There it was. It took nearly two months, but it finally arrived. And it was a big one.

Marcus Semien’s first home run as a Ranger came in Game 45. It happened with the bases loaded. And it sealed the lopsided 11-4 victory for the Rangers, who have now won four in a row and have a chance to get to .500 with a win today over Oakland.

The Athletics are this year’s Rangers. They threw in the towel before the season started, stripping their roster down to the studs by trading all their studs. 

This is a regular occurrence for Oakland. Every six or seven year. They get good, their good players near free agency, they trade them away and start all over. 

The Rangers are hoping to duplicate the success of the strip down, having subjected their fans through five years of misery with the promise of a rainbow at the end. It’s been mostly dark clouds and storms.

But that seems to be over. The Rangers are headed in the right direction. They started in the offseason with the two huge acquisitions of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, and a minor acquisition of Kole Calhoun.

Semien and Seager have yet to make a real impact while Calhoun seems to be the real sleeper.

Semien’s struggles have been legendary and much discussed. After setting the all-time record for home runs by a second baseman last year, he seemed to be after the record for all time fewest home runs by a second baseman in 2022.  

He broke out of that in a big way, hitting a grand slam, driving in five runs total. It was only his second multi-RBI game this year. That’s how ineffectual he has been. Even going 4-for-9 over his last two games has nudged his batting average to just .194 and his OPS+ to 54. 

There’s still a long way to go on the road to respectability. Both for the Rangers and Semien.

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