May 2015 And The Doldrums of DFW Sports
By Ben Davila
Lost amid the hype of the NFL draft and working sixty hours a week for the past two weeks, the doldrums of the DFW sports scene sneaked up on me in a hurry.
The Dallas Stars fell several points shy of a berth in the best playoff tournament in sports. And while they were buoyed by a really solid run of play during the last month of the season–highlighted by Jamie Benn improbably winning the Art Ross Trophy–the painful truth is that they missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.
The Mavericks, while posting a 50-win season for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons, looked nothing like the team they had assembled on paper to start the campaign. Actually, you could say that they were a more cohesive unit prior to the trade for Rajon Rondo. They were uneven, playing in fits and starts after the trade as they stumbled into the NBA playoffs.
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All the while, the fans were being told that “playoff Rondo” would come along and save the day. What we were treated to was a guy that simply quit on his team when they needed him the most. It resulted in Rondo getting kicked off the team with a face-saving “back injury“.
It is telling that the team voted not to let him in on his share of the playoff money. It makes this spectacularly off-the-mark defense of Rondo–written prior to the meltdown–comical, in retrospect. Brilliant, flawed, misunderstood, effective, and unselfish? The author got the “flawed” part right. We got treated to a moody malcontent who had problems meshing with his teammates and coach.
I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions for the reason(s) behind the Rangers catastrophic slide in the last few seasons. But I would bet that that reason is why the Astros and Rangers have traded places in the baseball pecking order.
And to complete the figurative kick to the beans is the abject absurdity of this year’s Texas Rangers squad. At the time of this writing, they are 9-18 and 9.5 games out of first place. Let that sink in for a moment. It is May 3rd, and the Rangers are, in essence, out of it. And who’s leading the division? The Houston Astros.
I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions for the reason(s) behind the Rangers catastrophic slide in the last few seasons. But I would bet that that reason is why the Astros and Rangers have traded places in the baseball pecking order.
While it is easy, and mostly legitimate, to blame key injuries on the product that gets put on the diamond, it doesn’t excuse the play of most of the rest of the healthy players left. Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Leonys Martin, and Shin-Soo Choo are players that are leaned on heavily to contribute to the offensive prowess on this club.
Beltre, Andrus, and Martin can still flash some leather defensively, but it doesn’t excuse the lack of production at the plate. The approach at the plate by a lot of Rangers seems to consist of watching one or two grooved fastballs cross, get down in the count, and then be forced to swing at any close potential third strike.
They’re not grinding at the plate. They’re being passive. And it’s killing them offensively. You’re not going to can the manager one month into this train wreck. By most accounts, the approach of Jeff Banister isn’t questioned by the players. Jon Daniels isn’t seemingly going anywhere any time soon, but his track record with free agent signings is very, very shaky lately.
That would make someone like the hitting coach a good start. Dave Magadan’s arrival in Arlington has coincided with the team’s (mis)fortunes at the plate. The line of demarcation is pretty succinct.
Granted, I’ve been under a rock lately when it comes to the ins and outs of the proceedings at Globe Life Park, but no one seems to be addressing what may well be the elephant in the room.
Injuries or no injuries, this team can’t hit. And I’m not sure if some kind of trade is in order, or a shake-up of the coaching staff is the answer. Maybe it’s a combination of both.
With all due respect to FC Dallas, the Cowboys are still about three months from training camp, yet it’s all we really have to look forward to, in regards to anything resembling a ray of hope in the barren DFW sports landscape.
It’s gonna be a long summer.