Worthy. 458 comments


Rangers' right fielder Nomar Mazara connects against the LA Trouts for his AL Rookie best twentieth home run.

Rangers’ right fielder Nomar Mazara connects against the LA Trouts for his AL Rookie best twentieth home run.

 

He’s number one in home runs with 20.

He’s number one in runs scored with 55.

Number one in hits with 132.

Number one in RBIs with 62.

Number two in batting average at .273.

Number one in on-base percentage at .324.

All of those number should make Nomar Mazara the number one vote getter for Rookie of the Year in the American League. He’s more than worthy of the award. He should be a lock.

He was forced into the major leagues when Shin-Soo Choo went down in the first week of the season, after just five games in fact. It was supposed to be temporary.

By the time Choo returned to the lineup on May 20, Mazara was hitting .305 and he wasn’t going anywhere.

But Choo was.

Choo lasted one game before going back on the DL, returned on June 13 for thirty-one games, went back on the DL, then returned August 4 for twelve games until a Ross Detwiler pitch broke his wrist and put him out the rest of the season.

Through it all, Nomar Mazara just kept plugging away. He started out red hot, had the typical come-back-to-Earth period that all non-Mike Trout rookies have, and seems to have made the adjustments needed to find his stroke once again.

After hitting a huge two-run homer last night, he now has five home runs in his last sixteen games. And he appears to be making one final push to lock up the Rookie of the Year award.

Now the question is, what happens to Mazara when Choo comes back for the playoffs?

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

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Jered Weaver (11-12, 5.17) vs. Derek Holland (7-8, 4.93)
Game time: 7:05

How the Angels hit against Holland.
How the Rangers hit against Weaver.

RANGERS MAGIC NUMBER: 2

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