Examining Room

The home stand against the AL Central leading Twins and AL West rival A’s ends with 4-3 record. Not bad considering how long it has been since the Rangers have had a day off and that they continued to be without Ian Kinsler and Nellie Cruz. That is until you consider that they won four of the first five and ended the home stand with two disappointing losses to Oakland to shrink their AL West lead by one game to 7 ½. Did the Rangers do enough this home stand with a 10 game road trip that starts Monday?

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Knee Jerk City

So the Rangers had the sweep within their grasp. The fans had the brooms in hand. The ace was taking the mound for the final game of the four game series and what happens? A bunch of fans had to leave the park dragging their brooms behind them. The 6-4 loss brought out the worst in some fans. Heck, I even asked the Twitterverse to refrain from using the word “Cliffmas” until further notice. I lost count of the number of fans I saw wishing Cliff Lee was on another team. And in fairness, it’s not just the past couple of games. The Rangers are 3-7 in Cliff Lee starts thus far including the last four in a row. So the trade for Lee was a colossal waste of minor league talent right?

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Tags: Ace, Blake Beavan, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Josh Lueke, Justin Smoak, Matt Lawson, Playoffs

Dare to Dream

The Texas Rangers are two games into a four game set with the Twins. Having one the first two games of the series, the Rangers are now 1/2 game behind the Twins in the battle to host a first round series. On the next two nights, the Rangers will send their best pitchers C.J. Wilson and Cliff Lee to the mound. Do we dare to dream that the Rangers could close out a sweep of the Twins and take control of that coveted home field battle?

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Tags: C.J. Wilson, Cliff Lee, Colin Cowherd, Vladimir Guerrero

Unhittable Harden

I admit, I don’t know what to think any more. Yes, Harden hurled 6 2/3 no hit innings on Monday night. Yes, he struck out six batters. But in many ways, it was the same old Harden that we have seen and been disappointed by all season. By the end of the night, the Rangers had managed 8 1/3 no hit innings before Neftali Feliz allowed a Joe Mauer hit. But what did we learn about Rich Harden?

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Tags: Derek Holland, Rich Harden

Home Again, Home Again

The Texas Rangers return home from a rough road trip on Sunday night. After getting swept in Tampa, the team managed a split in Baltimore thanks to a 6-4 victory Sunday afternoon. It is always tough to win on the road, but you hope you can come away with a .500 record on those trips. This time the Rangers went 2-5 and despite being shorthanded due to injuries it is easy to imagine the record being a game or two better if things had gone just a little bit different. Even though the record took a hit, neither the Angels nor the A’s were able to gain ground as the lead sits at 8 games, just 1/2 game worse that it did at the end of play last Sunday night. But the upcoming week is significantly more important in terms of playoff implications.

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Tags: Josh Hamilton, Michael Kirkman, Rich Harden, Vladimir Guerrero

When Would You Worry?

Just when the Rangers had started building up a number of bandwagon fans, this losing streak hit. As a result, those bandwagon hoppers are jumping off and running to Cowboys training camp despite the fact that the Rangers still lead the AL West by 7 games. Even some of the more ardent Ranger fans are beginning to question the team. Far be it for me to be the voice of reason as few of you yell at the TV more than me (especially the last few days). But let’s reasonably assess where the team is and discuss when would be the appropriate time to worry.

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The Sweep

Yes, the Rangers were swept in Tampa. Naturally, there will be national writers start to question Texas and their ability to do anything in the playoffs. I will remind you again that this is a good team and while this series is nothing for a Ranger fan to be proud of, it is also not an indication of what this team will do in October for several reasons.

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You Know How I Know This Team Is Good?

After searching for a way to put my thoughts into words after last night’s loss I finally had to give up. Because it’s not just about last night or really any one game in particular in the last week. The last six games have all been fantastic to watch. I would submit that it has been better than any reality show and more unpredictable. Yet I can’t shake the feeling of walking away from half of those six games disappointed. This afternoon a realization struck me, but first you need the background of my morning drive.

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Fun Turns To Stun

Wednesday night the Rangers pushed their lead in the game to 6-1. With Cliff Lee on the mound, it seemed a certainty that another win was in the bag. By the end of the night, Lee had failed to finish the seventh and allowed four runs, the bullpen had allowed three more runs including the first blown save by Neftali Feliz since May and the offense had failed to score another run despite a lead off triple in the bottom of the ninth which seemed to guarantee at least extra innings when it happened. Holy cow! And on national TV. I would have taken a split before these games played out, but seeing how we got there, that loss is very dissatisfying. To be honest, I am still sitting here stunned an hour after the game. I’ll try to pull together some more thoughts before Friday. For now, let’s just try not to think about this one. Read the rest of this entry »

Now That Is Fun

Was there any question that was a playoff atmosphere? A near sellout crowd, good pitching, close game all the way. If there was any doubt, Washington showed you he was managing it like a playoff game by sending Feliz out for a second inning in the tenth. Wow! That was a fun game and it was just a glimpse at what it might be like in October. The Rangers came away with the win over the Yankees despite giving up the lead twice and here are some things to think about as we enjoy the win.

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Tags: Alexi Ogando, David Murphy, Frank Francisco