Texas Rangers 2016

[UNT90]

On June 26, 2016 at 10:53 AM, UNT90 said:

Texas has put itself in a very good position. Don't look now, but Houston is 22-12 in its last 34 games, including a current 8 game win streak. 

Things get tough for Texas from after today's game until mid August, when Texas plays 27 of 38 on the road. If Texas finish that stretch with at least a 5 game lead, they will be sitting pretty, as the remaining schedule has 30 home games vs. 18 road games.

Really need Darvish and Colby to come back quickly from... whatever is going on with them physically (has it even been called an injury yet?). 

Just about to come out of this stretch, and coming out of it in fairly ok shape. Although the way this team has played throughout is concerning, as is the inability to "get sum pitchin'" specifically starting pitchin', before the trade deadline.

If post-injury Colby Lewis is as good as pre-injury Lewis, everything gonna be alright. Guy has been an underrated rock for this team (when healthy). 

About to hit a stretch of 30 of the last 48 at home. Time to make some hay. 

[Censored by Laurie]

13 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Unreal....Cole Hammels pitches his ass off after giving up 3 runs in the first and our newly vaunted lineup can't respond against a guy who was 2-8 going in.

Zach Britton..from our little baseball town here in Weatherford Texas, comes in with his league leading 0.60 era and shuts it down for his 33rd save of the year.

Baltimore looks to be the team to beat going into the last 3rd of the season.

 

Rick

stop looking at win/loss records as a determinant of a pitcher's ability. Gausman is a very good young arm who save for getting beat around a bit by that Jay's line-up, seems to be getting it all together. 

and the "newly" part of that "newly vaunted lineup" provided both runs. 

as for Baltimore being the class of the West the rest of the way...ehhh. they're stretch run rotation is Chris Tillman, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Wade Miley and Yovani Gallardo. while I think Gausman and Bundy are turning a corner, I think Tillman is about to fall off a cliff and wouldn't trust Miley or Gallardo with important baseball. that line-up can certainly mash (tops in MLB in homers), but its pretty one-dimensional offensively and oh my god does it strikeout a lot too...Ks without drawing a lot of walks.

personally, I'd be more inclined to tip the cap toward Cleveland...consistently productive line-up...and an electric young rotation (though apparently one that likes to get shelled by the Twins). 

 

[UNT90]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

and an electric young rotation (though apparently one that likes to get shelled by the Twins). 

 

Wait... Are we talking about the the Rangers or the Indians? 

[FirefightnRick]

Finally a combined night of solid pitching by Griffin and some timely hits to get a win over the O's.

Man does that team hit long balls in that park.

And the Jays are holding onto a 2-1 lead over Houston in the 8th.

Edit: 4-1 Jays, final.

6.5 game lead in the west.

Rick

 

Edited August 5, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

12 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

stop looking at win/loss records as a determinant of a pitcher's ability. Gausman is a very good young arm who save for getting beat around a bit by that Jay's line-up, seems to be getting it all together. . 

 

I wasn't saying he is trash.  Going in he was 2-3 the previous 6 games, had given up 39 hits in 35 innings but made Texas look stupid last night.

I just expected more from our lineup.  

 

Rick

 

[FirefightnRick]

Congrats to Dallas Keuchel, with an  0-3 record and a 7.91 ERA vs Texas this season...(5-7 lifetime vs Texas in 18 games),...finally shows up tonight getting his 3rd win of the year allowing just 3 hits in a 5-0 complete game shutout.  

This was the first shutout by an individual of the Rangers of the season.

Back to a 5 1/2 game lead.

 

Rick

[FirefightnRick]

HWC!!!

Beltran and Lucroy says.."Jump on our shoulders men!"

Jeffress looks damn good.  Wished he was our 9th inning closer.  I suspect he will be before it's over.

Harrell got thru 3 2/3rds and walked in a run.  Got a no decision.  

Kela gets the win.  A solid night by our bullpen.

Back to a 6.5 game lead.

 

Rick

 

Edited August 7, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[EagleMBA]

47 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

HWC!!!

Beltran and Lucroy says.."Jump on our shoulders men!"

Jeffress looks damn good.  Wished he was our 9th inning closer.  I suspect he will be before it's over.

Harrell got thru 3 2/3rds and walked in a run.  Got a no decision.  

Kela gets the win.  A solid night by our bullpen.

Back to a 6.5 game lead.

 

Rick

 

Amen! Those last-minute trades are looking pretty damned good in the early going. At this writing, the Marinaras look like they might lose too.

[FirefightnRick]

Wow what a tough win today.

And Yu gets the shaft once again.  Pitches his ass off..gets more than 1.78 runs in support only to have Dyson blow it in the 9th.

We left 9 runners on base between the 8th and 11th innings...5 of those with no outs.

5 runs on 15 hits.  So it looks like our bats are starting to heat up. 

Matt Bush gets the win.

 7 1/2 game lead.

On to Colorado.

 

Rick

[EagleMBA]

49 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Wow what a tough win today.

And Yu gets the shaft once again.  Pitches his ass off..gets more than 1.78 runs in support only to have Dyson blow it in the 9th.

We left 9 runners on base between the 8th and 11th innings...5 of those with no outs.

5 runs on 15 hits.  So it looks like our bats are starting to heat up. 

Matt Bush gets the win.

 7 1/2 game lead.

On to Colorado.

 

Rick

We nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory today! I lament all of the things you point out. Don't look now but...that's only a 7 game lead...over the Marinaras! They have quietly been moving up on us. On to Colorado!

[UNTLifer]

Couple of observations.

1.  Gausman was effectively wild.  A little patience by our hitters and he would have been out of the game much earlier.  Not terribly impressed with him.

2.  So tired of watchi g us take a 4 pitch walk and the following batter swings at the first pitch.  Andrus did thjs twice last week.  Again, no patience.

3.  Thank goodness we didn't deal Profar.

4.  Desmond may be coming back to earth.

5.  Our bullpen has to step up.

[UNT90]

Well, the Rangers came through that stretch with a 7 game lead, 2 games better than I thought they would, and now play 30 of the final 48 games at home. Houston looks to be falling apart now while the Rangers have somewhat gotten it back together. 

Holland pitch a rehab assignment with no issues, so more pitching help is on the way. 

Look for the Rangers to make a big push throughout the remainder of the schedule and win the division by 10 plus games. 

Get ready for playoff baseball. 

[FirefightnRick]

Boyeee we stole one there!

We only had 2 hits off of Anderson going into the 7th.

Solo HR by Beltre to oull within 1.

A three run rally in the ninth capped by a go ahead RBI double by Moreland.

Deikman with the save.

We never seem to matchup well in Colorado.

One more game in Denver then both teams come back to the oven in Arlington for two games.

Very large contingent of Ranger fans on hand tonight in Denver.

 

Rick

[EagleMBA]

13 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Boyeee we stole one there!

We only had 2 hits off of Anderson going into the 7th.

Solo HR by Beltre to oull within 1.

A three run rally in the ninth capped by a go ahead RBI double by Moreland.

Deikman with the save.

We never seem to matchup well in Colorado.

One more game in Denver then both teams come back to the oven in Arlington for two games.

Very large contingent of Ranger fans on hand tonight in Denver.

 

Rick

That was fun to watch indeed! Good news - we put another game on the ASStros; Bad news - the Marinaras are hanging with us, only 7 games back and waiting to make a move if we wilt in the stretch. Oh well, one game at a time. We only have 49 games left to play in the regular season, 19 of them on the road. Just for fun, I played with the numbers: On the season so far, the Rangers winning percentage is .666 at home and .516 on the road. Nineteen games left on the road X .516 = 9.8 wins. Thirty games left at home X .666 = 19.98 wins. Rounding up, we project 30 more wins for a final record of 96 - 66. Go Rangers! Git 'er done!

Having said that, we know Banister will rest some of the guys after the Division is clinched and play some kids they will call up. But hey, a guy can dream.

Edited August 9, 2016 by EagleMBA

[mattmartin817]

Prince Fielder is set to announce retirement. Sad news.

[FirefightnRick]

7 minutes ago, mattmartin817 said:

Prince Fielder is set to announce retirement. Sad news.

Sad indeed.

Cecil played 13 years, 319 HR's

Prince played 12 years, 319 HR's.

That's crazy.

 

 

 

Rick

Edited August 9, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[EagleMBA]

VERY sad to hear about Fielder. Not much he could do about it when his body said "Enough!". Hopefully he will recover enough to live out his life with somewhat normal neck function.

[FirefightnRick]

Another come from behind win with 4 runs in the 8th.

Beltran, Desmond, Odor, Beltre and Elvis' bats came alive there to complete the comeback. 

I believe that's the 36th?

Griffin's roughest day in a while.  

Claudio with the win, Dyson another shaky, shaky save.

Back to Texas for two more with Colorado.

 

Rick

[Quoner]

19 hours ago, mattmartin817 said:

Prince Fielder is set to announce retirement. Sad news.

Hey @Rudy, do you think a different training staff would have fixed him?

[Rudy]

By now, no the damage is done.  I find it peculiar that he had no issues until he came here.

 

 

But, I know that's not the answer you're looking for. 

[Quoner]

42 minutes ago, Rudy said:

By now, no the damage is done.  I find it peculiar that he had no issues until he came here.

 

 

But, I know that's not the answer you're looking for. 

I was just looking for your response and you provided it. Thank you.

[FirefightnRick]

Yet another come from behind win over Colorado.  Texas' 36th come from behind in the 8th or 9th inning on the season?

5 game winning streak, 7 wins of the last 10.

If you've ever needed an answer as to what the addition of Lucroy and Beltran means to this Texas lineup,....tonight was a great example.

Lucroy with the solo to give Texas the 2-1 lead in the 5th.

Then Kela blows the save by giving up 3 runs in the top of the 8th for a 4-3 Rockies lead.

But Texas gets the bases loaded when the Rockies intentionally walks Beltran to get to Beltre.  Dumb.  You know how the song goes..."Ya don't pull on Super Man's cape"....Beltre jumps on the second pitch he see's, a slow curveball from Boone Logan and drives it past Adames to put Texas up 5-4.

Beltre ties Joe DiMaggio at 47th on the all time RBI list with 1537 RBI's.

No doubt this will give pitching staffs sleepless nights as this team gets more comfortable playing together.

Mattie Bush with a great 1-2-3 inning for the save, his first of the year if you can believe that?

Edit: We're up 7 games now, Seattle beat Detroit when Boomstick hit a bomb in the 8th.

Final sweat show with Colirado tomorrow at 1:05 pm.  Should be around 101 degrees at first pitch.

 

Rick

Edited August 11, 2016 by FirefightnRick

[GBarksdale]

8 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Yet another come from behind win over Colorado.  Texas' 36th come from behind in the 8th or 9th inning on the season?

5 game winning streak, 7 wins of the last 10.

If you've ever needed an answer as to what the addition of Lucroy and Beltran means to this Texas lineup,....tonight was a great example.

Lucroy with the solo to give Texas the 2-1 lead in the 5th.

Then Kela blows the save by giving up 3 runs in the top of the 8th for a 4-3 Rockies lead.

But Texas gets the bases loaded when the Rockies intentionally walks Beltran to get to Beltre.  Dumb.  You know how the song goes..."Ya don't pull on Super Man's cape"....Beltre jumps on the second pitch he see's, a slow curveball from Boone Logan and drives it past Adames to put Texas up 5-4.

Beltre ties Joe DiMaggio at 47th on the all time RBI list with 1537 RBI's.

No doubt this will give pitching staffs sleepless nights as this team gets more comfortable playing together.

Mattie Bush with a great 1-2-3 inning for the save, his first of the year if you can believe that?

Edit: We're up 7 games now, Seattle beat Detroit when Boomstick hit a bomb in the 8th.

Final sweat show with Colirado tomorrow at 1:05 pm.  Should be around 101 degrees at first pitch.

 

Rick

Thanks for these recaps for those of us who can't catch the games.

[Cerebus]

11 hours ago, FirefightnRick said:

Beltre ties Joe DiMaggio at 47th on the all time RBI list with 1537 RBI's.

For a little perspective:  This is Beltre's 19th year.  Dimaggio only played 13.   In addition DiMaggio lost three prime years (1943,1944,1945) to WWII service.  He would have been 29-31 years old in those years.

In the three years previous to 1943 he had 372 RBIs, so you have to imagine he would have driven in at least 300 in '43-'45.  He came into the league in 1936 so he had played seven season when he was called up for duty.  

In those first seven years his lowest BA was .305 and his highest was .381, he hit 219 HR and drove in 940 RBI, all while striking out a grand total of 196 times.

In Beltre's first seven years his lowest BA was .215 and his highest was .334, he hit 157 HR and he drove in 510 RBI, while striking out a grand total of 590 times.

 

Not to take anything away from Beltre, he is a very good player.  But there is a world of difference between a very good player and the Yankee Clipper*.  Beltre is a 4 time All Star.  DiMaggio made the AS team all 13 years of his career and was a the MVP 4 of those 13 years.

 

 

*Lest you think I am some Yankee fanboy, The Splendid Splinter was better than the Yankee Clipper.  *hides from Yankee fans*

[FirefightnRick]

..aaaand after battling back from being down 4-0, Texas takes a 9-7 lead into the 8th.

But Diekman and Bush had other plans and said eff it...it's freaking 105 degrees, we're outta here..and coughed up 5 runs.

A puke fest anyway you look at from a pitching' standpoint.

Up next, Detroit.

 

Rick

Edited August 11, 2016 by FirefightnRick