Where Have I Been

Posted on November 7, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Greatness of Yu

Posted on June 12, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

Darvish throws first CG Shutout

There is a lot that can be said of Yu Darvish, but until last night you couldn’t say complete game shutout for Darvish. He has gotten close to perfect games, no hitters, and shutouts, but had never completed one till last night against the Miami Marlins. The contributing factor always being pitch count. In those games when he would have a chance his pitch count would be above 120 and so to give him a chance would be to risk injury. This season he has found that balance between striking people out and going deeper into games. His first two seasons he averaged 6.2 innings pitched per start, now he averages 7.1 innings pitched per start and 5 times has pitched 8 innings or longer. That is mainly due to adding a more consistent sinking fastball to his arsenal of pitches. Last night he used it to induce 8 groundballs, and 3 double plays. One of those double plays came in the 9th inning after a leadoff single by Giancarlo Stanton. Afer the single there was some movement by Washington like he was considering removing Darvish for Soria, but he allowed Darvish to stay in. Washington said about that, “I put my card down and told [bench coach Tim Bogar], ‘I’m just going to sit here and watch him get a ground ball.’”He did and was able to strike out Garrett Jones to finish it off.

He is truly becoming the Ace the Texas Rangers have been searching for all these years. Those supposed aces included such pitchers as Rick Helling, Ken Park, Aaron Sele, Chan Ho Park, Kenny Rogers, Kevin Millwood, Cliff Lee, C.J. Wilson, but none of them match what Darvish has been able to provide this team. He has provided stability and stellar performance in his time here. His overall numbers this season are spectacular. He ranks 5th in all of baseball in ERA (2.11), 9th in opponents batting average (.218), and 7th in strikeouts (101). This has been such a tumultuous season for the team with all the injuries and DL moves and players being thrust in the spotlight who may not be ready. The one consistent though has been Yu Darvish. Every 5 days Darvish gives the Rangers a chance at winning. This team may not win anything, in fact I think they have a better chance of finishing last in the division than making the playoffs, but every 5 days Darvish makes it worth it to watch this team. He is a great pitcher on a flawed team and hopefully one day he might be able to add Cy Young winner next to his name.

The Cost of Competing

Posted on May 23, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

In professional sports every team is seeking a window. A window that while open gives them a chance at winning their sports ultimate prize. It could be the Lombardi Trophy, Stanley Cup, World Series, or NBA Finals. General Managers spend their lifetimes trying to acquire enough talent to be able to open that window. Windows normally only stay open for a very short time. Very few GM’s actually get to open that window. That is why when teams get there they normally overspend in order to maximize that window. They never want to admit that the window is closed or is closing. This takes me to the Rangers and the decisions the front office has made to try to keep the Rangers window open.

Jon Daniels has been the Rangers GM since October of 2005. He spent the first 5 years of his tenure rebuilding the Rangers from the ground up. He rebuilt through shrewd trades, under the radar signings, and through the draft. Instead of moves made to compete immediately he slowly started to acquire more and more talent. He brought in players like Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, and Yu Darvish. All along he said that he wanted to get the Rangers to a point where they could compete every season. He didn’t believe in a window of opportunity. The Rangers made it to back-to-back World Series in 2010-2011 and came within an out of winning the 2011 World Series. Since then the Rangers have gotten farther and farther away from making it back to the World Series. They lost a 5 game lead with 7 games remaining in 2012 and then lost the Wild Card playoff game to the Orioles. Then in 2013 in a season full of injuries they lost a one game playoff to the Tampa Bay Rays. This season just shy of Memorial Day they sit 7 games back of division leaders Oakland.

This takes me to the point of the article. In order to stay in contention teams have to make trades that normally they wouldn’t make. Jon Daniels has made several in-season trades and now this season they are seeing that once full minor league system drained by all that talent that was traded away. It started in 2011 with the Koji Uehara trade that sent Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter to the Orioles. It was a sound trade at the time because the Rangers needed bullpen help, but Uehara did not provide anything and was left off of the World Series roster in favor of Mark Lowe. In 2012 there was the trade for Ryan Dempster that sent Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva to the Chicago Cubs. The team needed a starter after Colby Lewis went down with an injury, Neftali Feliz had Tommy John, Roy Oswalt and Yu Darvish were not pitching well, and so they traded for Dempster. One thing we saw with Dempster is what we see with most NL pitchers who make the transition to the AL. They do not pitch as well. Dempster in his time here did go 7-3, but with a 5.09 ERA, and in September that ballooned to 5.68 ERA in the month. The big problem now is that Kyle Hendricks has blossomed in the Cubs organization and is on the verge of being called up. Ryan Dempster is no longer in MLB and was not resigned after the season.

In 2013 they made another trade with the Cubs this time for Matt Garza. They gave up Neil Ramirez, C.J. Edwards, Justin Grimm and Mike Olt to complete the trade. That made sure they got him, but while here Garza continued to be the head case he has been throughout his career. He called people out on Twitter, his behavior was unpredictable on the mound, and his performance just wasn’t what the team thought they would get. He ended up 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA, and allowed 5.02 Runs per 9 innings. The Rangers needed to make this trade because Colby Lewis had not come back, Matt Harrison was out for the season, Nick Tepesch and Justin Grimm were not able to pick up the slack, and they needed a veteran to help them get back to the playoffs. It just did not work either as the Rangers season ended in game 163 to the Tampa Bay Rays. Then this past offseason Daniels really wanted to shake things up. He traded longtime Ranger Ian Kinsler to the Tigers for Prince Fielder, let Nelson Cruz go without a multi-year contract offer, traded fan favorite Craig Gentry to the A’s for Michael Choice, and signed Shin Shoo Choo. Only one of those has really worked out.

Having to trade prospects is the cost of competing. It is what general managers will call a necessary evil, because the here and now is more important than the future. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out for the team acquiring the veteran. That is what the Rangers have found out as they have had to trade numerous prospects in order to stay in contention. That is what makes a GM’s job very difficult, weighing the question of whether or not to make a trade, and the future consequences of making that trade. Every GM battles with that decision in the offseason and especially during the month of July. Jon Daniels I am sure did not make any of these trades lightly. He knew what could happen, but he wanted to give his team a chance at getting back to the playoffs. The problem has come this year as the team has faced numerous injuries and no longer has the depth to cover up those injuries. Here is a sobering thought, if none of those trades had been made, here is what the Rangers lineup would look like.

LF Shin Shoo Choo

2b Ian Kinsler

1b Chris Davis

3b Adrian Beltre/ Mike Olt

RF Alex Rios

DH Mitch Moreland/ Mike Olt

CF Leonys Martin

C Robinson Chirinos

SS Elvis Andrus

This is the downside of trying to keep the window open. Does it produce exciting pennant race baseball? Yes it does. Does it bring regret later? It does that as well. Every team that competes for a period of time goes through that and now is the Rangers time to go through it. It may lead to a couple of down seasons, but players like Joey Gallo, Luke Jackson, and Jorge Alfaro are just a year or two away from being ready to contribute. That will give the team the shot in the arm that it needs and the ability to compete for the World Series again.

The Major Issues affecting the Rangers

Posted on May 7, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

The team celebrates Choo’s walk to end the game.

The Rangers lost again last night 12-1 to the Colorado Rockies to fall to 17-16 and 2 games back in the division. They have now lost 8 of their last 11 games and are clearly going in the wrong direction. This all comes after the run they went on in the middle of April till late April when they won 4 straight series to surge into first place in the division after sweeping the Oakland A’s. The question becomes what has changed from then to now? Why are they struggling so much? Finally, how do they get it turned around?

Lets start with what has changed from then to now. During that stretch of winning 4 straight series they were mainly relying on getting solid starting pitching, decent bullpen work, and timely hitting. They were not scoring a ton of runs, but they were scoring them at the right time. It was during that stretch also that the starting staff was pitching its best. Martin Perez had thrown those back-to-back shutouts, Robbie Ross was pitching well, Colby had just come back, and Yu was pitching deep into games and being very efficient. Since then though, the league has made adjustments to Perez and he has followed the shutout streak with 2 very underwhelming starts. He has given up 13 runs in his last 9.2 innings pitched. He hasn’t been able to pitch into the sixth in either start. He seems to be pitching the same, but not getting the same results. That is another thing, the starters as a whole are not lasting as deep into games as the teams needs them to. For example, in the A’s series last week in Texas neither Darvish or Perez were able to get through the 5th inning. It also doesn’t help that Colby and Matt seem to have pitch counts put on them. The two of them are both coming back from injuries that kept them out all of 2013, and so it makes sense that the team would be overly cautious in their first few starts. If they are going to do that, then guys like Darvish, Perez, and Ross have to pitch deeper into games. If they don’t it will put a lot more stress on an already thin bullpen. Alexi Ogando has already pitched in 18 of the Rangers 33 games. That is just asking for trouble. He is an arm injury waiting to happen if they keep using him at this rate. The starters just have to pitch into the 6th and preferably the 7th inning.

Offensively, the lineup is just out of balance. Elvis has been in a slump that has lasted for the last couple of weeks and it has seen him drop in the order to number 9. That happening though has caused Ron Washington to have to experiment with who to hit in the number 2 spot. He has went with Josh Wilson, Dan Robertson, and Leonys Martin. None of them has seemed to work, but even if it did, the middle of the order has been struggling. Alex Rios is still putting up solid numbers, but Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre are hitting with little to no power. Beltre just got his first home run of the season last night and Fielder is still just hitting .233 with just 11 RBI’s. The bottom of the order is really not doing much especially with guys like Donnie Murphy, Josh Wilson, and JP Arencibia hitting down there. They also just are not getting the timely hits that they need. Last night there were several instances of getting runners on base and they couldn’t drive them in. To me it is inexplicable to play two games in Colorado and score only 3 runs. That is a place that with as big of an outfield as they have that they should have been able to score a few runs. Really the only player who seems to be doing his job at the plate is Shin Shoo Choo. He continues to get on base at a ridiculous .500 clip and his average is .370. In his role as a leadoff hitter he is doing his job, but no one else seems to be doing theirs. That is what is holding the offense back is everyone doing their part.

Now the question becomes how do they fix this? How do they get back to playing better baseball and winning games. It has to start with the starting pitcher. The starters must be able to pitch into the 6th or 7th innings. That will take the stress off an already overworked bullpen. Right now it seems the bullpen is running on fumes. Last night Washington even ran Mitch Moreland out there for an inning so he didn’t have to use anybody else in the game. Alexi Ogando will be more effective if he is not being called on to pitch every single day. The big help for the staff will be improved health. Derek Holland and Tanner Scheppers both should be back in the next few weeks. That will allow Robbie Ross and Tanner Scheppers to go back to the bullpen and provide some relief. Robbie I would imagine would take over being the long man and middle relief option and Scheppers would be the 8th inning guy. Then there is that guy Neftali Feliz who is sitting down there in Triple-A still trying to work his way back. He is dealing with soreness and general fatigue right now, but he should be back to pitching soon and hopefully will be option come June. That would provide some serious punch to their bullpen. Having all of those guys come back will certainly help the pitching staff. Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison need to have the shackles taken off of them. Lewis has shown to be as healthy as he has been since probably 2011. The Rangers just need to let him pitch deeper into games. He still has yet to pitch more than 5.2 innings in a game. That will be happening soon though for both of them and that will help the bullpen and the team out as well.

The offense needs Elvis Andrus. They need Andrus to spray line drives all over the field and cause havoc on the basepaths. They need his energy and enthusiasm for the game. The offense has been at their best when Choo and Andrus have been getting on and providing opportunities for Fielder, Beltre, and Rios. If Andrus can go back to just hitting the ball and move back up in the order that should provide a little bit of balance that the offense needs. Once again I say that the offense needs Prince Fielder to produce. They are paying him $24 million this season, and they brought him here to be the major run producer that the team lacked last season. So far he has not been able to be that guy. This offense is just waiting for him to go on a prolonged streak and when he does it will make the whole lineup look better. Beltre will get better pitches to hit, and Alex Rios will see more runners on base as a result too. Health on offense will also help as well. Jurickson Profar is starting the process of coming back as he is now swinging a bat and throwing, so hopefully he will be back by the beginning of June. Geovanny Soto will be back too come June and so that will mean no more at-bats for Arencibia. Having those guys back will provide some punch to the bottom of the order and less key at-bats for guys like Donnie Murphy and Josh Wilson. The key though is getting Elvis back on track and having Fielder start hitting on a more consistent basis and for more power. If they do that and they get healthy the offense should be fine.

To wrap up, like I said before the season if they could survive these first two months and be at or above .500 they would be fine the rest of the season. That spurt we saw in the middle of April goes to show me that this team can play on that level. For a few days they had the best record in the AL, so they can be as good as any team in the AL. It is just a matter of balance and people doing their jobs. The starters must pitch deep into games, the bullpen must be able to hold onto leads, and the offense must provide timely hitting. In the lineup everyone needs to do their job. Right now they are not doing that and so the team just needs to survive this stretch and hopefully get it turned around starting tonight at home against Colorado in a weird home and home series. Tonight starts a 5 game homestand as it will be Colby Lewis against Jorge De La Rosa. Lewis needs to continue to build off of the success that he had in his last start against the Angels. Note to Colby, don’t give Troy Tulowitzki anything to hit. The guy is a beast right now. Game time is at 7:05 tonight.

Rangers Get Gray’d Out by A’s

Posted on April 29, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

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The Rangers lost last night as Yu Darvish drops another game to the Oakland A’s. This loss drops his record against the A’s to 1-7 with a 4.73 ERA. It is becoming quite the issue. Darvish had the option of either facing the Mariners on Sunday or the A’s last night and he chose the A’s. He has a lot of bravado and pride, but this time it might have hurt him and the team. Last week in his game he had to really labor through 6 innings and tonight he couldn’t get out of the 4th. The A’s approach to facing Darvish is just to be patient and not swing at anything outside of the strike zone. That approach takes a lot of discipline and that is what the A’s have. Darvish tends to throw right on the border of being a strike and most hitters will swing, but the A’s do not. The Rangers staff and Darvish will have to figure out a way for him to have success against the A’s. The A’s look to be the Rangers top rival for the division and if Darvish cannot pitch well against the A’s it will make winning the division very difficult. They still have 15 more games against the A’s and Darvish figures to pitch in a few of them. That is the big takeaway from last night’s game was that Darvish just cannot pitch against these guys.

There were other things to this game as well. Sonny Gray was brilliant for the A’s as he pitched his first MLB complete game shutout. He bounced back from his last start against these Rangers when he gave up 3 runs in 7 innings and took his first loss of the season. Last night he only gave up 3 singles and shut the Rangers out. They did not have an answer for Gray. His fastball was constantly moving and his curveball was breaking very sharply. On this night he won in the battle of aces.

There were some positives for the Rangers. The bullpen was lights out. Aaron Poreda came in for Darvish in the 4th and finished out the inning and then Nick Martinez came in to finish out the rest of the game going 5 innings and not allowing a run. The highlight of the game had to be Leonys Martin’s double play catch and throw in the 8th inning. I have embedded it above because it was certainly the play of the game. Martin is starting to really play gold-glove level defense. His timing on the jump was perfect and his laser throw to first base was right on time. Fielder wasn’t even on the base and still had time to jump back. The only reason I can think of that he wouldn’t be on the base is that he wasn’t expecting it to come on time. He must have thought there is no way he get it back in, but Martin just threw a laser back to Fielder to get the out. It was remarkable. Outside of that though those were the only two positives to take away from this game. The A’s just came in and played better.

Today it will be Martin Perez and Scott Kazmir. Perez will carry with a 26 inning scoreless streak into the game and a streak of back-to-back shutouts. The last pitcher to throw 3 consecutive shutouts was Cliff Lee for the Phillies in 2011. The only Rangers pitcher to accomplish the feat is Charlie Hough in 1983. Perez has been pitching very well and last start really neutralized the A’s offense. He must continue to keep his pitches down and force the A’s to hit groundballs. Early on in the season Perez has been able to do that as he has forced teams into 11 double play grounders. He hopes to continue doing that and improve on his 4-0 record. Scott Kazmir also has been having success for the A’s early on this season. He is 3-0 with a 1.62 ERA. It has been a comeback season thus far for Kazmir. He once was the Tampa Bay ace before they started winning, but since then he has bounced from team to team. He has pitched for Angels, Indians, and now the A’s. It looks like from his early results that he has rediscovered that success he had early on in his career. It will be lefty vs lefty tonight as the A’s look to win the series and the Rangers look to get one back. The game starts tonight at 7:05.

Things we Learned from this Road Trip

Posted on April 28, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

The Rangers just finished a 4-2 road trip that saw them go to Oakland and Seattle. They swept Oakland and lost 2 of 3 to Seattle. After the road trip the Rangers find themselves tied for first place and they find themselves starting to get healthier. I will say I did not see a lot of the Saturday and Sunday games. Saturday I was busy watching the Thunder playoff game against the Grizzlies and I wasn’t home to watch the game on Sunday. From what I have read though and what I saw earlier on this trip I think we definitely learned a few things about this team during these last 6 days.

Martin Perez is starting to pitch like the stud pitcher he was projected to be. For several years Perez was this top prospect that the Rangers were carefully nurturing in the minor leagues. They took it slow with him because he was always among the youngest players in his league. Yet, he would go out there and put up great numbers. The Rangers did not rush him though because they knew that he was special and they were willing to wait. That wait ended last year when he became a full-fledged member of the rotation. He struggled at the beginning, but in the second half he figured it out. He went 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA the last two months of the season and was likely their second best starting pitcher. He has carried that momentum into this season. So far he is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA and has thrown back-to-back complete game shutouts. This last one was against the division leading Oakland A’s and helped them complete the sweep. He has been able to do this with a combination of a devastating changeup and an ability to keep the ball down and get ground balls. He is figuring it out and he has been one of the main reasons the Rangers have excelled. If he pitches well again on Tuesday against the A’s he likely will win pitcher of the month for the AL. That is how far he has come. Hopefully he can continue that as the Rangers move forward through this season.
The starting rotation is finally healthy. Nick Martinez did get a start this last week, but with Matt Harrison now back they are as healthy as they will be until Derek Holland gets back. Their rotation is now Darvish, Perez, Ross, Lewis, and Harrison. That is a pretty stout staff. Harrison came back yesterday and looked as sharp as he did in 2012. He was working quick and getting outs. That is what he does. This team so far is 15-10 and tied for first place despite all these injuries. The number I saw yesterday was that they had 15 wins and 12 players that have spent time or still are on the DL. Now that they are getting closer to being healthy it will be interesting to see how this team does. One thing to watch over these next few weeks is the number of innings these starters get, because even though they are pitching well now it is still just April. The Rangers will need these guys healthy come September and October and it will be interesting to see how much Wash rides his guys these next few weeks until the bullpen is fully healthy.
The 8th inning is an issue. The Rangers lost 2 of 3 to the Mariners over the weekend primarily because of 8th inning struggles. On Friday Neal Cotts was called upon to protect a 3-2 lead and get it to Soria in the 9th. Cotts though in 20 pitches did not retire a single hitter and allowed 4 runs and the Mariners ended up winning 6-5. Sunday was worse. The Rangers had a 5-0 lead in the 4th and a 5-3 lead that it handed to Alexi Ogando in the 8th. Ogando proceeded to allow a 2-out rally that concluded with Ranger-killer Kyle Seager hitting a 3-run home run that gave the Mariners the lead. Last year Tanner Scheppers was a dominant 8th inning guy and was almost always able to hand it over to Joe Nathan. This year though it has been a constant struggle. I am sure that once Scheppers is healthy he will resume that role, but until then Cotts and Ogando will have to do a better job of making their pitches and getting people out.

Now the Rangers come back home for a another important series against the A’s. After this series there will only be 13 more games remaining between what looks like the top 2 teams in the AL West. The Rangers really made a statement with that sweep last week. All of those games were very hard-fought and the A’s will try to get some of those wins back in Arlington this week. The matchups will be Yu Darvish vs. Sonny Gray today, Martin Perez vs. Scott Kazmir, and Robbie Ross vs. Jesse Chavez. Should be 3 very competitive games. The games get started tonight at 7:05.

Rangers Strike First against the A’s

Posted on April 22, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

Darvish pitching against the A’s in game one of their series.

The Texas Rangers went on the road and won a hard-fought game against the division leading Oakland A’s 4-3. It was a game that saw both starting pitchers bend, but not break. That was highlighted mostly by Yu Darvish. When Darvish is going well, he is able to easily get through 6 or 7 innings with double-digit strikeouts and few hits allowed. Tonight was not one of those nights. Heading into the game Darvish was 1-6 with a 4.30 ERA against the Oakland A’s. He also has not won at the Colliseum in his short career. So the question became how would he do last night? It wasn’t a sure thing that he would pitch well, and early on it looked like that trend might continue.

Darvish early on in the season has not gotten any run support and has not pitched with the lead in any of his prior 3 starts. That changed last night as Shin Shoo Choo led off the game with his second home run of the season to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. Yesterday, I had remarked that for the Rangers to win last night they had to score early, make Straily work, get to the bullpen early, and get timely hits. They did establish a lead early for Darvish, but he was only able to hold that lead till the bottom of the second inning. Brandon Moss led off the second inning with a home run. It was the fourth home run he has hit in his career against Darvish. The A’s would go on to add 2 more runs to the board on a Eric Sogard double and Coco Crisp single. Darvish early on was trying to establish the fastball and get ahead in the count and then work in his other pitches. He lacked his usual control though and so the A’s were just looking at those pitches or fouling them off making him work harder than he normally does. They were very methodically driving up his pitch count. Darvish said about that start, “Compared to last year, I think I’ve matured mentally to battle through these kinds of games”. That is certainly what he had to is battle. In Darvish’s previous starts he had been able to maintain control of his pitch count which has allowed him to go 7-8 innings in those starts. Last night that was not the case. This is where I credit Darvish and Chirinos for coming up with a different plan mid game. Yu doesn’t get a lot of credit for being as cerebral as he is. He is a very intelligent pitcher who just happens to throw hard. He knew that the A’s were sitting on his fastball and that he didn’t have the best control of it, so mid game he changed to more curveballs and off speed pitches. This midgame adjustment really saved the game. It caught the A’s off guard and allowed Darvish to get through the 6th inning. He had even told Wash, “I was going to get through six innings,”. In the 5th and 6th he was able to get more ground balls and facing his last hitter and his 115th pitch he struck out John Jaso. Washington said about Darvish, “He settled down and started making some pitches. He bent but didn’t break. He was good enough to keep us in the game.” When he left the game it was still 3-3.

His rebound from that 3 run second allowed the offense to be able to come back and tie the game. The main reason they were able to come back tonight was actually Prince Fielder tonight. Fielder has been hitting better lately, but tonight he actually looked very locked into the game. In his first at-bat he actually went opposite field. He drove a ball to deep left field for a double in the 4th. It is the first opposite field hit I can remember him getting this season. Kouzmanoff then followed with a single to the outfield that scored him and made it 3-2. Then in the 5th the Rangers were able to get a 2-0ut rally started when Elvis Andrus had a single to center. Rios then followed with a bloop single to right fielder Josh Reddick that moved Elvis to third. Fielder then finished it off with a hard-hit single to right field. The A’s decided not to shift there and that allowed one to sneak over the infield. That single tied the game at 3. The score would stay that way till the top of the 8th. Both team’s bullpens pitched really well. The A’s were able to call on Ryan Cook, Fernando Abad, Sean Doolittle, and Dan Otero. The Rangers called on Jason Frasor, Neal Cotts, Alexi Ogando, and Joakim Soria. The game remained scoreless through most of these pitchers. Then in 8th, Kevin Kouzmanoff led off with a double off the wall in right field off of Sean Doolittle. Doolittle is one the AL’s best left-handed relievers, but Kouzmanoff got the best of him last night. Then on 2 strikes Moreland was able to lay down a sac bunt that moved Kouzmanoff to 3rd. That caused Bob Melvin to bring the infield in for Donnie Murphy. Murphy proceeded to hit it right back up the middle against the drawn-in infield. That gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead. They would fail to score another run in the 9th with Choice at 3rd when Chirinos struck out. Soria came on in the 9th to try to close it out. He did just that, despite a throwing error by Elvis Andrus that put a run in scoring position. He kept the ball down, he kept calm and showed why he is their closer. This was probably his best save this early in the season. The Rangers with the win move to 12-8 and 1.5 games back and the A’s fall to 13-6.

Notes from the Game

Fielder did what I have been screaming for him to do all season and that is hit it opposite field. All season teams have been shifting on him and he just would continue to hit it right into the shift. If he shows he can do this, then he might not see such large shifts. His two hits though were huge. It looked like early on that this will be a 3-1 game that they lost, but Fielder’s opposite field double seemed to turn the tide. He did look way more invested than he has at times this season. He sometimes gives off an aloof feel, but tonight he looked locked in. That is the guy the Rangers need to be hitting 3 or 4 in the lineup.
I have never seen Darvish gut it out more than he did last night. In the past when he didn’t have it you could tell from his body language and then poor results would follow. Tonight he didn’t have it, but he kept battling and just found a way to make it through the 6th inning. That is what the best pitchers are able to do, is even when their stuff isn’t on they still find a way to get hitters out and last deep into the game. That is what Darvish did last night.
Kevin Kouzmanoff once again with two hits, including the rbi single to make it 3-2 and then the leadoff double in the 8th that helped to give the team the 4-3 lead. Kouzmanoff yesterday was named AL Player of the Week. That is quite the accomplishment for someone who wasn’t even expected to make the team this year. He has certainly earned himself a role and at-bats even when Adrian Beltre possibly comes back this weekend.
In the 9th inning Shin Shoo Choo turned his ankle trying to beat out an infield grounder. He was stretching out try to beat the throw and landed on the bag awkwardly. He will have an MRI today to see if there is any damage, but is likely out for the rest of the series. No word yet on who will move up to leadoff. The candidates are Elvis Andrus or Leonys Martin. Martin did hit some leadoff last year, but really struggled and so midway through the season Wash moved him back down the order. He has been hitting better this year, but Wash might not want to mess that up. I would not be surprise if he goes with Andrus-Choice 1-2 in the order. We will see later on today how Wash plans on handling this and how long Choo will be out for.
To me Joakim Soria really claimed the closers job last night. There has been this thought among Ranger fans that Neftali Feliz will be the closer at some point if he can regain his velocity and control. Unless Soria gets hurt the closer job is his. I know at some point he will struggle, but last night he was great. He showed he could come through in a hostile environment, 1 run lead, and the A’s best hitters at the plate. He is the closer, if Feliz does come up at some point maybe they can slide him in as the 7th or 8th inning guy.
Overall it was a great win. It is not September though yet. They still have 18 games left against the A’s. They will play 6 games total with this series and a series next week in Arlington. After these two series they will still have 13 left. It is nice to get a win though and show that even with all these injuries they are doing more than just surviving, they are playing good baseball.

Tonight’s Game Preview

Tonight it will be rookie Nick Martinez against Tommy Millone. Martinez who last pitched for the Rangers on April 5th against the Tampa Bay Rays will be brought up to pitch for Tanner Scheppers. Scheppers was placed on the DL last week due to an elbow issue. Martinez like last time will be brought in just for this one appearance. Last time out he pitched 6 innings and only gave up 3 runs. Hopefully he can do that again tonight. He had been pitching for AA Frisco and has made two starts with no decisions and has a 1.86 ERA. He will asked to try to continue that. Washington I am sure will have a short leash and will be ready to go to his pen at any moment. The A’s are going to try to make him work. They are going to make him throw strikes. To win he has to throw first pitch strikes, don’t nibble around the plate, and pitch to contact. If he does those three things he will have an opportunity to go deep into the game and give the Rangers a chance to win. On offense the Rangers have to survive the loss of Shin Shoo Choo. They still have to be patient at the plate and not be swinging at everything. Once again getting timely hits will be important. In order to beat the A’s the Rangers have to do the small things. They must get runners on, move them over, and drive them in. The A’s really require teams to be fundamentally sound. That is how they beat teams is by forcing them to make mistakes they normally would not make. Game once again is at 9:05 tonight.

Rangers Homestand Recap and Road Trip Preview

Posted on April 21, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

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The Rangers just concluded a very succesful 10 game homestand. They went 7-3 in the homestand and won all three series. They took 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros, 3 of 4 from the Seattle Mariners, and 2 … Continue reading →

Rangers win behind Robbie Ross Jr.

Posted on April 15, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

Two words can sum up this game tonight and they are Robbie Ross. He was absolutely outstanding tonight. He made loads of improvement from his last start against the Red Sox to tonight. His performance was the reason the Rangers were able to bounce back from last night’s loss. Here are some quick thoughts I had on tonight’s game.

I have to start with Robbie Ross Jr. He was the man tonight. If you remember last week he had a one-on-one conversation with Ron Washington after he walked 4 hitters in the span of two innings. It was less encouraging and more scolding. Ross responded by pitching better after that. Tonight he carried that over into pitching 7.2 innings and walking no one. Wheras last week he lacked control, tonight he was in complete control. He controlled both sides of the plate and was able to work it inside and out. The Mariners just never looked comfortable up there. He just competed out there and the night was capped off when Wash went out to the mound not to scold, but to congratulate. It was quite the moment when Wash took him out of the game and Ross was surrounded by the entire infield getting congratulations. It was Robbie’s night and no one can take this away. Who know what the rest of the season will hold for Ross, but tonight he was phenomenal.
Prince Fielder hit his first home run of the season and his first home run for the Rangers. It was a no doubter that was hit 416 ft to deep right center field. It seemed to take a weight off of his very large shoulders. Hopefully this hit will get him going. The offense has been really lacking without his production. If Prince can start to hit and drive runs in, it will provide much needed balance to the lineup and it will help them survive this stretch without Adrian Beltre.
The offense as a whole seemed to be much looser. These last few nights you could see them tense up everytime someone got on base. It led to numerous double plays and lack of timely hitting. Tonight, after Prince’s home run everyone seemed to loosen up. The offense actually was led by 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. He went 3-4 with 3 rbi’s and so far is hitting .450 in his limited time in the big leagues. He has done an admirable job filling in for Beltre. Tonight he and Fielder went back-to-back in the second inning. It was the first time the Rangers have went back-to-back in Arlington since April 30, 2013 when it was Nelson Cruz and Jeff Baker. Elvis continued to hit with two more hits tonight and Moreland added a couple of hits as well as a sac fly. Hopefully this marks the Rangers coming out of their slump.
Finally, the starting pitching continues to be outstanding. Scheppers had one bad inning on Saturday, but other than that everyone has been really good. It is going to be a hard call for Wash when Matt Harrison returns in about a week to determine who gets moved to the bullpen. After tonight I would say Scheppers but he was really good outside of one inning on Saturday. That could change if Ross struggles his next time out. Whatever happens though this will improve the depth of the bullpen or maintain the consistency of the rotation.

Tomorrow is a battle of Aces as Yu Darvish will take on Felix Hernandez at 7:05. It should be a pitchers duel so that means that it will be a high scoring affair. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

Game 9 Recap

Posted on April 9, 2014 by colonelsportsnation

The Rangers let one get away today. They had an 8th inning lead and a chance for a 3-3 road trip through two of the best teams in the AL and they let it get away from them. It wasn’t a game they played particularly well, but yet they had a 2-1 lead and Neal Cotts on the mound to try to get it to closer Joakim Soria. Just as quick as you snap your fingers it was gone. David Ortiz had sent one down the right field line and around Pesky’s Pole for a game-winning 3-run home run. Instead of 3-3 it became a 2-4 road trip. That still is not bad, it is exactly what I expected. I expected them to win the Yu Darvish and Martin Perez starts, seeing that they are the most experienced starters that they have right now. That is exactly what they did. They won 3-0 on Sunday and 10-7 last night. They sit at 4-5 and are now preparing for a 10 game homestand that starts on Friday against the Astros.

Instead of talking about big picture, lets discuss today’s game. It was Robbie Ross Jr. making his second start of the season going up against veteran Jake Peavy. Early on Robbie struggled with his control. He walked 4 hitters between the 2nd and 3rd innings. That brought out Ron Washington. It wasn’t to take him out of the game, but to give him a stern talking to. Nothing seems to bother Wash more than a pitcher who is not throwing strikes. It was just Wash and Ross out there, no catcher or other infielders. That got through to him as he did give up one run in that third inning, but then he calmly got David Ortiz to ground into a double play to end the inning. That was it as far as the scoring for the middle innings. Ross would only walk two more hitters and make it into the 6th inning. The score was still 1-0 when he was lifted. He did walk 6 hitters, struck out 4, but only gave up 2 hits. He still needs to work on his control, but only giving up one run allowed the Rangers to come back and have the lead late.

They would have to come back late because early on Jake Peavy was spectacular. He was able to control the plate and keep the Rangers off-balance. He ended up striking out 8 and walking 4. The only one who was seemingly having good at-bats against Peavy was Choo. He led off the game with a double and then had two walks against Peavy. Everyone else struggled through 6 innings. In the 7th though things turned around when Mitch Moreland took a 89 mph fastball deep into the right-field bullpen to tie the game. Up to that point it looked like even though they were only down a run that it was not meant to be their day. Moreland changed all of that with one swing. Then it looked like a game that the Rangers could steal. In the 8th they did just that. Elvis led off with a double and was eventually brought home on a sac fly by Alex Rios. All of a sudden the Rangers had a 2-1 lead and were 6 outs away from a victory and a series win.

That leads to today’s questionable decision of the game. It occured in the bottom of the 8th after the Rangers had taken a 2-1 lead. Alexi Ogando had been in since the 6th inning and had pitched very well. It was his best appearance of the season. His fastball velocity was up and he was able to keep it down in the zone and his slider was very filthy. He was able to strike out 4 hitters in those 1.2 innings. Instead of bringing in Cotts to start the inning he let Ogando start the inning. He proceeded to walk Jackie Bradley Jr. At that point the Red Sox decided to pinch hit with A.J. Pierzynski. Washington then had a decision to make go with Ogando or come in with Neal Cotts. Cotts was warm and ready to go, yet Washington stuck with Ogando. He was clearly hoping that Ogando could finish out the inning and that he wouldn’t have to use Cotts. Ogando stayed in and Pierzynski blooped one right down the right field line to put two on and no outs. Ogando would get Pedroia to ground out.Then Cotts would come in to face Ortiz with two runners on and one out. David Ortiz then went yard to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead and the game. I understand why you start the inning with Ogando, but why keep with him even after the Red Sox have pinch-hit with Pierzynski. It just goes back to the problem the Rangers have with the 8th inning. They don’t have one guy who is good enough to assume that role so it leads to confusion late in games about who to bring in. Today it cost them as David Ortiz just did David Ortiz things in helping the Red Sox win the game 4-2.

Notes from the Game

Shin Shoo Choo is an on-base machine. That is all he does is aim to get on base. Early on this season he has been hitting and walking a ton. Right now he is in the middle of a stretch that has seen him reach base in 8 of his past 10 plate appearances. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. I love seeing how he is able to work a pitcher and wait till he gets a pitch that he likes. He is also normally in the middle of any Rangers rally, whether he starts it or he keeps it going. I questioned whether he was worth the contract that they gave him, but after seeing him play I would say that he is.
-Alexi Ogando was filthy today. This is the Ogando that the Rangers wanted to win a rotation spot. He lacked control though all Spring. Today he was bringing it and in the 6th and 7th innings he was untouchable. He was able to locate his fastball on both corners and the slider was really biting. This Ogando can be a real asset in the bullpen as long as he can bring it on a consistent basis.
Adrian Beltre was sent back to Texas to be examined further, but he has not been put on the DL yet. Instead they did bring up Kevin Kouzmanoff to man 3rd and designated Seth Rosin for assignment. Now they have 10 days to either trade or send him back to the Philadephia Phillies. Hopefully the Rangers can find a way to keep him, because he had shown some potential to be a solid weapon down in the bullpen.

The Rangers will have tomorrow off and will be back on Friday at home to begin a 10 game homestand starting with the Houston Astros. It will be Yu Darvish going up against Scott Feldman at 7:05.