7 Thoughts After the Texas Rangers First 7 Games
The Texas Rangers are a full week into their 2012 season. It has been a good start for the 2010 & 2011 American League champions. Here are my key takeaways at this point of the season.
1. Confidence building
Starting the season against the Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners at home is a great way to bolster early season confidence, and register some nice looking statistics. Chicago and Seattle ranked 18th and 30th in the league in runs scored in 2011, respectively. As a result of the weak lineups, the Rangers pitching staff has an ERA of 2.57, good for 5th-best in the league. Rangers starting pitchers have pitched into the 6th inning in every start, and each of the 5-man rotation has tallied a win.
2. The 2 feels bigger than the 5
It’s a major positive that the Rangers have opened the season with a 5-2 record, winning both of the series they have played so far (taking 2 of 3 from Chicago, and 3 of 4 from Seattle). However, the two losses that the Rangers have suffered could certainly have been victories, as the opposition took the lead in the 9th inning of both games. Joe Nathan, of course, has taken the loss in both of these games, as I wrote about yesterday. The Rangers win expectancy in their two losses climbed to 63.9% and 92.8%, and certainly felt even closer to certain victory than that. The Rangers overall achieved a desirable result, but unfortunately dropped two games they should have won.
3. Taking care of business
Speaking of winning games a team is supposed to, on the other end of the spectrum is AL West rival – the Los Angeles Angels. Greeted with a similarly soft opening schedule, facing the Royals at home followed by the Twins on the road, the Angels failed to win either of their series. They are staring at a 2-4 record, and are headed to New York for a 3-game set in what will be the Yankees home opener. Poor hitting performances, defensive struggles, and bullpen issues have been the keys to the slow start. For a team with such high expectations after a big offseason, they will need to improve their performance against the lower tier teams of the American League.
4. The valley of the shadow of death
The Rangers next three series are all on the road at Minnesota for three games, at the Boston Red Sox for two games, and then at the Detroit Tigers for four games. The Rangers have a 1-9 record at Target Field in Minnesota, Fenway Park is always a difficult environment, and are 23-34 in Comerica Park (not to mention the Tigers look really good so far this year). This will be the Rangers first road trip of the year, and they have not been dealt an easy hand to play.
5. The Seattle Mariners
I walked away from the Mariners series with a couple of things on my mind. First, I am still very glad the Rangers never faced Felix Hernandez in the four game series. Second, that is a team that will struggle to score runs this year. And third, I am intrigued to see what the Mariners look like in 2014, as they have several good young pieces in place today that could set them up for future success.
6. Starting rotation
Colby Lewis has been extremely solid, and Derek Holland and Matt Harrison are picking up where they left off in 2011, which is all great news. Yu Darvish and Neftali Feliz were equally surprising and exhilarating in their starts, but for completely different reasons. Darvish struggled mightily, but battled hard to end the game pitching at his highest level in that game. Feliz settled in to look perfectly comfortable as a starter, despite not having started a game since 2009 with the Rangers AAA team. In their next starts, I am still unsure of what to expect from the two newcomers to the rotation. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Darvish pitch a very strong game, and Feliz struggle. It’s an exciting time to watch these two youngsters maturing on the job.
7. Fortitude
The Rangers have the look of a team that is going to be about showing up every night and doing work. Not since August 24th of last year has this team lost back-to-back games. Despite two 9th-inning losses this year, the Rangers rebounded strong to come back and regain control the next day. The experience and leadership in this Rangers clubhouse is a big reason for that resiliency. The Rangers appear to be at the special point when the team is veteran enough to know how to win battles, but not aged enough that any regression is manifesting itself in on-field performance.
Buy Texas Rangers Tickets | Buy Texas Rangers Apparel
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
FEATURED PARTNERS
- "Hot Girls" Make Rebecca Black Look Like Adele
- Josh Hutcherson Adopts A Puppy
- 63 Reasons Why Boybands Were Better In The '90s
- Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Divorce -- Reconciliation Effort Hits a Cold Patch
- Dwight Howard's Baby Mama Royce Reed -- Dear Judge ... Please Let Me Trash My Ex!!!
- Brian 'The Boz' Bosworth Sued Over Poop System Disaster in Mansion from 'The OC'
- This Is What the 2013 Coachella All-Hologram Lineup Looks Like
- Jose Canseco Uses Twitter to Creep On the Ladies
- Antonio Cromartie Continues to Prove that His Sperm is a Force; Wife Pregnant With Twins