Tag Archives: Texas Rangers

Freese beats Rangers Again

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I really hate David Freese. It seems he exists on this earth to not just be a baseball player, but to also beat the Texas Rangers on a consistent basis. It started with Game 6 of the 2011 World Series and continues to this day as he now plays third base for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Last night it was him hitting a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 7th to put the Angels on top 3-2, which is where they would stay.  On a day that the news broke that the Rangers were going to acquire Josh Hamilton,the offense clearly showed that they needed him as they only scored two runs and could only muster 3 hits. The pitching was good enough as Wandy Rodriguez went 5 innings in his first MLB start since last May. The bullpen made one bad pitch, that cost the game, but other than that was pretty solid. It was the offense that really struggled once again as they were only able to score two runs. It is going to have to be better than this. They have got some tough games coming up and they will need to score runs to survive this 9 game stretch.

Wandy Rodriguez started this game for the Rangers and was good. He got better as he got deeper into the game. He was in bend don’t break mode as he was in jams in 4 of the 5 innings he pitched, yet he didn’t break and ended up only giving up 1 run. It could have been much worse. I even was thinking it is a miracle he has not allowed more runs. He kept pitching and kept getting guys out at opportune times. I believe he has earned himself another start. If he can do this then the Rangers might have found a decent pitcher off the scrap pile. His overall numbers in his first start since last May were decent: 5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 3 BB, and 5 K’s. He got deep enough in the game that Banister could line up his bullpen to finish the game out. Banister was going to go Scheppers, Kela, Tolleson, and Feliz to end it. Scheppers got through the 6th with no runs allowed. Then it was Keone Kela’s turn. He very nearly got out of it with no runs allowed either. He took a sharp line drive back at his head, but was able to avoid the ball and catch it was his glove. He then turned around and had Mike Trout doubled off 2nd, but he didn’t throw it as hard, he kinda looped it to 2nd and Trout was able to beat the throw there.That continued the inning and allowed David Freese to then hit a two run home run to left center to put the Angels on top 3-2. The Rangers did make a late rally in the 9th trying to tie the game. They put runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs and Elvis Andrus at the plate. Andrus had a great at-bat, constantly fouling off several pitches, and on the 8th pitch he grounded out to of course David Freese to end the game. That dropped the Rangers record to 6-10 and started another two game losing streak. They have not lost more than two in a row, but cannot win more than 1 in a row. Hopefully this means that they will win today.

Other Game Notes

  • Prince Fielder had another multiple hit game as he went 2-4. One of those hits was an infield single that helped them score their second run of the game. He ran as hard as I have seen him to run to barely beat out the throw allowing Carlos Corporan to score. The other was a line drive to left center that was nearly a double but Mike Trout cut it off before he could reach second.
  • Choo’s slide continues. He is now 2-30 on only has 1 hit on this entire road trip. There was talk about national sports writers when news started to come out about the Josh Hamilton that Choo would have been involved in a bad contract swap. Unfortunately for the Rangers he was not. I am afraid this contract as well as Elvis’ are going to hang around the Rangers neck like an anchor, weighing this entire team down. Hopefully Choo can get it figured out and get back to being the on-base machine he was prior to coming to Texas.
  • Today’s game matches up the top two pitchers on the staff from that 2011 World Series team, Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson. Lewis struggled in his last start against the Mariners. He was constantly up in the zone and was lucky to have only given up 3 runs as he gave up 10 hits and had two walks. It could have been much worse. Hopefully he can pitch much better than that. Wilson was able to fan 8 Astros over 6.2 innings in his last start. Neither pitcher has pitched well against the opposition. Wilson is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA against the Rangers in 8 starts. Colby Lewis is 2-7 with 5.77 ERA against the Angels since 2010. It should be interesting to see either one of these pitchers can have success tonight. Game time will be late again 8:05 CT tonight. GO Rangers!!!!!

The Texas Rangers Fail to Go Streaking Once Again

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

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

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

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

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

Other Game Notes

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

 

 

 

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

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

Rangers win behind the Prince and the Young Gun

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

Other Game Notes

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

Texas Rangers Week 2 Roundup

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Time once again for the Texas Rangers Weekly Roundup. It was a disappointing week for the team. The week saw them lose 2 of 3 at home to the Angels and 2 of 3 on the road to the Mariners. The week also ended poorly as the Rangers blew a 5 run lead to the Mariners on Sunday to lose the series. Their record stands at 5-8 overall and they are 2 games behind the Astros for first place in the AL West. Thankfully for them and everyone else in the division no one has gotten off to a hot start like the Tigers have. If the Rangers can just survive this tough stretch and keep picking up games they should be able to stay in the race.

Top 5 Most Valuable Players of the Week

  1.  Prince Fielder. He still lacks power, but one has to think that it will come eventually. The one thing he is doing is racking up hits. He is doing it with men on base and without men on base. This last week saw him hit for a .368 BA, .850 OPS, and 2 RBI’s. The Rangers after Saturday night’s game against King Felix the team was hitting a league low .201. The only thing keeping them above the mendoza line is Prince Fielder and his .368 BA. One of things I did notice as well in both series was that neither team employed much of a shift on Fielder. That allowed him to be able to get some hits where normally a second baseman or shortstop would be. He has gotten rid of that shift by showing a willingness to hit it to all fields. If he can supply power with this average then he might be able to have a really great season.
  2.  Robinson Chirinos. This may come just on the basis of one game, but that one game was really good. On Tuesday night against the Angels his bat finally came alive. He came into the game 1-13. He left the game with 5 rbi’s, courtesy of a two run double and a 3 run home run. He followed that up on Friday with a solo home run that got the Rangers on the board and helped them to a 3-1 win. He played a big part in helping the Rangers get both wins on the week. Overall for the week he hit .364, wtih 6 rbi’s, and slugged 1.091. That will help solidify his role as starting catcher for this team.
  3. Nick Martinez. He may have only made one start but he was very good in that one start. He pitched another 7 innings against the Angels and allowed only 1 run, but 0 earned runs. That ups his streak to 14 innings without an earned run.  He showed veteran poise in those first two innings as the Angels threatened to blow it open early, but he maintained control and was able to get out of two difficult jams in the first two innings. After that he was able to coast through his last 5 innings. He has been a revelation so far this season and is helping to stabilize the rotation. His next start comes tonight against the Diamondbacks.
  4. Yovanni Gallardo. Each start he is throwing better. He struggled on opening night against the A’s and lost. He got better and picked up a win against Astros at home. Last week he pitched 6 scoreless innings on the road in Seattle and helped the Rangers to a hard fought 3-1 win. He was the pitcher the Rangers thought they were getting when they traded for him. A guy who is not overpowering, but pitches down in the zone and induces a lot of groundballs. In that start he got 14 groundball outs to be exact and 3 double play grounders. He also showed better control and never allowed the game to get out of control. Pitching like that he will win a good number of starts for the Rangers.
  5. Jeff Banister. I know he is not a player, he is the manager. I have to say I like that he is willing to try different lineups and not just stick with the same one over and over again. The Rangers have played 13 games and used 13 different lineups. He is using April to find out what works best. He has remained positive and is communicating with the players about what he expects. Finally, I liked that on Sunday he went for the win in bringing in Feliz in the 8th. Some managers will not be flexible and bring in their closer earlier than the 9th, but Banister wanted the win. It didn’t work out unfortunately, but he went for it and I like that in him. I think as long as he continues with that attitude he will be very successful.

Look Ahead to the Coming Week

The Rangers will finish up their 3 city, 8 game road-trip this Sunday. They will start the week tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks for a quick two game series. It will be Nick Martinez going up against former OU Sooner righty Chase Anderson. Anderson has no decisions so far this season with a 4.09 ERA in his 11 innings pitched so far this season. The Diamondbacks have won his last 3 starts at Chase Field and are 6-2 in his last 8 starts there. The series will conclude with a game tomorrow night. It will be Yovanni Gallardo going for win number 3 going up against Oklahoma native Archie Bradley. Bradley will be facing his 3rd opening day starter. He already has beat Clayton Kershaw on Opening Day, was in line for the win against World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner, but the bullpen faltered late. He has been pitching very well so far this season. He has a 1-0 record with a 1.42 ERA. The Rangers will have their hands full with both of these starters. The start time for both of these games will be at 8:40.

They will then be off on Thursday before resuming play with a 3 game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The starters for the Angels have not been announced. It looks like it will be Colby Lewis on Friday, Ross Detweiler on Saturday, and then likely Nick Martinez on Sunday. The Rangers will be looking to try to steal 2 out of 3 in this series and even up the season series with the Angels in their 3 game set.

Not a lot of games this week, but an opportunity to rebound and try to get back to winning baseball games. That will be the team’s mission going forward to Arizona and Los Angeles.

Top GIF’s 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!!!!!

 

Ranaudo doesn’t impress and the Rangers Lose to the Angels

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Yesterday afternoon was Anthony Ranaudo’s first start with the Rangers and lets just say it did not go well at all. He last 1.2 innings, giving up 6 runs, and picking up the loss in what turned into a 10-2 shellacking by the Angels. He threw 62 pitches to get 5 outs. His problem was that he would get ahead of the hitters, but could not put them away. He has good stuff, but not great execution. As the pitcher he has to have an idea of how to get a guy out. Lets take the Erick Aybar at-bat that led off the game. He quickly got ahead of Aybar 1-2 just throwing fastballs, but it took him another 5 pitches to record the out. He tried to just get him out with his fastball, but Aybar kept fouling it off. In the at-bat he threw 6 fastballs, 1 curveball, and 1 slider. He did record the out on a flyball to center field. It was like that in the two innings he pitched. It is something that he is definitely going to need to work on. I doubt he will be back next week when the spot in the rotation comes up. He definitely put the Rangers behind the 8 ball and it led to the Rangers losing the game and dropping their record to 4-6.

Not a lot else happened in this game. The lineup that Banister likes to use against left-handers predictably stunk as did the team against Hector Santiago. Santiago gave up 1 run in his 7 innings of work to improve his record the last two seasons in Arlington to 4-0. The problem the Rangers have when they try to trout out the lineup with a lot of right-handers is that Deshields is not a major league hitter, Smolinksi is not hitting well enough this early in the season, and the lineup functions better with Choo and Moreland in it than not in it. At least that is what my eyes tell me watching the game.

I am sure the team is thankful that now they get a full day off for the first time this season. 4-6 is not too bad considering they had to go on the road for a 4 game series in Oakland and then come home and lose their staff ace after one inning. I would have liked to have seen them do better than 2-4 on the homestand. The game that they should have won was the extra inning affair against the Astros on Sunday. They had numerous opportunities and just could not bring it home. Now they go out on the road for an 8 game roadie against the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Angels. Now game today and they will be back on Friday night at 9:05.

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!!!!!!!!

 

Offense continues to be a lightweight in Loss to Angels

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The Texas Rangers got off to a good start last night leading 3-0 after the first inning, but couldn’t build on it and the Angels came back to take the first game of this series 6-4. Ross Detweiler picked up his second loss of the season and the Rangers fell to 3-5.  He was good the first time through the order in limiting the Angels to just no runs. After that though the Angels went 7-17, 2 home runs, and 2 BB’s to go from 3-0 to 5-3. He showed the same tendencies he showed last week against Oakland. He is going to have to pitch much better or they will banish him to middle relief. He has to show that he can control his fastball and throw it in the lower portion of the strike zone and be able to mix up his pitch selection in order to make it through a lineup 2 or 3 times without the hitters picking up on what he is doing. Right now, he is leaving his fastballs up and over the plate and American League hitters will make you pay for that. The Rangers want him to succeed and will give him every opportunity to succeed, because they don’t want to have to go to Anthony Ranaudo and Chi Chi Gonzalez this early in the season. If come Mid May or early June and he is still struggling they will certainly pull the trigger on a switch. Sometimes the team finds out that a player is just not meant to be a starter. Detweiler could be that type of pitcher, tantalizing stuff but just can’t control it enough to be a quality starting pitcher. The Nationals seemed to think the same thing as they went back and forth with him between the bullpen and the rotation. It will be up to Jeff Banister and management to make a determination down the line on Detweiler on if he can be a starting pitcher for this team.

He was not the only reason they lost though. The offense continues to struggle. They did score 3 runs in the first, but after that could not get any other rallies going. Right now they are a soft hitting singles team. They have hit 4 home runs on the season and they all came last Thursday against the A’s. No home runs in the other 7 games. They don’t have a lot of power, but you would figure a lineup with Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre, and Mitch Moreland would be able to generate more than 4 home runs. Right now, Prince Fielder has become the $24 million dollar singles hitter. He is hitting for a high average at .394, and getting on base at a .444 clip, but he only has two extra base hits and is not even getting close to hitting home runs. The Rangers need some boom to their lineup and Fielder isn’t really providing it. He only hit 1 home run in Spring Training too and so it could just be a matter of him trying to regain his timing coming back from neck surgery and as he gets more comfortable the power swing will return. If not this offense will be in trouble because they are expecting I would figure at least 30 home runs from this guy. That is where the problems lie is that they have to work so hard to get any runs. It is not a bloop and a blast. It is a hit, followed, by another hit, and followed by another hit to get a run in. Right now they don’t have 3 guys in a row who are hitting well enough to consistently produce runs. 6 of the 9 starters in the lineup are hitting below .200 and Mitch Moreland is trending that way hitting .217 right now. The offense will continue to struggle every night until they either start producing home runs or players like Martin, Choo, Andrus, Moreland, and Odor can get hits at a more consistent rate than they are right now. Hopefully that will start tonight, if not the Rangers could be in for a 3rd straight loss.

Other Game Notes

  • Man do I hate David Freese. It seems like everytime we face the Angels now he does something to the Rangers. Last night it was hitting a solo home run. Its just like Game 6 wasn’t enough for him, he just has to continue to torture Ranger fans and remind them of Game 6 everytime he steps to the plate. Why couldn’t the Cardinals have traded him to somebody in the National League. I would have much preferred that.
  • Something else to watch, Chirinos has gotten off to a very slow start offensively this season and was even pinch hit for in the 9th inning. He is another one who could be in danger of losing his starting spot. Carlos Corporan has been hitting very well in his starts behind the plate and if he keeps it up they might make him the starter. Chirinos is 1-13 on the season with 4 strikeouts. I am sure with the way the offense is struggling 1-9 that Banister might want to put the more offensively gifted catcher Corporan behind the plate. Jorge Alfaro does wait in the wings for probably next season to get his shot at starting.
  • Stolmy Pimentel made his first appearance for the Rangers last night as well. The bullpen really needed a guy to come in and take innings and he certainly did last night. He pitched from the end of the 6th inning into the 9th inning before he tired out and had to be relieved by Roman Mendez. That allowed Feliz, Tolleson, and Kela to all get a day off. Now there is two games left in this series then the whole team gets a day off. Tanner Scheppers should also be returning either tonight or tomorrow. That will give the bullpen more depth and allow guys to get more rest.
  • Tonight it will be Nick Martinez going for his second win of the season against the Angels starter Drew Rucinski. Martinez is trying to build on his strong start against the A’s last Thursday and help to end the first losing streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!

Rangers 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!!!!!