Tag Archives: Seattle Mariners

Texas Rangers: Lucky or Good

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The Texas Rangers won their 30th 1-run game on Tuesday night with a walk-off 2-run home run by Roughned Odor. That is the most in modern MLB history. Their record in the one-run games is 30-8 and if they maintain that winning percentage of .789 it would top what the Orioles did in 2012 when they went 29-9. It is remarkable what this team has done. The Rangers have 39 come from behind victories, 6 walk off wins, and the 30 wins in one-run games. They have a minuscule run differential of +22 which normally means that a team has a winning record, but not the best record in the league. The Rangers are 25 games over .500 for the best record in the American League. This is incredible when looking at the stats. The Blue Jays and Indians are in a virtual tie behind the Rangers, yet they have a run differential of +106 for the Blue Jays, and +94 for the Indians. This team has had to survive poor bullpen work early in the season, pitching injuries in the middle of the season, and at times a slumping lineup in August. Here we are though getting ready to head into September and the Rangers are 8.5 games up on the Astros, and 11.5 games up on the Mariners. They are in line with a strong September to also capture home-field advantage through the entire playoffs. The question that keeps going through my mind though is how good really is this team? Is this a team that should be expected to not only make the playoffs, but make it to the World Series? The main question is this a good team or is this a lucky team? I heard this topic debated on the Dallas Morning News Ballzy Podcast with Evan Grant, Kevin Sherington, and Barry Horn and they were discussing this with MLB.com writer Richard Justice. I thought I would give my thoughts about it.

The Rangers are maybe a little bit lucky in that in some situations they have been able to benefit from mistakes other teams have made. I think back to Opening Day when they were facing Felix Hernandez and he was able to hold them to 1 hit, but they scored 3 runs due to a 3 walks, 2 errors, and a hit by Prince Fielder that ended up being the difference in a 3-2 win. They have had numerous games like that. They had a games in May that they won 13-11 with a 7-run 8th inning. They won a game in June against the Astros 6-5 where Carlos Correa couldn’t turn what would have been an inning ending double play. Instead it allowed Roughned Odor to hit and he came up with the game-winning double off the wall. It just has been a magical season. This team as manager Jeff Bannister likes to say has a lot of heart and never ever quits on a game. That characteristic of a team should never be dismissed as a belief that they can succeed in any situation will help them when things get tight in the postseason.

The next question is can they translate this success in one-run games and come-from-behind victories into a postseason run. The team the Rangers will be compared to is the 2012 Baltimore Orioles. That Orioles team went 29-9 in one-run games and was 93-69 overall as they tied the Rangers for the wild card and then ended up winning the wild card game. They went on to a series against the Yankees and took that Yankees team to 5 games and lost the series. The Rangers will be between 30-40 wins in one-run games. Can they go farther than that Orioles and all the way to the World Series. There are a couple of things I worry about with this team. One is the rotation beyond Darvish and Hamels. Those two I do not worry about, but the next two I do have some uncertainties about. First, who are the next two going to be. The Rangers have 4 pitchers to choose from: Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, and A.J. Griffin. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. The problem is that they do not have a for sure next two pitchers to put in the rotation. It may depend on who they match up with to determine who starts game 3 and 4. The other thing I worry about is the bullpen. They have good to great pitchers down there, but they are inconsistent. Sam Dyson was strong on Monday, but walked the bases loaded on Sunday. Matt Bush normally is solid but he struggled with his control last night. They just do not have the lockdown bullpen like you have seen from teams like the Kansas City Royals or San Francisco Giants. It is a worry heading into October and it something that can sprout up and cost the Rangers a critical game and turn around an entire series.

So is this team lucky or good? In my opinion they are a little bit of both. Other teams do make mistakes, but it is up to the Rangers to capitalize on the mistake and make the most of the opportunity. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. That is the main reason why they struggled in July and much of August is because the breaks stopped going their way. It does help though that this team is full of scrappers who will keep grinding till the 27th out is recorded. They follow the lead of Adrian Beltre. He is a leader who sets the tone in the clubhouse and on the field. He does not allow for players to not hustle and to not give it their all. This attitude and level of play is what has given the team chances in games that looked like they were lost. They also have the never ever quit attitude that manager Jeff Bannister has installed on this team and talked about since the day he was hired. Is it luck? Yes it is. Is it belief? Yes. Finally, is it skill? Absolutely it is. A team with players such as Carlos Beltran, Jonathan Lucroy, Beltre, Roughned Odor, and Elvis Andrus definitely has skill and veteran knowledge. That should not be dismissed or taken lightly.

The final story and tagline for this team has not been written yet though. The question will be definitively answered in October. If this team finishes with the best record in the AL and goes out in the first round then they were no doubt more lucky than good. If this team makes it to the ALCS or advances to the World Series then they were as good as we have thought they were. All of this to say that this is one of the many storylines surrounding this team and will continue to be as the calendar will move from September to October. In a time when our attention shifts to football the Rangers play over in Arlington and demand your attention as well. They have a team that plays hard, competes in every game, and insists that fan don’t leave until the game is officially over. As we start September the debate over whether this team is lucky or good will rage, but the team will just continue to go out and win baseball games and hopefully win it all in October.

 

Rangers Completely Dominate Mariners

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I have been trying to think about what to focus on for today’s recap of last night’s 8-0 win against the Mariners that completed the first series win and a winning road trip for the Rangers. Do I focus on Holland’s first real good start since last August? How about Beltre’s 5 RBI night and 3-run home run that puts him 4th among primary 3rd basemen all-time? I could also focus on Andrus continuing his hot start to the season with 3 hits last night and his 5th RBI of the season. Mazara also had another hit, but made two unbelievable plays in the outfield. Ryan Rua had another couple of hits from the bottom of the order. Roughned Odor made plays on the basepaths and had another RBI hit. Prince Fielder recorded his 10th RBI of the season, just 9 games into the season. Ian Desmond made a couple of amazing plays in left field as well. It was just a complete team effort. They followed up last nights 14 hit performance with 12 hits last night. Their pitching recorded their first shutout of the season. The defense was still stellar even though they did have an error. When they play like this there is not many teams in all of baseball that can beat them. Last night the Mariners could not even stay close as the Rangers improved to 5-4 and jumped into first place of the AL West.

There was so much to like about last night’s game, but to me the most important development was Derek Holland’s performance. Holland is the X-factor in this rotation. If he can stay healthy and pitch like he did last night this rotation goes from good to possibly great. Holland last night showed improved control from his first outing as he only walked one guy. He also showed that even though his velocity may be down from what it was 3-4 years ago that when the moment calls for it he can still get it up to 95-96 mph. That moment last night was an at-bat against Robinson Cano. Cano had worked him over in the first inning on his way to a 10 pitch lineout. He was fouling everything off and then finally lined out to Delino Deshields in center. Then in the 5th he came back with two runners on and down 5-0, but one swing away from making it 5-3. Holland really attacked him and went after him with 94-95 mph sinkers. He ended up striking him out on 6 pitches and got out of the 5th with no runs allowed. It was an encouraging outing and one that he can learn from and continue to improve upon as we go throughout this 2016 season. Just think about this possible rotation come the end of May if everyone stays healthy: Hamels, Darvish, Perez, Lewis, and Holland. If Holland can continue to pitch well that will be one of the best rotations in all of baseball. I really hope that he can stay healthy. Holland throughout his Rangers career has been one of my favorite and my most frustrating pitchers to watch. I think back to Game 4 of the 2011 World Series. The Rangers had just went down 2-1 after Albert Pujols hit 3 home runs in Game 3 and Holland was facing a must win for the Rangers. He went out and pitched the game of his life that gets forgotten because of what happened in games 6 and 7 of that series. He pitched 8 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. It seemed like after that he was ready to take that next step to being one of the best lefthanders in all of baseball. Instead he has suffered from inconsistency in 2012-2013 and injuries in 2014-2015. He now is at a crossroads in his career as he faces a team option at the end of this season. The question of whether the Rangers will pick that option up depends a lot on how he does this season. The team has not had any extension talks with Holland and is in a wait-and-see mode with the pitcher. I hope that he can continue these performances.

The game also showed that Nomar Mazara can not only hit, but he can play some outfield. He made a remarkable play diving after a ball down the left-field line and then made a play running into the wall to catch a ball. Defense was thought to be a question mark with Mazara as some scouts have said that he is a little slow of foot. He showed tons of range though last night as he made those two plays. He also recorded a single in his first at-bat to make that 6 hits in his first 3 games. He just has been a phenom in these first 3 games. He has shown an advanced understanding of the strike zone and great bat control as well. It is not going to stay like this, but he has shown that whenever he is here to stay that he will be ready for each and every challenge thrown his way.

Preview of Today’s Game

2:40 p.m. Texas Rangers vs Seattle Mariners, A.J Griffin(1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs Taijuan Walker (0-0, 3.00 ERA), Fox Sports Southwest

A.J. Griffin makes his second start of the season. He went 6 innings and allowed 3 runs and was able to get the win against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last Friday night. It was his first win since September 12, 2013. It was an encouraging start that saw Griffin get better the deeper into the game he got. The Rangers have secured the series win and a winning record for the road trip, so they need to be careful not to have a let down in today’s game. The key for Griffin today will be location. The Mariners have not hit well in this series, but if Griffin gives them free passes they will be ready and waiting to break through and get Griffin out of this game early. He must control his curveball and make it enticing enough to swing at. He must have confidence in his fastball and locate it on the corners and be sure not to miss over the plate. The game today is at 2:40 so the air will not likely be as thick making hitting the ball out of the ball park a lot easier than it is during night games.

Taijuan Walker will be going for the Mariners. He is coming off a dominating 7 inning,2 run performance against the A’s. Walker presents some of the same challenges Iwakuma presents. He is a tall, lanky righty that is coming downhill right at the hitter. His fastball can really eat up right handed batters as he is coming straight downhill at them. Walker can struggle with walks though. He averages about 2.0 walks per 9 innings. The Rangers must be patient, take advantage when he does leave one over the plate, and run up his pitch count early. If Walker gets into a groove early it could make for a long day for the offense.

Player to Watch

Yesterday I chose Derek Holland and was right. I said he would pitch into the 7th inning only giving 1-2 runs and would pick up his first win and quality start of the season. He went 6.2 innings, 0 runs allowed, and did win. That was my first right pick of the season.

Today I am going with Roughned Odor. I think Walker will pitch very well against the righties in the lineup, but I think Odor with his bat speed will be able to turn around a Walker fastball. I could definitely see 1-2 hits today and I think he will make a play on the basepaths that will make a difference in today’s game.

The Rangers try to end this road trip on top before coming home to start a 4-game series against the potentially still undefeated Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night. Hopefully they will not be looking ahead to that and Cole Hamels starting on Thursday. Go Rangers!!!!

Rookies help Rangers defeat the Mariners

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

Rangers Will Not Be 162-0 in 2016

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The Texas Rangers lost their first game of the 2016 season in spectacular fashion last night losing 10-2 to the Seattle Mariners. It was a mixture of missed opportunities early and the new pieces of the bullpen not being able to keep it close late. This was different from Opening Day in that the team did hit, not well, but they did get hits and provided themselves with numerous opportunities throughout the game to give themselves a lead going into the 7th-9th innings. In the 4th inning Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos provided run scoring singles, but outside of those hits, the Rangers could not get the big base hit when they had runners on base. Jared Sandler, who does the radio pre and post game shows for the Rangers, had this interesting tweet about the game last night.

That just is not acceptable. To me the one that stands out the most is the 7th inning. The Mariners had just went ahead 4-2 in the top of the inning, but the heart of the Rangers order was coming up in the bottom of the inning. Shin Soo Choo starts off with a 10 pitch walk. Prince Fielder then steps up and instead of continuing to make him work and trying to find his pitch, he swings at the first pitch and pops it straight up. Adrian Beltre then proceeds to do the same thing. Mitch Moreland works the count, but still ends up striking out on the 8th pitch. Fielder and Beltre have to be better there. It feels like they both went up with the approach of just swinging to just hit the game-tying home run. It did not work and in the end it did not matter. I still like what the team is doing. The approach at the plate for the most part has still been really good, the results and runs just have not been there yet. If they continue with this the runs will come, its just Hernandez and Iwakuma can be very difficult to face.

The concerning part of the game to me though is that Tony Barnette and Tom Wilhelmsen were just awful today. Barnette was making his MLB debut after spending the past 7 years in Japan. He started out well enough by getting the 2 of the first 3 hitters out, but then he left one up and over the plate to Leonys Martin who drove it in the left field corner to score Seth Smith. Then he allowed another single to Nori Aoki to make the score 4-2. At that point Bannister removed him in favor of Jake Diekman. He was able to get out of the inning with one pitch on a groundout against Ketel Marte. That was minor compared to the disaster Tom Wilhelmsen was. Wilhelmsen came in and took their chances of winning and flushed them down the toilet. He gave up a home run to Robinson Cano to lead of the inning, a double to Nelson Cruz, an RBI-double to Kyle Seager, a home run to Seth Smith, and then after a coaching visit he plunked Chris Ianneta and then proceeded to yell back-and-forth with the Mariners catcher. That got him ejected. So overall not the best night at the office and actually it might have one of the worst appearances of his career as his line ended up 0.0 innings pitched, 5 runs, 4 hits, 2 home runs given up. He was a disaster last night. The plunking of Ianneta led to both managers coming out onto the field and getting into it from their side of the diamond. It was ridiculous and completely unnecessary. I hope Wilhelmsen did not hit him on purpose, but the timing of it made it look like it was as it came right after the Seth Smith home run. Andrew Faulkner then ended up coming in and giving up another home run to Luis Sardinas to make it 10-2 and that would be game,set,match to the Mariners. It was a loss and it sucks, but it was one the Rangers deserved to lose. They did not come through with enough timely hits and the bullpen did not pitch well enough to give them an opportunity late. The loss drops the Rangers record to 1-1 and the Mariners improve to 1-1.

Other Game Notes

  • I got through all of that intro without even mentioning the starting pitchers. Iwakuma was not his usual dominant self against the Rangers, but he made the pitches when he needed to and was able to labor through 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 runs, and 3 walks. Iwakuma was able to get out of jams in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th innings. The only time the Rangers got to him for runs was the 4th with the RBI singles by Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos. So while he was not great he was good enough. The same can also be said for Martin Perez. He pitched 6 innings giving up 2 runs as well. He gave a run on a single to Chris Ianneta in the 2nd and then a solo home run to Nelson Cruz in the 4th inning. He was able to make big pitches though to get out of innings. In the second he got a ground ball double play off the bat of Dae-Ho Lee and then got another inning ending double play in the 6th off the bat of Kyle Seager. He left with the score tied 2-2. Iwakuma and Perez both did their jobs in giving their teams an opportunity to win. The bullpen for the Mariners pitched better than the bullpen for the Rangers. The Rangers still have not won a game that Iwakuma started for the Mariners since 2013.
  • Ian Desmond has had quite the introduction to the American League. Yesterday it was King Felix and today it was Hisashi Iwakuma. Two very difficult pitchers to face because of what all they bring to the table. Hernandez is about the variety of pitches and his ability to locate all of those pitches. Yesterday it was Iwakuma moving all of his pitches in and around the strike zone and from different arm angles. It made Desmond look helpless up there, especially in the 5th when he struck out on a pitch way up and out of the strike zone. Iwakuma is a master of putting the ball on different planes throughout an at-bat. He can run it high, have it dip into the dirt, or cut it to hit the corners of the plate. He leaves very few pitches in the middle of the strike zone. Everything is on the corners. It makes it hard for an umpire to call and even harder for the batter to hit. He did get his first hit though in the 9th when he beat out a groundball to Kyle Seager. It did have to be reviewed, but the review showed that he was safe. So he is no longer 0-for. Today should be easier Miley is not as dominant as these last two guys are.

Preview of Today’s Game

1:05 p.m., Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports SW, Wade Miley vs Colby Lewis

This afternoon is the rubber game of the series as both try to end the first series of the season with a home win. It would be a huge statement for either team to claim this first divisional series of the season. Wade Miley will be making his first appearance in a game for the Mariners after being acquired in the offseason from the Boston Red Sox. The left-hander will be looking to improve upon his 1-2 record and his 3.86 ERA in his career against the Rangers. Look for the Rangers to try to take advantage of his lack of control in the Rangers ballpark. In two starts there he has 1.286 WHIP(Walks at Hits/Innings Pitched). The Rangers hitters just need to be as patient at the plate as they have been in the first two games and then drive the ball when they have an opportunity to score runs. Keep an eye on the right-handed hitters today. I would not be surprised at all to see Ryan Rua get his first start of the season against the left-hander. Miley lost most lefties does not fare as well against righties as he does against lefties. I would expect Moreland to get the day off and for Rua to play first.

As for the Rangers Colby Lewis makes his first start of the season. Lewis resigned with the team in the offseason and had an up-and-down spring. Arizona is normally not good for a guy with his stuff though. He is a flyball pitcher and in Arizona fly balls turn into home runs very easily. The most important thing though is he got his innings in, he is ready, and he is healthy. The most important thing for him today is location. Can he spot his fastball on the corners of the plate? He needs to have his slider working and be enticing enough to swing at. When he is good that slider dips at the last moment down and away from the righties and down and in to lefties. When he is not good the slider looks flat and hangs up and over the plate. It needs to have that sharp brake to it. He also needs to his changeup working for his fastball to look better as well. At this point in his career he does not have what would be classified as great stuff, he has what would be considered good control and veteran poise out on the mound. That is what has made him successful throughout his career and what led him to a career high 17 wins last season. The key batters for him will be Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager. If he can silence their bats and keep them in ballpark he will be doing a good job.

Player to Watch

Review from Yesterday: I chose Roughned Odor yesterday and he went 0-3 with a walk and a run scored. He did score the tying run and for the second straight day he made a spectacular play in the field. I wouldn’t say it was a total loss. He did have an impact on the game early with his play in the field and in the one time he did get on base he scored. He did not have as big of a day though as Chirinos and Andrus had.

Today’s Player: LF Ian Desmond. I am going with this just off of feel and no stats to back me up. Desmond hit very well this spring, but has started with facing two pitchers he is not very familiar with and that has led to just one hit in the first two games. Today I believe will be different. It is a lefty on the mound and one that may leave one up and over the plate for Desmond to hit. I would not be surprised to see Desmond come through with a 2-5 type day. I believe he will make some sort of play in the field as Lewis is more of a flyball pitcher. So there will be more plays for Desmond and everyone in the outfield today. Ian Desmond is my player to watch for today.

Should be a good game with more runs scored by both sides. Hopefully the Rangers can win before they depart on a 7-game road trip to Anaheim this weekend then Seattle to start next week.

Go Rangers!!!!!!!

1-Hit Wonder

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Fireworks explode over the stadium at the end of the national anthem as the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners line up before their game on opening day on Monday, April 4, 2016, at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/TNS) 1182888

Fireworks explode over the stadium at the end of the national anthem as the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners line up before their game on opening day on Monday, April 4, 2016, at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/TNS) 1182888

 

The Rangers somehow won their opening day game 3-2 against the Mariners yesterday with only one hit. It was enough though as the Rangers took advantage of some shoddy Mariners defense, walks by Felix Hernandez, and aggressive base running by Roughned Odor all in the 5th inning. Cole Hamels and the bullpen made sure that the 1-run lead would be enough and it was as Shawn Tolleson closed the door in the 9th inning. It was a great win, because the Seattle Mariners had won 8 straight Opening Day games behind the pitching of Felix Hernandez, but the Rangers were able to steal this one away and end that long winning streak. I am still scratching at my head at how it happened, but it did and the Rangers move forward to game 2 as the only AL West team to have won yesterday. The Angels lost 9-0 to the Cubs, the A’s lost to the White Sox 4-3, and the Astros were postponed by inclement weather in New York. Lets dive deeper into the game though because only 5 runs were scored, but a lot of notable things happened in the game.

The game started with the introductions, the flyover, and Bobby Jones and Tom Grieve threw out the first pitch as they are celebrating their 50th year in baseball in 2016. Cole Hamels was very sharp for most of the day, but he missed over the plate twice in the first two innings and that led to solo home runs by Robinson Cano and Ranger-killer Kyle Seager. For the longest time that looked like it would be enough. Felix was not as sharp as normal, but the Rangers were not hitting him at all the first four innings. He walked one batter in each of the first two innings, but settled down after that to get the Rangers in order in the 3rd and 4th innings. One thing the Rangers did do through these first 4 innings was make Hernandez work.

That takes us the 5th inning the score was 2-0 and the Rangers still had not gotten a hit. Odor showed patience at the plate and worked a 5-pitch walk to start the inning. That is one thing I noticed throughout the game is a better approach at the plate by the hitters against Felix Hernandez. It was noticeably different than what we saw last season when the Rangers faced Hernandez or any tough pitcher really. Odor then made things happen by stealing 2nd and making sure his hand did not come off the base during the tag. Tom Grieve and Steve Busby even made note of that during the broadcast that runners will have to be more careful with their slides this season and makings sure they never lose contact with the base.  So Odor is on second and then continues to be aggressive by running to 3rd on a ground ball to Kyle Seager. Seager I think was caught off guard by Odor and took his eye off the ball in trying to make a quick tag and did not catch the bouncing ball. Odor was on 3rd and Elvis Andrus was on 1st. Robinson Chirinos then sacrifice bunted Andrus over to 2nd. Delino Deshields then took the Rangers 2nd walk of the inning and it was followed by another walk by Shin Soo Choo which scored a run to make it 2-1. That brought up Prince Fielder with the bases loaded. He proceeds to drop a fly ball right in front of left-fielder Nori Aoki for the only hit of the day by the Rangers. That tied the game. There was still only one out when Adrian Beltre came to the plate and he hit a smash ground ball to shortstop Ketel Marte and he botched it and it gave the Rangers their 3rd run of the inning, the lead, and eventually the win. 3 walks, 2 errors, and 1 hit led to 3 runs for the Rangers. It goes to show that sometimes its not who hits the ball the most or hardest, but it is the team who takes advantage of the opportunities they were given. The Mariners hit two long home runs, but could not do anything other than that, the Rangers had one hit, but made the most of the opportunities the Mariners gave them in the 5th inning.

Neither team really threatened after that. The Mariners had a base-runner in the 6th after an Elvis Andrus throwing error, and the runner advanced on a wild pitch by Cole Hamels, but did not advance further after Hamels finished off the inning with a strikeout of nemesis Kyle Seager. The Mariners then got two more runners on in the 7th, but Hamels once again came through with a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. That was it as Diekman and Tolleson came in to finish off the game. Cole Hamels ended up going 7 innings, with 2 runs allowed, 4 hits, 8 k’s, and 3 BB’s and getting the win. Felix Hernandez took his first Opening Day loss of his career in going 6 innings, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 1 hit, 6 k’s, and 5 BB’s. It was also Felix Hernandez’s first loss against the Rangers since a 1-0 loss back on June 13, 2014. He won all 5 starts made against the Rangers last season. The approach was a lot better today. I remember that the games he pitched against them last season the players were defeated before they even stepped into the batters box. Today they looked confident and appeared as if they had a better plan of attack against him. That helped lead to the victory and a 1-0 start to the 2016 season.

Notes from the Game

  • There was a weird play in the 1st inning. Shin Soo Choo had stolen 2nd base and the catcher was talking to the umpire and then the umpires conferred and they ruled that Prince Fielder had interfered with the catcher in falling over the plate. Rule 6.06(c) states that if the batter is ruled to have interfered with the catcher then the batter will be called out and the runner will return to their previous base. Fielder fell across home plate in order to get away from the pitch, but in doing so he came across the area that Chris Ianneta was throwing into and the umpire ruled that he had interfered. Jeff Bannister said when asked about that call, “That’s the first time in my career I’ve seen a hitter have to move to avoid getting hit by a baseball, fall across the plate and get called for obstruction or interference. But it’s the rule.” That short circuited what could have been a run-scoring inning by the Rangers.
  • The defense was outstanding for the most part today. Elvis did have the throwing error in the 6th inning, but other than that everything else was clean. He and Roughned Odor made the two plays of the game. Elvis made a play in the 3rd inning going to his right, he got the bouncing ground ball did a 360 degree spin and then threw the ball on the run accurately to first base to get the speedy Ketel Marte.  It was a great play that was one of the top plays of the day on SportsCenter last night. Roughned Odor also had a great play ranging very far to his right almost the right field line where he snagged a ground ball and threw to Shawn Tolleson who was sprinting to first base to get Kyle Seager. Ian Desmond also looked comfortable in left field. He only had a ground ball hit to him as there was only one fly out the entire game by the Mariners.
  • Speaking of no fly outs, Cole Hamels was outstanding today. He was making his 3rd Opening Day start of his career and even though he gave up 2 early home runs to Cano and Seager, he was still able to buckle down after that and pitch an outstanding game. He kept everything low in the zone and forced the Mariners into 8 strikeouts and 10 ground ball outs. That is how you have to pitch in Arlington throughout the season. Hamels also pitched well in the couple of times that he got into trouble. He showed his veteran poise out there in being able to get out of trouble each time the Mariners looked like they might tie the game. If his performance down the stretch and in the postseason last year did not convince people, hopefully this performance will show that he is the ace of this staff, even when Yu Darvish comes back. I also thought him and Robinson Chirinos worked very well together. It was well known last season that he preferred to work with Chris Gimenez, but he is out with an ankle infection right now. Chirinos did spend the offseason working to develop a better relationship with Hamels in order to be ready for the upcoming season and put himself in a position to be able to be his catcher. I would say it worked out yesterday as they seemed to be on the same page the whole game. This will be something to follow as we go throughout the season though and see if they can maintain that chemistry.
  • On the other side Mike Montgomery was outstanding late in the game for the Mariners. He came in relief for Hernandez in the 7th and was able to mow through the heart of the Rangers order in the 7th and the 8th. He struck out 4 of the 7 hitters he faced and only allowed one base-runner, a walk to Mitch Moreland. He had his curveball and slider working very well. He also showed very good life with his fastball. I did not expect that.
  • Overall both starters were very good, kept the hitters off-balance all game, the Mariners made a few mistakes in one inning and the Rangers capitalized to the tune of 3 runs. That allowed them to win the game on the back of a strong start by Cole Hamels and shutdown relief by Jake Diekman and Shawn Tolleson. Sometimes that is all it takes.

Preview of Tonight’s Game

Game Time 7:05 p.m., Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox Sports SW, Hisashi Iwakuma vs Martin Perez. 

Tonight is game two of the series and the Mariners will send recently resigned pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to go against Martin Perez. Iwakuma pitched very well in his two starts against the Rangers last season. The 34 year old right-hander went 7 innings in each of his two starts and gave up 3 runs in one start and 2 runs in the second start and picked up the win in each start. The Rangers have actually not won a game started by Iwakuma since August 24, 2013 and he has not taken a loss against the Rangers since July 4th, 2013. He has been outstanding against this team whether it be in Seattle or Texas. That will be something to keep an eye on tonight to see if the Rangers can break through against Iwakuma and be able to pick up a win. Martin Perez will also be making his first start of the season. He has had a good Spring Training and Bannister decided to reward him with the number 2 spot. Perez is coming into a big year. He is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery and so a lot more will be expected out of him. He has the stuff and makeup to be an outstanding pitcher in this league. It is more mental with him. Can he keep himself from losing his focus during a game and stay mentally engaged through the 6 or 7 innings that he pitches. That is something he struggled with last year was if someone made a mistake behind him or if he walked a batter he would let it snowball in a hurry instead of being able to shut it off. The biggest example of this was the beatdown by the Yankees last season. He had a great first inning, the Rangers came and scored 5 runs in support of him, but then he allowed a leadoff double to Chris Young and before you know it the Yankees had tied the game at 5 and he was out of there. He pitched much better after that game, but the mental lapses still were a problem. He is going to have to be much better with that this season and I expect he will be. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has said he expects Martin Perez to have a breakout season in 2016. He has everything he needs to be great. He pitches with good velocity, he is able to spot his fastball and changeup on either corner of the plate, and he keeps the ball low. The bullpen is fresh though and so don’t be surprised if Bannister decides to go to them early if need be. No need to force Perez into a high pitch count situation if it is not necessary.

Player to Watch tonight

Roughned Odor. This could be another low scoring game in which his ability to make plays could be crucial. I expect him to go 1-3, but get on-base twice and watch out if he gets on-base because he is going to make things happen once on-base. That is where he is the most dangerous. If the Rangers win I expect Odor will have a large hand in it on both the offensive side and with his glove as well.

Should be a great game tonight. Hopefully the Rangers win this game and the series. Go Rangers!!!!!

Season in Review: August

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Sam Dyson closes out the game against the Astros

Sam Dyson closes out the sweep against the Astros

 

It has been a crazy week with my work schedule changing for a few days and not having a lot of free time to continue to write this series, but I am back now and am committed to finishing the series this week. I want to finish the review so that we can move on to writing about about what the Rangers will do this offseason.  We left off last week with the trade deadline. The Rangers had just acquired Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman from the Phillies and Sam Dyson from the Marlins. Cole Hamels gave them that ace starter they had lacked since Yu Darvish went down in Spring Training. Jake Diekman, a lefty, and Sam Dyson, a righty, helped give the bullpen more depth than it had previously. Both of those guys were power pitchers. Diekman is a lefty that can throw up to 100 mph and Sam Dyson is a righty with a mid 90’s sinker. It was like Jon Daniels gave Jeff Bannister a couple more toys to play with. Bannister immediately put these guys in as late inning relief guys. The team sent down rookie Keone Kela, who had been the Rangers 7th and sometimes 8th inning pitcher, in order to get him rest. He had been pitching a lot for this team. As we head into August the team is playing better having beat the Yankees in the last two games of the 4 game series and then starting off the series with the defending champion San Francisco Giants by beating Madison Bumgarner on Friday.

Cole Hamels made his start in the second game of the series and 1st day in August. Unfortunately for him it was against the team that he did not have good numbers against. He has struggled against the Giants throughout his career to the tune of a 4.33 ERA and just 3 weeks prior this start he had faced them in a Phillies uniform and allowed 9 runs in 3.1 innings. This time though he was not great, but he did pitch 7.2 innings and he did allow 5 runs. He did leave with the lead though, but unfortunately the bullpen could not hold it and the Rangers lost in extra innings when Hunter Pence hit a home run to put the Giants on top. The next day the Rangers sent Martin Perez to the mound and he was spectacular. He was efficient with his pitches, he got tons of ground balls and had a shot to get a complete game shutout. It was the complete opposite of his previous start against the Yankees in that 21-5 debacle. It was marvelous to watch and showed how much potential Perez has as a starter in this league. Controversially though Bannister removed Perez with one out in the 9th inning of a 2-0 game. Perez’s pitch count was only at 80 pitches, but Bannister felt like he did not want to put too much stress onto Perez’s arm this soon after Tommy John recovery. He had also just given up a double and the tying run was at the plate. He brought in Jake Diekman who walked his only batter. Then Sam Dyson came into the game to try to finish it, because Shawn Tolleson was unavailable. He gave up base hits to the first two guys he faced and a run. It was now 2-1 with Hunter Pence again at the plate and this happened.

 

A double play to end the game and the series. The Rangers won the series against the Giants and had seemingly righted the ship heading into the series against the division leading Houston Astros. At this point in the season the Rangers were looking more like a wild card team, but also keeping an eye on the division. They were 8 games back of the Astros and really needed a sweep if they were going to compete for the division. They won the first behind Adrian Beltre’s 3rd cycle of his career and won the game 12-9. The Rangers came back the next night from a 2-0 deficit and won 4-3. The bullpen was able to lock down the game and a series win by pitching 4 innings of scoreless relief coming on after Yovanni Gallardo pitched 5 innings. Now we get to the finale of the series and this a game the Rangers really needed to win to make some headway and catching the Astros. Picking up one game is good, but being able to pick up 3 games on the division leader would be huge. It was going to be Scott Kazmir against Nick Martinez. Kazmir had dominated the Rangers all season whether it was when he was with the A’s or Astros the Rangers had just not been able to figure him out. Nick Martinez though having out dueled Madison Bumgarner in his previous start felt confident. He once again pitched well only allowing 1 run in 5 innings. The Rangers like they had been doing throughout this homestand got on the board early and were able to hold on late. They scored 3 runs in the first and 1 run in the second for a 4-0. That would be the only runs they would score. The Astros got one back in the 4th, 2 back in the 6th to make it 4-3. A bullpen combination of Sam Freeman, Spencer Patton, Jake Diekman, and Sam Dyson held them scoreless the last 3 innings to take the sweep with another 4-3 victory. All of a sudden the Rangers were back above .500 at 54-53 and 5 games back in the division. The Rangers bullpen was pitching lights out and the offense was doing just enough to get wins. It was nerve-wracking to watch but fun all the same.

Following that series which got them closer in the division race the rest of the month was going to be about the wild card. They had series against the Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Baltimore Orioles. These were all teams that they were either chasing or teams that were chasing them for one of the two wild card spots. They also had two series against their nemesis this season the Seattle Mariners. These three weeks would either help them climb up the standings for the wild card heading into September or if they did not play well it would end any chance they had at the postseason. They did not get off to a great start losing 2 of 3 to the Twins in Minnesota. Then they came back home to face the Rays. They started off with come from behind win that saw Delino Deshields hit his first MLB home run in the 7th to tie it and then they were able to go ahead on a Josh Hamilton sac fly and win 5-3. They won 12-4 the next night as they hit Rays All Star and ace Chris Archer pretty hard. That win moved them in front of the Rays in the wild card standings. The Rangers won 5-3 the next day to complete the sweep. The momentum would continue as they won 2 of 3 against the Mariners. Then they went on the road to face the Tigers who were still holding on to slim hopes that they could get back in the race. The Rangers would face them in a 4 game series in Detroit. They lost the first game 4-0 as Alfredo Simon pitched a one-hitter against them. They bounced back the next night and won 2-0 behind another dominant outing from Colby Lewis. They won again on Saturday 5-3 with another good start from Yovanni Gallardo. They finished off the series with another win 4-2 as Cole Hamels picked up his first win in a Rangers uniform. Hamels had pitched well his previous two starts in Rangers win, but was not the pitcher of record in either start.

As we headed into the final week of August the Rangers at 64-59 were only 3.5 games behind the Astros for the division lead and they were in the second wild card spot having jumped 4 teams from the beginning of the month till August 24th. They had jumped over the Twins, Angels, Orioles, and Rays to take over the second wild card spot behind the Jays/Yankees who were tied in the AL East. The Rangers were legitimately surging as we headed into their series against the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays were also on fire since the trade deadline. They had been 6 games back in the division behind the Yankees and made all of that up in just 3 and half weeks. They were not only beating teams they were embarrassing opponents. Their run differential was increasing by the game. Both teams had been among the best teams in baseball in August as they started play in Arlington. The Rangers held a late 5-4 lead as Shawn Tolleson came into the game to try to close it out. He walked 2 of the first 3 hitters. He was trying to hit the corners and was not getting the calls and the Jays were not swinging. He had two runners on with only one out with Justin Smoak coming to the plate. Smoak flew out to make it two outs. Then Tulowitzki came to the plate and hit a single to left to tie the game. Josh Donaldson then hit a soft grounder that Adrian Beltre could not field cleanly that allowed the go-ahead run to score and the Rangers lost 6-5. It was Tolleson’s 2nd blown save of the season. Derek Holland in that game was good not great, but good enough to get the win. It was his second start of the season. He was dominant in his debut allowing only 2 runs against the Mariners. He looked like the Derek Holland of old though which was going to be great for the team in the homestretch of the season. The other news from that game was that they lost Roughned Odor due to a ripped fingernail. He would not go on the DL, but would sit out the next few games as it recovered. The next night it was David Price going up against Colby Lewis. The Jays won 12-4 as they were able to take advantage of Lewis’ flyball tendencies to hit two home runs and the bullpen was not able to stop the bleeding as they allowed 7 runs of their own. After the game Jeff Bannister called the next game a must win. He said ,”To go where we want to go, we’ve got to come back and play well tomorrow. We have to have our ‘A’ game. We have to be focused tomorrow and find a way to grind one out however it goes. We can’t give another one away.” It would be Yovanni Gallardo on the mound going up against Marco Estrada. Gallardo had pitched well and won the only game in the Rangers previous series against the Jays. On this day he pitched well again. It continued a strong stretch of games in the month of August for Gallardo. This day he was able to 5.1 with no runs allowed again. Estrada also pitched really well only allowing 1 run in 6  innings. Then Liam Hendriks came in out of the bullpen and this happened.

Deshields hit a 3-run inside the park home run to extend the lead to 4-0. The Rangers were able to close it out after and win 4-1. That was a hard-fought victory that the team really needed. It was good to see bounce off the mat and get the win. From there they had a 3 game series against the Orioles and one game against the Padres to close out the month. They swept a struggling Orioles team that really played itself out of the playoffs during this stretch by losing 4 straight and 9 out of 10 to fall to 5.5 games back in the wild card and 11 games back in the AL East. The Rangers were going the opposite direction. They beat the Orioles 4-1, 4-3, and 6-0. They finished off the month by heading to San Diego to play the Padres. The final game of August though saw them lose 7-0 and be dominated by Tyson Ross.

It was still a great month that saw great play, lots of adversity, and resilence in the face of doubt. They ended up the month going 18-10. They were in the lead by a game for the 2nd wild card spot and were only 4 games back in the division. They did all this despite losing Josh Hamilton for some time, losing both Carlos Corporan and Robinson Chirinos for the entire month, losing Odor for a few games at the end of the month, Prince Fielder struggled again this month, and Colby stumbled down the stretch in August by having 2 bad starts in a row. They survived all of that because the bullpen was fantastic for most of the month, Odor was still hitting great, and the starters pitched very well. The story that I did not get to that I will write more about in September was Shin Soo Choo hit well in the first two weeks after the All Star Break. The story is not that though it is that he was able to continue that throughout August as well. He took over the 2 hole in the lineup for Bannister and never looked back. Him and Deshields were a lethal combination at the top of the order. Choo started walking more, starting making more contact, and was hitting for power. He became the player the Rangers thought they were signing back in 2014. I will write more about that tomorrow as I get in September. September is really when he took off and became the best hitter in the lineup.

Tomorrow I will be writing about the end of the regular season. The Rangers are in a 3-team race as we head into September for the division, and they are holding onto the lead in the 2nd wild card spot as well. They are in a good position. They have 7 games against the Astros in September and loads of divisional games. I will write about their chase to get the divsion and how the title was won in game 162.

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 →

2015 Season in Review: April

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Texas Rangers Week 3 Roundup

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As I type this it has been made official that Josh Hamilton will be apart of the Texas Rangers. That will be the most interesting story once he is activated off the DL in mid-to late May. If you want to read all my thoughts on this trade I wrote about it on Friday night once it looked like this was going to happen. As far as this past week is concerned the team went 2-3. They split their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks and lost 2 of 3 to the Angels. They ended the week on a high note by coming back to win an extra innings affair with the Angels to finish the 8 game roadtrip 3-5. It was an inconsistent week. The offense for the most part struggled mightily with runners in scoring position. They only had 1 hit till Mitch Moreland’s single with two outs in the 9th that tied the game. It was glaring to watch this past weekend the team come up multiple times in key spots and only be able to score when the Angels made a mistake like a walk, hit-by-pitch, or a wild pitch. This is going to have to change if the team is going to win games moving forward. The Josh Hamilton trade may or may not help, but this offense needs to get better all around. It is up to the players to improve.

A player that could change the entire look of the offense is Shin Soo Choo. He started to draw more walks this past weekend, which is a positive. Hopefully that means that he is seeing the ball better. If that is happening then it may mean he is not too far away from reverting back to the gap hitter that the Rangers thought they were hitting. It seems like he has come up in numerous spots and not been able to come through. I feel like the offense is a consistent Shin Soo Choo away from really exploding. Elvis Andrus went 4-12 over the weekend, which constitutes a little bit of hot streak for him. Mitch Moreland and Leonys Martin have been hitting well now for the last two weeks. Prince Fielder has been consistently good all season. Adrian Beltre is starting to warm up. If Choo can join these guys this offense can be good even before Hamilton gets here. Then Hamilton doesn’t have to be looked at as the savior of the team. He can just do his thing and be another contributor to the offense.

Top 5 Players of the Week

  1.  Leonys Martin. I have got to go with Martin. He may not have the highest batting average (BA) for the week or the highest of other categories, but he is helping to drive this team. Nearly every rally this past week was either started or involved at some point Martin. He came through with the go-ahead HR yesterday against the Angels. He stole 3 bases, drove in 4 runs, tied for most hits on the team for the week, tied for most total bases, and saw more pitches in his plate appearances than anyone on the team. He is starting to become what the Rangers need in their leadoff hitter. It has been great to see him take that next step. Manager Jeff Banister demoted him after a slow start in the first week and a half. Since being reinserted as leadoff hitter he has been more patient, he has used the bunt more, and he has been hitting well against both left-handers and right-handers. That is why he was my top player for the week.
  2. Mitch Moreland. It was a tossup in my mind between him and Martin. I guess what swayed me was the home run yesterday afternoon and the fact that Moreland only had pinch hitting appearances in Arizona. Moreland in only 13 at-bats had 5 hits, 2 doubles, 3 rbi’s, and a .438 OBP. He was outstanding over the weekend. Martin had the go-ahead hit, but it would not have got to that point unless Moreland has the game-tying hit with two outs in the 9th inning. It was the exact opposite of what the team had done all weekend. Instead of flying out or grounding out, Moreland hit a hard single through the infield. Moreland, finally healthy for the first time in a few years, is starting to figure it out. He is able to hit it to all fields now. It seemed prior to this season that he was strong. His home runs to right field were bombs, but he was just that a dead pull home-run hitter. That cannot be counted on consistently. That is why he would struggle with a low .200 BA. Banister feels like he can hit him wherever he needs him as well. He is providing consistent production and that is what this team really needs.
  3. Nick Martinez. He continues his hot start to the season. He went 1-0, but the team went 2-0 in his starts this past week. He finally gave up an earned run against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. That was it though. He pitched 12 innings this week with only 1 earned run. Overall he has 26 innings with only 1 earned run and a 0.35 ERA. He has not been a dominant starter such as Yu Darvish, but he has been able to make the right pitch when needed. He has the ability to run his fastball in on right-handers and cause them to hit easy grounders or pop-ups. He will not pitch like this all season, but he will be good. He does not fold when the pressure is on, that is often times when he pitches his best. He gave up 3 base hits to Kole Calhoun yesterday, but was able to always get out of the jam. That was especially difficult with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols being the next two hitters in the lineup. Right now the team is also 4-0 in his starts compared to 3-11 in everyone else’s. It has been great to watch such a young pitcher make drastic improvements in such a short period of time. I am looking forward to seeing what else he can do this season.
  4. Adrian Beltre. Beltre went into Arizona in the middle of a drought. He was in the middle of a 4-33 slump. That changed though this week as time off and time in the cage helped to improve his batting average. He had a .316 BA, 1 home run, 1 RBI, 10 total bases, and played some stellar defense at 3rd. He started double plays off of line drives on both Saturday and Sunday. He also stole his first base of the season. He is starting to look the Adrian Beltre that we have come to know and love these past 4 seasons.
  5. Prince Fielder. I have had Fielder higher in past columns this season, and it is not that he has been bad, it is that other players are starting to play well too. Fielder had a week like any other. He hit .300, had his first home run of the season, 4 RBI’s, 10 total bases as well, and contributed, and had a .864 OPS. He was himself. Those numbers are very similar to what he has been doing. He is still hitting it to all fields and still providing consistent production from the number 3 hole.

A Look Ahead

  • This week they will face two 3 game series against the Seattle Mariners and Oakland A’s. Both of these teams are what many considered the preseason favorites to win the AL West. If the Rangers want to contend these are teams that they are going to have to beat to be real contenders in this division.
  • The pitching matchups in the Mariners series will be Yovanni Gallardo versus Taijuan Walker on Monday night, Ross Detweiler against J.A. Happ on Tuesday night, and Felix Hernandez against Wandy Rodriguez on Wednesday night. No easy matchups in this series. Hopefully Detweiler has used his time off to work on his fastball command. He was too often leaving it up and over the plate in his first 3 starts. He said after his last start that he had seen something on video that was causing his ball to stay up. The key will be keeping the ball down and getting ground balls.
  • The pitching matchups in the Angels series haven’t been determined yet. For the Rangers it will likely be Colby Lewis on Friday, Nick Martinez on Saturday, and Yovanni Gallardo on Sunday. The Rangers will have to get hits with runners in scoring position and be able to pitch well if they want to play well in this series.
  • The homestand starts with the Rangers looking for their first winning streak of the season. I know it sounds incredible that in 18 games they have yet to win two in a row, but it is true. They are 0-6 following a win this season. Hopefully that can change tonight with a win against the Angels.
  • The standings in the AL West look like this
  1. Houston 11-7  0 GB
  2. LA Angels 9-10 2.5 GB
  3. Oakland 8-12  4.0 GB
  4. Seattle  7-11 4.0 GB
  5. Texas   7-11  4.0 GB

Finally the GIF Of the week

 

 

 

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!!!!!