Texas Rangers Sweep Rays, Continue Playoff Push

The Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Stadium on Sunday while continuing their late-season push for a spot in the American League playoffs.
Who would have thought this team would be where they currently are just a month ago?
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Maybe it’s the ‘Star Wars’ theme that was taking place over the weekend, but Texas has bounced back in a big way following a less-then-desirable road trip last week that included three consecutive losses against the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins.
A team that has been far from dominant at home has become a completely different club following that embarrassing 21-5 loss to the New York Yankees back on July 28. Since that particular debacle, which had many fans simply turning their attention towards Dallas Cowboys training camp, the Rangers are 10-1 at home.
The sweep over the Rays was the second consecutive sweep in Arlington, the last coming against the AL West-leading Houston Astros early this month.
Texas has faced diversity all year long – did the same last year – but seems to be putting things together at the right time.
This club didn’t have players like Josh Hamilton, Cole Hamels or Mike Naploi on opening day, all three representing cast-offs from other teams that general manager Jon Daniels opportunistically pounced on, and rightly so.
Even a sorely needed starter like Derek Holland, who just a week ago was struggling in the minors while trying to get back up to the “bigs” for just his second start of the season, appears to be nearing his return.
Adrian Beltre, hampered by a thumb injury for most of the summer, belted two homers in the second and third games of the Tampa Bay series. These weren’t just home runs, mind you. These were “Beltre Dingers” which left no doubt whatsoever when they left the bat.
Hamilton is beginning to find his stroke, as is Napoli, who just got his first hit back with the Rangers Sunday.
Obviously others are contributing the way they have most of the season. Players like Prince Fielder continue to hit the ball consistently and the well-paid Shin-Soo Choo is looking good at the plate and in right field when he’s there.
But there’s also unlikely heroes beginning to emerge as well.
Lead-off hitter Delino DeShields is obviously a natural in center field – but this youngster belted his first professional home run against Tampa Bay in the series opener on Friday night.
Sunday, it was recent call-up Ryan Strausborger, another speedster on the base paths like DeShields, delivering his first home run in the majors on Sunday. No, he’s not as fast as DeShields, but he can run quite well, as proven by his near collision with DeShields as the two pursued a fly ball in the left-center field gap Sunday.
First-year manager Jeff Banister has stated before that his team will fight and continue to get better in the process, all well and good until you remember that every manager says about the same things, especially when their team is either underachieving or simply not healthy enough to deliver what it might otherwise.
But as of late, those words are actually gaining more and more credibility. This is key given the fact that Banister replaces a manager that took Texas to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
Banister tells Rick Gosselin about the word “resilience” in the Dallas Morning News last weekend:
"When you cut yourself, it hurts. But the body repairs itself and develops a scar, so that area becomes tougher than the area around it. The same thing with resilience in your near misses. If there’s any part of you that’s competitive and wants to be great, greatness comes from your near misses. That’s where you build resilience. It’s not the easy days."
It’s a bit early to begin thinking about late-October baseball just yet, but it’s looking more and more like it’s not exactly a far-fetched idea.
The Rangers are within two games of a .500 record at home, a remarkable feat given where this team has been earlier this season.
Texas is now two games above .500 overall, this from a team that’s struggled to put a solid starting rotation in place while also going through all kinds of flux in the bullpen.
Four games behind Houston for first place in the AL West might not look wonderful at this point in the season, yet it’s far from a death sentence either, right? There’s plenty of games left against division rivals Houston and the Los Angeles Angels – seven against each, to be exact – to do what’s necessary.
Keep in mind that Texas is a mere one game out of the second place wild card spot as well.
Call it ‘the force’ or resilience or luck – or whatever.
But Texas is playing good baseball right now and this is when the AL West has been won in recent seasons.
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