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So, I have this friend, who was in my wedding that one time I accidentally got married (I got better), who is a Yankees fan and has been living in Minnesota for years.  About a month ago, he and his lovely wife moved to Dallas.  His baseball life has basically the integration of this week in Texas Rangers baseball.  Even stranger: before moving to Texas, he and his wife were blessed to become parents of……………twins………….Minnesota Twins as a matter of fact.

Which segues us onto our topic du jour: Twins. 

In the 1300’s, the Catholic church believed that when twins were born, it was a sign of witch craft and that in likelihood, one of the twins was inherently evil and should be destroyed. 

In 1930’s Germany, Dr. Joseph Mengele performed medical experiments on 1,000 sets of twins, attempting to understand their genetic makeup in order to develop a process that would resulting in a quicker multiplication of the Arian race.  All but 200 of those twins died during the trials. 

Since 1980, the birth rate of twins in the United States has increased 76%.  Since September 1 of last year, the Minnesota Twins have lost 76% of their games. 

Moral of the story? 

Life could be WAY worse than losing back to back walkoffs to the Yankees. 

Keep it together, Rangers faithful.  

The Texas Rangers still have the best record in the American League, still have an 8.5 game lead, and still have one of the most entertaining lineups in all of baseball.  Are there areas which need improvement?  Absolutely, but the reaction to those losses was beyond ridiculous. 

For real, in real life, these are actual words written by angry Rangers fans on the internet after losing two games to the Yankees, in June, to cut the division lead to 8.5 games (names and Twitter handles redacted to protect the innocent……..errrr……..idiotic):

“Starting to not like this Rangers team. Hate watching chokers.”

“Awful performance by the bullpen again! Embarrassing!” 

“DFA Chirinos. Absolutely awful attempt to catch it. He does care about this team”

“Be sure to point out that right before the passed ball, Robby tapped the ground, he wanted it there.  Irresponsible pitch calling.”

What in the entire world is wrong with you people?  

Chokers? This team leads MLB in comeback victories.

Awful BP performance? They allowed one run in 4 innings. 

DFA Chirinos? I’m guessing maybe you don’t know what DFA means. 

Irresponsible pitch calling? Should all pitches be up in the zone during big situations? What in the world?

Things are fine.  Yes, the bullpen needs help, yes, the team needs another starting pitcher, but this team is nowhere close to peaking, the main issue with the bullpen is overuse, and the sky is not actually falling. 

Get. 

A. 

Grip. 

With that said, the Rangers now get a series that will pit the worst record in the AL against the best, You have to like Texas’ odds here, particularly with Perez and Hamels pitching in two of the three games. 

For Minnesota, they get back young power hitter Miguel Sano today from a long DL stint, who, despite some mental lapses, has legit power and can provide enough offense to win a game with just one swing of the bat.  

For Texas, Prince Fielder (yes, actual Prince Fielder) is swinging a hot bat since Banister sat him down for his “unplugging”.  His 11 game hit streak came to an end yesterday, but during that streak, Prince hit .368 with a 1.047 OPS.  If that man can even be replacement level, then this lineup becomes much scarier. 

Three games against the Twins may just be what this fan base needed (especially those who are also Mavs fans).  Enjoy your holiday weekend, and remember, even if the Rangers lose a game or two, being a Texas fan is not that bad (this year). 

You guys are never going to believe this, but guess what is in the forecast in New York for tonight?

Rain!

Hooray, get your rain delay theater entertainment ready to go, or I guess just be prepared for them to play through it, or even for Banister and Girardi to wrestle in the mud behind home plate.  There is so much potential for this one.  

If this one is played, then we will be treated to another edition of Ace Off Face Off, as Cole Hamels faces CC Sabathia 2.0 in the battle potential All Star lefties.  By the way, that’s not a misprint; CC Sabathia is once again the ace of this New York Yankees pitching staff, bringing a 2.71 ERA and 3.48 FIP into this game in the Bronx.  

You may be asking “how is CC Sabathia good again?  Is this 2008?” and I would say that is a fair question. But much like other questions such as why the Rangers cannot hit Jared Weaver, why did Ken Giles decide to give the Rangers billboard material, why do people insist on doing the wave, and how am I still allowed to write on this website; some things will remain eternal mysteries. 

I have watched two of CC’s starts this year and I have no idea.  His velocity is down and he changes speeds well, but nothing looked good enough to be lights out, yet the results are there. His K/9 is the third lowest of his career, and he is walking a ton of people, but inducing lots of groundballs while keeping the fly balls in the park.  

To counter Sabathia’s left handedness, the Rangers are doing with a heavily right handed lineup, giving Mazara and Moreland the night off.  Here is the way Texas will line them up this evening: 

1- Choo RF

2- Desmond CF

3- Beltre 3B

4- Fielder DH

5- Rua LF

6- Odor 2B

7- Andrus SS

8- Profar 1B

9- Wilson C

Well……would you look at that?  Profar scratches the starting lineup for only the 4th time in the last 12 games.  I like the look of this lineup for the most part, and I am perfectly ok with Nomar getting a day of rest, even though he looked much better at the plate last night.  It’s nice to see Profar back in there, but it would be nice to see him get a few more starts and even give Beltre a few more days off here and there, because even though we realize he is not human, he is getting to be an old version of whatever he is and those hamstrings will be very important come October.  

In case there is a delay this evening, the Rangers fanbase should be considered armed and dangerous following last night’s full on barrage of Joe Girardi facts as posted onto the Twitter machine.  Here are some of my favorites from last night: 

“Joe Girardi once asked his son’s teacher to cancel an exam after he answered the first two questions completely wrong.” – @Sunspots1

“Joe Girardi was on OJs jury” – @BYUArlingtonTN

“Joe Girardi still has an AOL email account”- @BottomOfDeOrder

“(girardi opens facebook) Click here to follow Nickelback (looks around nervously)(he’s alone) “hell yeah”, he whispers (clicks follow)” – @taddmike

“Joe Girardi stood outside movie theaters in 1999 telling people “Bruce Willis is a ghost! He’s dead the whole movie”- @The_Kingsley

“I hope Joe Girardi charges his phone through the night wakes up and finds out it didn’t charge”- @qbjerryjones

“I hope Joe GIrardi forgets to take his phone out of his pocket before he jumps in the pool”- @Shippyfunsports

And on that note, on to tonight’s game, where we may see more delays, more Girardi jokes, more runs scored, and hopefully another Rangers win, but no Kirby Yates, because he was just optioned to AAA following last night’s three HBP performance.  

Godspeed Kirby; we will always have last night. 

Do you feel frustrated about baseball after last night’s game?

Well good, because Steven Wright and his knuckle ball plan on keeping it that way for another night.  

Seriously, the guy can pitch and his knuckler is a different creature which has confounded all varieties of hitters all season.  Wright leads the American League with a 2.01 ERA and that stat can’t even begin to explain how dominant he has been recently or how frustrating he is for opposing hitters.  

While RA Dickey changed the thought process of the standard floating knuckle ball by adding velocity, Steven Wright has added an additional cut to his that helps add a late drop to the ball as needed.  Basically, he has made an adjustment to his pitches in order to make an unpredictable pitch predictable, but only to him.  Wright has allowed only 5 runs over his last five outings and has allowed only 71 hits to the 398 batters he has faced this season. 

This is your probably All Star game starter at this point, so don’t let your frustrated feelings go too far. 

To counter, the Rangers welcome back AJ Griffin from a six week long DL hiatus to face one of the AL’s top offenses.

The lineup for this evening is as follows: 

1-  Choo RF

2- Desmond CF

3- Mazara LF 

4- Beltre 3B

5- Fielder DH

6- Odor 2B

7- Andrus SS

8- Moreland 1B

9- Chirinos C

Mazara and Moreland return to the starting lineup tonight, despite left handed hitters batting only .172 against Wright.  Righties only fair a .219 BA against him, but that may have been enough to consider getting Rua and Profar’s bat back into the lineup for the second straight night.  Once again, Prince Fielder fills the 5-hole as the DH, providing him with ample opportunities to ground into bases loaded double plays or be unable to catch up with 87mph fastballs while Profar looks on from the bench.  

Big question this evening will be how the bullpen bounces back after last night’s rough outing.  AJ Griffin will be on a lower pitch count that usual being that it is his first start back, so the bullpen may play a vital role in the evening.  I would expect Tony Barnette to be unavailable following yesterday’s two inning outing.  

Cross your fingers, Rangers fans.  Tonight provides a variety of challenges, but if we know anything about this team, it’s that they would much rather punch that challenge in the jaw than to ever back down or quit.  

Grab a coffee or an energy drink, it’s going to be a late one. 

So………remember a month ago when the big pitching dilemmas were having too many starting pitchers and a struggling bullpen?

When a six or even seven man rotation was a thought that was volleyed around?

When the no lead felt safe after being handed over to the bullpen?

Man, baseball sure is a fickle game.  

Suddenly, the Rangers are facing a shortage of starting pitching arms and the bullpen has been adjusted into an unhittable force.  To this point, Rangers’ starters lead the American League with a 3.39 ERA, which far surpasses any expectations anyone could have put on this staff before the season. 

But suddenly, the injury bug has attacked.  

Today it was announced that both Colby Lewis and Derek Holland will be joining Yu Darvish and AJ Griffin on the disabled list.  Lewis, who has been the Rangers most consistent starter this year with a 3.21 ERA, has been diagnosed with a strained lat and will miss at least two months.  Colby has gone from throwing a near perfect game and entering the conversation as a potential All Star to being on the shelf and unable to even begin throwing again for four weeks. 

Derek Holland, as noted by our own Brandon Land, has looked uncomfortable in his last few starts and has altered his release point, which has reduced movement on his fastball, making it much easier to hit.   Holland hit the 15-day DL today with inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  

In additional starting pitcher injury news, Rangers prospect Mike Matuella, who was rehabbing from Tommy John, suffered a set back and it was announced today that he will not pitch again this year.  

It was also announced that Yu Darvish will throw a bullpen on Saturday, but is still 7-10 days from beginning a rehab assignment.  Saturday will also mark the return of AJ Griffin from the disabled list, when he will be rewarded by getting to face the offense of the Boston Red Sox. 

In bullpen news, Tom Wilhelmsen, who was released by Texas last week after putting up a 10.55 ERA through 21 games, signed a deal to return to Seattle, the team which traded him to Texas for Leonys Martin.  Two of the three players that came over in that deal have now returned to the Mariners.  

Major League Baseball is a long, grueling season.  Fortunately, the Rangers are in a position where they have plenty of depth within the organization to reload in situations like this through a combination of in house talent and trades.  At the moment, Nick Martinez, Cesar Ramos, Kyle Lohse, and Chi Chi Gonzalez are all in line to jump in and help out the rotation as needed, but don’t be too surprised if a move is made in the coming weeks. 

In JD we trust. 

Happy Father’s Day!

The Rangers are now the proud father of a six game winning streak, showing how balanced and deep this team is by sweeping the Cardinals by winning all facets of the game.

• Martin Perez came out firing today, was trusting his stuff, and hitting his spots.  Unfortunately, Perez and plate umpire Andy Fletcher did not frequently agree on whether or not those spots were actually in the strike zone.  It seemed as if Perez was getting squeezed early and often, which resulted in a slight change of approach by Martin and led to a higher pitch count. With that said, it was still not a bad performance by the young Venezuelan, who battled through multiple jams and kept the game close.

• Ian Desmond continued his ability to just making things happen.  In the top of the first, he reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, advancing to third as the throw sailed into centerfield. Desmond then scored on Mazara’s sac fly, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead out of the gate.

• Nomar Mazara looked like a man coming out of a slump today, making strong contact on his first inning sacrifice fly, then driving a ball just foul in his second at bat.  Finally, in his third at bat, Nomar drove a Mike Leake fastball into the bullpen for a solo home run, which gave the Rangers the lead.

• Offensive threat Mitch Moreland hit an absolute bomb today, rewarding Banister for giving him the start.  Moreland’s solo tank went an estimated 456 feet, nearly leaving the stadium.

• Tony Barnette and Bryan Holaday each entered the game on a double switch, with the bases loaded and one out in the 6th inning.  Barnette issued a walk on a questionable ball four call after struggling to hit his spots on pitches one through three, but that was all he surrendered.  The run was charged to Martin Perez and the Rangers’ bullpen has not allowed a run in the last 15 innings pitched.

• Jurickson Profar keeps proving that he is an important piece to a winning team.  The kid looks like the super hyped prospect we were all drooling over three years ago.  Jurickson entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning with two outs and the bases loaded, getting the chance to swing in what had been the pitcher’s spot. Profar drove a 2-2 pitch to left field, plating two runs and giving Texas the lead for good in his first pinch hitting appearance of the season. At this point, the kid is doing everything well, and as it turns out, the suspension of Odor opened the door for the Rangers to become a better team, whereas Profar still may not have gotten the call to the bigs if Odor wasn’t put in timeout to think about what he did.

• Sam Dyson came on in the 9th to pick up his 13th save and the Rangers hung on to take their record in one run games to 16-4, which is rather remarkable. Today marked the team’s 22nd come from behind victory, which is tops in the MLB.

• Prince Fielder received the day off today, without getting the call to pinch hit, although a few situations could have called for his services.  When asked about using Profar over Fielder post-game, Banister said that “he was the best guy we could put up there and to be able to control the at-bat”.  This is a telling statement by the manager, and props to Banister for going with the right man for the job.

• In minor league news, Joey Gallo was allowed to play baseball again today after being lifted mid-game on Thursday and subsequently receiving two games off for what has only been described as a “manager’s decision”.  Clueless on this one, but I hope whatever is going on gets straightened out quickly.  Joey’s bat is going to be huge at first base for Texas next year, if not sooner, and at worst, situations that make him look like an issue in the clubhouse will drive down his trade value.
   

• Tomorrow the Rangers return home for a quick one game make-up against the Baltimore Orioles.  Derek Holland takes the bump against the O’s, a team which he has had great success against recently, going 5-1 in his last six starts against them.  He faces off against Kevin Gausman, who has been recently struggling.