Mike Napoli’s second hit of the game, a 400-plus-foot home run, gave the Rangers a temporary 2-1 lead that their defense and bullpen would later squander in a 6-2 loss to Houston.

Sloppy, undisciplined, ugly. That’s how to describe the 2017 Texas Rangers.

Doesn’t anyone know how to play baseball? Yes, it is a difficult game. But that’s no excuse to play it so poorly. It’s hard for every team. Most of them aren’t committing the same sins over and over again. It’s as if the Rangers have never played before.

Often you go a month without seeing an outfielder drop a routine fly ball. The Rangers have done it twice in three games. It’s becoming the norm. Last night, that allowed the first run to score.

The rest of the runs scored when the Rangers melted down in the seventh. A walk, an error, and two plays not made led to five runs and slammed the door tight. It’s the same mistakes that knocked them out of the last two post-seasons.

The Rangers are a pitiful crew right now, failing on offense, defense, in the bullpen, and on the base paths.

Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Wherever they can drop the ball, they will drop the ball, both literally and figuratively.

This isn’t just a matter of hitters underperforming. The problems go much deeper than that. Hitters can come out of slumps. Defense is not something that just comes around. You don’t just snap your fingers and suddenly you are fundamentally sound.

Bad baseball is in this team’s DNA. And the only way to overcome it is with enough offense to make up for those glaring deficiencies. Until the offense comes around, the Rangers are a losing proposition.

This team doesn’t have the defense or bullpen to keep a game close. It needs to pound the ball into submission.

Sloppy, undisciplined, ugly. Until the Rangers change the script, they aren’t going to change the outcome.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Cole Hamels (2-0, 3.03) vs. Mike Fiers Jr. (0-1, 5.12)
Game time: 7:10

How the Rangers hit against Fiers.
How the Astros hit against Hamels.