Forget the defensive shifts. Forget the righty-lefty matchups. Forget the analytics about facing the Rangers. If you want to keep Texas off the scoreboard, try something really unconventional: put Rangers on the bases. They will politely leave them stranded. Time after time the Rangers have loaded the bases and […]
Baseball is all about stats. Stats are really just patterns. And the early patterns this year for the Rangers are they cannot come back once they are down in a game. If they are losing, they will lose. But they also don’t blow leads. If they are winning, they […]
Mike Minor earned two Ws last night. One for dominating the Toronto Blue Jays, giving up just two hits and one run in a Jeff-Banister-complete-game six innings of work. He walked two and struck out seven. But it was how he did it that earned the other W. He […]
At least the Rangers made it interesting. After spotting Toronto eight runs, Texas chipped away at the lead. They got within three. Even getting a runner on in the ninth to offer a sliver of hope. But in the end, it’s difficult to undo Matt Moore. In two starts […]
I hope Jon Daniels was paying attention to yesterday’s game. And the game before. He would have seen the value of defense. And, more specifically, how detrimental bad defense is to a team. He doesn’t seem to get that. Year after year his teams are near the bottom in […]
Maybe this is the way it’s going to be with this motley crew of discount pitchers. Maybe we need to expect one good start, one bad start. Hamels went bad-good. Fister went good-bad. Last night, he was a victim of too many pitches and a cutter that wasn’t cutting […]
Nine in a row. That’s how long the Rangers losing streak in Oakland was coming into last night’s game. Eight in a row. That’s how many outs recorded in a row by strikeouts that Cole Hamels was able to get last night. Some streaks aren’t good. Some streaks are. […]
Take away all the jokes about his age and his weight and his big sexiness, and you have to admit: Bartolo Colon pitched a heck of a game. By mostly throwing a perfectly placed fastball, he kept the Oakland hitters off balance. They got runners on base, but he […]
Ryan Rua, Carlos Tocci, and Robinson Chirinos have yet to get a hit. Rougned Odor has one lousy single. On Saturday, the bottom five in the Rangers lineup went 0-for-19 with two walks and eight strikeouts. On Sunday, the bottom five in the order went 1-for-16 with one walk […]
Delino Deshiels has a broken bone in his wrist. He will be out of commission for four to six weeks. Which mean the Rangers roster will be out of commission for four to six weeks. It’s not just that DeShields was the Rangers lead off hitter. They can find […]
