The roof was open for the first time. Jon Daniels said he was curious how the new ballpark plays under the natural sky.

The Seattle Mariners sure loved it. Under the night sky, they knocked out fifteen hits, scoring ten runs.

The Rangers got their usual two runs. There were plenty of stars in the sky. None in the Rangers dugout.

No conclusions can be drawn after one game with the roof open except that this can be a hitter’s park. A team just needs hitters.

The Rangers are batting .197 at home so far this season. That’s thanks in large part to Andrus, Heineman, Calhoun, Chirinos, Odor, and Santana, all of whom are are batting lower than the .197 mark. 

Where do the Rangers find offense? Yesterday they signed Derek Dietrich, who was released by the Reds at the beginning of summer camp, then signed by the Cubs, then released by the Cubs at the end of summer camp.

It seems the Rangers are finally open minded about doing something with their middle infield.

As Evan Grant pointed out in an article on DallasNews.com, since the start of 2017, Rougned Odor’s slash line has been (please, if there are any children in the room, cover their eyes) .217 AVG/.283 OBP/.679 OPS. Those are ugly numbers no matter how much the Rangers announcers want to justify them. Dietrich’s slash during that same period is .242/.331/.762. 

And, according to the article, the major league average OPS for a shortstop is this season .751. Andrus’s is .516.

One huge word of caution. This is not the first time Woodward has threatened to take away playing time for lack of production, especially from Odor. It’s not even the second, or third, or fourth time. 

So, take any talk of Odor or Andrus losing at-bats or, ultimately, their starting jobs with a huge grain of salt. The words of the manager and GM in the past on this subject have as much impact as a Rougned Odor pop up with bases loaded.

But the manager and GM are moving their jaws again. And words are coming out of their mouths again. And those words are saying the same things they’ve said in the past again. Only, now, they signed a player who might actually help them back up their words.

Maybe, just maybe, though, the night air cleared everyone’s head.

Roof or no roof, it’s not The Shed that is offense averse. It’s the Rangers lineup. The problems won’t go away until the problems go away.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Marco Gonzales (2-1, 3.06) vs. Mike Minor (0-3, 6.89)

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