Texas Rangers Offense Scintillating In Series Sweep Vs Yanks

Perhaps the Texas Rangers should travel to the Bronx more often. After a disastrous April seemingly buried our boys in blue, they’ve begun to resemble a major league ball club as of late.

This was highlighted by a scintillating sweep of the hated Yankees in their own house, capped off by a 5-2 win on Sunday night in front of an ESPN national TV audience.

Color me impressed.

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Credit manager Jeff Banister for keeping his charges even-keeled and focused. Panic could have set in rather easily after such a lethargic start. Worse yet, apathy could have set in and doomed this thing.

It was easy to write them off during their bad spell. I did here when they squandered two big leads against Seattle in the same game. The Texas Rangers looked like a poorly-constructed bunch destined to finish 35 games out.

They still may not contend for the division, as the Astros hold a 6.5 game lead over the second-place Los Angeles Angels, and an 8 game lead over the Rangers to this point.

As a fan, though, it’s hard to eliminate “What if?” after such an inspired performance over the Memorial Day weekend.

Make no mistake, I’m a realist. A contending run from this squad probably isn’t in the cards. But I have to give credit where it’s due. I guess I forgot these guys are still professional baseball players.

The starting pitching hasn’t been bad. Wandy Rodriguez, Nick Martinez, Yovani Gallardo, and Colby Lewis continue to eat innings on guts, guile, (sometime) dominance, and sporadic run support.

Josh is set to return to the squad tonight. How it affects the team moving forward is anyone’s guess. Rangers fans should be at least guardedly optimistic. A focused Josh will be nothing but a boon to this team.

One cannot sneeze, though, at the 30 runs the Rangers’ offense accrued in three games vs. the dreaded Bronx Bombers. The bats have come alive at the best moments. Even Sunday’s five-run output arrived at the most opportune time. And the pitching made everything stand up.

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Enter one Josh Hamilton.

If the Texas Rangers can add Hamilton at 75% of his 2010-2012 self, they can still make a lot of noise. They can contend, despite the injury obstacles they’ve been plagued with. It’s a small miracle that they’ve been able to weather the bad luck up to now.

Josh is set to return to the squad tonight. How it affects the team moving forward is anyone’s guess. Rangers fans should be at least guardedly optimistic. A focused Josh will be nothing but a boon to this team.

Again, the coaching staff must be credited for the turnaround. These guys aren’t bums. They fight. They’ve found the grind at the plate. Their pitching has found the grind on the rubber. Gallardo’s performance on Sunday night was a case study in resolve. The offense rewarded him (finally).

Will this pay off with a playoff appearance? Who knows? What we do know is that this bunch is bordering on “lovable”. You couldn’t have said that a month ago.

For those of you who’ve seen the movie “Major League”, you can relate when I say these guys aren’t so effing bad. Time will tell if they can defy the odds.

Until then, they’re at least making the doldrums quite a bit more tolerable.

Next: Catching up Texas Rangers: Week in Review

• Published on 05/25/2015 at 12:00 PM
• Last updated at 05/25/2015 at 18:10 PM