35 feet of offense. 1141 comments


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Wandy Rodriguez made his Texas Rangers debut last night. He gave the Rangers five solid innings, allowed one run, and struck out five. It was the best the Rangers could ask of him.

The Rangers can ask a lot more of their offense, though. But nobody seems to want to answer that call.

The biggest offense the Rangers could muster last night went thirty-five feet.

It was a sacrifice bunt from Leonys Martin in the top of the third inning after Jake Smolinski and Carlos Corporan led off the inning with back-to-back walks.

It was small ball. Which is a fitting moniker for the lineups Jeff Banister is forced to run out every night. Small Ball might as well be a registered trademark of the Texas Rangers offense.

When you have a team that cannot hit, you have to do anything possible to advance guys ninety feet. Martin’s bunt put runners at second and third with one out. Smolinski scored the first run on a Mitch Moreland ground out. Then Corporan scored the second and final run on an infield hit from Prince Fielder.

The Rangers were done for the night. This Rangers offense was so anemic that they scored two runs and never got a ball out of the infield. And it was almost enough to win.

But they lost 3-2. And they got just three hits.

In sixteen games, the Rangers have been one-hit once, two-hit once and three-hit twice.

A thirty-five foot bunt is the only thing that makes the highlight reel.

The Rangers did coax a couple of walks in the ninth to add some drama. But that rally ended as all rallies end. With Elvis Andrus at the plate.

 

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From Evan Grant, here is an article on dallasnews.com with more the details on the Josh Hamilton deal, and what the Rangers are committing to financially.