Tag Archives: Roughned Odor

Seattle’s Cruz Missile Hits Rangers

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

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

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

 

Rangers Stop Losing Streak Behind Martinez and Resurgent Offense

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

 

Rangers Leave the Game on Base in Loss to Astros

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

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

 

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

Rangers Get the Split: Rangers-A’s Series Recap

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Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

Beltre proposes that the ball go over the left field fence.

The Texas Rangers bounced back in a big way Thursday afternoon and got the series split they were looking for with a 10-1 victory. The bats finally woke up and contributed 4 home runs and tripled their output in runs from the first 3 games. It was a reassuring game not only for the team, but also for the fans. It was rough watching them get their brains beat in on Wednesday night when they lost 11-0. They bounced back nicely though and were able to walk out of Oakland with two wins, which is really what they were hoping to get. I am sure that they wanted to win all 4, but to get 2 is really good. Now they come home for a 6 game homestand against the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but before we get to the upcoming games, lets recap how they were able to get the win yesterday and talk about the series as a whole.

The offense got most of the headlines yesterday as they scored 10 runs, but my player of the game would have been Nick Martinez. He executed the game plan perfectly yesterday. He was throwing strikes, getting ahead of hitters, and forcing them to swing at pitches they normally wouldn’t swing at. That is the kind of performance we saw on occasion last season, but not consistently. He was outstanding though, as he just kept the hitters off-balance and he never was really in trouble at all in his 7 innings. In my opinion that is how you beat the A’s. The A’s are a team that like to make pitchers work by not swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. They won’t chase and it gets them ahead in most counts and forces the pitchers into hitter’s counts. Doing that normally gets the pitcher’s pitch count up higher and gets him out of the game earlier. That is what happened with Yovanni Gallardo and Ross Detweiler. Neither one had much control and the A’s took advantage and were able to get them out of the game early. Colby Lewis and Nick Martinez though had control and were able to hold them down. That is how you beat them and hopefully Gallardo and Detweiler watched how Lewis and Martinez pitched them and will learn from it, because they will face Oakland many more times this season.

It did help Martinez though that the Rangers had scored 3 runs before he had even thrown a pitch. It was a very weird first inning as the A’s committed two errors, both trying to get out Leonys Martin on the bases. Martin had reached on a walk and then advanced to second after a single by Shin Soo Choo. Kendall Graveman then had him picked off of second by a mile, Martin barely even moved toward second, but the ball had flown into center field. That allowed Martin and Choo to advance to second and third. Then, on a ground ball by Adrian Beltre to Brett Lawrie, he threw home to try and get Martin, but the catcher dropped the ball allowing Martin to score.They ended up getting two more that inning, then the power bats showed up in the later innings. Mitch Moreland, Shin Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, and Roughned Odor all went deep to hit the Rangers first four home runs of the season. The highlight of the game had to be Beltre’s home run. The pitch before the home run he had done this.

The very next pitch he does this.

Beltre had got off to a slow start as he went 0-for in his first 3 games, but he rebounded with two hits yesterday, a single and that home run, his 396th of his career. That will be fun to watch as he pursues 400 over these next few weeks.

All in all it was a good win, good series split and now they get to head home and hopefully carry some of this momentum with them. Staff Ace Derek Holland will make his season debut tomorrow afternoon against the Houston Astros.

Other Series Notes

  • Jeff Banister made some changes to the lineup yesterday, but insisted it was not about non-production. It did work though to the tune of 10 runs. He moved Choo up from 5th to 2nd, Andrus down from 2nd to 7th, he flipped Fielder and Beltre, moved Rua up to 5th, and moved Odor up to 8th. It showed that Banister is willing to be flexible especially early this season as he gets a feel for what this team is. I would not be surprised if he uses April to see which lineup combinations work the best. It will be interesting to see if he uses that same lineup today or if he will revert to the previous lineup. We shall see. I thought it was a good move in order to shake things up after they had been shut out in 2 of the first 3 games.
  • Ryan Rua had his first good game of the season as he had 3 hits on the day. He got a single in the first to break up a stretch of 6 straight strikeouts and then went on to get two more hits, including a double in the 9th inning.
  • No errors on the day for the Rangers and for Elvis Andrus. It was a clean day for the team and that came after a keystone cops type of fielding performance on Wednesday night when they committed 4 errors. They committed 6 errors in the series, but the A’s also committed 6. It could just be a matter of trying to adjust to the regular season after 6 weeks of spring training. Hopefully this isn’t a season long story. I don’t think it will be, because they have several guys on the team who are good defensively.
  • Finally, the Rangers were lucky to get out with a split. They were outscored 20-13 in the series and it would have been much worse if not for the 10 runs yesterday. It was 19-3 heading into the game yesterday afternoon, but they got the win and walk out with the split. That is all that matters and all anyone will remember. It reminded me of the 1960 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates going up against the New York Yankees. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 58-27 in the series, but the Pirates won the series in 7 games when Bill Mazeroski hit the game-winning home run in game 7 of that series. It just goes to show in a series it doesn’t matter how many total runs you score, it just matters did you win the game or not?
  • Derek Holland goes up against the Houston Astros and Collin McHugh at 3:05 this afternoon as the Rangers will try to start their first winning streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!

Rangers Rebound Behind Fielder and the Kid

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Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam

Kela congratulated by teammates after escaping 7th inning jam

The Rangers get that first win of the season and the first win for manager Jeff Bannister with clutch hitting from Prince Fielder and pitching from rookie Keone Kela. The final was 3-1 as Colby Lewis picked up his first win of the season. The story of the game though was Keone Kela. The rookie made the team after an outstanding Spring Training that saw him pitch 9.2 innings and 11 strikeouts and allowed a .167 Opponents Batting Average (OBA). Bannister thought so highly of him that he installed him as the team’s 7th inning guy. That for a guy that a year ago was pitching in Double-A for Frisco. There was a lot more pressure last night for Kela than I am sure he faced at all last year. Kela doesn’t wilt under pressure. He was a 12th round draft pick for the Rangers and worked his way up from there to being in the majors at age 21.

That takes us to last night. Colby Lewis had just went 6 innings, allowing only 1 run with 4 strikeouts, and 2 walks. He had kept the A’s off-balance off night and allowed the only run in his last inning as he was tiring. Kela was brought in for his first major league appearance in a big spot. Normally you see managers try to bring in rookies in low pressure situations so that they can get the nervousness out of the their system. Bannister showed enough trust in Kela though to not bring him in on Monday to get that first appearance out of the way. Kela came in and quickly allowed the first two batters to reach base. Billy Butler lined a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch that Kela left up. Then he walked Ike Davis. So two runners on and no outs and only up two.  Mike Maddux came to visit and Prince Fielder came up to him and according to Kela told him to, “man up and throw strikes”.  After that he struck out Brett Lawrie with 3 curveballs. Stephen Vogt then lined a hard line drive single to Shin Shoo Choo in right field, and thankfully because Butler was the lead runner they had to hold him at 3rd. The crowd starts to get loud, pressure ratchets up as it looks like the bullpen might blow another lead, and Marcus Semien is coming to the plate. He works the count to 3-2 and on the 7th pitch he gets Semien to ground into a game-saving double play.

What a double-play turn by Elvis Andrus. I loved Kela’s reaction to that, he clearly was able to breath a sigh of relief after that play. He was struggling, he did not have any fastball command and had to rely on his changeup and curveball to get him out of the inning and he did. I think he is going to be a solid piece to the bullpen. If he can perform in that situation then I think he can handle any situation. He will be an interesting story to follow throughout the season. Tanner Scheppers is scheduled to be back next week and that means that Tolleson will slide into that 7th inning role, but I could see him and Kela splitting that role in order to keep both of them fresh. Having both of them also gives the bullpen needed depth.

After that Tolleson and Feliz were able to close the door on the victory and the Rangers now just need to get one of the next two to consider this series a success. The goal was a split and they are halfway there. Ross Detweiler will make his Rangers debut tonight against Scott Kazmir and Nick Martinez will throw on Thursday afternoon in the finale of the series against Kendall Graveman.

Other Notes from the Game

  • Prince Fielder is looking pretty solid thus far this season. He is actually looking like a good hitter and not just a pull-happy home run guy. From the Spring Training games I saw and the two games so far this year, he is hitting to the opposite field and driving it, and he is finding holes in the shift as well. He is also making solid contact with everything. Last night he provided the two biggest hits the bloop single to center that scored Roughned Odor for the first run of the season, and then solid line drive to Craig Gentry that skipped underneath his glove that scored both Martin and Andrus. If he can do that from the 3 spot the rest of the lineup will be fine.
  • Adrian Beltre celebrated his 36th birthday last night by putting on a show defensively. Colby Lewis was struggling in the first inning. Sam Fuld had beat out an infield single and then he walked Eric Sogard. That is when Beltre came to save the day. He caught a popup deep into foul territory and caught it over his shoulder with his back to the infield. Then he started a double play off the bat of Billy Butler to get out of the inning. He also made a great stop and throw to get Eric Sogard out in the 8th inning. Happy belated birthday to Adrian Beltre.
  • There was also a nice hit-and-run by Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin that preceded Fielder’s rbi double in the 5th inning. Martin had reached on a line drive single to center. The A’s then tried to pick him off by pitching out on the first pitch because the scouting report on Martin says he tries to run on the first pitch. This time he didn’t. He left on the second pitch when the Rangers called the hit-and-run and Andrus was able to place it right where the shortstop was and the ball rolled into the outfield and Martin was able to go third on the hit.
  • Tonight’s game is at 9:05 p.m. and will be Ross Detweiler against Scott Kazmir. Go Rangers.

 

 

Where Have I Been

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Future of the Texas Rangers

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The 2014 season is about halfway over and for the Texas Rangers it has turned from a season of promise into a lost season due to all the injuries. In all the Rangers have made 20 DL moves this season, 3/5 of their expected rotation is on the DL, their starting and backup first basemen are gone for the season, and numerous other star players and role players have missed time due to injury. 2014 will always be in my mind “the nightmare season” that as soon as it is over will never be spoken of again. It was the year players started getting hurt in the offseason, it carried over into Spring Training workouts and the games, and extended into the regular season. It has felt like the Rangers have not went more than two weeks without having to make a DL move. It has been a valiant effort by Ron Washington and the team to stay as close to .500 as they have, but as of today they are 11.5 GB of the division, and 4.5 GB of the wild card. They are still in the race right now for one of the wild card spots and so the season isn’t completely over, but I have decided instead of dwelling on the present on this blog I will be focusing the next couple of weeks looking into the future.

In the present it looks bleak, the Rangers have players that are hurt or underperforming, they only have a good chance of winning 1 out of every 5 games, and there really isn’t much in the way of reinforcements coming into the team. Despite all of that though the near future looks bright.  They have prospects such as Joey Gallo, Luke Jackson, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Jorge Alfaro, Nomar Manzaro, Ryan Rua, and others that are still developing and on their way up. On the major league club we have seen the promise and potential that Michael Choice, Roughned Odor, Luis Sardinas, Robinson Chirinos, Nick Martinez, and Nick Tepesch have shown. The future looks promising, but these players are not ready yet. They will have their moments, but not sustained and rarely in the late innings. In some ways this feels a lot like 2008 and 2009 in that there were a lot of players who were good, but they did not know how to win yet. They had to spend those two years learning how to win and then in 2010 it all came together. This group of players has to learn how to win together and in order to become winners a team first has to lose. It happens in every sport, it is called the slow build. For the Rangers that is what 2006-2009 was. It was getting the pieces together and then learning how to win. Before the Dallas Cowboys won their last 3 Super Bowls they had to endure seasons of 1-15, 7-9, 11-5, before going 13-3 and winning the Super Bowl. That is where the Rangers are back to right now.

Over the next two weeks leading into the All Star Break I will be writing 5 parts to our future of the Texas Rangers series. The first part will take a look at Joey Gallo. He has been called the most interesting man in the minors by Grantland and so I will be writing part one about him and the expected impact that he will have on this team, when he will arrive, and what type of player he will likely become. The second part will take a look at the top 10 Rangers prospects and their expected arrival time and what kind of impact they will have on this team. The third part will take a look at the moves the Rangers need to make to win in 2015 and beyond. The fourth part will take a look at the young players on the roster right now and what their ceiling is and if they can become long term contributors to the team. The fifth and final part will be prediction for what the 2016 roster will look like. It will be a compilation of the previous four parts and look toward 2016 when many of these players will have made or will make their debuts. Baseball America does something like this in their prospect handbooks every year where they jump ahead 3 years to make their prediction on the starting lineup and rotation. I will do the same to close out this 5 part series.

In conclusion Rangers fans don’t despair. I know that it may be hard to watch this years team and the season cannot get over quick enough, but enjoy it while it is here. Spend the games watching Roughned Odor hit or Nick Martinez pitch and realize that this is the future and while it may not be great now, they will be once they have some more seasoning under their belt. It takes time to grow for young players such as them, but I would expect that as soon as next season they will be back in the hunt for a playoff berth next season and in 2016 I expect to see them back in contention for another World Series berth. Unfortunately 2014 is not 2015 or 2016. The future will be better I guarantee that.

Rangers Young Guns Continue to Struggle

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The last two games we have seen one of the questions marks heading into the season manifest itself in a negative way. That question was could the Rangers young starters be relied upon to help this team through these first two months of the season. This month we have seen that the answer is no. Going into opening day the Rangers had 4 young starters in the rotation: Tanner Scheppers, Martin Perez, Robbie Ross Jr., and Nick Martinez. For the first 3 weeks they were good to great. Perez was great to start the season. He started 4-0, and had back-to-back complete game shutouts. Since then, he is 0-3 with higher than a 12.0 ERA. Then yesterday it was revealed that he has been suffering from elbow inflammation and will have to go on the DL. Nick Tepesch will be called upon to replace him when he takes his start on Wednesday. Then you have Robbie Ross Jr. who has not had a good start since April 25th against the Mariners, when he went 6.0 innings only giving up 2 runs. Since then, he has allowed 17 runs in his last 15.1 innings pitched. Overall, he is 1-4 with a 5.04 ERA. Finally, you have Tanner Scheppers who got injured in April, but who may have lost his rotation spot regardless. Tanner could not stay out of the big inning. The Rangers were taking a chance when they entrusted these guys with the keys to the rotation, and so far it just hasn’t worked out.

Out of the 3 I imagine Martin Perez will continue getting chances to start. He has a track record of success as a starter. He pitched well in the second half last year and pitched well for most of April. I imagine throwing the back-to-back complete game shutouts is what caused the elbow injury to flare up. Since those starts he clearly has not been the same. Hopefully they will give Perez as much time as he needs to recover and that when he does come back he will be able to have the same success he had in April. As far as Scheppers and Ross I imagine that they will be back in the bullpen very soon. Washington may have to make a decision and switch roles for Nick Martinez and Robbie Ross Jr. Martinez is stretched out and can easily slide into the starter role. Ross has experience in the bullpen and will be able to pick it up very quickly. Something needs to change. I loved the move to bring up Odor and Sardinas, now it might be time to shake up the rotation. Insert both Tepesch and Martinez. They just need to survive until Derek Holland and now Martin Perez can come back. They need to stop this slide. They are now right at .500 and 4 games back of the A’s. Thankfully the A’s are not playing much better or the deficit would be larger. The Rangers will be starting a 3 game series this week in Houston. The offense is starting to come back around, now it is the rotation’s turn to start pitching better.

Tonight it will be Colby Lewis for the Rangers and Brad Peacock for the Astros. Last time out Colby pitched against the Rockies and gave up 7 runs in 3.1 innings. He became the third starting pitcher to get hit hard in that series. He will be looking for better success tonight against the Astros. Game time is at 7:10.

Rangers 2nd Base Situation

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The final Jeopardy question for today is Texas Rangers Opening Day 2nd baseman. If you answered who is Jurickson Profar you would be incorrect. It was announced before the Rangers game against the Padres yesterday that Profar suffered a tear in his shoulder and will be out for 10-12 weeks. With the season only a week away that leaves the Rangers searching for who will man the position come next Monday. There are several in house candidates, but there is also the possibility the Rangers reach out to someone that will be released this week and insert them into the lineup. For purposes of this article lets take a look at the in house candidates.

First off you have Adam Rosales. Rosales has been in competition for the middle infield spot all spring and still remains on the major league roster. He has played all over the infield and has previous major league experience. The downside of Adam Rosales is that he has never appeared in more than 87 games in a major league season and he is not that strong of an offensive player. He also has had a pretty terrible camp so far. He is hitting .111 with 13 k’s, and only 4 hits. I think he would be more suited for the utility spot in that he wouldn’t be playing everyday and he wouldn’t be overexposed.

Next is Josh Wilson. Wilson is another player who was brought in to compete for the utility infield spot and was thought to be in the lead for that role before this happened. Wilson has played in the majors for the Marlins, Mariners, and Diamondbacks. He does have experience and has shown to be a decent hitter this Spring. This Spring he is hitting .261, has a .320 OBP, and has 12 hits. Having seen him play I think he would certainly embrace the challenge and be able to provide the Rangers with stability at that position.

The next player on the list is Rougned Odor. Odor is rated as the number 4 prospect in the Rangers organization by MLB.com and is just 20 years old. He does play 2nd base and is thought to be their future second baseman. The Rangers could bring him up and see what he has. He has been in the major league camp for the Rangers and has played in 10 and going 5-17. He is still very young though and hasn’t played above Double-A Frisco. With Odor there is the fear that he could be overwhelmed and not have success which would hinder his development long-term. They have to be thinking long-term with this guy, so I don’t see him getting the start at least at the start of the season. If he goes down to Frisco or Round Rock and hits well then maybe in May he could be brought up to solidify that position until Profar comes back.

Those are the three leading in house candidates. My pick for the starting second baseman would actually be probably Josh Wilson, but they could also give it to someone that they bring in. Still a few days left in camp, but with as many injuries as the Rangers have suffered it cannot end soon enough.

Countdown to Opening Day: 7 days

March 7th News

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These last two days not a lot has happened outside of the actual games and that is the way it is supposed to be. The Rangers lost 8-2 on Wednesday and they won yesterday 8-4. Alexi Ogando was the winning … Continue reading →