Ranger Win 5-4!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

2 errors give the A's extra outs, resulting in 2 unearned runs for the A's.

Only 5 hits for the mighty Rangers' offense.

Hamilton sat out with hurting ribs.

Silver Lining:

Rangers made those 5 hits count and put up 5 runs (helped by 2 A's errors).

Millwood had another quality start going 8 innings. ERA to date 2.13.

Frankie Francisco got another save. ERA to date 0.00.

Salty and Cruz had 2 RBI each-good to see the young guys coming through. Hammerin' Hank got another RBI.

Cruz had the game winning hit in the 8th making up for an early error.

BOX SCORE

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Rangers Win 6-4!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Starting pitcher Matt Harrison got off to another rocky start giving up 4 runs in the first 2 innings and putting on countless base runners as the Rangers got behind early, again.

Silver Lining:

Harrison settled down and pitched the next 5 innings without giving up a run.

Teagarden went 2-4 and Hammerin' Hank went 2-4, Young went yard (again) and Murphy seemed to continue coming out of his early season slump. 

Texas' offense rallies after their starter put them in the whole early.

O'Day came into the game to face only 1 batter, the O's dangerous right handed batter Jones, in the 8th and got the out. A situational pitching substitution, righty vs. righty, worked.

C.J. Wilson actually pitched the rest of the 8th, 2/3's, without giving up a run, hit, or walk.

Frankie Francisco got another save. ERA to date: 0.00.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

If Hammerin Hank is traded away then who takes over the DH spot? Would Jones get most of the time at DH or would it be a platoon effort? Or is Jones going to end up being trade bait at some point along with Hammerin' Hank? Then the DH could be platooned by the odd outfielder out, Murphy or Byrd. I don't know but, these are just some questions and interesting scenarios to consider.

When does Holland get his first start? When do other arms get called up?

Rangers longest winning streak is 3, the first 3 games of the season. If my calculations are correct the Rangers play 13 divisional games between now and May 17. It could get interesting if the Rangers can put together a couple of winning streaks in that time.

BOX SCORE

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Rangers Lose 5-8

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

McCarthy gave up 3 runs in the 5th, ruining what had been an excellent start to that point, leaving the game with a 5-4 lead instead of a 5-1 lead.

Jennings may not be the mid inning relief pitcher answer either, as he gave up 4 ER in 2 and 2/3 innings.

Rangers' offense had just 1 walk and 7 K's, not a good ratio.

Silver Lining:

Some batters that have been in early season slumps have come out of it a little, including Salty and Crash Davis.

Hammerin' Hank goes yard again. Again trade bait (for a pitcher)?

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

Even with this bad outing by Jennings he still has an ERA under 5 and looks better than C.J. Wilson.

BOX SCORE

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Rangers Win 6-5!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

C.J. Wilson tried to lose the game in the bottom of the 9th.

Rangers committed 2 errors.

Silver Lining:

Rangers jumped out to an early lead with offense up and down the lineup.

Hamilton had 2 hits, slump over?

Scooter Feldman gave them 5 IP with 1 ER.

Holland looked good in 3 IP with 1 ER.

Francisco saves the game. ERA for the season 0.00.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

How much more from C.J. Wilson do they need to see?

BOX SCORE

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Rangers Win 5-4! Young Hits 2 Run Game Winning Homer in 9th

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Rangers' offense had just 3 hits after 6 innings, and 2 of those were from Salty.

Silver Lining:

Rangers' offense exploded beginning in the 7th.

Salty had 3 hits, slump over?

Hammerin' Hank went yard again. And again, is he setting himself up to be trade bait (for a pitcher I hope)?

Young showed he's the leader of this team, again, hitting the game winning homer in the top of 9.

Francisco got another save, ERA to date: 0.00. Again, by all indications he is a real-deal closer.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

Much like Rangers' slow starts in recent seasons, they seem to get off to slow starts in games and find themselves having to try to dig out of it late. This time they did. Usually they don't. 

Keep in mind the Rangers have played exactly 0 divisional games so far. I'm waiting to see where they're at after they've played at least one series against each of their divisional foes. Then, we'll have an idea of where they're at.

BOX SCORE

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Rangers Lose 2-7

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Millwood looks non-Cy Young like.

Two errors.

The mighty Texas offense puts up 2 runs, both solo shots.

LOB: 7

Silver Lining:

Hamilton homers, coming out of slump?

Crash Davis homers, slump over?

Hammerin' Hank gets 2 hits, trade bait for a pitcher?

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Rangers Lose, 7-8 in 11th

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Harrison gave up 5 earned in 4 innings pitched.

Feldman gave up 2 ER in 1 and 2/3's innings pitched.

C.J. Wilson was hot then cold. He got the last two outs of the 10th, then in the 11th he walks the lead off man that would eventually score the game losing run.

Rangers bullpen is so shaky and its bench so short that O'Day, picked up on waivers earlier today after the Mets released him, comes in wearing Gabbard's jersey to give up the game losing hit.

Silver Lining:

Rangers get more timely hitting, this time in the top of the 9th where they score 3 to tie the game 7-7 and force extra innings, helping overcome poor starting (Harrison) and long relief (Feldman) pitching.

Salty gets a hit and 2 RBI, maybe the beginning of the end of his early season slump.

In relief (after Harrison and Feldman) young pitcher Holland goes 2 and 1/3 innings for no runs, 3 hits, no walks and 2 strike outs. Good big league debut.

Michael Young hit the tying homer in the bottom of 9, showing he's still the leader of this ball club.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

The shaky staff hurts the Rangers, again, and they still almost win it. Holland hopefully will help.

Given how well Holland did, are there any more arms from the farm teams that can be called up to lend a hand in the bullpen?

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Rangers Win 5-4, Win Streak @ 2!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Rangers committed an error, only one in the game, in the 8th giving the Jays an extra out. 

Then C.J. Wilson comes into the game in relief, gives up a base knock that scores a run (making it 5-4 Rangers) and retires no batters. How much more of C.J. Wilson do they need to see? Whatever he had last year seems to have escaped him this year. 

Silver Lining:

Kinsler and Cruz both go yard. 

Jennings looked good in relief, new set up man since Wilson's not panning out? 

Francisco looks like the real deal as a bona fide closer. 

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenote(s):

I like Ron Washington so hopefully this kicks off a little streak of more winning than losing. The error committed in this game was by the rookie shortstop Elvis, that's forgivable.

Could this be monumental moment/game in The Rangers' season? I know it's early but consider the following:

1) The Rangers beat the best team and pitcher in the AL, at least as it stands now.

2) Francisco showed he can come in early, get the 4+ out save and get in and out of trouble in the process.

3) Washington apparently had C.J. Wilson on a short leash and when Wilson didn't have it Washington yanked him quickly (after one batter I think).

4) Josh Hamilton has not been hitting well, that won't last.

5) The post game celebration of the win. It's truly refreshing to see the youth, Kinsler, Cruz, Elvis, Salty, genuinely exuberant to have won a game. That can be contagious.

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Rangers' Owner's Financial Issues Date Back to Last Summer

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Hicks Sports Group, the Tom Hicks company that owns the Stars and your Rangers, has apparently had issues with its creditors since last summer. The creditors have gone so far as to declare the ownership company in default. 

Silver Lining:

Hicks Sports Group, the Tom Hicks company that owns the Stars and your Rangers, has apparently had issues with its creditors since last summer. The creditors have gone so far as to declare the ownership company in default. Maybe Hicks will sell.

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Off Day; If Losing Ways Continue, Who'll Get the Axe, Daniels or Washington?

Who's more responsible for the Ranger's losing ways, Daniels or Washington?

Here are some of Daniels not-so-good trades:

1. Sorriano to Nationals for Wilkerson, Sledge and Galarraga (pitcher) : For some reason Showalter couldn't get Sorriano to move to the outfield.  Traded to Frank Robinson's Nationals all of a sudden Sorriano is playing the outfield after a battle of wills between Sorriano and Robinson. The Rangers later trade Galarraga to Detroit where he's now a starter.  

2. Chris Young and Sledge and Adrian Gonzalez to Padres for Eaton, Otsuka and catcher Billy Killian.

Also keep in mind that the rotation and bullpen were put together by Daniels.

Lastly, has anyone else noticed that since Nolan Ryan became president of  baseball operations we haven't heard much from Daniels? Is that a bad sign for Daniels?

As for Washington, he's managed a team that has led the bigs in errors and had the worst fielding percentage last year, not to mention that the Rangers had the worst ERA last year. Of course, is the worst ERA in the majors the manager's fault or the GM's? Or is it the players' fault on the team?

Needless to say, if the losing continues someone is getting a pink slip. I'd think it'd be Daniels before Washington, but that's just a guess.

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Rangers Win 6-5! Winning Streak Now Stands at 1!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

The vaunted Rangers offense was held in check for most of the game, sitting at three hits until the later innings (if memory serves they only had 3 hits through 7 innings).

Padilla gives up 5 earned runs in 5 innings pitched.

Silver Lining:

Rangers finally get some timely hitting in the 8th and especially 9th, when Young hits a walk off homer. 

Guess what? Rangers commit no errors and actually capatilize on a KC error in the bottom of the 8th on the way to a 2 run inning and tying the ballgame.

Sidenote:

Rangers are calling up top pitching prospect Holland from triple AAA.

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Rangers Lose 0-2

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Vaunted Ranger offense puts up the goose egg, wasting Millwood's great performance. 

Silver Lining:

Millwood pitches like an ace, again, albeit in a game the Rangers lose. 

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Rangers Lose 3-12

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud:

Early on (1st inning?) Kinsler, alone on base at second with NO outs, gets thrown out at third on a ground ball to the short stop.

Elvis caught between 3rd and home on a ground ball for the second out of the 3rd inning. Rangers strand two on 2nd and 3rd. No runs score.

Pretty much got out of hand after this.

So much for the vaunted Rangers' offense. Team batting average with runners in scoring position, to date, .226, lending credence to my contention that the Rangers pile on when nothing's at stake but, when they really need a run not so much.

Silver Lining:

Hammerin' Hank goes yard upper deck, trade bait?

Sidenote(s):

Didn't know Omar Vizquel was a switch hitter. Never followed him much having grown up a NL guy. So he's a switch hitting defensive  wizard? Cool. Future manager in the bigs?

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Rangers Win 19-6!

Kinsler hits for the cycle, pretty cool, pretty freakin' cool. Did I mention that it's pretty cool he hit for the cycle? Rangers put up a ton of runs. Too bad runs don't carry over into future games.

Glass Half Empty/Afternoon Cloud: 

Rangers' bullpen gives up 2 in the bottom of the 9th, good thing it wasn't a close game; Rangers give up 6 runs in the game. 

Silver Lining (I know it's weird to have a "Silver Lining" when they win but come on, it's the Rangers): 

Ron Washington is that many less losses closer to losing his job, if he pulls this out he'll be a manager of the year candidate; Benson gets into trouble early on and hangs in there, nice. No errors for your Texas Rangers.

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Contact

Don't want to comment on a post directly? If you do just click the "comment" link at the bottom of the post. You can even comment anonymously if you'd like. If you have general questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms or even (gulp) compliments just email me at the address listed below.

email : contact@thetexasrangersblog.com

Take it easy,

JG

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Why This Blog?

Short Version: Because it's written by fans, meaning fanatics. Not media. None of us that post here are journalists or media-types or part of the franchise. We're just fans, that's it.  And I think we all bought in when Wash was hired, I have a t-shirt to prove it.

Long Version: This blog/site is a place where me and some friends can express our hopes and vent our frustrations about the Rangers. DFW doesn't have to be all about football 24/7. And hey, if you would like to join in the conversation just comment on a post. The more the merrier.

In my humble opinion, the Rangers have historically been bad with the brief exceptions being a short stint in the 90's when they were under skipper (the late and great) Johnny Oates and general manager Doug Melvin, when they were good (good enough to make the playoffs 3 times but managed only 1 win in the 3 playoff appearances and of course never advanced; but, that was before my time as a fan of the Rangers) and of course the 2010 and 2011 seasons.  Other than that it's been poor.

As a favorite local broadcaster has said, this is a talking sport. But again, in my very humble opinion, it also lends itself to a fair amount of written angst and analysis. Thus, this blog which self admittedly is short on analysis and more just a place to complain about and root for the Rangers. At the very least this blog allows me to vent my frustrations about the team I choose to follow in this, "The Great Game." I moved to Dallas in 2000 and slowly have adopted the Rangers as my team having come from a city in Texas that does not have an MLB franchise. I love baseball and cheer for the Rangers now.

In late 2005 and early 2006 Buck Showalter was fired and Wash was hired and John Daniels replaced the terrible John Hart as GM. And they got rid of guys that seemed to be more concerned with their own stat lines than by the final scores of the ball games (see Texieria).

Now we have a new level of angst.  2 World Series (WS), 2 years in a row. Twice 2 outs and 2 strikes from winning it all in game 6 of the 2011 WS. That Game 6 of the 2011 WS is otherwise referred to by me as, "the game of which we shall not speak."  Sure we want a WS victory but, in my humble opinion, it's been a heck of ride going to two back to back WS.  2010 and 2011 just go to show that anything can and will happen in the great and crazy game of baseball.

And maybe, just maybe, this year the Rangers will once again find their way out of the wilderness of baseball mediocrity and they will make the postseason and win a playoff series or 3. Who knows? That's why they play the games and we watch 'em.  Because anything can happen.

Take it easy and go Rangers.

JG

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Rangers Lose, Again, For the 5th Straight Game

A 3-3 extra inning game (after the Rangers got to the O's bullpen early) is lost in the 10th inning 5-7 by Every-Day-Eddie. Remember Eddie Guardado is no spring chicken, he's been doing this since 1993. He's good to get you out of a jam against a lefty but, at this point in his career that's about all you can hope for from him. Common themes from the last few games? Poor bullpen pitching and bats going silent when they really need a run. But what's new? Remember, the Texas Rangers suck.

Silver Lining: 

McCarthy had a decent outing. 

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Texas Rangers Not-So-Fun-Facts

* The Texas Rangers have appeared in only 7 postseasons since the expansion franchise was founded in Washington DC in 1961 and named the (new) Washington Senators, and that's only if you include the one game playoff against the O's in 2012 (which the Rangers lost).  The new Senators moved to Arlington in 1972 and were renamed the Rangers.  And don't confuse this franchise with the much older, different franchise that went by the name of the Washington Senators who packed up their bags and moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1960.

* Even though the Rangers made the playoffs 3 times in the 90's (in 1996, 1997 and 1999) they only managed ONE playoff win in those series, all against the Yankees and of course never advanced past the ALDS.

* The Texas Rangers have not had a 20 game winner since 1998 (Rick Helling won his 20th decision on 9/22/1998).

* The Texas Rangers have only had three 20 game winners (Ferguson Jenkins in 1974, Kevin Brown in 1992 and Rick Helling in 1998).  Yeah, in other words no 20 game winners in this millennium.

* The Texas Rangers have NEVER had a pitcher on its roster win the Cy Young award in the franchise's history.

* The Texas Rangers have only had one rookie win the "Rookie of the Year Award", Mike Hargrove in 1974, and are the MLB franchise that has gone the longest since having a player win the award.

* The Texas Rangers have only won 4 postseason series since the franchise was founded in 1961.  Those four (4) series were won in 2010 and 2011.

* The Texas Rangers lost 2 straight World Series in 2010 and 2011.  In 2011 the Texas Rangers were twice two outs and two strikes away from winning the World Series in game 6 only to go on to lose the 2011 World Series in game 7.

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Rangers Comeback, Almost

Padilla gets pounded.  Rangers pull within one run, 9-10. Kinsler leads off with a double. Michael Young kills a ball to left-center. Inexplicably Kinsler is halfway between second and third base when the O's right fielder makes a great catch. So, Kinsler has to retreat to second base instead of at least being on third with one out or even scoring the tying run. Instead, Hamilton's drive into right-center field is wasted for out number 2. Jones walks. Wahsington calls for the double steal with 2 outs and it works (no strategic reason for the double steal unless Washington was trying to end the game right there, plus, Murphy was out at 2nd), for men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Byrd strikes out. Arrrrggghhh!!! Rangers lose 9-10.

Silver Lining: Crash Davis out of his slump.

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Rangers Blow Lead

Millwood pitches 7 scoreless innings. Ron Washinton then gives the ball to C.J. Wilson in the 8th. Two grounders in between Michael Young and the 3rd base foul line and an error by Elvis and the game is tied.  Madrigal comes in and gives up a 2 run single. Game over, Rangers lose 4-6.

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Ranger Lose, Barely, 3-4

So The Rangers get a better than expected performance from Matt Harrison and waste it. The Rangers seem to only score runs in bunches and cannot manufacture a run when it's needed. It was 3-3 after 5 innings. Then Detroit scores 1 run in the 6th. And that's ballgame. 

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