NEWSFLASH: We're Moving!

After several months occupying this site, Hello Win Column is moving to:

http://hellowincolumn.blogspot.com

We're excited about the move here at HWC. Nothing will be different at the new site, except for the URL. We hope that those of you who have been reading our work will continue to do so at the new site.

On behalf of Thomas, Jon, and I, thanks for reading. See you at the new digs.

Go Rangers,

John Paul

Tuesday: Team Splits

"Splits", for those who don't know, is the term given to how players perform in different scenarios. For example: lefty/righty, day/night, home/road, etc. Let's take a look at the interesting splits that the Rangers have formed as a team:

Author's note: all statistics are current as of 5/30 (when this post was written)

Home/Road:

The Ranger hitters at RBiA are slamming a .285/.357/.521, but away from home they only manage a meager .249/.294/.447.

The Ranger pitchers at RBiA have allowed a modest .277/.346/.448, and on the road they improved to .259/.332/.413.


April/May:

The Ranger hitters have been extremely consistent throughout both months of the young season so far, hitting .269/.329/.497 in April and .266/.326/.475 in May. However, over the last two weeks, they have only managed a weak .228/.300/.446.

The Ranger pitchers in April were 10-11 with a 5.70 ERA, but in May completely reversed course to 19-8 with a 3.61 line. They went from allowing .287/.365/.479 in April to .253/.318/.393 in May.


Number of Outs:

The Ranger hitters' performance worsens as the inning progresses (I don't know enough about this stat to know if this is normal or not):

0 outs: .288/.342/.555
1 out: .272/.326/.516
2 outs: .241/.313/.377

Strangely, the Ranger pitchers' performance also worsens as the inning progresses (measured by line of opposing hitters):

0 outs: .247/.320/.426
1 out: .294/.341/.415
2 outs: .265/.358/.456

Source: baseball-reference.com

Monday Movie: Ryan beats Ventura

Of course everyone, even non-Ranger fans, know about this, but some baseball moments are meant to be shared time and time again.

Monday: A May to Definitely Remember

Though the month didn’t end on a high note, the Rangers leave May in jubilee, as they finish with a record of 20-9. In fact, May was only the second time the Rangers have had a 20-win month in franchise history. The other was way back in 1978, when they went 21-10 in September. They go into June 10 games over 500 and with a nice 4 game lead over the enervated Angels, who were on the verge of falling behind the Mariners before their comeback win on Sunday.

May began with a loss, as the White Sox took down the Rangers by the score of 4-3. Then the Rangers went on a tear, winning 13 of their next 15 ballgames, bringing them into first place in the AL West. The only real dark spot on the month was when the Tigers swept the Rangers in Detroit. It seemed like a coincidence that the Rangers had suddenly lost ten in a row at Comerica Park, but after they went down to Houston and promptly swept the Astros, I began to reconsider my thoughts. The Rangers then lost two of three to the Yankees before taking three of four from the Athletics to close out the month.

The success during May was a team effort for the Rangers. No individual seemed to have their own glimmering moment in the sun. The hitters collaborated to give the pitching enough support, and the results were triumphant—most of the time. The Rangers’ hitters actually had a bit of a down month compared to April. Ian Kinsler lost it a little bit, Chris Davis got worse and worse, and Hank Blalock saw his average slide a little. On the other hand, Nelson Cruz really got going over the final weeks of May, and Michael Young stayed consistent. What I liked most about the hitters was that each one of them, regardless of their struggles, always seemed to pick up a hit in a vital situation: Hank Blalock with the game winning double, Chris Davis with the walk-off homerun, even Jarrod Saltalamacchia with the 2 RBI double in yesterday’s game despite the fact that Texas didn’t win. I can’t go further without mentioning how impressed I have been with the rookie Elvis Andrus. He’s been everything we could have hoped for and then some.

But it wasn’t the offense that carried the Rangers through May. It was the pitching. I was watching a game and one of the broadcasters reported that the Rangers had the fewest amount of bullpen innings for the month of May in all of baseball. That’s because the starters were going so deep into the games and they were going deep into games because they weren’t allowing very many runs. Here’s a nice stat: In 15 of the 20 wins, the Rangers’ allowed 3 runs or less, including three shutouts. To me the two key pitchers this month were Scott Feldman and Brandon McCarthy. Feldman, after filling in and then taking the place of Kris Benson (which is what I thought would happen), has gone 4-0 and lowered his ERA down to a comfortable 3.91. McCarthy has been equally outstanding, with the exception of a few rough starts. The most important achievement for McCarthy during May was that he was finally able to climb over his 6 inning barrier. On May 13th versus Seattle, McCarthy pitched seven innings for the first time as a Ranger. His next start he went seven innings again. Then he pitched a gem against the Astros in his next start, going nine innings and allowing 0 runs. On Saturday, he pitched six innings and only allowed one run. So in his last four starts, Brandon as pitched 29 innings and lowered his ERA down to 4.35 (it would be much lower if it wasn’t for one very bad start against Oakland earlier in the month).

To me it seems as if May has been a very long month, which is nice, because it’s made the Ranger glory all the better. It seems strange, but this has been the greatest month statistically for the Rangers since I started following them. It’s hard to fathom just how well they’ve played. And they still believe they can get better. June, as we all know, will be a challenging month. Right now though, I’m just savoring the moment, because the Rangers are in first place and it’s June 1st, meaning that 'early' is an adverb that can no longer be used.

Hello Win Column, Win #30: Rangers Hang 14 on Oakland

What an outburst . . .

Game Recap and Box Score

Is Anyone Still Watching? from Athletics Nation

"The first inning should tell you all you need to know about the A's offense. It is nearly impossible to receive three walks and follow that up with a double and manage to only score a single run, but that's just what the A's did. And what was a promising start to the game was immediately snuffed out.

Luckily, it wouldn't matter. Here's the A's pitching line:

Anderson: 4 IP, 8H, 6ER
Cameron: 2 IP, 4H, 4ER
Springer: 1 IP, 3H, 3ER
Bailey: 1 IP, 2H, 1ER"

Hello Win Column, Win #29: Let's Play Two: Rangers Take Nightcap 5-2

Game Recap and Box Score

Two wins in one day, that's a pretty swell deal . . . . The first excerpt from the losing locker room today has some love for Ron Washington . . .

Geren's Ineptitude Exposed Again In Doubleheader Sweep from Athletics Nation

"This double-header was painful for me to watch, but not because the A's lost twice, not because the A's fell 10 games under .500, not because the A's dropped to 10 games out of 1st place. The most painful part was the occasional shot in the dugout of Ron Washington, whose intelligence, intensity, and high expectations cannot be denied by anyone who has followed his career. The A's aren't going to win the West, so I hope the Rangers do - they were smart enough to hire Ron Washington to manage their team and they deserve, as he deserves, some success.

Chris Davis had struck out all four ABs in Game 1, and finished the double-header 0-7 with 6 Ks. He has now struck out a major league leading 77 times, including 23 times in his last 34 ABs. He is batting .194 and will likely be optioned to AAA. In sum, he is essentially, this season and especially right now, the equivalent of a pitcher batting. I was truly in disbelief when I saw this move [Davis being intentionally walked in the first inning] being made.

I'm sorry. Bob Geren is simply not fit to manage a major league baseball team. Even stupid managers don't make some of the decisions he has made - and it's not like his team plays good fundamental baseball, or exudes any noticeable intensity or joy in the dugout or on the field. A's players - who are both young and limited in talent and need every advantage they can get - and A's fans, deserve better."

Un-freakin-believeable; First of two goes as usual, second one looking worse from Athletics Home Plate

"*UPDATE TO THIS COMMENT* A’s lose second as well, 5-2
Game two’s fault goes 95% to Geren for intentionally walking a sub .200 batter who strikes out the most in the majors and 5% to pitcher, Gonzalez who gave up the tw0-run single that followed."

Hello Win Column, Win #28: Rangers Ride Late Power Surge to Victory Over Oakland, 6-3

Game Recap and Box Score

Let's hear from the losing locker room:

Open Thread: Game 46 - A's at Texas (Game 2) from Athletics Nation

"Josh Outman pitched great in Game 1, striking out a career high 9 in 6.2 IP and allowing just 3 hits, but was pulled after 101 pitches because Bob Geren saw a game that was becoming dangerously close to being an A's win and took swift and decisive action."

Un-freakin-believable; First of two goes as usual, second one looking worse from Athletics Home Plate

"Another wasted pitching performance by Josh Outman who got the no decision. Outman went 6 2/3 and allowed three runs but was pulled by Geren because there was a runner on first and two out… Oh no, not the ninth place hitter who is 0-2! Quick get Outman out of there! The best reliever (aside from Bailey) was used instead, for a third of an inning, nice management. Next inning of course the A’s get lit up, and eventually lose 6-3.

Two home runs off Santiago Casilla gave the Rangers a three-run lead in the bottom of the eighth. Casilla looked bad, barely able to find the strike zone. Why not use Casilla instead of Wuertz for one batter in the seventh and use the much better reliever for a whole inning? I know what Geren was doing, he was planning ahead for the second loss of the day."

Friday Foto: Do YOU Recognize This Team?

Look at how different this team is after just 2 years . . . . I count at least 4 players that are no longer in the big leagues . . . .

On an unrelated note, I still think Mark Teixeira looks like he's 14 years old.

Thursday: Hambone's First Pitch Hackin'

During yesterday's broadcast, after Josh Hamilton took the first pitch of one of his 4 at bats, Josh Lewin said:

"Josh is doing such a good job laying off those first pitches now."

Of course, this prompted me to check. Since returning from his mini-injury sustained by crashing into the wall in the Angels series at RBiA, here is how The Hambino has handled first pitches:

5/22 at Houston: Swung at 2 of 5 first pitches
5/23 at Houston: Swung at 4 of 4 first pitches
5/24 at Houston: Swung at 2 of 4 first pitches
SERIES TOTAL: Swung at 8 of 13 first pitches

5/25 vs. New York: Swung at 1 of 3 first pitches
5/26 vs. New York: Swung at 1 of 4 first pitches
5/27 vs. New York: Swung at 2 of 4 first pitches
SERIES TOTAL: Swung at 4 of 11 first pitches

Conclusion: In Houston, not a "good job". In New York, a "good job". Overall: still has a ways to go.

Something worth noting: when Josh actually puts the ball in play by swinging at the first pitch, he's hitting .350/.350/.714. This certainly suggests that, to a certain degree, swinging at the first pitch isn't alltogether a terrible idea.

What about all the other times that he swings and doesn't put the ball into play? He's already put himself down in the count at 0-1. In 77 plate appearances starting with an 0-1 count in 2009, Josh is hitting a paltry .225/.286/.380. (I realize that and 0-1 count doesn't imply that he swung at the first pitch, but I believe it is a reasonable approximation; if anyone has the data specifically for 0-1 counts after a swing, please let me know!)

The times when he hasn't swung at the first pitch and it has been called a ball (in other words, when he starts with a 1-0 count), Hamilton has hit .256/.333/.512 in 45 plate appearances.

It appears that being a little more patient can't hurt . . .

Hello Win Column, Win #27: Rangers Bite Yankees Back 7-3

Game boxscore and recap

This was the highlight of my research for today's HWC post: a contrast between Lone Star Ball's game report and Pinstripe Alley's game report:

Adam Morris (of LSB): "That was worth the wait."

Travis G (of PSA): "I can't believe I stayed up for this."

But wait, there's more from the losing locker room:

Wrapping it up from Texas from The LoHud Yankees Blog

"It would be nice if the conversion of Joba Chamberlain from wunderkind reliever to dominating starter was a smooth one. But he is a 23-year-old in his first full year as a starter. There are going to be bumps and that’s what you saw tonight."

After a long delay, frustration through the night from River Avenue Blues

"After sitting through a 145-minute rain delay in anticipation of a Joba Chamberlain start, Yankee fans on the East Coast sat through another three hours of frustration as the Rangers topped the Yankees 7-3. It was only appropriate that the last out would come on a called strike three . . ."

All Joba, All The Time… Well, For 4 Innings from The Yankee Scrolls

"Good morning Yankee fans, though I suppose it only will be if you didn’t stay up to watch last night’s debacle — a 7-3 loss to the Rangers . . . ."

Wednesday: Kinsler Down, Murphy Up

Ian Kinsler, who indubitably has a large ego, has looked embarrassed every time he comes up empty at the plate these past few weeks. The Rangers’ second baseman, who got off to a brilliant start, has gone off track to the point where we don’t believe he’ll come through each at bat anymore. Now of course we know Kinsler will snap out of it, but for now, with his average all the way down to 283, Ian is not a lot of fun to watch.

Last year Kinsler remained pretty consistent up until his injury. His recent struggles are bringing back memories to the 2007 season, when Kinsler had a few weeks in May and June where he looked like he was caught in a fog. That's reminiscent to how Kinsler looks now, too. I mentioned a few posts ago about how the Rangers are winning so many games despite their struggling offense. It’s because of the pitching, which right now has the AL’s lowest ERA for the month. It’s interesting how when the pitching is good, a struggling offense is often overlooked. I myself didn’t really notice Kinsler’s struggles until last week, when his average dipped below 300. Even now, as long as the Rangers keep winning, his slump isn’t a major concern.

The psychology of a struggling player is intriguing. When I was in Little League and I’d go in a slump, my coach would bench me so I could relax and take my mind off the game. To miss a game is like an ordeal, but when that ordeal is over, the reward of playing again is great. The situation for a slumping big leaguer is exactly the same. They don’t want to sit out. After all, how could sitting around sitting on the bench or playing video games in the clubhouse help improve the player’s game? The answer is easy: mind rest. It’s what everyone needs during hard times. Kinsler had one for himself on Saturday, and he hit a homerun on Sunday. Of course he’s still not hitting to ball to his fullest potential, but the rest still helped him in some way or another.

Ian Kinsler is undoubtedly one of the top five talents in all of baseball, an assertion that has been made by countless other beside myself. He has been highly touted by esteemed experts in the game, meaning that we really have nothing to worry about, especially if the good pitching continues.

The bad times of Ian Kinsler have been matched by the good times of David Murphy, who, since his 0-23 start to the season, is looking like the David Murphy we cherish. His average is only at 226, but if you consider the fact that it was at 0 for most of April, then it seems more like he's hitting 326. I also like the fact that Murphy is showing patience at the plate. In only 84 at bats, Murphy already has 14 walks (but it’s not as impressive as Andruw Jones, who has 18 walks in 69 at bats) where as Ian Kinsler, who in over 100 more at bats, only has taken 19 free passes. I’m still disappointed that Murphy isn’t getting a lot of playing time (though it’s increased greatly since he found his swing), but I also understand Ron Washington’s situation in that he wants to get Jones and Byrd as much playing time as possible. In David’s mind, he just needs to think that he’ll be getting much more playing time in 2010 because both Byrd and Jones will be free agents. There have been talks that Murphy could be used as trade bait during July. This is based off of his early slump and the success of Byrd and Jones. But since both Byrd and Jones will indeed be free agents next year, then dealing Murphy would be a major mistake (though I would like to see what Julio Borbon can bring to the table). Trade debates aside, right now we just need to be glad that Murphy is actually hitting the ball with authority again. Pretty soon we’ll be saying the same about Ian Kinsler, too.

Tuesday: Jarrod Saltalamacchia

One of the cornerstones of the Mark Teixeira trade, Jarrod Saltalamacchia was (and still is) expected to be a star. As we all know, however, he's had his share of growing pains and has yet to really produce a "breakout" season. His struggles are demonstrated in Baseball Prospectus' scouting reports:

2008: "Ignore the sub-par showing. Saltalamacchia is still a future star."

2009: "Salty might have not blossomed like the fully-finished prospect you might wish he was, be he's still relatively young . . . "

If you take a look at it, Saltalamacchia is a bizarre hitter. Why?

**He has been able to sustain a ridiculously high BABIP throughout most of his career: .388 in 2008 and .352 so far this year. How does he do it?

**His line drive rate is also quite impressive: 27.2% of his batted balls in 2008 were line drives, quite similar to 27.6% so far this year. Now, the question is, why is he batting .252 with his high BABIP and LD%? Read on . . .

**His strikeout totals are staggering. Not quite Chris Davis staggering, but still somewhat troublesome. In 2008 he struck out in 37.4% of his plate appearances, and 36.1% this year. When he does make contact, he's likely to hammer the ball, but he doesn't make contact often enough to do much damage.

**Last year, Salty's OBP was a respectable .352, largely due to his high walk total. However, he (along with every Rangers hitter) seems to disdain walking in 2009, as demonstrated by his .305 OBP so far. This makes a little more sense when examining his contact rates: in 2009, he has swung at 35.4% of the pitches he's seen outside the strike zone (up from 26.2% in 2008). In other words, he's swinging at bad pitches more often.

Overall, I think it's important to keep in mind that Salty has only had 687 career plate appearances (roughly 1.5 seasons worth for a catcher), and he's still only 24 years old. His improved defense has been well noted this year and gives the Rangers more reasons to be optimistic and hang on to him. Perhaps all he needs is some more time . . . .

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.

Hello Win Column, Win #26: Lone Star Sweep!

Final Score: Rangers 5, Astros 0

Game box score and recap

Swept, Shut Out, Shamed from Astros Daily

"As is their modus operandi, the Rangers used the long ball to score runs. Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and Jarrod Saltalamacchia took Mike Hampton deep in the first five innings. Hamilton was 3-for-4 to pace their offense."


This is Why We Call the Blog Disastros from The Disastros

"Ugh. I planned my afternoon around this game… And what happens?

Blanked by the Rangers.

Let me put that in context. Swept by the Rangers.

It was one of those games when we didn’t hit and we didn’t make any miraculous fielding plays either. It was one of those games when our starting pitcher gave up hit after hit and then our hitters countered with one pitch pop fly outs. "

Hello Win Column, Win #25: Rangers Seize Series from Houston

Final Score: Rangers 6, Houston 3

Game box score and recap

Interleague play boosts attendance from Spikes and Stars

"The way I knew this [series] was a sham was the FOX broadcast featured Josh Lewin . . . My experience featured the mute button . . . "

Rangers Swat Moehler, Astros from Astros Daily

"There was a time when Astros fans went crazy whenever a guy named Cruz hit a home run. But that was back when they wore bright orange shirts and played under a Dome. Now, it is Rangers fans than can yell CRUUUUUUUZ as they did twice on Saturday after Nelson Cruz belted his 10th and 11th homers of the season, leading Texas past Houston by a 6-3 count. "

The HWC weekly stattracker: take two

I had originally thought about attempting a write-up on Derek Holland's illustrious beginning to his major league starting career for this weekend's post... but a multitude of far more established (and intelligent) others, such as Jamey Newberg and Evan Grant are way ahead of me there. At this point I'm pretty sure there's nothing left that I could tell you that hasn't already been said, other than the fact that Derek Holland's transition to the majors has for the most part been awesome beyond my wildest dreams.

So instead I'll just roll out another edition of the Hello Win Column weekly stattracker, as I continue to try and tweak this idea further. (Bear in mind that as with last week, all the stats are a day behind (as of Friday) since Baseball Reference won't update with Saturday's #'s till extremely early Sunday morning.)

WHO'S HOT

Elvis Andrus
Season: .292/.331/.458 (105 OPS+)
Since 5/16: .389/.421/.722 (5 G, 20 PA)

Of all the pleasant surprises on this team in 2009, Elvis Andrus continues to be the biggest one. The eye-popping defense, all the balls in the hole and up the middle that would've been singles in 2008 (and for pretty much the last 4-5 seasons) being turned into outs, the second-among-MLB-shortstops 4.2 UZR... that was predicted, if not expected by many, myself included (okay, so maybe not the second-best UZR part, but you get the idea). But if you had told me before the season started that Elvis Andrus was going to be this teams second-hottest hitter for the month of May, I probably would've laughed.

Granted, his .328/.368/.547 line over the first 18 games this month is somewhat inflated by the dazzling 4-5 performance he turned in on Friday (that one game added over 100 points to his May OPS - and 60 to his season OPS) but that doesn't take away from how stunning it is to see a 20 year old shortstop who skipped AAA entirely is putting up a .915 OPS in just
his second month in the majors (it's still over .800, even without Friday's performance). And while you obviously can't expect him to put up insane numbers like that over the long haul, the thing to take away from this kind of a performance is that Andrus has yet to look overmatched against major league pitching - meaning the biggest, and perhaps only real reservation about his insertion into the lineup this year (and in the future) is fast being laid to rest.

Michael Young
Season: .345/.386/.564 (146 OPS+)
Since 5/16: .320/.346/.360 (6 G, 26 PA)

Another pick from the "pleasant surprises of 2009" category would have to be Michael Young suddenly mashing like it's 2005 again. Though Young's reputation may not make it seem as such, MY is having just the second truly great offensive season of his career so far, leading all starters in OBP and SLG (only Andruw Jones, who has just over half of the number of PA's has bettered him in either category so far).

He's been the kind of awesome you kind of wonder will continue - and hope and pray that it does. And if it's going to, hope and prayer might indeed be necessary. I mentioned last time how his acchilies heel has been hitting with RISP and men on base, which continues to be the case - turns out that might not be his biggest fault. Delving a little deeper, a couple things that raised my eyebrow: not only is he rocking the highest BABIP of any regular (.382) on the team, while he's also third worst in P/PA (3.54, which is 22 points below even his career average). His walk rate (6.3%) isn't really too far out of line with his career norms, but it's still his lowest since 2004 (and his career walk rates aren't that great to begin with). So don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm trying to hate on Michael Young - it's just that as great as it's been, most of what he's done so far has been driven by a high BA, which in turn is driven by a ridiculous BABIP, and the 7th-highest line drive rate in the Majors. Which makes me worried we're going to see him on the other side of these posts before too long (which, in turn, people will probably blame on his bum foot instead of his unsustainable peripherals regressing).

David Murphy
Season: .231/.326/.359 (80 OPS+)

David Murphy is a guy I probably should've gotten to in the previous week's stattracker, but didn't. Not to worry though, that just gives me more of a sample size to work with this time.

Yeah, the season numbers don't look like much. An 0-23 streak to start the season will do that to your numbers. Many a Rusty Greer comparison fell victim to that streak as well. Which is kind of amusing, because thanks to that streak, they actually might be realistic for the first time in Murphy's career. It appears being unable to hit the ball 23 straight times might've actually been a good thing for Murph, because it's allowed him to add a new weapon to his arsenal: discipline. His 12.8% BB rate is second on the team to only to Andruw Jones, and more importantly it's almost double what it was his first two seasons here in Texas. He actually leads the team in P/PA with 4.32.

And oh yeah, since that 0-23 streak ended, he's hitting .321/.375/.500.

That's right folks: the Murphinator is back, and he's reloaded. With walks. I never thought I'd say this in regards to a Ranger team whose biggest problem has been getting on base, but... David Murphy needs more playing time. If for no other reason than to see if this newfound patience is for real.

WHO'S... NOT

Ian Kinsler
Season: .287/.358/.556 (135 OPS+)
Since 5/16: 0.87/.222/.130 (6 G, 27 PA)

So yeah... I guess at this point Ian is no long "maintaining a torrid pace". In fact, he's gone careening into a brick wall - he sat yesterday, and I'm told you could almost see the little cartoon-style stars circling his head down in the dugout.

So what's happened? What was the name of that brick wall the size of the Hoover Dam? Well, as you may have heard by now: road trip!

For whatever reason, Kinsler has not hit very well away from the Ballpark in Arlington this year. In fact, with the exception of last season, not ever, really. He's a career .249/.319/.409 hitter on the road, and so far this year the split has been at it's most extreme: .165/.224/.308 in the road greys.

Truth was, Ian was doing fine up until our latest road swing - he was still hitting .302/.387/.556 for the month, and had 7 walks in his last 7 games. Since hitting the road for Detroit however, he's gone on a 1 for 18 bender that's sent those monthly numbers plummeting to .247/.330/.444. Our next homestand can't come soon enough.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Season: .252/.308/.405 (86 OPS+)

Saltalamacchia is really beginning to frustrate me. Last year he forgot how to hit for any sort of power and was terrible against lefties - but he learned how to walk and that, coupled with his numbers against righties boded well for the future. This year, he's forgotten how to walk and stopped hitting righties, leading to a small plummet of his OPS+. But hey, he's been great defensively... so one step forward, two steps back.

On the bright side, he is showing a little better eye of late... he has 7 walks this month after taking just two the entire month of April. That's still not nearly enough to fix his on base problems however, as his average has plummeted to .226 in May (from .276). Despite a crucial homer Friday, his slugging has plummeted too, down to .358 (from .448).

The problem appears to be that while he's maintained most of his patience (4.03 P/PA) he's lost his batting eye. His contact rate on pitches in the strike zone (z-contact% of 83) is actually up slightly, but the problem is he's swinging at 35% of everything out of the zone (career high o-swing%) and only making contact 41% of the time (career low o-contact%). In some cases, there is a difference between just being patient and being selective, and lack of selectivity is what's killing Salty right now.

Chris Davis
Season: .209/.272/.453 (86 OPS+)
Since 5/16: .000/.100/.000 (6 games, 20 PA)

So much for Chris Davis's May rally. Since we looked at him last time, Davis has dropped into an 0 for 18 (it's actually up to 0-22 after yesterday) slump that has dropped him back to square one, and people back to questioning his ability to hit major league pitching. I don't really know what to say about Davis at this point except you still have to stay the course with him for the time being, IMO - he's still been stellar defensively at least, and Hank Blalock still sucks at getting on base too (although his 3-4 yesterday will have helped that some).

I'm just going to to stay patient, and enjoy wincing in pain at those mind-bending splits he does on the receiving end of Elvis Andrus throws for now. Either Davis will break out of his sophomore slump over the summer, and we'll have one helluva young 1B/DH combo with him and Justin Smoak... or Smoak will simply arise to the throne himself once he's ready. Either way, the outcome doesn't seem like a bad one.

Hello Win Column, Win #24: Rangers End Losing Streak in Extras in Houston

Derek Holland looks good in his first major league start, Elvis Andrus goes 4 for 5. Is the future here already?

Game boxscore and recap

I didn't find many recaps of the game in the Astros blogosphere, but there were a multitude of humorous game previews (I'll update as game recaps are posted, if at all):

(Game Preview) Texas Rangers at Houston Astros, May 22, 2009 7:05 PM CDT from Crawfish Boxes

"Paulino is facing off against one of the best offenses in MLB, so run prevention will be of the utmost importance. A few of these games each year turn into ridiculous football type score games, so it'd be nice to start off with a well pitched game from our young righty."

(Game Preview) I Shot JR, Bitch: Rangers @ Astros Preview from Spikes and Stars

". . . Since Dallas always shows such great hospitality (cough), it’s high time that we hospitalized them . . . .

They stole Nolan Ryan. F*ckers."

Hello Win Column, Win #23: Rangers in the Outfield: SWEEP!

The story of this game? Josh Hamilton's unbelievable catch at the wall.

Game box score and recap

Halos Lose and Swept by the Rangers from Halos Heaven

"Halos got swept by the Rangers. What a bummer, total bummer. Clearly, the Rangers were the better team . . .

In the past we were able to get by with small ball and keep the game close and trust our bullpen, but Scioscia clearly does not trust the pen anymore and has abandoned his own philosophy, in regards to this. The starters have not been the problem. The problem; the Angels Achilles heal, their offense and now compounded by their bullpen. What can we do to fix this? I don't know . . .

We got beat by the Rangers this weekend who both played small ball and hit for power and to pour salt in our wounds, they showed every glaring weakness this Angels roster has."

Friday Foto: Executive Privilege

From a purely non-political standpoint, I always loved that the President of the United States was a Rangers fan.

Wednesday: From Bad Times to Good Times

One has to admit that it is a ton of fun sitting around at a table with a group of friends and dirt talking about how terrible the local sports team is. But in our inner selves, we all know that what feels truly wonderful is being able to examine the ingredients that make a star team so special. In the past, we would be talking about the former, but as of right now, only the latter can come to mind for the assiduous Texas Rangers. With the exception of last night’s slight debacle (though Brandon McCarthy gave us hope for the second start in a row), the last few weeks have perhaps been the greatest showcase of great baseball we’ve seen from the Rangers in recent history.

It wasn’t even that long ago that we were feeling frustrated about this team, and then, like a blot from the blue, they came out and surprised everyone. “Shocked” might actually be a more appropriate word. What’s really incredible is that the Rangers seemed to have such a degrading morale during the middle weeks of April. I think what turned them around was confidence. Confidence is what made this team come to life. The talent was there; it’s just that they (and I know this is one of the most painful clichés in history) didn’t believe in themselves.

With a lead as high as 41/2 games, the Rangers have begun to generate a buzz around the Metroplex, as fans are beginning to assemble into the stadium at great speed. If my calculations are correct, the attendance during the Angels series over the weekend was highest total since 2004. Funny how this year is beginning to look a lot like that magical 2004 season, too. Not are the local fans recognizing the Rangers, but I think they’re beginning to make a national presence as well. Many know about the Rangers’ farm system seeing as they were ranked number 1 in all of baseball, but now people everywhere are beginning the see what is actually on display on the big league field.

There have been numerous moments of utter joy while watching this amazing Ranger run, and of all of them, I think the best has been listening to Eric Nadel’s voice on the radio. Eric, the most underappreciated broadcaster in the game, has always done a great job of covering up his disappointment when the Rangers don’t fulfill certain expectations. Well right now, he is letting the world know how thrilled he is to be a part of this team. The exuberance in his voice is electric, and he sounds happier than ever before, well, at least since I’ve become a Rangers fan. Hey, even Dave Barnett sounds excited.

Of all the Rangers that have been thriving during this hot streak, the most fun to watch has been Michael Young. He is having a monster of a month, and could very well end up with the player of the month honors if he keeps up his hot hitting. The only thing I lament over is that I traded him away on my fantasy baseball team. However, with the exception of Young, not a lot of the Rangers are hitting like they’re capable of during this spurt of great baseball. Ian Kinsler is playing solid, but not great, Chris Davis is still mediocre, Josh Hamilton has missed most of the games, David Murphy has been so-so, and Hank Blalock is hitting in the 230s, despite his 10 homeruns. Also, Nelson Cruz seems to have forgotten how to hit a long ball. But it actually feels nice to talk about something else than a blazing offense. That something else is the pitching. The team ERA has plummeted down to sixth in the league, and everyone seems to be going at least six innings. The bullpen has also been terrific. Frank Francisco unfortunately landed on the DL, but CJ Wilson has done a very nice job of filling in. Also, Darren O’Day has been one of the better stories of the bullpen this year, as he’s done everything the Rangers could want. And then there’s Derek Holland, who, despite one rough spot, has been pitching like a veteran All Star.

I said before, I want to see the Rangers keep this good baseball going through June before I accept the fact that they really are going for a spot in the playoffs. But for now, since it’s still May, I’m just enjoying this stretch of pure gold, chatting with friends about the glory of it all, and hoping that the Rangers can refute Benjamin Button’s line.