Series Thread: Rangers to clip the Cardinals in St. Louis 6/17-6/19

[Godstree]

My dad and I got to watch the game yesterday. Man what a game that was. We have a team boys.

Need to get rid of some dead weight still but maybe with certain guys looming, it gives other certain guys a little bit larger incentive to hustle. And this team seems to hustle. They get a lot out of hustling.

I think I counted winning 16 out of their last 20 before the game yesterday so they are winning at an 80% clip.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

My dad and I got to watch the game yesterday. Man what a game that was. We have a team boys.

Need to get rid of some dead weight still but maybe with certain guys looming, it gives other certain guys a little bit larger incentive to hustle. And this team seems to hustle. They get a lot out of hustling.

I think I counted winning 16 out of their last 20 before the game yesterday so they are winning at an 80% clip.

We know the dead weight you are talking about. I cannot remember a Ranger team doing all the things needed to win series after series like this.

 

[Bmurph]

Thanks to a dramatic win, the Rangers are off to a franchise-best start
The Rangers turned a 3-0 deficit in the eighth into a victory, continuing what's been a magical season

• by Dayn Perry
• @daynperry
• 8h ago • 1 min read

The Rangers put together a dramatic win on Saturday. USATSI
The Rangers on Saturday topped the Cardinals by a score of 4-3 (box score), and they did so in pretty dramatic fashion. Take a look at the win probability chart, courtesy of FanGraphs:


Source: FanGraphs
So the Rangers were down 3-0 with two outs in the eighth, which gave them a 2.9 percent chance of winning the game. Texas went on to put two runs on the board in the eighth and another two on the board in the ninth. Along the way, the Ranger bullpen worked 4 2/3 innings of one-hit, shutout ball.

With that unlikely win, the Rangers moved to 44-25 on the year and stretched their lead in the AL West to 7 1/2 games over the Mariners. They're playing at a 103-win pace.

There's also this:


Franchise history dates back to 1961, so that's indeed something.

Then there's this:

Yep, nine straight series wins. They haven't dropped a series since way back yonder on May 17 (the A's wound up sweeping them).

Sure, the Rangers may have played a bit over their heads to date (they've outplayed their run differential and their batted-ball outcomes), but this is a team with tremendous young talent in place (and some on the way), a mix of mostly productive veterans, and a tactically gifted manager. As such, 2016 is shaping up to be a special season in Arlington.

 

[Bmurph]

TEXAS AT ST. LOUIS

• PREVIEW

Time: 02:15 P.M. ESTVenue: Busch Stadium

ST. LOUIS -- If there is a consolation to blowing a 3-0 lead with four outs left, it's that the schedule gives the St. Louis Cardinals little time to mourn arguably their worst loss of the season.

Another day game with the surging Texas Rangers awaits Sunday in Busch Stadium, the last game of a five-game homestand in which St. Louis has gone 0-4, hacking up eighth and ninth inning leads to cost it two victories.

Saturday's 4-3 loss is one that can stick with a team if it's not careful. The Cardinals (35-32) did plenty to aid Texas' comeback, contributing a walk, error, hit batter, wild pitch and passed ball.

"Over the course of the season, you go back and remember games that you felt you should have put away and this is one," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "It stings right now, that's for sure."

To avoid a winless homestand, the Cardinals will turn to right-hander Mike Leake (5-4, 4.08), who is 5-1 in his last six decisions. Leake sailed through an 8-3 win on June 12 in Pittsburgh, going seven innings and allowing only two earned runs while fanning six.

Leake has been as advertised since a rough April, ranking among the National League's top control pitchers. He hasn't walked a batter in his last two starts and has eaten up the innings St. Louis projected him to when signing him to a five-year deal in the offseason.

Opposing Leake will be left-hander Martin Perez (6-4, 3.38), who snapped a 14-game winless streak on the road Tuesday night with a 10-6 win in Oakland by pitching seven innings, giving up four runs off nine hits.

Perez will be backed up by a resourceful offense that scored all its runs in the last two innings Saturday. None of those runs came on a hit, as the Rangers scored on a wild pitch, an error, a walk and a sacrifice fly.

Second baseman Rougned Odor brings a six-game hitting streak into the series finale, going 2-for-4 on Saturday with an infield hit that started the winning rally in the ninth.

Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo's return to the lineup from an injury has only added to the depth of Texas' attack. Choo reached base three times Saturday, drawing a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the ninth.

Choo's patient approach fits well with a Ranger team that clearly isn't afraid to pass the baton down to the next man. Texas owns 21 wins in games it has trailed in this year.

"That's why we're in first place," Choo said. "We never think we're out of a game."

Saturday's win gave the Rangers nine consecutive series wins, a franchise record, and upped their American League West lead over Seattle to 7?? games.

However, second-year manager Jeff Banister isn't exactly breaking his arm patting himself on the back over his team's considerable accomplishments.

"I don't think they're going to give us any badges," Bannister said. "We've got another game tomorrow."

And after a come-from-ahead loss like Saturday, another game might not be the worst thing for the Cardinals.

 

[DT LUNA]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

 

[donaldson79]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Thank you, and same to you DT. Everyone for that matter.

 

[Duane1952]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Same to you DT. And to all the fathers on here.

 

[Bmurph]

Thank you and Happy Father's Day to you all!

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Choo
Desmond
Mazara
Beltre
Odor
Moreland
Andrus
Chirinos
Perez

 

[DT LUNA]

Choo
Desmond
Mazara
Beltre
Odor
Moreland
Andrus
Chirinos
Perez

No Prince is an improvement defensive wise.

 

[donaldson79]

No Prince is an improvement defensive wise.

Moreland has some some more spunk in his bat too, at least recently.

I'm sure thankful Chirinos didn't re-fracture his arm yesterday.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Choo
Desmond
Mazara
Beltre
Odor
Moreland
Andrus
Chirinos
Perez

Doesn't look like one of those " white flag" Sunday line ups we've seen the rooster trot out before. Leake is probably not as tough as the last 2 starters we faced, Hopefully the offense can get something going early.

 

[donaldson79]

The Suck Louis paper is saying yesterdays loss was the hardest one to swallow this season. Yeah, when you're up 3-0 with 4 outs to go I guess you expect to win. ha

Saturday's 4-3 loss is one that can stick with a team if it's not careful. The Cardinals (35-32) did plenty to aid Texas' comeback, contributing a walk, error, hit batter, wild pitch and passed ball.

"Over the course of the season, you go back and remember games that you felt you should have put away and this is one," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "It stings right now, that's for sure."

 

[Clayton]

What's the deal with Molina? He's hurting my fantasy team big time.

He is old and the Cardinals have been leaning on him heavily for a decade. He has had major signs of breaking down the past two years. His production has been normal as far as I can tell except for one difference: he is grounding into a lot more double plays. Pujols grounded into a lot of double plays when he started breaking down. Its why you saw some pretty silly hit and runs when the Rangers and Cardinals were in the World Series. My guess is that pitchers know what Molina is looking for because Molina knows the pitcher and the pitcher is just winning the matchup on a consistent basis because Molina isn't really at a point where he is a star hitter and he certainly isnt going to win any base running contests.

Leake is pitching better so I suspect todays game could be good. Leake has only been dinged for more than 2 Earned Runs once in his past 7 starts and that one game was against his old team in a park where he never pitched well in.

 

[DT LUNA]

The Suck Louis paper is saying yesterdays loss was the hardest one to swallow this season. Yeah, when you're up 3-0 with 4 outs to go I guess you expect to win. ha

Saturday's 4-3 loss is one that can stick with a team if it's not careful. The Cardinals (35-32) did plenty to aid Texas' comeback, contributing a walk, error, hit batter, wild pitch and passed ball.

"Over the course of the season, you go back and remember games that you felt you should have put away and this is one," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.
"It stings right now, that's for sure."

And who cares

 

[DT LUNA]

Nice start Choo

 

[DT LUNA]

Hustle is the name of the game Des

 

[Duane1952]

Good job Maz. Alright an early run.

 

[DT LUNA]

Belts

 

[Duane1952]

Please be good Martin.