Tag Archives: Roughned Odor

Season in Review: May

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  Today, we pick up our 2015 Season in Review by looking back at the month that changed it all for the Rangers and that is May. Prior to May 1st it looked like this was going to be another … Continue reading →

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 →

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!!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!

Three is Not Rangers Lucky Number

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The 4 game winning streak came to an end last night for the Rangers when they lost 8-2 in the second game of this 4 game series against Tampa Bay. There was a lot that happened in this game, but in my mind the result was determined based on the outcome of three pitches. I know that may seem incredible in a game that featured 304 pitches between the two teams, but if you change the result of these three pitches the outcome of the game might be different. Let’s take a look at each situation and see how it impacted the game.

The first pitch occurred in the second inning when David Dejesus came to the plate against Yovanni Gallardo. The score was 0-0 at the time. The Rangers have not trailed since the first game of the trip when they were behind 1-0 till the 8th inning on Monday against Dallas Keuchel. Then Dejesus took Gallardo deep on 2-1 count to put the Rangers behind 1-0. They already were facing a pitcher in Nathan Karns that they had not seen before and now they were behind. If he gets Dejesus there instead of leaving it over the plate then he doesn’t give up a run till the 6th inning and who knows what would have happened.

The second pitch happened in the 6th inning. It was thrown by Alex Claudio against Brando Guyer, but before we get to that lets setup what happened before it. Gallardo had been rolling along after the Dejesus home run until the 6th. He retired 11 of the next 13 hitters and had not given up any other hits. In the 6th though he ran into some trouble following a Elvis Andrus error. He followed that up by allowing a single to James Loney and an RBI single to Evan Longoria to make it 2-0. He was then removed for Alex Claudio. Claudio was brought in to face Dejesus, but he was replaced by right handed batter Brandon Guyer. Claudio proceeded to give up a long 3-run home run to Guyer on his first and only pitch of the game. That made it 5-0 and with the way the offense was struggling against Karns was going to make it near impossible to come back. If Claudio is able to make a better pitch there and get out of the inning the rally the Rangers would have made would have tied the game and possibly go ahead in the 8th inning. He didn’t and the comeback fell short in that inning.

The third pitch took place in the 8th inning. The score was 5-2 following a home run by Adam Rosales and a sac fly off the bat of Adrian Beltre that nearly tied the game. Then it came down to Carlos Peguero against Kevin Jepsen with the bases loaded. Peguero has been pretty solid on this trip, but after fouling off some tough pitches he was finally struck out by Jepsen with a 94 mph fastball on the outside part of the plate. A base hit there would have brought them closer and changed how Banister might have approached the bottom of the inning. He might have went with Kela or Tolleson there in order to keep the game close. Peguero struck out and he decided to keep Pimentel out there who struggled in the bottom of the inning and the Rays tacked on 3 more runs to put away any chance the Rangers had at coming back. Change the outcome of any one of those pitches into the Rangers favor and things might have been different. The fact is though that it happened to go in the Rays favor and so they won the game. That is how it goes sometimes. Game 3 of the series is tonight as the Rangers still try to work toward another series win.

Other Game Notes

  •  Nathan Karns had the Rangers hitters confused all night. His stuff seemed pretty average but with the deception in his delivery the Rangers could not pick up the path of the ball in time. He had 9 strikeouts in his 7+ innings and several of them were looking or swinging at his straight fastball on the outside corner. I am sure if you asked several Ranger hitters they would say he pitched well but they still should have hit him better than they did. His fastball did not move at all yet they could not make contact or they would just look at it. I am sure if they face him again this season they will fare a lot better than they did last night.
  • Roughned Odor sat the bench again last night and this time was noteworthy because it came against a right-hander. It continues to seem likely when Moreland is eligible to come off the DL next week that Odor will be sent down. Word is that they are working Deshields jr at 2nd in order to play both him and Rosales at 2nd. That also allows them to keep Deshields and his speed on the team even when Moreland and Hamilton come up later this month.
  • Speaking of Deshields he played well last night in the loss. He followed up his 3 steal performance on Thursday with another stolen base last night. He also collected two hits. That was more hits than anyone else in the lineup had. He has played real solid in Martins absence. He is proving himself very valuable to this team and he will not get sent back to Houston or down the minors if he continues to play well.
  • The team plays again tonight a little earlier than last night. They play at 5:10 ct. Ross Detweiler will be trying to follow up his best start of the season with another good start and get the team back on track. He will be opposing Matt Andriese. Jake Odorizzi was scheduled to pitch but he is being replaced due to fly-like symptoms. Andriese will be making his 3rd start of the season. Should be interesting. Go Rangers!!!!!!

Make that 4 in a Row for the Rangers

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The Texas Rangers won their 4th game in a row last night 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Rays and secured a winning road trip. These past few games the Rangers have started to appear like the team that we all thought they would be. A good offensive team, with good starting pitching, and a decent bullpen. This week they have had all of those things. Ross Detweiler, Wandy Rodriguez, and Colby Lewis all combined to hold the Astros to 3 runs over 23 innings. Last night it was Nick Martinez who helped pitch the Rangers to a win. He wasn’t as dominant as the other three. He actually had to be taken out with 2 outs in the 5th inning. He had already given up 3 runs in the inning and had thrown 35 pitches and so manager Jeff Banister decided to go to the bullpen to help pick him up in that situation. The bullpen was able to come in and shut the door and help the Rangers get the victory. The Rangers now sit at 12-16 and sit just a 0.5 game out of second place. The climb to get back to .500 continues. It may not happen this quickly but they are starting to trend back in the right direction and reinforcements to the lineup are on the way.

It was a good win last night. The offense took advantage of their opportunities early and the bullpen was able to hold on late. The offense really made Chris Archer work last night. Archer prior to this start had been one of the hottest starting pitchers in the AL. He had a sub 2.00 ERA and lead the league in strikeouts, but last night the Rangers really made him work. They did a good job laying off the slider that was off the plate, especially Delino Deshields Jr. He had a great at-bat in the second inning when he drew a bases loaded walk that gave the Rangers their first run of the game. It was an 8 pitch at-bat that Archer really tried to get him to chase and Deshields refused and worked the walk. Choo followed that up with another walk to make it 2-0. Then Elvis Andrus lined a single up the middle to score Roughned Odor and Shin Soo Choo. It was a hit that in April the team couldn’t seemingly get. They would make the pitcher work, but then couldn’t follow through with a big base hit that plated multiple runners. Last night they did though. Prince Fielder also got a RBI single in the 4th following a Deshields walk that led off the inning. That made it 5-0 and would be enough for the win. The Rays made it interesting late with a Kevin Kiermaier home run to make it 5-4, but Feliz came on in the 9th and was able to lockdown the win. Still a long way to go in this season, but it is clear since the calendar turned to May the team has had a renewed energy and spirit about themselves. The body language has been better and they are looking like they are having more fun with the game. It seemed like at least to me in April that everyone was feeling pressure to deliver and when they didn’t everybody would just be feeling really down. No more though, the team is loose, they are having fun, and they are collecting wins along the way.

Other Game Notes

  • I said earlier reinforcements are on the way. It appears Mitch Moreland and Josh Hamilton will both be playing for Round Rock this weekend as they both try to make their way back to the big league team. Moreland if he shows he is healthy at the plate and in the field could be back as soon as early next week. I imagine with Hamilton the team will take their time with him, let him get back into game shape. It could be probably a week to 10 days for him, unless there is an injury that necessitates a roster move being made. It will be interesting to see who the Rangers decided to drop to make room for these guys. Carlos Peguero has been playing much better on this trip. He is 5-9 in the last 3 games, with 3 home runs and 5 RBI’s. I would have said him before, but not now. Deshields Jr. has been showing the patience that the team wishes Leonys Martin had. He has also been stealing bases and getting a couple of hits. It would be hard to drop him off the team. Kyle Blanks with the way he is hitting and being right-handed will not be sent back. It looks like it will probably Jake Smolinksi that will get sent down when Moreland is ready. I don’t know who when Hamilton is ready though. Stay tuned to that.
  • Nick Martinez was very sharp for 4 innings. He was doing what he normally does. He was pitching inside, pitching to contact, and allowing his defense to make the plays behind him. Then it all came unraveled in the 5th. He started to try to get the hitters to chase and was missing the plate. The hitters were being patient and they were taking advantage when he would fall behind in the count. It led to 4 base hits, 3 runs, and a walk. After 35 pitches in the inning Banister decided he had seen enough and brought Alex Claudio in to face James Loney, and he got him to ground out to end the inning. It is definitely a growing moment for Martinez. We sometimes forget that this is just his second season and he is going to have moments like that. The good thing though is that the team won and improved to 6-0 in starts made by Martinez. Hopefully he can learn from that and be better in his next appearance.
  • Tonight the Rangers go for win number 5. It will be Yovanni Gallardo on the mound going up against Nathan Karns. Gallardo has pitched well this season, but has not recorded a win since April 17th. He has mainly been let down by his defense in his last 3 starts. The Rangers committed multiple errors in each of those games. He is a pitcher that tends to get lots of ground balls and if the defense is leaky it can look like he pitched a lot worse than he actually did. If the defense can continue the solid play that we have seen in these last 4 games he should pitch pretty well. We shall see though. Game time is at 6:10 tonight. 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!!!!!!!!

 

The Texas Rangers Fail to Go Streaking Once Again

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The Rangers have had 6 opportunities to start a winning streak this season and 4 opportunities to win series and have failed each time. Last night they lost 8-5 due to Yovanni Gallardo not being as sharp as he had been, a defense that faltered in helping Gallardo, and not being able to capitalize early on a wild Archie Bradley. Each of those reasons had the same importance in determining the result of the game last night. Lets talk about each of those reasons separately as we go about recapping the game from last night.

It was Yovanni Gallardo going last night for the Rangers trying to get his 3rd win of the season. He had been great in his last start against the Mariners in getting 14 groundball outs. It was hoped that Gallardo could follow the same gameplan Nick Martinez executed the previous night. He was handed a 1-0 lead before they even got to the mound, but we will discuss that inning later in more depth. Gallardo just was not as good last night. He gave back that lead to the Diamondbacks by the end of the 1st inning as Arizona led 2-1. Arizona added to that lead again in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. By the time he left the game in the 5th it was 5-1. Gallardo last night was not helped by his defense, but he didn’t have the same type of control last night either. His pitch count was extremely high as he left the game after 5 innings with 96 pitches. The comparison that I could think of last night was that Gallardo was the guy who broke up with the National League (NL) last season and was coming back to Arizona with a new girlfriend in the Texas Rangers. Gallardo who had been with this girlfriend for several years was basically saying it wasn’t your fault that I left, it was mine. Gallardo was also trying take away any awkwardness, but the nervousness was clearly noticeable as he was not on his game. He tried to help this girlfriend in Arizona feel better about themselves. That is what I thought was happening last night. Hopefully his next outing against a NL team will go better now that the awkwardness is out of the way.

He also was not helped by his defense. With it being in a NL park Prince Fielder was forced to play first base in order to get his bat in the lineup. It started in the first inning with an off-balance throwing error from Adrian Beltre on a throw to first base that likely would not have gotten the runner anyways. That error allowed the runner, Ender Inciarte, to score from first base and allowed the batter, A.J. Pollock, to advance to 3rd on the 2-base throwing error. Pollock then scored on a groundout by Paul Goldschmidt. The next error occurred in the 3rd inning when Roughned Odor made a bad throw to first base that Prince Fielder could not barehand. It was a throw that went to his bare hand instead of to the glove side of his body. That allowed Inciarte to reach first. He eventually came around to score on a groundout by Mark Trumbo. Then this next one wasn’t an error but it was a play that should have been made. It was a drive to center field off the bat of Mark Trumbo that Leonys Martin was able to get to, but he went into a slide in trying to catch it and in doing so the ball bounced off his glove. That would have been the 3rd out of the inning and kept the score at 4-1. He dropped it and Paul Goldschmidt was able to score from first base to make it 5-1. The game might have been completely different if not for a leaky defense. That is something the Rangers have to shore up. The defense is very inconsistent. They have the second most errors in the American League (AL) and the worst fielding percentage in the AL. It is something that has caused them to lose some games this year. That has to improve and it is worrisome that this is happening this early in the year when their bodies are supposed to be as fresh as they will be all season. Most of these errors are coming from the infield and so that has to change if they expect to win anything this season.

The offense also should have done more with what they were given. They loaded the bases in the first inning with two walks and a hit-by-pitch (HBP), but could only manage one run when Robinson Chirinos was able to work a 9 pitch walk to force in a run. They couldn’t score any more though. They forced Bradley to throw 37 pitches through the first inning, but yet he only threw 55 more pitches in the next 5 innings. They worked 5 walks and a HBP, but could only manage that one single run and only 2 hits against Bradley. They had him on the ropes in the first and second innings, but could not finish him off. It was as if they were playing Mortal Kombat and the guy was saying “Finish Him”, but the Rangers would let the guy recover and continue the fight. Then the guy just kept getting stronger to the point that the Rangers lost the fight. The Rangers got leadoff hitters on base in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th innings, but could not take advantage of any of those opportunities. They have to be able to capitalize. It is all about when presented with chances the approach has to change at the plate and the batter has to do what it takes to either move the runner over and get him in. Too many times the Rangers grounded right into the teeth of the Arizona defense and right into a double play. Last night it was actually 4 double plays that they grounded into. Before last night they had only grounded into 4 double plays. Not being able to take advantage of Bradley’s wildness and getting into the Arizona bullpen earlier is the final reason why they lost last night.

They walk out of their only trip to Arizona this season with a split. The Rangers now have today off and will play again on Friday night in their first trip to Los Angeles to play the Angels in a 3 game series and the start of a key 9 game stretch. These next 9 games will see them play the Angels on the road and then Oakland and Seattle in 3 game series at home. The Rangers are tied right now with the Angels at 6-9, but they really need to start winning some series. Each series they lose they get further away from being at .500 and further away from the other teams in their division. It will be vital that they at least go 5-4 or 6-3 in these next 9 games. That way they can start to make up some ground and ensure that they can end April with a close to .500 record.

Other Game Notes

  • Some news was announced before the game. Wandy Rodriguez will replace Ross Detweiler in the rotation on Friday night against the Angels. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News says that Detweiler is not losing his spot in the rotation, just that the Rangers are going to be putting him on a throwing program to help him improve before his next start. I imagine Detweiler will get the start the next time the Rangers need their number 5 starter. Rodriguez has pitched the last 3 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates and last season went 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in his 6 starts before being released at the end of May last season. He will be making his first major league start since then as he was not picked up after that. The Rangers clearly feel more comfortable with the veteran lefty making the start this time around than Detweiler, but they are not taking him out of the rotation. Ross Detweiler will make another start, it will just be a matter of when.
  • Choo continues to struggle. Evan Grant had a sobering stat about Choo in the last 365 days.

 

 

 

That is something that goes to show how bad that contract the Rangers are paying him really is. Choo can be very good, but at this point it looks like it is a bad fit and there are still 5 years                  plus the rest of this season left on the contract. This offense will get better once Choo starts hitting and getting on base at his normal .400 clip. He is a guy that lines balls all over the field and            is able to get on a base a variety of ways. That is the Choo this team needs. I really hope he snaps out of it and is able to get back to being the player he was before he signed that big contract.

  • One player who did have a good game is Adrian Beltre. Beltre had been in a slump this entire road trip, but he bounced back last night with 2 base hits in 3 plate appearances including his 397th home run of his career. He is another player this team needs in order to succeed. When he is playing well it gives the offense a whole new look.
  • The offense did score 5 runs, but 4 of them were in the 9th inning when the score was 8-1. It did get interesting for a split second though. Leonys Martin had a base hit to make it 8-5 and Elvis Andrus came up to the plate, with Fielder on deck as the potential tying run if Andrus could get on base. Andrus grounded out to end the game. That took away any hope the Rangers had of making a miraculous comeback.
  • Finally, today I am going to start making a video blog documenting the Rangers. It will be me stating my opinions on the team and the direction this team is headed. I will be posting it on my Youtube page. I will provide a link here once it is posted. I will be posting a video every week. It may not be on the same day every week, but I will try to stick to making a video every week.

Rangers win behind the Prince and the Young Gun

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Fielder and Martin help the Rangers toward a big road win.

Fielder and Martin help the Rangers toward a big road win.

The Rangers bounced back to win last night in the first of the two game series against the Diamondbacks 7-1 behind another great effort from young gun Nick Martinez and power-hitting first baseman Prince Fielder. There was more to it than that, it was what can be called a team win. Leonys Martin and Elvis Andrus were good at the top of the lineup, Fielder was good in the middle of the lineup, and the pitching was very solid. After the disappointing loss on Sunday it was good to see the offense bounce back late and get 6 runs in the last two innings, and to see the bullpen be able to close it out. It was a good win overall and evens their record on the trip to 2-2 and 6-8 overall.

The actual game was quite interesting. Nick Martinez and Chase Anderson were involved in the pitchers duel part of the game and the bullpens were involved when the offense for the Rangers finally broke through. Martinez came in with a streak of 14 innings without an earned run. It was 5 innings shy of matching the Rangers record for most consecutive innings without an earned run to start a season. The streak came to an end at 15.1 innings as the Diamondbacks put together two softly hit singles through the infield and then an RBI groundout. That allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game. That is where it stayed as both starters, Chase Anderson and Nick Martinez really settled in. Martinez was able to make it through 6 innings. It could have been longer, but an error by Roughned Odor extended the inning in the 6th and caused him to throw 12 more pitches. Those pitches were high stress as the bases were loaded in a tie game, but Martinez was able to get out of it with another ground out.  Martinez finished the game with 13 groundball outs. Chase Anderson though was able to match him and even do one better, he went 7 innings in his start. The Rangers could not really threaten Anderson in his 7 innings. The best they could do was the first inning when Leonys Martin led off with a double, went to third on a high chopper groundout by Andrus, and then Fielder laced a double to deep left center field to score the run. After that Anderson only gave up 1 more hit in his last 6 innings. He kept the Rangers off-balance with a good mixture of fastballs and changeups. The Rangers did make him work though and after 7 innings he was removed. The score was still tied 1-1.

In the 8th the Diamondbacks brought on former starting pitcher Daniel Hudson. Hudson who had to undergo Tommy John surgery in back-to-back years and is trying to reinvent himself as a late inning reliever was brought on to help keep the game tied. He immediately got in trouble though as Smolinski reached on a error with one out. Then he walked a patient Leonys Martin. Elvis who had been struggling to this point in the game, was able to chop the ball over the 3rd basemen’s head into left field and score the go-ahead run. Then Martin was able to score on a double steal of 3rd when the ball was thrown away into left field. Prince Fielder followed that up with this.

 

 

That was Fielder’s first home run of the season. It was a no-doubter. He got close to a home run with his lined double into the gap in left center in the first, but this one he got all of. That gave him another multiple hit game. It was his 9th game with multiple hits and 3 of the last 4 games he has multiple hits. He has been hitting it just has been of the single or double variety. It was nice to see another team not employ a shift on Fielder. As long as he continues to drive it to all fields the shift will not be on. It is up to him to not fall back into bad habits though. For now though, he is showing how great of a hitter he is, and not just a power hitter. He is carrying this offense on his broad shoulders. That home run made it 5-1 and they tacked on two more for good measure in the 9th and Scheppers was able to close out the 7-1 win for the Rangers.

Other Game Notes

  • Have to continue talking about Nick Martinez. Right now I would say he is the best pitcher the Rangers have. He is doing exactly what you would expect an ace to do and that is stop losing streaks. Each of his last two starts he has come in with the team on a two game losing streak and was able to pitch well enough to end it. He has made three starts so far this season and each of them have came after a loss. He has pitched well in every game he has started. Make that 20 innings pitched so far with only 1 earned run. He has been outstanding as last night he showed he could get groundball outs in bunches. Last night he showed that he can pitch well without getting run support. In his previous two starts he got 10 runs of support and 8 runs of support. Last night it was 1 in his 6 innings of work. He did what it took to keep it a tie game and give the Rangers offense a chance in the late innings. He just continues to impress and hopefully he can keep that up through these next two months without Derek Holland.
  • Leonys Martin has been really good on this trip. He is 8-17 for a .470 BA and he is showing patience at the plate as well. He saw 31 pitches last night in his 5 plate appearances. He worked a walk twice and even in one of his outs he still saw 6 pitches. He is clearly seeing the ball better and showing that he knows what it takes to be a leadoff hitter in this league. It not only takes the ability to hit, but also the ability to get on base. Last week he was removed from his leadoff responsibilities due to his lack of plate discipline. Manager Jeff Banister gave him two days off from the leadoff role and ever since then he has been more patient and has started to really hit. If he gets on base that is when things happen for this offense, because Prince is hitting very well with runners in scoring position. If Martin can continue to get on base that will give Prince someone to drive in.
  • A couple of player continue to struggle though, Shin Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre. Choo since returning from having back spasms in the home opener is 2-22 and with only 2 walks. Beltre is 4-33 since a multiple hit game against the Astros on April 11th. Combined they are 6-55 and the big problem is they hit back-to-back in the lineup often times. The offense would be a lot better if the team could get more consistent contributions from both of these guys. Fielder has done his part for this team. It is time for Beltre and Choo to snap out of it and start playing like the All Stars that they can be.
  • Nice to see the bullpen bounce back after a tough game against Seattle on Sunday. Kela, Tolleson, and Scheppers combined to throw the last 3 innings and did not give up any runs. There was also only 1 walk and that was by Keone Kela. Tolleson though came in with maybe the biggest out of the game. Kela had allowed a walk and single and had runners on 1st and 3rd with NL MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt coming up. Banister decided to make a double switch at that point and go to Shawn Tolleson. Tolleson rewarded his faith by getting Goldschmidt to strike out on a 94 mph 4 seam fastball. At that point it was still a tie game. Good call by Banister to go with the more experienced Tolleson in that situation.  I also thought it was a good move by Banister to get Scheppers in a less high-pressure situation. Since coming back from the injury on Friday every situation has been high pressure for him and obviously it was too much for him on Sunday. In his one inning of work last night though he pitched his one inning with only 1 hit and got the strikeout to end the game. He was certainly in more control and that is the pitcher the Rangers are going to need in the 8th inning for them.
  • The Rangers will go for their first series win again tonight in the final game of this quick 2 game series. The Rangers have lost in their last 3 opportunities to win a series. They will be going for their first tonight. It will be a matchup of Opening Day starters Yovanni Gallardo and Archie Bradley. Gallardo will be going for his 3rd straight win and Bradley will be looking for his 2nd win of the season. First pitch is tonight at 8:40. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!