Cole Hamels strikes out Jose Abreu in the sixth inning as he rolled to nineteen consecutive outs. The plan was for him to throw 95 pitches and he topped that by one.

40-41.

The Rangers reached the half-way point in the season one game under .500.  The season is really a tale of the games that got away from them. And strike zones a mile wide.

Yesterday’s game looked like it was going to be another late game meltdown.

Cole Hamels, in his second start since coming off the DL, allowed a two-run homer in the first, hit a batter, and then it was lights out. That’s common with a lot of aces. You need to get to them early before they settle down.

And did he ever settle down.

He retired nineteen batters in a row and looked like the Cole Hamels of old. Early strikes. Soft contact. Racking up outs after outs.

Once he left the mound with a 6-2 lead, though, it looked like the Rangers of new. Alex Claudio walked the first two, let them both score on a double, and suddenly it was 6-4 and another collapse was knocking on the door.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Because, fortunately, there are bullpens out there as bad at Texas’s. And the Rangers were able to pile on late runs.

So, as the Rangers head into the second half of their season, they do so with sixteen blown saves, the most in baseball, but eight players with ten or more home runs, the most in baseball.

They do so with a .239 team average, the worst in the American League, but 122 home runs, third most.

They do so with a plus-23 run differential, but with a bullpen ERA of 4.65

Half way over.

Half way good. Half way horrible.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Tyson Ross (1-1, 6.14) vs. Jose Quintana (4-8, 4.37)
Game time: 1:10

How the Rangers hit against Quintana.
How the White Sox hit against Ross.

*****
All-Star Game rosters will be announced tonight at 6:00 on ESPN. No Ranger was voted in by fans, so we will discover which Ranger will be selected by players.