Tag Archives: Wandy Rodriguez

Season in Review: July

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Delino returned in July from his hamstring injury.

Delino returned in July from his hamstring injury.

 

The 2015 season unlike many others was a true roller-coaster season. It was the season that saw the Rangers race to last place in the division after one month and then soar to 2nd place in the division after two months. As we pick up our season in review in series in July the Rangers have now settled into the race with the Angels for second place in the division and are in the wild card race as well. The team was able to maintain through June as they dealt with various injuries to Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, and Delino Deshields Jr. By the end of June Beltre and Hamilton had returned but Delino had not yet returned. It was during this point that we really were able to see how important Deshields was to this team. It hurt losing him more than it did Beltre and Hamilton.

Deshields, who was a Rule V pick from the Astros, had never played above Double-A before this season. He had decent minor league numbers in the Astros organization, but Houston did not have any room on their 40 man roster for Deshields. So he was left unprotected and the Rangers chose him in the Rule V draft last winter. They liked his speed and what he could possibly add to this team. He showed enough to make the team out of Spring Training, and the Rangers did not want to send him back to the Astros and so they kept him. At first Bannister did not really know what to do with him, and so he was just a late innings pinch runner. Then later in April he showed he could swing the bat, so he became the 4th outfielder. In May Leonys Martin got hurt and so he played some center field and hit really well. Bannister started hitting him leadoff and that is when the offense took off. Deshields could get on with a bunt, a softly hit ball in the infield, or he could drive it into the gap. Once on base he could make things happen with his legs. He could steal a base, go first to third, or even score from first on a ball in the gap. The offense and the lineup were rolling with him and Choo at the top of the order, but then he strained his hamstring on June 14th. That would keep him out till July 5th.During that span the team averaged just 3.1 runs per game and their record was 8-11. Deshields quietly was the MVP of this team. When he was getting on base at a good clip they would win, when he wouldn’t they would lose. Without him at the top of the order they were really struggling at this point to figure out how to produce runs. Odor, Alberto, and Choo were some of the lead off hitters used. Bannister was trying to find something that would work consistently. He put those at the leadoff and guys like Moreland and Andrus hitting second. It just was a mess. Then on July 5th Deshields came back and was immediately reinserted back into the leadoff spot and Odor was placed in the 2 hole. That seemed to work out big for the team. It did not show up in wins immediately for the team, but there was a different look that had not been there before.

The Rangers even with Deshields back in the lineup ended up getting swept at home by the Angels in a series that was not even close. That was another first half trend was that they struggled in beating teams from the AL West all first half long. They finished the first half 11-23 against the AL West. It is hard to compete for the division with such a poor intra-divsional record. That is something that would have to improve after the break. The Rangers finished up the first half with a couple of series against NL lightweights Arizona and San Diego at home. Unfortunately they lost both games to the Diamondbacks and lost 2 of 3 to the Padres. It was pretty clear at this point that the team was exhausted and running out of steam and it was pretty hard to see if they would be able to compete in the second half. Some shocking changes had also taken place during this stretch. On July 4th the Rangers designated for assignment former closer and Rookie of the year,Neftali Feliz. He was the former electric closer who had helped them reach the World Series in 2010 and 2011 and was converted to a starter in 2012, but blew out his arm and had to have Tommy John surgery. He came back in 2013, but did not have the same velocity. He was in the minors for much of 2014, but was called up after Joakim Soria was traded midseason and became the closer again. In 2015, the velocity still was not there and the consistency was not there either. With Matt Harrison needed to be activated off of the 60-day DL the Rangers decided to DFA Feliz. They ended up releasing him after the 10 days and he signed on with the Detroit Tigers. It was hard to see because it is hard to picture those World Series teams without Feliz and hard to not see him in a Rangers uniform anymore. He was supposed to be our Mariano Rivera. A guy who would close for several years and several potential postseason runs. It was not meant to be though. The team moved forward with Shawn Tolleson and others in the bullpen. Chi Chi Gonzalez was also sent down after struggling for a few starts. He got off to a great start, but hitters adjusted to him and he could no longer miss bats. He was sent down with the command being to work on his swing and miss pitches so that he can put MLB hitters away. Right before the All Star Break Matt Harrison made his triumphant return as well from another back injury. He missed all of 2013 with a back injury, then came back in 2014 and pitched in April and May, but had another episode with his back and missed the rest of 2014. He tried again in 2015 and diligently worked his way back through Spring Training, Extended Spring, and a 30-day rehab assignment in the minors. Finally on Wednesday July 8th he made his return against the Diamonbacks. He replaced Wandy Rodriguez in the rotation. He threw 4 innings, giving up 6 runs, and striking out one. The most important thing was not the result or the runs, but it was that he was back and that he made it through the start without getting hurt again. The team then lost 2 of 3 to the Padres to finish out the first half.

At the break the Rangers were 42-46 and were fortunate to only be 6 games back in the division, but they were also 5.5 games back of the Angels for second and for the wild card as well. It was going to be an uphill battle if the Rangers were going to contend. They needed to play better inside the division, play better at home, get better starting pitching, and find a way to beat lefthanded pitching. Each of those things are what was dragging the team down. It was also at this point that the Mariners were closing in on them for third place. It was a time to relax and recharge the batteries for the stretch run. The race was far from over. The Astros had not been in a true pennant race and so it was anybodies guess on how they would play down the stretch. It was up to the Rangers though to play better themselves and get back into the race. Prince Fielder represented the Rangers in the All Star game in Cincinatti and represented well. He got a 2 run opposite field single and the AL ended up winning 6-3. That closed the book on the first half of the season.

The second half got started with a very important 9 game road trip. The Rangers closed out the first half poorly and would need to really play well in the second half to get back into contention. They started the road trip in Houston for a 3 game series against the division leaders. It did not go as well as you would hope. They lost the first game 3-2, but there was good news in this game. Martin Perez made his long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery in this start. He pitched decently. He made it through 5 innings only giving up 3 runs, struck out 2, and walked two. So all in all not bad for a debut. The offense though could not get a big hit that would have allowed them to win the game. They did bounce back and win the second game behind a huge game from Roughned Odor. He had 3 hits including a triple and a home run. He made the Astros mad with his over the top showmanship and caused a benches clearing argument to occur when Hank Conger tried to say something to Odor. Roughned Odor responded to the benches clearing incident with this.

A bat-flipping triple. This would not be the last time Odor would drive an opponent crazy and it is one of the main reasons why his teammates and fans love him. He plays the game with a swagger that helps him play better and the team as a whole play better. That is the Odor the team was missing in April and May. The Rangers ended up winning this hard fought game that saw both teams and managers get in each others faces. It was a needed win. They could not follow that up with a win in the rubber game of the series as Dallas Keuchel, another lefty, shut them down to help the Astros to a 10-0 win. The Rangers left from there to go to Denver to face the Rockies in a 3 game series. Nick Martinez had a poor start as the Rockies scored 7 runs in the first two innings. He would calm down though and not give up any more runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. The bullpen then went to work shutting down the Rockies from the 5th through the 8th innings. This work by the pitching staff allowed the offense to slowly be able to chip away at that lead. Finally in the 9th, Adrian Beltre did this.

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He tied the game with a double, but unfortunately Tanner Scheppers could not hold the Rockies down in the 9th. He gave up 3 hits and a walk-off win in the 9th to lose it. Not the start the Rangers wanted. They lost 3 out of 4 to start the second half and were now 9 games back in the division and were 6 games under .500. Then the team started to turn it around. They won the next two nights in Colorado and went to Los Angeles to face the Angels and won the first two games there including a come back 7-6 win against the Angels to win the series. They lost the final game of the road tri 13-7 but finished a respectable 5-4 on the road trip to momentarily get the boat back floating instead of sinking.

Then they went home on a trip to finish the month. It was at this point that the Trade Deadline rumors were starting. Were the Rangers in on Cole Hamels, were they trying to compete or sell this season, and would the Rangers trade Gallardo to a true contender? All of these questions were out there as the Rangers started a homestand by facing the New York Yankees in a 4 game series. Jon Daniels had to be pondering all of these as he looked at what was out there. At this point in the season the Rangers were still 4 games under .500, 8 games back in the division, and 5 games back of the second wild card behind 5 other teams. It would have been natural for him to really consider selling and saying that they will be ready with Yu Darvish to go all in next season and try to acquire minor pieces here and there to help fill out the roster and get ready for next season. Then the team lost back-to-back games against the Yankees to start out the 4 game series. They lost 6-2 behind another lackluster start from Matt Harrison,in what would be his last start for the organization. Then the next night they scored 5 runs in the first inning against Chris Capuano and could have scored more. Joe Girardi took Capuano out and put Diego Moreno in the game and he was able to end the first inning. Martin Perez was on the mound for the Rangers in his 3rd start after coming back from Tommy  John surgery and followed that up with not being able to get out of the second inning. The Rangers allowed 11 runs to all of a sudden go from up 5-0 to down 11-5. It was an embarrasing night and probably rock bottom for team. They lost the game 21-5. Wandy Rodriguez came in after Perez and gave up 7 more runs in what was the last appearance he made in a Rangers uniform. Adam Rosales even came in to pitch in the 9th. It looked like that was maybe it. It was hard to convince myself the team could compete after a night like that. At this point the Rangers were 8 games back in the division still and were just not playing well at home. Then the tide started to turn as we neared the end of the month. It was July 29th and the Rangers had two games left against the Yankees and after getting beat down 21-5 they could go one of two directions. They could either pack it in or respond the only way they knew how and that is by winning. Jeff Bannister and the team adopted the phrase Never Ever Quit for this season. This team was not about to lay down after that 21-5. That was the line in the sand moment. The players rebounded by winning 5-2 the next night behind a great outing from Colby Lewis. Then looking for a split in the series beat the Yankees with a walkoff from Josh Hamilton off feared left handed closer Andrew Miller on a hit the looked and sounded like this.

It was also during these last two days that word got out that the Rangers had acquired Cole Hamels. It would not be announced till July 31st, but it was agreed upon on July 29th. The deal was Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman from the Phillies for Alec Asher, Jered Eickhoff, Jake Thompson, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Williams, and Matt Harrison. It took a lot of players to get him here, but the Rangers got it done and had their ace in hand for the home stretch. The question would be could he have the same impact that Cliff Lee had on the team back in 2010. We shall see and it was a trade that showed the depth that Jon Daniels had spent years developing for a moment like this. The trade nationally looked like a trade that was made in order to compete in 2016, but Jon Daniels was giving this year’s team a chance to compete. Jake Diekman was also included in the trade to help improve the bullpen. Jon Daniels also went and got Sam Dyson right before the deadline for catcher Tomas Telis to help fortify the bullpen even more. All of these were players the Rangers would have under control for at least the next 3 seasons. It was a trade that worked in the present and in the future.

With this news and excitement the Rangers finished off the month by beating the Giants and Madison Bumgarner 6-3. It was a mismatch except for Nick Martinez actually outpitching Bumgarner and the Rangers winning. Their ace was in hand and their bullpen was made stronger and the team was suddenly on a 3 game winning streak that brought their record to 50-52 on July 31st. They were seven games back in the division and still in 3rd place. The team liked their position more than they did just a few days prior. Having Cole Hamels gave this team confidence every 5 days that they would have a shot at winning. Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman being brought in also helped a bullpen that had already been pitching pretty well and helped them become great.

As we close the book on July, the month was mainly about surviving. The team had stretches where they played well and not so well. For the month the overall record was 11-14. They struggled pitching, struggled holding leads, struggled hitting the ball consistenly, and just could not win games. The credit goes to Jon Daniels though for continuing to believe in this team and bringing in the resources for them to be able to play better down the stretch and better they did.

Tomorrow we will take a look at August when the Rangers surged from 3rd place to into the Wild Card lead by the end of the month and were making an assault on the lead the Astros held in the division.

Season in Review: June

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Joey Gallo makes his Texas Rangers Debut on June 2nd.

Joey Gallo makes his Texas Rangers Debut on June 2nd.

May was a great month for the Rangers, but at the very end the team suffered losses off the field in losing Adrian Beltre to a thumb injury and Josh Hamilton to a hamstring injury. They were in good position in the standings, but could they remain there while these players recovered? The other question became who would replace Beltre at 3rd? Would it be Ed Lucas or Thomas Fields? Would they bring up Odor from AAA and shift Alberto to 3rd? The completely out of the box idea was to bring Joey Gallo up from AA and have him play 3rd, but the though with that was that he was not ready for MLB pitching. The Rangers started the month with an off day before continuing their homestand against the Chicago White Sox. Word started leaking out the Rangers were considering bringing up Joey Gallo. Then late Monday afternoon it became official that Rangers prospect Joey Gallo would make his long anticipated MLB debut on Tuesday night. We would be able to see if he could contribute and fill that hole left in the lineup by Beltre. Lot of debate on both sides of this, is this harming his long term development, is he ready, and the other side saying why not, it gives the lineup another power threat. Up to this point in the season that Tuesday night game was the most excited I have been about watching a Rangers game in 2015. No one knew what to expect. None of the experts, coaches, or anyone knew how he would perform. I was expecting maybe a hit and 3 strikeouts going up against Jeff Szmardija. That is not even close to what we got. I will just let the video do the talking.

He hit a home run, a double, and a single. He was magnificent and helped lead the Rangers to a 15-2 win. It was eye opening really and showed the potential that he has. As a fan I knew that he wouldn’t do that every night, but it was great to see in his debut. That went to show that the Rangers might be able to survive this stretch. It was not going to be easy and the schedule was filled with lose able games, but if the Rangers could play close to or at .500 ball for the month I thought they would be okay for the long run.

The first half of the month they played a lot better than that though. They ended up winning 2 of 3 against the White Sox, 2 of 3 against the Royals and that gave them a 7-3 homestand and I believe their first winning homestand of the season. The offense was clicking during this stretch, Prince Fielder cooled down from his red hot May, and the team as a whole was playing well. What also changed was that at the end of May Jeff Bannister instituted a no-roles bullpen meaning that he could bring in whoever he thought was best for the situation. That ended up turning back into a roles bullpen midway through June, but the new role that was most important was Shawn Tolleson had become the new closer. He took over for an ineffective Neftali Feliz, who became a setup pitcher. Feliz, the once dominant closer, still had not regained his form from 2010-2011. The velocity was not there which made the secondary pitches less effective. After a month and a half of rough outings Bannister made Tolleson the closer and never looked back. Tolleson captured that role and helped to solidify the back end of the bullpen. It allowed the Rangers to hold on to those close games that they were losing in April and May.

The team just kept rolling though despite the injuries, they did lose a series on the road to the A’s. The won the first game, but lost the next two. The bullpen blew one game and Scott Kazmir dominated them in the other. The good thing through this point was that Chi Chi Gonzalez was still pitching well. He had taken over Ross Detwiler’s spot in the rotation in late May and was living up to the hype. He had nearly made the team out of Spring Training. He was one of the last cuts, but he went down to AAA and still pitched well and so when the Rangers decided they had given Detwiler enough opportunities they decided to bring Gonzalez up and see what he could do. At this point the team was just trying to make it till guys like Martin Perez, Matt Harrison, and Derek Holland could come back. Wandy was starting to cool down by this point in this season and looked to be on his last legs, but they did not really have a great alternative. The pitcher who was throwing well was Yovanni Gallardo. This was his best month of the season and he helped to carry the Rangers through this difficult stretch. He gave up 2 earned runs the entire month of June, pitched at least 7 innings in 3 of the starts, and helped the team win 3 of his 5 starts. He was great.

The turning point of the month though was when Delino Deshields pulled up lame with a hamstring injury on June 14th. The Rangers had won the first two games against the Twins, but lost on this Sunday and lost Deshields to the DL after this injury. The Rangers at this point called Odor back up to majors. While in AAA he had hit for a .352 BA, 5 home runs, and slugged .639. He really played well and the Rangers thought he was ready. So they threw him out there and he was ready and looked like the old Roughned Odor. This Odor would help the Rangers win the next three games against the Dodgers. They won the first two at home and including a walk off win off the bat of Robinson Chirinos in the second game. Then the series shifted to Los Angeles for the next two games. They would face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Joey Gallo had another one of those moments in LA against Kershaw.

He hit a monster shot off of Kershaw. Left-handers don’t normally do that against him, and left handed rookies definitely don’t do that. It was like Vin Scully said “a marble”. Just unreal and helped this team who had struggled against left-handers all season long beat perhaps the best left handed pitcher in all of baseball and win this 4 game series against the Dodgers. They did lose against Zack Greinke in the finale of the series, but even then it was only a 1-0 loss and it ended with a walk-off balk by Keone Kela. Anthony Ranaudo had started the game and pitched very well. The Rangers would then go to Chicago to face another tough lefty in Chris Sale, and while they did not do anything against Sale except for strike out 12 times, Colby Lewis kept them in the game by holding the White Sox to just one run. Then in the 9th, Mitch Moreland was brought on as a pinch hitter to face David Robertson with two runners on base and he did this.

He gave the Rangers the lead and the win. Remarkably enough the Rangers had not only survived this stretch without Beltre, Hamilton, and Deshields now, but they were winning a lot of games. They were at their high point of 6 games over .500 at 37-31, in second place in the West, and only 2.5 games behind the Astros. Things were looking really good. At this point only a matter of a week or so till Beltre and Hamilton both came back. Ryan Rua had just come back from the heel injury, and so things were looking like they might be able to catch the Astros before the All Star Break. That is normally the time when things start to take a turn south and boy did they ever for the Rangers. The injuries and all the tough pitchers that they faced took a toll on the whole team. They had been winning games for about a week or so at this point with smoke and mirrors. They were not scoring a high amount of runs, but were pitching just well enough to win games. After beating Chris Sale and the White Sox that changed. The pitching was still good, but the offense kept just scoring 2 runs, while the pitching was allowing 3. That caused them to lose the next two games in Chicago. Then the team went back home to face the A’s in a 3 game series and lost all 3 games as the pitching got a lot worse. Adrian Beltre did come back during this homestand, but it would take him while to get his timing back as he was learning to play with his injured thumb. Beltre coming back though did not help the pitching. Wandy Rodriguez started to only throw well on the road and throw up clunkers at home. The league caught up to Chi Chi and he started to not be as effective and Joey Gallo started striking out a lot more and being less effective. Hanser Alberto who had filled in a 2nd and 3rd was also not hitting and Prince Fielder had massively cooled down without Beltre in the lineup. Roughned Odor had come back and was playing great, but unfortunately no one else was. It was hard to win games. All of this would lead to the A’s sweeping them at home and then the Blue Jays took the first game of the series to end what had become a 6 game losing streak and just like that they were back at .500 and 5.0 games back in the division. Thankfully it was Yovanni Gallardo’s turn in the rotation. He would go up against the Blue Jays on that Saturday and would shut them out and help the team end that long losing streak. That was a trend this season was Gallardo pitching well against the Blue Jays. His being right handed and being able to pitch on the corners allowed him to be able to stay away from the power zones of the Blue Jays hitters. They would go on to lose the next day, but Chi Chi pitched well other than just one inning, but the offense couldn’t get enough runs to win the game. Then to end the month the Rangers went to a Baltimore and since it was on the road Wandy pitched well. He was great in this start as he pitched 5 innings, giving up 1 run, and striking out 7 and the Rangers won 8-1. Then on the final day of the month the Rangers won again 8-6 this time behind a good start from Colby Lewis and great offensive production.

The Rangers had some great highs in this month with the debut of Joey Gallo, winning 3 games against the Dodgers, and getting up as high as 2nd place in the division. They also had some lows and that was losing Deshields and then losing 6 straight and 7 of 8 at the end of the month. It was clear by the mid of June the team was running out of steam. They did get Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton back by the end of the month and had survived June. They finished the month with an overall record of 40-38, 5 games back in the division, and 1 game behind the Angels for second place. Overall they went 14-13 for the month, which allowed them to stay in the race through what was a difficult month of June. It was also great to see Joey Gallo finally in a Rangers uniform and he had some great and some not so great moments. Hanser Alberto proved that he could hit on this level and Roughned Odor showed that he was not a flash in the pan either. Odor would be perhaps the Rangers best player from the time he came back up through the month of July. We will continue detailing his remarkable return next week. Chi Chi Gonzalez was great in the rotation as well, but did show some holes. He had issues putting hitters away as he was not able to get swings and misses as often as he needed to.  The most important thing was that the Rangers were still in the race after this month. It could have very easily went very south with all the injuries, but Jeff Bannister and the team kept that from happening.

Next week I will come back and detail the month of July and the entire second half. July features the return of Delino Deshields, the return of Martin Perez and Matt Harrison, a 21-5 beatdown, and surprising trades that would completely turn around the fortunes of this team. May was the month that set them on the path to contending, June was about surviving, and July will be about becoming a true contender. That will be next Monday that I will write and continue with part 4 of the 2015 Season in Review.

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.

7 is the Lucky Number for the Rangers

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

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

Other Game Notes

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

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

 

 

 

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.