Rangers Revert to Old, Losing Ways On the Road

Despite salvaging the series finale yesterday, the Texas Rangers relapsed into some old habits during their recent stretch away from home.

A frustrating series of fits and starts continues to rule the season for the Texas Rangers. All the “Here we go!” optimism of winning eleven of twelve came to a crashing halt in Boston and Toronto. As was the case in the season’s early going, shaky pitching and inconsistent offense were the culprits. To be sure, these are the main symptoms in this ongoing malaise.

It started on May 23rd. Starter Andrew Cashner gave up five earned runs in five innings, and the bullpen did nothing to stanch the bleeding in an 11-6 loss. The following night, the Rangers staked themselves to a 3-1 lead against Boston’s all-world ace, Chris Sale. Alas, it would not be enough, as reliever Sam Dyson reverted to his early season form while failing to record an out against the seven batters he faced. A 9-4 setback was their reward.

The series finale in Boston was just a soggy, sad state of affairs. Nick Martinez promptly gave up four runs in three innings. The Texas offense spun their wheels in the Fenway mud and did practically nothing. The 6-2 loss would have been boring had it not been for the Rangers comically tying the major league single game strikeout record with twenty. It was as if they never recovered from losing the lead the previous night. Sam Dyson has that effect on people.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get any better once they crossed the border. AJ Griffin opened the Toronto series by giving up four runs in 1.1 less-than-sterling innings. And while the offense mounted a nice ninth inning rally, they still fell short, 7-6. This loss, their fourth, tied their longest losing streak of the season.

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Thoroughly undaunted, the offense vowed to do as little as they could the following day. Aside from the Chris Sale game, this one was easily the most frustrating.

After jumping out to a first pitch 1-0 lead, the Ranger offense produced exactly squat. Shame, too, because the damage to the Rangers came in the form of a familiar face. Jose Bautista launched a three run bomb to deep left field off Yu Darvish in the fifth.

It would ultimately hold up and provide the 3-1 margin for victory. This stretched the losing streak to five. The promising start to the road trip in Detroit was officially wasted.

So why, you might ask, must I rehash all this doom and gloom?

Great question.

I’d like to tell you that I watch so you don’t have to. I’b be lying to you, though. I know that most of you all are watching right along, cursing at your televisions and making snide remarks about Sam Dyson’s facial hair.

Here’s the thing: the division is probably a pipe dream at this point. The Rangers are ten games back. Worse yet, the Astros appear to be every bit as good as advertised. Sure, stranger things have happened. We’d all enjoy a goodly bit of Schadenfreude if Houston coughed up a lead of this magnitude. Unfortunately, that probably isn’t in the cards this year. This brings us to the next logical step, which is a wholly attainable wild card berth.

There is a problem, however. Literally no team in the American League is out of that particular hunt. A hot streak here, a cold streak there, and the gaggle of mediocre teams just becomes more jumbled. It’s not pretty. It’s simply the state of American League baseball this year. There are two good teams (New York and Houston), two above average teams (Minnesota and Boston), and then a logjam of squads within a reasonable shot of .500.

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Of course, the upside of this mess is that the Rangers control their own destiny. Moreover, the impending returns of Adrian Beltre, Tyson Ross, and Cole Hamels almost certainly portend improvement. Whether or not this improvement parlays itself into some modicum of consistency is anyone’s guess. The Texas Rangers are far from out of time, but they need to quickly rediscover the stability that’s been their hallmark the last two years.