jr. plays everyday in left and Martin is back in center everyday. Ryan Rua is expected back later this month and will play in the outfield some and Kyle Blanks will be back as well. The Rangers do have options and should be fine. They just will need to survive these next few weeks.
  • There was good news in the organization. Matt Harrison made his first rehab start for Triple-A Round Rock. He threw 5 innings, throwing 78 pitches, and came out of it “feeling great”. At this point the plan is for him to be back later this month. They will evaluate him after every start. No pitcher has ever come back from Spinal Fusion surgery and so the team doesn’t want to mess this up. Good luck to Matt and I can’t wait to see him back in Arlington.
  • Tomorrow is the finale of the series and the home stand. It will be Carlos Rodon against Yovanni Gallardo at 7:05. Go Rangers!!!!!

Welcome to the Majors Joey Gallo

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Wow. What more can you say about what happened last night at Globe Life Park. Since I heard Monday afternoon that the Rangers would call up Joey Gallo I was looking forward to the game. I was excited to see what he would do, all the while anticipating that he would probably go 0-4, with 2 strikeouts. He lived up to his hype at least for one night and provided a glimpse at what type of player he could be for this Rangers team in the future. He did everything last night except for field a ball and steal a base. It was one of the best rookie debuts I have seen for a Rangers position player. Probably the best in my mind since Ruben Mateo went 1-4 in his debut with a home run back on June 12, 1999. That is probably how long it has been since they have had a player with as much hype as Joey Gallo is getting. The guy deserves it especially with the kind of numbers he was putting up in the minor leagues. He had put up two straight 40 home run seasons and was probably on his way to around 40 again this season, but they decided to promote him for 2-3 weeks. I am excited to see what Gallo can do for this team in the next few weeks and I hope that when Adrian Beltre is healthy that Gallo has played so well that they have to at least have a conversation about keeping him on the team even though there really is not a spot for him to get consistent at-bats. Man what a night though.

On a night that everyone is going to be talking about Joey Gallo, there were other things that happened. The team did win 15-2. Carlos Corporan had 5 rbi’s on the night after coming in for Robinson Chirinos in the 3rd inning. Colby Lewis pitched 7 great innings, only allowing a 2-run home run to Adam Eaton. Everyone on the team had multiple hits except for Prince Fielder. Fielder has seemingly cooled off after a scorched earth road trip. The team has now started to put some distance between themselves and .500 and 27-25. Unfortunately the Astros came back to win so the Rangers are still 5.5 games back of the Astros. They are only 0.5 game back of the Tigers and Angels for the second wild card spot though. They have now won 11 of their last 13 and are just making baseball look easy. That could change today as they go up against White Sox ace Chris Sale who will try to neutralize these lefty heavy Rangers lineup. Nick Martinez will try to keep the White Sox off the board and help give the offense a chance at winning this game. It is going to be weird especially after how Gallo played last night when manager Jeff Banister decides to sit him against Chris Sale in favor of Adam Rosales. Not saying it is the wrong move, but it is not going to be the popular move with fans who will be coming tonight to see Joey Gallo play. It is smart because he will have a better shot for success tomorrow against Carlos Rodon than against Chris Sale. Game time is tonight at 7:05. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!

Month of May Recap

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If you had told me on April 30th when the Rangers were 7-14 and struggling in all aspects of the game that by June 1st they would be one game above .500 at 26-25 I would have thought you were crazy. In April they had Prince Fielder hitting well over .300 and nobody else hitting anywhere close to .300. In April Leonys Martin, Elvis Andrus, Shin Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, Robinson Chirinos, and Roughned Odor all hitting below .200. I thought that they were close to an offensive breakthrough. I even said this on April 27th:

I feel like the offense is a consistent Shin Soo Choo away from really exploding.

That is exactly what happened in May. Choo got moved to the leadoff spot at the beginning of the month and the offensive potential seemed to be unlocked. Deshields gained a more prominent role as well and ascended to the leadoff spot by the end of the month and the offense that had struggled so much in April was scoring runs in bunches in May. They were among the league leaders in runs and ran their record to 19-11 for the month, which was tied for the 4th best record in all of MLB. It has been fun and exciting to watch. I am back to looking forward to watching Texas Rangers games every night and they seem to have what it takes to win now and in the future. Lets take a look at the top moments from this month, the top players on the team from this month, and look ahead to June for this team.

Top 5 Moments from the Month of May

5) Sweeping the Astros in Houston. I know this is not a singular moment, but this series in the grand scheme of things for May will get forgotten, but this is the series that really got them rolling.  They had just lost 2 of the 3 to the Oakland A’s and they were not looking good at 9-16. The Astros had flown through the month of April and were 18-8 and were 8.5 games up in the division race and had a 10 game winning streak they were on. It was not looking like a good matchup for the Rangers at that moment. This team though is the arguably the best road team in the majors. They showed that when they needed to most. They beat ace Dallas Keuchel in the first game of the series with a late comeback 2-1 in a game that Ross Detweiler was brilliant in. Wandy Rodriguez pitched brilliantly in his return to Houston to help the Rangers win the second game 7-1 and they completed the sweep with an 11-3 victory in-game 3. That was the game Carlos Peguero hit a couple of home runs to help drive the offense. That sweep helped propel them for the rest of the month and it kept them from falling behind in the division by 10 games or more. When the book is complete on this season no matter what happens this series will be the one to look at as the start of the turnaround.

4) Andrus scores from first off a steal of second. This happened in the home series against the Cleveland Indians. The score was 6-5 and Elvis was on first base. He took off for second and the throw went into his body and ricocheted off and into left field. He got up and kept going to third base and as the Indians struggled to get to the ball he just rounded third and headed home and did not beat the throw, but made a great head first slide around the tag and tied the game at 6. They would go on to lose 10-8, but this moment showed how good Elvis can be. This is the type of player that helped drive those World Series’ teams and one that can be among the most exciting to watch in all of baseball. It was a moment of individual brilliance that will not be easily forgotten.

3) Chi Chi Gonzalez winning in his debut. Gonzalez was the Rangers first round pick in 2013 and had been steadily climbing up the Rangers organization and nearly made the team out of Spring Training, but the Rangers thought he needed more seasoning. Last Saturday against the Red Sox they decided he was ready to be brought up to make his debut. He did not pitch as well as he can, he did not strike out 10 or more, but he was mature and poised out on the mound. He walked 5 guys, but did not give up a hit until the 6th inning and was taken out to a standing ovation by the near sellout crowd that was there to watch him. Bannister held him out there on the mound for a minute and told him to soak it all up and remember this. Now though they will want him to have better control in his future starts. He is a member of the rotation now and going forward. He will hopefully give them more consistency from the number 5 spot than Detweiler could provide.

2) Prince Fielder’s game tying 3-run home run in Cleveland. The Rangers had been trailing in this game 3-0 and looked lifeless on offense for much of the game, but they got a couple of runners on board for Prince and then Danny Salazar left a changeup up and over the plate and Prince sent it over the fence in deep right field to tie the game at 3.This helped to extend the season long winning streak to 7 and helped them to get back to .500. This came in the middle of the scorching hot Prince streak that saw him 9 home runs in the month and helped him to draw into the lead for RBI’s. Prince has really been the driving force for the team this month and this season and the team has finally caught up to him.

1) Josh Hamilton’s walk off double. This has to be number one. It put the Rangers above .500 for the first time in 359 days and was just one of the best moments you will ever see on a baseball field. It was his first series back home as a Ranger and in a pinch-hitting opportunity he came through with a double into the left-center field gap that scored Alberto from third and Prince Fielder from first. I have now watched it probably 10 times or more. Hopefully this is the start of something and not the high point of something. The rest of the season will tell the story.

There were so many other things that happened that did not make the list but were great moments in their own right, Adrian Beltre’s 400th home run, sweeping the Yankees in Yankee Stadium, and the emergence of the no-roles bullpen. That is what kind of month it was, so much good happened that I couldn’t include all of it.

Top 5 Players from the Month of May

5) Shin Soo Choo. I have to include Choo. He was hitting .096 in April and Banister sat him down for a couple of days in order to get his head right and his swing right and boy did that pay dividends in April. He hit .295, 6 home runs, 18 rbi’s, 36 hits,  .345 OBP, and provided stability to the top of the order. He started the month hitting leadoff and then moved to number 2 when Deshields took hold of the leadoff spot. He was great in either role. He was one player the team desperately needed in April and is one that they got in May. He is my number 5 player in the month of May.

4) Shawn Tolleson. When Banister decided to go to a no-roles bullpen, he unofficially gave the role of closer to Shawn Tolleson and Tolleson has responded by going 6-6 in save opportunities and has not been challenged in several of those save chances. Banister may not be calling him the closer, but that is what role he has and he is one of the big reasons why this team is winning. They are getting leads and the bullpen is closing the games out. Baseball sometimes is very simple. Teams that win are teams that can get leads and hold on to them. That was a big reason why the Royals were in the World Series last year is the strength of their bullpen. Shawn is helping to solidify the 9th inning with a mixture of sliders and changeups and is doing a great job. That is why he is the number 4 player on this list.

3) Delino Deshields Jr. The Rule V draft pick the Rangers got from the Astros in the offseason has been a downright steal for the Rangers. He is a speed burner on the basepaths, he is getting on base, and providing a spark at the top of the lineup. One thing I have liked is his patience at the plate. He has drawn 16 walks on the season and 15 of them were in May. He had a .406 OBP in May as well as a .296 BA, 24 hits, 10 stolen bases, and 22 runs scored in the month of May. He has been everything the Rangers could have hoped for and more. He has made the center field situation a platoon of sorts between him and Martin. Banister is trying to find other ways to get his bat in the lineup like playing some 2nd base. He has taken advantage of the opportunity given to him and been able to expand his role from pinch runner to everyday starter. I was wondering before the season how he made the team, but now I see what the team saw. They saw a player who was very athletic and just needed an opportunity. What he has done at the top of the order is why he is my number 3 player in the month of May.

2) Adrian Beltre. Beltre who hit his 400th home run also turned things around offensively this month. He hit .205 in April and then hit .293 in May with 4 home runs, 16 rbi’s, 36 hits, and played his usual gold-glove level defense. The sad part is that on the last day of the month he jammed his thumb into second base trying to break up a double play and will be out for at least two weeks, but more than likely 3 weeks. He was providing solid protection for Fielder in the cleanup spot. That responsibility will now likely fall to Hamilton or Moreland making the lineup more left-handed than it already was. Beltre though in the month was a May was a driving force in the lineup and that is why he is my number two player in the month of May.

1) Prince Fielder. It has to be Prince. He was not only the best player for the Rangers this month, but one of the best players in all of MLB this month. He had video game numbers this past month. He had a .377 BA, 9 home runs, 28 RBI’s, 46 hits, .430 OBP, 1.085 OPS, and 80 Total Bases. He was insanely, crazy, unbelievable hot during that 7 game winning streak. He came back to earth during the 4 game Red Sox series at home when he when went 5-20. He has completely embraced the DH role, and is now hitting it to all fields, and is among not just the best power hitters in the game, but he can be put with the best hitters in the game. One of my favorite at-bats of Prince’s came during the Red Sox series on Friday night. They were facing knuckleballer Steven Wright. and Prince had got out in his first two at-bats, but this at-bat he saw that the Red Sox were shifting on him  and so he tried to hit it the opposite way. Every pitch he was trying to line it down the left field line. The first five pitches he fouled off trying to hit it the opposite way. Finally on pitch 7 he gets a pitch he could handle and drives to the left fielder. He did not get frustrated, he had a plan, and he executed that plan. It was the type of at-bat he has been having all year long, but it just goes to show the progress he has made as a hitter. That is why he is my number one player for the month of May.

Looking Ahead to June

June is not going to be easy. It is a new month and they will be having to play most of the month without Adrian Beltre. News came down yesterday though that the Rangers are going to call up top prospect Joey Gallo to take Beltre’s spot at third. Gallo has been playing well for AA Frisco, hitting .314, with 9 home runs in the first 2 months of the season. The Rangers were prepared to send him to AAA Round Rock today, but when Adrian got injured decided to call him up instead. They think this will be a great learning experience. It is just temporary, when Adrian does get healthy he will resume playing third base and Gallo will be sent to Round Rock. They wanted Joey Gallo to come in and be apart of this clubhouse and try to help this team and then go back and find out what he needs to work on and then refine his skills in AAA. That way he would be ready in case of a call back to the majors either later this season or next season. Other reinforcements could be coming soon as well. Kyle Blanks will be eligible to come off the DL June 4th, Ryan Rua will be sent out on a rehab assignment later this week, and Matt Harrison will make his first start for Round Rock on Wednesday Night.  They play a majority of their games on the road this month once again. They play 11 home games against such teams as the White Sox, Twins, Dodgers,  and A’s. They play 16 road games against the Royals, A’s, Dodgers, White Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles to close out the month. It will not be an easy month, they still have to play well if they want to be able to not only get in the race but stay in the race through this month. If they can do it they then position themselves to stay in the race all season long as they spend most of the second half at home. My guess is that the team goes 16-11 this month and then really makes a run when they start to get players back in July and August.

The Rangers had a great month of May and hopefully can follow it up with a good month of June. Their first game is tomorrow night against the Chicago White Sox at 7:05. Go Rangers!!!!!!

Winning Streak Crashes Down

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8 was not meant to be today as the Rangers lost to the Cleveland Indians 12-3 today to finish the road trip 7-2 and to take their record to 23-24. Not a lot can be said about this game other than Colby was off of his game today. He was missing his spots, his slider was flat, and the Indians took advantage with the 8 run third inning that saw Carlos Santana put an exclamation point on the inning with a 3-run home run that made the score 10-0. Probably before that the game was practically over, but that really sealed it. Anthony Bass came on and pitched 4.1 innings and newly-recalled Jon Edwards pitched 1.0 inning. So the winning streak ends, the question will be can they take this momentum that was gathered on this trip and take it home and play well there.Their home record this year is an abysmal 6-13. They are tied with Oakland with the fewest home victories in all of MLB. In the past they have been able to establish a clear home field advantage at Globe Life Park. The test will come with these next two series, because they have seemingly hit their stride these last 9 games and with a struggling Boston Red Sox team and a middle of the road Chicago White Sox team coming to town they need to take care of business and start winning some of these home series. If they do that then they will not only get back to .500, but put some distance between themselves and .500 and start to creep closer to the Astros. May was about righting the ship. They solved their offensive issues and solved the issues they had with the bullpen. June will be about if they can maintain this level of play? If they can I expect them to be within shouting distance of the Astros come the All Star Break. I am not going to go on and on about this game. They lost 12-3, they deserved to lose 12-3, and now they come home.

Other Game Notes 

  • Delino Deshields Jr. made his debut at second after this game got out of hand. Word around the beat writers and other people that follow the team is that he had been working at second these last few weeks and it was only a matter of time before he got in a game at second. It was not a surprise that Jeff Banister would use this an opportunity to play him there. It will be interesting to see if this is a temporary thing or something that he might use to get Deshields in the lineup more. Martin is struggling offensively, but is a great defender in center and has a strong enough arm to keep runners honest on the bases. Making Deshields the starting second baseman would allow him and Martin to both be in the lineup. I could imagine Deshields would lead off and Martin could hit 9th and give them a speed presence at the top and bottom of the lineup. It is something to watch for though over these next few weeks as Banister and the coaching staff try to maximize the talent they have on this team.
  • Josh Hamilton did get his first hit in his second tour of duty with the team with a single in the 7th with a liner to the left fielder and he was thrown out trying to extend it into a double. The timing is getting better with every game. He is starting to make better contact every at-bat and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a good game at some point during this home stand. It is starting to come around. He did strike out one time, but he made solid contact in the other three at-bats. Anything that he can contribute though will just make this team that much better. The good thing is that the Rangers are not counting on him to be the Josh Hamilton from 2008-2012. They just want him to be a presence in the number 5 spot and provide protection for Fielder and Beltre and drive in runs when given the opportunity.
  • Mitch Moreland extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Elvis Andrus did not get a hit for the first time in 28 games in his career in Cleveland. Prince Fielder’s streak of multiple hit games also came to an end at 5 games. He still did get a hit though.
  • Finally, it was an extremely successful trip. To go into Boston, New York, and Cleveland and win 7 of 9 is huge. I was thinking before the trip that 4-5 was more likely. I thought they might have a chance to get two in Boston, 1 in New York, and 1 in Cleveland. They surpassed my wildest imaginations. Now they need to come home and go at least 5-2. Banister is going to be preaching that if he hasn’t already that they need to protect their home field. He was on MLB Network’s High Heat yesterday and said as much that they need to put their foot in the ground at home and protect their home field. I will be surprised if they don’t get back home and play with a little bit of an edge during this home stand.
  • The home stand starts tomorrow against the Boston Red Sox at 7:05. It will be Nick Martinez going up against Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez will be called up from the minors and will be making his MLB debut tomorrow. Sometimes in these situations it favors the pitchers because there is no solid scouting report and the hitters have not faced this pitcher. Hopefully the offense can take advantage of any nervousness that Rodriguez may be feeling in his first start. Whatever happens though will happen tomorrow night in Arlington. Go Rangers!!!!!!!

7 is the Lucky Number for the Rangers

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The Rangers won again last night to make it 7 in a row with a 4-3 win against the Cleveland Indians. That gets their record to 23-23 and they are back where they started at the beginning of the season. This is not an accomplishment. It is hopefully a stepping stone to better things like leading the division or being involved in the wild card race. In the division they are 6.5 games back of the Houston Astros and tied for second with the Angels. In the wild card they are 3.5 games back of the Detroit Tigers for the second wild card. They still have 116 games left on the season and so a lot could happen between now and then. They are setting themselves up nicely with this winning streak to at least be involved in the race and as we enter into June that is all that the team could ask for is a chance.

Lets talk about last night though, because a lot had to happen for them to claim their 7th win in a row. It was Wandy Rodriguez making the start for the Rangers going up against Danny Salazar for the Indians. Rodriguez was coming off of a dominant performance against the Red Sox and Salazar has been up and down, but is leading the league with 12 k’s/9 innings. Rodriguez got off to a little bit of a rocky start as he allowed first inning solo home runs to Jason Kipnis to lead off the game and to Ryan Rayburn to stake the Indians to a 2-0 lead. He settled down after that and was able to get through the next two innings unscathed. The Rangers threatened in the 1st and 3rd but couldn’t push anything across. The Indians came back with a leadoff double in the 4th off the bat of Ryan Raburn and were able to score him with a sac fly to make it 3-0. At that point the offense was struggling and it looked like it just might not be their night. Then in the 5th things started to turn around. Leonys Martin worked a one-out walk and then on a 1-2 count Salazar plunked Shin Soo Choo to bring up Prince Fielder as the tying run. Fielder had already lined it to the opposite field for singles in his first two at-bats off of Salazar’s fastball. Tom Grieve called this in the broadcast booth that Salazar might try to throw his changeup to Fielder and that Fielder might have a chance to hit a home run. That is exactly what happened. Click on the video to watch Fielder tie this game with his 10th home run of the season

 

 

All of a sudden we have a brand-new game, but the Rangers still needed to get through 5 innings. Wandy came back out for the 5th and nearly gave away any momentum the Rangers had gained from that Fielder home run. He proceeded to walk the bases loaded in the 5th with one out and Michael Brantley coming to the plate. Brantley could have blown the game wide open with a base hit, but Wandy buckled down, got his control back, and was able to strike out Brantley. Ryan Raburn was next and he was 2-2 with a home run and a double at that point. Rodriguez got him that time though by getting him to pop out. Somehow Wandy navigated that mine field that he had set up and did not give up any runs. The score remained 3-3. Wandy got into trouble again the 6th when he gave up a leadoff double to Nick Swisher and then walked Yan Gomes. Banister decided to leave him in there to face lefty Brandon Moss. Rodriguez made sure that was a good decision by striking out Moss. Then Tanner Scheppers was brought into the game to get out of the inning and that is exactly what happened. Scheppers got Mike Aviles to line out and Jose Ramirez to ground out. The final three innings was a bullpen game for both sides as Salazar and Rodriguez were both taken out in the 6th inning. The only difference was between the performance of both bullpens was the at-bat between lefty Nick Hagadone and Mitch Moreland in the 8th inning. Josh Hamilton had just lined out sharply to Carlos Santana at first. Mitch Moreland though took a similar pitch that was given to Hamilton and did this to it.

 

 

That gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead and the combination of Ross Ohlendorf in the 8th and Shawn Tolleson in the 9th was able to put the game away for win number 7 in a row. Love how this team is playing and Prince Fielder is driving the bus, but don’t forget about Mitch Moreland. He is finally starting to realize his potential. After missing two weeks due to elbow surgery to remove loose bodies in there, he has picked right up where he left off in April. He is hitting for average and power. He takes a 10 game hitting streak into today’s game. Hitting number 6 in the lineup he is providing depth to the lineup and that is something this team didn’t have in April as Prince was hitting above .300 and everyone else was at below .200 batting averages. Win number 7 and the Rangers go for their longest winning streak since an 8 game streak in 2013 against the Indians in the finale of the 3 games series and the finale of the 9 game road-trip. Hopefully they still have the energy to get above .500 for the first time all season.

Other Game Notes

  • Just have to mention it again Prince Fielder is crazy, insanely, red-hot right now. He has 3 hits in each of the last 4 games and multiple hits in 5 straight games. It is hard to properly put into perspective what Fielder is doing right now other than it is fun to watch and I hope it lasts as long as possible. He is absolutely putting this offense on his back, but unlike April he is getting help. Choo is hitting over .300 this month, Beltre is hitting over .300 this month, Moreland is hitting, Blanks was hitting while Moreland was done, and Deshields is providing a solid presence at the top of the lineup. Fielder is the one who is driving this car though. They are a dangerous team right now for any pitcher to face and that is because of what Fielder is doing.
  • Josh Hamilton once again was 0-4, but only one strikeout. It is going to be important that he lay off that changeup down and in or down and away. If he can be patient and force pitchers to throw him strikes he will have better success. That has been his problem the last three seasons is that he too often would swing at those pitches and get himself out and pitchers know that. They know they don’t have to throw Josh Hamilton strikes to get him out. He will just wildly swing away at anything. If this season is going to be different he has recognize those pitches and not swing at them. He did have a couple of good at-bats though and made solid contact on that line drive in the 8th. It would have been a base-hit but it was hit right at where Santana was standing. He will be batting 5th again today so we will see how he does this afternoon.
  • Elvis Andrus backed up a good game offensively with another 3 hit night last night. That makes him 5-8 in this series. He has always loved playing in Cleveland and his numbers bear that out. He did make his 11th error though last night in the 9th and nearly cost the Rangers the game. It was a grounder that he was going to his left on and it looked to be an easy ground out that would have ended the game, but it got under his glove and went for an E-6. That makes 11 errors in 46 games and if not for Marcus Semien in Oakland and his 17 errors he would lead all AL shortstops in errors. He makes a great play behind the bag earlier in the game, but the frustrating thing is he will make errors on the simple groundballs. That has got to stop. This team needs him to be good on the hard plays and on the easy plays as well.
  • Today it will be Colby Lewis in the finale going up against Carlos Carrasco at 11:10 this morning. Rangers will be going for win number 8. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!

Rangers Win to Get One Game Closer to .500

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fielder red sox game 8

 

A lot has changed in the last three weeks since I last wrote about this team. They have stopped the roller coaster that they were on and have turned into a train. They just are steamrolling opponents during this 6 game winning streak and during this entire month of May. They won yesterday 10-8 in a back-and-forth affair with the Cleveland Indians. That means they have scored 10 runs or more in 3 of the last 4 wins and are doing all of this on the road. It simply is the best baseball this team has played since a 7 game winning streak at the end of the 2013 season forced a one-game playoff with the Tampa Bay Rays. Baseball as a fan and it looks like to the players is fun once again. This team looks like it is taking on the personality of their best players, Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre. They are both professional guys, but they truly enjoy playing the game and that is visible on a nightly basis. That love for the game has spread to the entire clubhouse. They will lose games this season, but this team will not fall apart as long as Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre are there. If they get to .500 tonight that would be great, but that is not the goal. They still have two thirds of the season left to catch the Houston Astros and try to win this division. That is the goal as we finish up the month of May and enter into the summer months.

Lets take a look at how they have been able to win these games during this 6 game winning streak. It begins with the scalding hot play of Prince Fielder. I will say I have been hyper-critical of the Prince Fielder-Ian Kinsler trade since the day it was made. I thought it was not a necessary trade, that they took on a bad contract for no reason, and that Prince did not have much left to offer them. I also thought that he would demand to play first base and would just be another guy who hits .250 with 20-25 home runs. He would hinder their defense and clog up the basepaths. For the most I was right to think that, because that is the player he had been throughout his career. That has changed this season though. He missed almost all of last season and that may have changed how he looked at his career. He came into this season with a renewed attitude and a better approach at the plate. In April teams kept playing him to pull and he would hit it the opposite way for singles and doubles. The power was not quite there, but he did not get frustrated or go back to exclusively pulling everything. He just kept hitting the ball wherever it was pitched. In May the power has arrived and he is still hitting it to all fields. That has led to him having a .392 batting average, 8 home runs, 25 rbi’s, and a 1.145 OPS. He has been obscenely hot this month. If not for Jason Kipnis of the Indians playing out of his mind as well, Fielder would clearly be having the best month in the AL. He has been impossible to pitch to. He is hitting line drives to the gaps and is coming through almost every time he is given an RBI chance. He is really driving this offense. He also has not demanded to play first base. He realizes that Mitch Moreland is better defensively than he is and is willing to play DH on a nightly basis in order to give the team a better chance at winning. That was a huge admission and cannot be understated how much that has helped this team.  Right now he is making me look pretty stupid for opposing that trade and I love it. He is playing at an MVP-type level right now and if he can keep it up the the team will continue to play well.

Another thing that has happened is that the reconstituted no-roles bullpen is actually working. Prior to this road trip everyone in the bullpen had their job to do. Neftali Feliz was the closer, Shawn Tolleson and Tanner Scheppers were the 8th inning guys, Keone Kela was the 7th inning guy, Alex Claudio was the left-handed specialist, Anthony Bass was the long-man, and Kyuji Fuzikawa was pitching in middle relief. Everyone had their job and for the most part everyone was failing at their job. They had 8 blown saves and cost the team a few wins. If they end up missing the playoffs, the performance of the bullpen in April and early May will be something that can be looked back on in regret. Jeff Banister and the organization had decided they had seen enough and decided to get rid of labels. Since that change at the start of this 9 game road-trip the bullpen has been great. Shawn Tolleson has saved 4 games on this trip and even Ross Ohlendorf has a save. Ohlendorf and Sam Freeman have both gotten critical outs in the 8th inning when normally Scheppers or Kela would have been brought in. Kela and Scheppers have pitched whenever the situations demands it, and not just in the 7th or 8th innings. They also have pitched more than just one inning. Banister has been pulling all the right strings and it has worked out wonderfully. Who knows if this will be a long-term solution or a short term fix, but I do know that it is working right now. That is all that matters. The bullpen is pitching with more confidence and Tolleson is nailing down games when given save situations. Tolleson is the de-facto closer, especially now that Feliz has went on the DL with an abscess removed from his right side. That is another major reason why they have been able to win 6 games in a row heading into tonight’s game against Cleveland.

The offense scoring more runs than anyone in MLB with 131 in just 24 games and the bullpen finally able to close things out is what has led them to this point and it is what will hopefully keep them playing well throughout this summer. The Astros have a feel of a team that is playing well right now, but they can be caught. They will not continue to play at this level. The Rangers just need to stay consistent and ready to pounce when the Astros do inevitably start to slip up. I have to say that baseball is fun to watch again and I love it. The players seem engaged on a nightly basis and are making the plays necessary to win. I would love to see this team get back in contention. With Derek Holland, Martin Perez, and Matt Harrison possibly due back this summer the rotation will get a lot better. They also have talent on the farm that could be ready to contribute at some point this year if needed. Guys like Luke Jackson in the bullpen, Roughned Odor possibly getting called back up at some point, and others that could help contribute to a winner. They are in good position to not only win in the long-term but they are setup to win now as well. I would love to see them surprise everybody and stay in the race all summer long and possibly even make the playoffs. Still a long way to go till then, but it is fun to imagine the possibilities with this team.

They play again tonight at 6:10 against the Indians. It will be a resurgent Wandy Rodriguez going up against Danny Salazaar of the Indians. The Rangers will be trying to make it 7 in a row which would tie that winning streak from 2013. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!