By Lew Patton
It was a good news, bad news sort of first week of seasonal play for the Texas Rangers.
After seven games, the Rangers are just out of first place by .5 game. The bad news is Derek Holland and Ryan Rua went on the disabled list, while the good news is Prince Fielder is hitting the ball again and is hitting .379.
The Rangers split with the Oakland A’s 2-2, and lost 2 of 3 to the Astros. Sunday’s game with the Astros went 14 innings before the Rangers lost, so the season record now stands at 3-4.
Colby Lewis has pitched 13.1 innings in two games so far, and has a respectable ERA of 3.38.
Yovani Gallardo has pitched a total of 9.2 innings in two games and has an ERA of 5.59 and a win. The best starting pitcher so far though has been Nick Martinez with seven innings pitched for a sparking ERA of 0.00 and a win. So even though there has been bad news for the starting rotation, the first week has seen decent pitching by the Ranger starters for the most part.
So what about the fielding?
The fielding needs to get cleaned up. Many of the players are doing great and have a fielding percentage of 1.000 % such as Rougned Odor with turning four double plays for the week, but Elvis Andrus already has three errors for the season (one week) and that tendency has to change.
The rest of the squad isn’t perfect, but they are looking better each game.
And the batting averages?
Carlos Peguero leads the club with a .429 avg in seven ab, while Prince Fielder is finding himself with a healthy .379 avg in 29 at bats. The guys in the .100+ range are Beltre, Andrus, Odor, and Martin. You know their bats will come along shortly and then they can feast on some offense.
So things are coming along
Despite all the bad news to the start of the season and the injuries to Holland and Rua, the Rangers are at least playing some decent baseball. Sure, there are many improvements that need to be made, the fact that the Rangers are holding their own can be seen as a very positive step going forward. Things aren’t gloom and doom as first may have been thought. Once the hitting starts coming along, and the arms get in the groove, this club should be playing a lot more consistent.
Up next, Angels and Mariners
Texas continues its six game, six day home stand with the series opener against the Angels tomorrow, 1st of a 3 game series. Rangers went just 5-14 against the Halos in 2014, losing nine in a row at one point to match the longest losing streak ever to the club from Anaheim. The 14 losses were most ever in a season against the Angels, and Rangers were just 1-9 vs. LAA in Arlington. The 2014 performance followed a year in which the Rangers were 15-4 vs. the club from Orange County in 2013. Texas has lost season series in two of the last three seasons. The teams play six series in 2015, (19 total games).
Upcoming Schedule
4/13 vs Angels 7:05 PM
4/14 vs Angels 7:05 PM
4/15 vs Angels 1:05 PM
4/17 @Seattle 9:10 PM
4/18 @Seattle 8:10 PM
4/19 @Seattle 3:10 PM
