Your Texas Rangers are 2015 AL West Champions!

[saddles]

You mean he has gone from taken the day off to taking the entire series off? Just kidding. Seriously, is Buehrle actually not pitching in the series?

I heard that on the radio yesterday.

 

[romeo212000]

I thought my GF was just doing a bit and screwing with me but ya we will not see Beuhrle. Really odd/interesting way to go out.

Blue Jays P Mark Buehrle to retire after Sunday

That works in our favor. That guy eats us alive.

 

[DT LUNA]

That absolutely false. Colby has absolutely shut down opposing teams throughout his playoff career and has not had "shut down stuff" since he came back to the Rangers from Japan. Hell, just this season Colby took a no-hitter into the 8th inning. You're way off base here.

Here is a different take on it. Let's go with what got us here. Derek and Perez were not here much of the season and Colby was and quite successful I might add. So my vote for Colby is in place. The choice between Derek and Martin is the tough one. I vote for Derek because of experience. If Martin gets the nod, not bad for sure.

 

[saddles]

That works in our favor. That guy eats us alive.

He used to. His ERAs the past 2 seasons against us have been 4.97 and 4.85.

 

[donaldson79]

I heard that on the radio yesterday.

I think I read/heard that he's not even going to be on the roster for the post season, much less start against us.

 

[Kelleyman]

We have two starters named. I think all our reg season starters are on playoff roster which leaves Martinez off. Interesting OF situation if bringing on 14 position players including DH. Nap and Alberto and catcher are a given leaving 2. Stubbs is in for speed CF. I think they keep Venable for defense in LF which leaves Gallo out. Shawn, Dyson, Deikman,Kela are obviously in. 2 spots remain. For this series I keep Faulkner only true lefty and the final spot probably Ohkendorf to bridge unless they want Cheech as long relief insurance too. Just and opinion

Now who starts game 3. I wonder if it depends if Gallardo tanks early. We may need a Perez or Colby. I think Dutch starts one game. Poise is not an issue with him or Colby. Just if he is able to execute

 

[DT LUNA]

So the Astros move on winning on the road when so many said they could not do it. That's baseball

 

[WastinSomeTime]

So the Astros move on winning on the road when so many said they could not do it. That's baseball

I saw a commercial for that WC game yesterday and it showed 3 or 4 Yankees and nothing about the Astros except Astros vs Yankees tonight on ESPN. I thought if I was an Astro fan that really would have ticked me off.

 

[donaldson79]

This is well worth a few minutes of everyones time.

Grant: How his listening ability helped Banister's growth in Rangers' division-winning season

 

[romeo212000]

Seriously, fuck MLB. I won't be able to watch either of the first two games. Seriously, an 11 am ct start time? Are you kidding me with this shit?

 

[DT LUNA]

Do any of you know what odds Vegas is quoting? I'm way ahead of myself but IMO if we win the Jay's series, we have a good shot for all the marbles. Why not? We are not even supposed to be in Toronto. It's been a fairy tale come true thus far and I will keep believing until we run out the rope.

 

[saddles]

Here are some of Jamey Newberg's notes this morning.

David Price gets the ball for the Jays, and he faces a Rangers team that he’s had more trouble with than any regular opponent over his career, in both the regular season (3-4, 5.15 ERA, .270/.330/.403 slash) and the playoffs (0-3, 4.66 ERA, .296/.305/.444 slash). Elvis Andrus (.429/.535/.429 in 43 regular season plate appearances against Price), Adrian Beltre (.306/.306/.583 in 36 plate appearances), and Mike Napoli (.263/.317/.474 in 41 plate appearances) have also faced Price in a combined five playoff games, hitting safely in all five games (a robust 8 for 21). Shin-Soo Choo is a .316 hitter against Price (though over only 21 plate appearances).


On the subject of which Rangers starter might be available out of the pen tomorrow, Jeff Banister told MLB Network Radio on Monday that “we like what Martin Perez can do — there’s a good chance you’ll see three lefties in there” as part of the Texas rotation in this series.

Would Texas really leave Lewis out of the contracted rotation, in spite of his tremendous season and his strong post-season track record (4-1, 2.34 in eight starts, .178/.275/.344 slash)?

The fact is that Lewis has struggled in his last two starts and was beat up by the Jays a bit in late August, while Perez has been sharp in his last two outings and three of four. On the other hand, Lewis is unflappable and has routinely risen to the occasion in October for this team, while Perez has been prone this season to a loss of composure on occasion when things threaten to unravel.


Much was made yesterday of the fact that you could count on zero hands the number of ESPN’s 23 expert baseball analysts who are picking Texas to win the series with the Jays. Toronto 23, Texas 0.

There’s no doubt that the Jays are running a historically explosive lineup out there. They have a legitimate Cy Young candidate slated to pitch twice in the best-of-five, if needed. They’ve been the hottest team in baseball over the second half, and have home field. It would be silly to think the Rangers would be the favorite, even as strong as their last couple months have been.

But not one analyst out of 23 willing to go out on that limb? None of the other Division Series had similar unanimity.


Mitch Moreland may sit against Price and he almost certainly won’t get the props from the national broadcast that he deserves. He’s been counted out repeatedly over his career, before quietly putting things together in 2015. I hope he does huge things in this series and quiets the critics.

What do these players have in common: Beltre, Albert Pujols, Jose Altuve, Adam Jones, Todd Frazier, Kyle Seager, Robinson Cano, and Troy Tulowitzki?

Moreland out-OPS’d every one of them in 2015.


There may or may not be a minor league coach in the Rogers Centre stands these next two afternoons named Tom Signore. If you’ve never heard of him, you’re excused. There are probably lots of diehard Blue Jays fans unfamiliar with the 53-year-old.

But he’s the man who may have played the biggest role in turning Sam Dyson from a fourth-round pick who had shoulder surgery and elbow surgery as a pro before throwing his first minor league pitch into what he is now.

Signore was the pitching coach for the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2012, Dyson’s second stop in his first pro season on a mound. Dyson featured a sinking fastball when Toronto drafted him in 2010 out of the University of South Carolina, but it wasn’t until Signore started working with the righthander that he began to manipulate the ball differently in his hand and develop the devastating heavy fastball that may be the most dominant pitch on the staff that Texas takes into this series.


I’m a little worried about Rougned Odor, not so much because he hit .172/.209/.359 over his final 17 games and had a handful of errors and other mistakes that didn’t register in the box score.

I’m a little worried because he’s shown a tendency to try and be really big in situations that don’t necessarily call for it, and while Texas has always believed heavily in adding players who have never won and bring that extra hunger to the team (veterans Beltre, Choo, Napoli, Joe Nathan), Odor has never tasted the playoffs and I fear he’s going to try and hit six-run home runs with the bases empty.
Vince Gennaro, a SABR guy who shows up on MLB Network on occasion, talked this week about players with big swings who often struggle in the post-season because the number five starters and middle relievers against whom they often do lots of their in-season damage tend to gather dust in the playoffs. He mentioned Josh Hamilton as an example, and it prompted me to look up Prince Fielder’s post-season numbers, which it turns out are not pretty (.194/.287/.333 in 164 plate appearances). I think Odor probably fits the profile, too, as much as I hope I’m wrong about that.

Slow the game down, man, just a little. Just be Rougie.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Here are some of Jamey Newberg's notes this morning.

David Price gets the ball for the Jays, and he faces a Rangers team that he’s had more trouble with than any regular opponent over his career, in both the regular season (3-4, 5.15 ERA, .270/.330/.403 slash) and the playoffs (0-3, 4.66 ERA, .296/.305/.444 slash). Elvis Andrus (.429/.535/.429 in 43 regular season plate appearances against Price), Adrian Beltre (.306/.306/.583 in 36 plate appearances), and Mike Napoli (.263/.317/.474 in 41 plate appearances) have also faced Price in a combined five playoff games, hitting safely in all five games (a robust 8 for 21). Shin-Soo Choo is a .316 hitter against Price (though over only 21 plate appearances).


On the subject of which Rangers starter might be available out of the pen tomorrow, Jeff Banister told MLB Network Radio on Monday that “we like what Martin Perez can do — there’s a good chance you’ll see three lefties in there” as part of the Texas rotation in this series.

Would Texas really leave Lewis out of the contracted rotation, in spite of his tremendous season and his strong post-season track record (4-1, 2.34 in eight starts, .178/.275/.344 slash)?

The fact is that Lewis has struggled in his last two starts and was beat up by the Jays a bit in late August, while Perez has been sharp in his last two outings and three of four. On the other hand, Lewis is unflappable and has routinely risen to the occasion in October for this team, while Perez has been prone this season to a loss of composure on occasion when things threaten to unravel.


Much was made yesterday of the fact that you could count on zero hands the number of ESPN’s 23 expert baseball analysts who are picking Texas to win the series with the Jays. Toronto 23, Texas 0.

There’s no doubt that the Jays are running a historically explosive lineup out there. They have a legitimate Cy Young candidate slated to pitch twice in the best-of-five, if needed. They’ve been the hottest team in baseball over the second half, and have home field. It would be silly to think the Rangers would be the favorite, even as strong as their last couple months have been.

But not one analyst out of 23 willing to go out on that limb? None of the other Division Series had similar unanimity.


Mitch Moreland may sit against Price and he almost certainly won’t get the props from the national broadcast that he deserves. He’s been counted out repeatedly over his career, before quietly putting things together in 2015. I hope he does huge things in this series and quiets the critics.

What do these players have in common: Beltre, Albert Pujols, Jose Altuve, Adam Jones, Todd Frazier, Kyle Seager, Robinson Cano, and Troy Tulowitzki?

Moreland out-OPS’d every one of them in 2015.


There may or may not be a minor league coach in the Rogers Centre stands these next two afternoons named Tom Signore. If you’ve never heard of him, you’re excused. There are probably lots of diehard Blue Jays fans unfamiliar with the 53-year-old.

But he’s the man who may have played the biggest role in turning Sam Dyson from a fourth-round pick who had shoulder surgery and elbow surgery as a pro before throwing his first minor league pitch into what he is now.

Signore was the pitching coach for the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2012, Dyson’s second stop in his first pro season on a mound. Dyson featured a sinking fastball when Toronto drafted him in 2010 out of the University of South Carolina, but it wasn’t until Signore started working with the righthander that he began to manipulate the ball differently in his hand and develop the devastating heavy fastball that may be the most dominant pitch on the staff that Texas takes into this series.


I’m a little worried about Rougned Odor, not so much because he hit .172/.209/.359 over his final 17 games and had a handful of errors and other mistakes that didn’t register in the box score.

I’m a little worried because he’s shown a tendency to try and be really big in situations that don’t necessarily call for it, and while Texas has always believed heavily in adding players who have never won and bring that extra hunger to the team (veterans Beltre, Choo, Napoli, Joe Nathan), Odor has never tasted the playoffs and I fear he’s going to try and hit six-run home runs with the bases empty.
Vince Gennaro, a SABR guy who shows up on MLB Network on occasion, talked this week about players with big swings who often struggle in the post-season because the number five starters and middle relievers against whom they often do lots of their in-season damage tend to gather dust in the playoffs. He mentioned Josh Hamilton as an example, and it prompted me to look up Prince Fielder’s post-season numbers, which it turns out are not pretty (.194/.287/.333 in 164 plate appearances). I think Odor probably fits the profile, too, as much as I hope I’m wrong about that.

Slow the game down, man, just a little. Just be Rougie.

That is where coaching needs to come in to play in regards to Odor. He needs to get back to having a better eye at the plate. Some of his swings and misses were reminding me of Leonys Martin. Odor has had ABs where he should have been way ahead in the count but instead was behind because he was in such a swing mode.

 

[jaar01]

Don't like KC starting pitching , I think Houston beats them and advances to ALCS.

 

[ESPN Refugee]

Seriously, fuck MLB. I won't be able to watch either of the first two games. Seriously, an 11 am ct start time? Are you kidding me with this shit?

They always do this shit in the first round. I don't get it personally...I'm willing to get if you have all the games close to or near prime time the overall number of viewers would still be higher than having none of the games competing with one another and starting games at noon or so. If I'm not mistaken they even do this crap for a game or two in the league championship series.

 

[saddles]

https:// trsullivan.mlblogs.com/2015/10/07/roster-update/

 

[saddles]

There are 30 players who made the trip to Toronto. The club has sent RHP Luke Jackson, RHP Nick Martinez, INF Joey Gallo, OF Leonys Martin, and OF Ryan Strausborger to Arizona and they will participate in games in the Instructional League. In addition, INF Ed Lucas, who is on the Round Rock roster, will report to Arizona today. OF Ryan Rua reports today to the Surprise Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League. RHP Tanner Scheppers, who sustained a cut on his right index finger on Sunday that required 5 stitches, remained in Arlington. RHP Spencer Patton has returned to his home in Illinois. The Rangers must submit their 25-man roster for the 2015 ALDS by 10 a.m. ET on Thursday.

 

[Kelleyman]

Jays have a very solid lineup 2-7. Gonna take some good pitching and hitting to beat them. I think a 5 game series favors the underdog with Cole going twice and IMO Colby taking the knuckleballer in Arlington. Odds stacked against us but go Rangers

 

[saddles]

 

[saddles]