Posts Tagged ‘Texas Rangers’
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Teixeira for Kotchman? I Just Don’t Know.July 31st, 2008
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19th in runs scored. 19th in hits. 22nd in home runs. 19th in RBIs. 24th in total bases. 22nd in on base percentage. And 22nd in slugging.
On paper, this doesn’t really sound like a division contending team, let alone the best team in baseball by a fair margin. But when you factor in 8th in ERA, 7th in shutouts, 1st in saves (by ten saves, between first and second), 25th in earned runs against (yes, that’s a good thing), a winning starting rotation, a solid bullpen, a slid defense, a consistent running game, and you get the Angels.
Up until last night at about 5-something eastern time, the Angels were not the media’s favorite team to look at. In fact, the Angels crept slowly into first place without so much as a sneeze. It wasn’t until about three weeks after the Angels took first place that ESPN even took notice on their power rankings. The Angels were clearly the underdogs of 2008, who’s game was so much more old-school than any other teams, besides maybe the Minnesota Twins and a more distant example in the Baltimore Orioles.
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Wild Card FeverJuly 27th, 2008
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American League - Wild Card Standings
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Team |
W |
L |
PCT |
GB |
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59 |
42 |
.584 |
- |
|
|
60 |
43 |
.583 |
- |
|
|
56 |
45 |
.554 |
3.0 |
|
|
55 |
46 |
.545 |
4.0 |
|
|
52 |
49 |
.515 |
7.0 |
|
|
52 |
49 |
.515 |
7.0 |
|
|
52 |
50 |
.510 |
7.5 |
|
|
51 |
51 |
.500 |
8.5 |
|
|
48 |
53 |
.475 |
11.0 |
|
|
46 |
57 |
.447 |
14.0 |
|
|
44 |
56 |
.440 |
14.5 |
|
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38 |
63 |
.376 |
21.0
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That’s right. Read it and weep. If you are watching the scoreboard, you already see the future. Here come the Rangers, out of the gate after the All-Star break like a “Ron Paul for President ‘08″ campaign wagon. After crushing the Twins and the WSox, taking one out of three in each series, Texas is sitting right where they want to sit, on the fringes of the Wild Card race, lulling the 8 teams in front of them into a false sense of security and waiting to pounce. Read more
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End of the Road for Boston Woes OR Just the Beginning of Boston’s Road WoesJuly 20th, 2008
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A few short months ago a la October, the Angels were basically running away from Fenway’s bombers with their proverbial tails between their legs. After losing two series ending in sweeps to the Red Sox on two separate post-season occasions since the turn of the millennium, the Angels seemed to have their work cut out for them again in 08 if they wanted any chance at another World Series run.
The Angels have been, in their career, weak against the formidable Boston lineup. It is because of this that so many sports writers have criticized the Angels’ management for not acquiring a more fear-inducing bat for the middle of the lineup to back Big Daddy Vladdy. In fact, despite a successful first half, power rankings on ESPN still give little credence to the team and still stress this same overly-repetitive theme: “The Angels are the clear favorites in the AL West despite an offense that ranks 23rd in the majors in OPS and runs scored. Will they make a run at Mark Teixeira or Matt Holliday, or cling to the hope that starting pitching, a great closer and a flair for one-run victories can propel them deep into October?” (Crasnik’s “Starting 9” on ESPN.com). Though that last little statement, ending in a rhetorical question, seems to be rather connotative of a negative sentiment, I beg to differ, and offer up a definite YES. Great pitching > great hitting. Almost always. Read more
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All Star Break: Back and ForthJuly 20th, 2008
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While Back-and-Forth would certainly be an accurate description of the Rangers to this point, a team written off for dead before April was over (at least twice…check our columns…) that has clawed its way back to the fringe of the playoff picture without sweeping an opponent yet. But this column is Back and Forth as Cary and I take turns looking at Texas topics for the second half. Cary’s answers will be in bold. Mine will be intelligent.
KEN: So, I’ll start this by tossing you a softball. (Just don’t hit it back at me….we both know I can’t field it…) Who is the Rangers’ MVP so far? The two-time player of the month, or are you going to avoid the obvious answer? Read more
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Split? Yes. Even? Maybe not.July 17th, 2008
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So after 4 games in Arlington with the Angels of WhereEver, each team takes 2 wins and the Halos keep the seven and a half game lead. The Rangers didn’t gain any ground, so the series was an even split, right? Maybe not. On paper, (where the games are rarely played because of the way the cleats tear it up), the Angels should have come in and crushed Texas. The 4 pitching match-ups in the series looked more like bows-and-arrows vs. F-16’s. Heck, on Wednesday night, the Rangers didn’t even have a starter, using the bullpen from the first inning.
What did we learn from the series? The Rangers aren’t afraid of the Angels. Texas can win a close game like the Tuesday night, one-run victory in a low scoring affair. They can beat K-Rod, as Josh Hamilton so eloquintly proved with his bomb on Wednesday night. The Texas offense is never done, racking up 20 hits while taking Thursday night’s game to extra innings after being down 10-4 in the 7th. Catcher Max Ramirez is not going to drop the ball at home no matter how hard you hit him. The Rangers aren’t going to go away. And maybe, just maybe the Angels know that.
Seven and a half back is still a lot to overcome, especially since Texas has to pass Oakland in the standings before they can really take sight on the Angels. And there are less than 70 games left in the season, so time is going to start playing a bigger and bigger role. The Rangers need to get their first sweep of the season sometime soon, then maybe add a few more. Because while you can reach 100 victories by winning or splitting every series, you can’t do that if you take the month of April off. But for the moment, it looks like the Rangers are going to be doing more in the second half than just trading players away. Sometimes a split isn’t just a split, and sometimes a team doesn’t walk away from it even.
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Random RangernessJuly 5th, 2008
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A few random thoughts as we move out of June and into July…
The Rangers finally move 2 games over .500, winning Monday night at Yankee Stadium. It’s the first time they’ve reached that lofty height this season following the Great April Wipeout, the Incredible May Recovery, and the June of Treading Water. Since May 22, Texas has bounced between 2 games under and 1 over the break even mark. That is mediocrity not seen since “According to Jim” went off the air. (It did finally, mercifully go off the air, didn’t it?) You keep hoping for that one hot streak that will vault the team back into Division contention. But that’s not the way it ever happens in Texas.
As a child, I came to learn that you could count on the Rangers hanging in there for the first half of the season, and then falling like Skylab right after the All-Star break, scattering players at the trade deadline like debris over Australia. Is this the year that it doesn’t happen? Is this the year that we chase down 2 teams and win the division, using rookies at catcher, first base, third base, the outfield, and a rotation that began the year scattered out across our minor league system? Okay, probably not, but at least we recovered to the point that the dreamers can dream.
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Away GamesJune 25th, 2008
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Apparently, if you translate it into English, Joaquin Benoit means “You can turn the TV off now, we’re losing this one. Read a book.” (I highly recommend Tim Kurkjian’s “Is This A Great Game, or What?”) In the continuance of a theme, Benoit came into Tuesday night’s game vs. Houston, closed his eyes, and started chunking the ball toward what he believed to be homeplate. In 4 1/2 June innings, he’s allowed 8 walks and 3 HRs. Those my friends, are “Now pitching, Ken Jones” kind of numbers. Read more
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Justin Duchscherer, A’s star pitcher…but is he an All Star?June 19th, 2008
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The Oakland A’s are known for the pitchers they develop. In the past, the A’s have drafted (or traded for) and developed some of the top young pitchers in baseball. Among those are Tim Hudson (All Star and 20 game winner), Mark Mulder (All Star and 20 game winner), Barry Zito (All Star, 20 game winner, CY Young winner), Danny Haren (All Star), Rich Harden, and Joe Blanton.
Of those starters, the only one not drafted by the A’s was Danny Haren. Haren was acquired in a trade with the St Louis Cardinals in exchange for Mulder. That deal turned into another one of Billy Beane’s mastererful fleecings. Read more
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For Jay Gibbons, Forgiveness Is a Minor League Contract AwayJune 19th, 2008
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Jay Gibbons dropped to his knees and asked for a second chance.
After being named in the Mitchell Report and being released from the Baltimore Orioles by Chief Operating Officer Andy MacPhail for reasons disclosed as performance-related, Gibbons did something he termed, “both painful and humiliating.” The designated hitter wrote a letter to all thirty Major League teams hoping that someone, anyone would give him a chance to ride the buses of the Minor Leagues.
It’s a move of passion not economics.
Because the Baltimore Orioles still owe him $11.9 million over the next two years, presumably, Gibbons could easily thrust his head into the sand, like the higher profile PED user Mark McGwire, and be comfortable in his anonymity for the rest of his life.
Gibbons even offered to donate his entire Minor League salary to his parent team’s charity. Should he make it to the Big Leagues, he writes that he would “gladly donate a significant sum to that same charity.” Read more
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Just Like They Drew It Up: J.D. Silencing CriticsJune 19th, 2008
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The cost of crude oil by the barrel isn’t the lone commodity on the rise. Right fielder J.D. Drew—often ridiculed and much besieged by fans and local sports media during most of last season—is scaling new heights for the Red Sox.
Only, of late, Drew is making his hefty price tag seem fairer by the plate appearance.
While year one of his $70 million, five-year contract in Boston left even the most ardent of Drew defenders unfulfilled, the former first round pick—two times over—did end his debut season in a Sox uniform on a high note, finishing with a strong September that carried into the playoffs, which included a momentous grand slam in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
But a closer examination of his first go-around in the American League would reveal a season much in line with his career output. That is, if you disregard his near two-month adjustment period to a league switch, different pitching—both personnel- and approach-wise—a new hitting venue, and the highly chaotic and fishbowl environment that makes up the Boston sports scene.
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