Monday: Fearsome Foes

It wasn’t just the rarity of the sweep over the Angels--rather, It was that the Rangers went 6-0 on their last home stand. The force of the team was a like hurricane, sweeping through everyone and blowing them away. Then onto Detroit, and the Rangers get swept away themselves in three games that came and went in a flash. So, was it back to the pit of death for the Rangers, who suddenly seemed flat and anxious? Logic might tell you yes, as the Rangers have a propensity to be very inconsistent, but fact tells us the opposite, as the Rangers ended up sweeping their next opponent, the Houston Astros. So now, heading into the big Memorial Day game against the Yankees, the question remains: are the Rangers going to falter against good teams? Because there are plenty of them coming up.

Interleague Play officially began last Friday, but it only really gets going in the middle of June, when AL and NL teams oppose each other regularly. For the Rangers, their opponents will be teams from the NL West. Normally this wouldn’t sound very harrowing, as the NL West has traditionally been a weak division, but this year Texas has to play the Dodgers, baseball’s best team. Luckily they won’t have to face LA at home, where they thrive, and thankfully they won’t have to face Manny Ramirez (though the Dodgers seem to be doing just fine without him). But the Dodgers are just one of several challenging teams the Rangers must face in the near future. As I said, they play the Yankees at home starting today, and the next week they play New York again at their stadium (I can't wait to see what the Ranger hitters can do in that park--Mark Teixeira actually hit a broken bat homerun there today). Then comes the Red Sox, who are always a difficult opposition for Texas, despite the fact that the Rangers have a better record than Boston does. And then comes the first place Blue Jays, who may or may not be playing good baseball again when the series comes. Then Interleague action begins, as the Rangers play the Dodgers. Then to wrap up the month, the Rangers play the Angels, who will probably be playing with a chip on their shoulder. Then in early July, the Rangers play Tampa Bay, a definite threat, even though they’re not playing as good as last year.

After taking a look at the Rangers’ formidable opponents, it becomes clear that June will be most telling month of the season, because it will let us know if this Texas team is for real, or just a team that loves to beat up bad ball clubs. Even though they got swept in Detroit by three terrific pitchers, I'm slowly beginning to lean toward the former.