Series Thread: AL West will be decided this weekend

[WastinSomeTime]

Thought there was an outside chance at the WC, but sure never thought they would sniff the division. Baseball is a long long season and a crazy game where strange things happen, often.

Almost everything I read from anyone on this site was the Rangers may do something next year but probably not until 2017. I felt like we had the guys in the lineup that were very capable but they were doing so poorly at the plate such as Choo and Beltre. Then our BP was terrible. They blew so many leads in the 1st half. We knew we would get Holland and Perez back at some point but who knew that the pickup of Diekman and especially Dyson would completely change the BP. They have been lights out. And then the real Beltre and Choo showed up and Andrus started playing really good baseball and Odor got it back together. A lot of things had to happen and they all did. Really remarkable.

 

[romeo212000]

Hamilton in 2012 drops a can of corn and has every excuse under the sun for his bad play...Hamilton in 2015 sells out to keep the division alive and make one of the most important catches in Ranger's history.

He had no idea what he was pissing away at that time and wants it back so badly.

 

[romeo212000]

Almost everything I read from anyone on this site was the Rangers may do something next year but probably not until 2017. I felt like we had the guys in the lineup that were very capable but they were doing so poorly at the plate such as Choo and Beltre. Then our BP was terrible. They blew so many leads in the 1st half. We knew we would get Holland and Perez back at some point but who knew that the pickup of Diekman and especially Dyson would completely change the BP. They have been lights out. And then the real Beltre and Choo showed up and Andrus started playing really good baseball and Odor got it back together. A lot of things had to happen and they all did. Really remarkable.

Need Odor to get his head out of his ass at the plate. He's having some really poor at bats lately. Probably just a young guy pressing. Fortunately we've got veterans all around him.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Need Odor to get his head out of his ass at the plate. He's having some really poor at bats lately. Probably just a young guy pressing. Fortunately we've got veterans all around him.

This is pressure like he has never seen so I think you are correct on him pressing. That strikeout in the 8th was a bad as it comes.

 

[Bmurph]

Almost everything I read from anyone on this site was the Rangers may do something next year but probably not until 2017. I felt like we had the guys in the lineup that were very capable but they were doing so poorly at the plate such as Choo and Beltre. Then our BP was terrible. They blew so many leads in the 1st half. We knew we would get Holland and Perez back at some point but who knew that the pickup of Diekman and especially Dyson would completely change the BP. They have been lights out. And then the real Beltre and Choo showed up and Andrus started playing really good baseball and Odor got it back together. A lot of things had to happen and they all did. Really remarkable.

BP transformation has been remarkable. Its amazing how Diek and Dyson have changed that aspect of the team. Helped that Jeff stopped using Tanner as well. The progression of Kela and Tolley has been awesome to watch. Fun year, when there isn't a whole ton of expectations and these are the results you get

 

[Nightcrawler]

Need Odor to get his head out of his ass at the plate. He's having some really poor at bats lately. Probably just a young guy pressing. Fortunately we've got veterans all around him.

At this point, every team in the league knows Roogie is extremely aggressive. They've been throwing him balls in the dirt as much as they can and he always seems to be chasing. When is the last time you've seen odor take a walk? He couldve walked several times last night and probably 5 times against the Tigers if he laid off the crap.

 

[romeo212000]

At this point, every team in the league knows Roogie is extremely aggressive. They've been throwing him balls in the dirt as much as they can and he always seems to be chasing. When is the last time you've seen odor take a walk? He couldve walked several times last night and probably 5 times against the Tigers if he laid off the crap.

He was laying off them earlier in the season, but he's pressing.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

He was laying off them earlier in the season, but he's pressing.

Exactly. He was in a great way for a long time after he was called back up and pitchers have adjusted to him. Now it's on him to adjust to pitchers and on goes that cycle.

 

[saddles]

I certainly don't think this will be a factor for us this year, but MLB needs to change the way a tie is broken between two clubs when one will win the division and one will be a wildcard. There is no need for an extra game to decide that at that point. That kind of a tie should be broken by the head to head record first and then other tiebreakers.There is no need to play an extra game unless you are tied and one team makes the postseason and the other doesn't.

 

[jaar01]

Dyson and his sinker have really been huge. Granted Tolleson has done the job but not too many clean innings for him. Anyone else think Dyson could close just as well and maybe cleaner? I could see that role for him in the near future.

 

[DT LUNA]

Dyson and his sinker have really been huge. Granted Tolleson has done the job but not too many clean innings for him. Anyone else think Dyson could close just as well and maybe cleaner? I could see that role for him in the near future.

Certainly a possibility.

 

[saddles]

This from Jamey Newberg in his report this morning.

There were just seven weeks left in the season, and the Rangers, who two weeks earlier sat eight games out in the West, had won 12 of 17 since a 21-5 disaster at the hands of the Yankees.

There were seven weeks left, and someone asked Jon Daniels during the Q&A portion of our Newberg Report Night event how confident he was that Texas could hold on after actually climbing all the way back into a Wild Card position.

Always understated and chronically appropriate, JD paused. “I know everyone is all caught up in the Wild Card race,” he said without a change in expression. “Man, I think we’re gonna win the division.”

The room erupted.

I asked JD if it was OK if I led my report the next morning with that comment. No problem, he said.

The next morning he said he’d reconsidered, and if it was cool he preferred that I not put that out there. So I didn’t.

I didn’t ask this time.

 

[saddles]

This also from Jamey this morning.

In a game decided by two runs, Josh Hamilton — the man whose dropped flyball in Oakland was emblematic of the Rangers’ 2012 collapse — saved one run and drove in another, eliminating from the division race the team that was so desperate to get rid of him in April that they took care of almost all of his game check last night, paying him to make that impossible catch and drive in the game’s final run.

It wasn’t the same as freezing A-Rod to end the ALCS, or the Mavs finally taking down the Heat, but Josh Hamilton (20 days post-knee surgery) accounting for two runs in Texas 5, Los Angeles 3, helping send his team to the playoffs and making his primary payor’s playoff path a little steeper, was pure sports poetry.

 

[Bmurph]

This also from Jamey this morning.

In a game decided by two runs, Josh Hamilton — the man whose dropped flyball in Oakland was emblematic of the Rangers’ 2012 collapse — saved one run and drove in another, eliminating from the division race the team that was so desperate to get rid of him in April that they took care of almost all of his game check last night, paying him to make that impossible catch and drive in the game’s final run.

It wasn’t the same as freezing A-Rod to end the ALCS, or the Mavs finally taking down the Heat, but Josh Hamilton (20 days post-knee surgery) accounting for two runs in Texas 5, Los Angeles 3, helping send his team to the playoffs and making his primary payor’s playoff path a little steeper, was pure sports poetry.

Would be poetic justice to see him hit a HR off Weaver tonight and the Rangers take the division crown

 

[WastinSomeTime]

This also from Jamey this morning.

In a game decided by two runs, Josh Hamilton — the man whose dropped flyball in Oakland was emblematic of the Rangers’ 2012 collapse — saved one run and drove in another, eliminating from the division race the team that was so desperate to get rid of him in April that they took care of almost all of his game check last night, paying him to make that impossible catch and drive in the game’s final run.

It wasn’t the same as freezing A-Rod to end the ALCS, or the Mavs finally taking down the Heat, but Josh Hamilton (20 days post-knee surgery) accounting for two runs in Texas 5, Los Angeles 3, helping send his team to the playoffs and making his primary payor’s playoff path a little steeper, was pure sports poetry.

And how big was it that Josh Hamilton was in LF at that point in the game? Steve Dennis tried to be a downer this morning on ESPN 103.3 in regards to Hamilton but his counterpart would not let him. The past is the past. Yeah he messed up. I was so glad to see him go. But at 2 mill and the fact he acts like he cares then I say some people just need to forgive and forget. I say give him a chance to redeem himself until he proves otherwise.

 

[romeo212000]

And how big was it that Josh Hamilton was in LF at that point in the game? Steve Dennis tried to be a downer this morning on ESPN 103.3 in regards to Hamilton but his counterpart would not let him. The past is the past. Yeah he messed up. I was so glad to see him go. But at 2 mill and the fact he acts like he cares then I say some people just need to forgive and forget. I say give him a chance to redeem himself until he proves otherwise.

Anyone who lets their dislike blind them of the obvious positive impact he has had needs their head examined.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre showing no signs of slowing down in 2015
by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire

Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk and three RBI against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

It's safe to say that rumors of his demise have been prematurely exaggerated, as Beltre's been something not totally dissimilar to his old self in the second half this year, hitting .314/.372/.498 with 10 homers in 71 games. He's been particularly aflame in September and the opening of October, having driven home a whopping 32 runs over the course of 29 contests.

 

[Bmurph]

Rangers SP Derek Holland rebounds with win over Angels in final start
by RotoWire Staff | RotoWire

Texas Rangers starter Derek Holland (4-3) tossed 6 1/3 innings in a win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks while striking out six.

In his first outing of October, Holland did what he hadn't done since his first outing of September -- he posted a quality start. In the prior four games, Holland had been bombarded for 21 runs on 33 hits, so this was quite the turnaround. It's unclear whether that effort will guarantee him a playoff start, though, considering that Holland's second consecutive injury-shortened regular season ended with a 4.91 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Remember all the Team Nolan people and their anti JD stances? Wonder what they're up to these days.

 

[donaldson79]

This from Jason Stark on his vote for AL Mgr-of-Year and why.

AL Manager of the Year: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros
You know all that stuff I just said about Joe Maddon? A lot of it holds true for A.J. Hinch, too. I'd love to go back in time, slap a lie detector on everyone reading this and ask you all: Are the Houston Astros ready to win -- like this year, in 2015? What percent of you would have said yes? Ten percent? Four percent? Zero percent? I know I wouldn't have. I never expected this team to lead the AL West for 139 days. Or to be in position to play in the wild-card game with three days left in the season. A lot of things had to happen to make that possible. But the work of the manager is right at the top of that list.


To manage the Astros, you need to be able to absorb more data than the CEO of Intel. But you also need to balance that with a feel for the human beings who are asked to make that data come to life on a baseball field. And, as one exec who knows him well put it earlier this year, this particular manager is a "great balance of baseball and analytics, in that order." So as seriously as I thought about casting this vote for Jeff Banister, Paul Molitor, Ned Yost, Joe Girardi and John Gibbons, none of them changed their culture -- or their baseball team -- more than Hinch did.

My "ballot": (1) Hinch, (2) Banister, (3) Molitor, (4) Yost, (5) Girardi.