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SWEPT IN SAN FRANCISCO
The Rangers left San Francisco Sunday with their hearts, but they were heavy hearts as the Giants swept the three-game series over the weekend. Texas saw their lead in the American League West reduced to the narrowest of margins, as Sunday’s loss actually put them in a tie with the Angels. Fortunately, Clayton Kershaw, a Dallas area native, tossed seven shutout innings to beat the Angels in the ESPN Sunday night game so that the Rangers woke up Monday morning still in first place for the 47 th consecutive day, albeit by just one-half game. Still, it was the second consecutive week at 2-4 for the suddenly offensive challenged Lawmen, who haven’t had a winning week since the end of May, and who have never won a game in nine tries at AT&T Park.
For Ranger fans in June, there are three givens in life. The sun comes up in the east, the Rangers need pitching, and the Ranger offense will score a lot of runs. That makes this weekend results all the more frustrating as the Ranger pitchers allowed just 11 runs in the series, but they lost all three games because the Ranger hitters scored just seven. Texas has now scored just 60 runs in 18 June games, an average of 3.3.
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The dearth of offense has pointed up the flaws in this team, which is simply not fundamentally sound. They walk so rarely, they have too few base runners. They strike out so much, they don’t have productive outs that move base runners, and when they do reach base, they make too many base running errors. When the team gets 3-4 homers and scores 9-10 runs in a game, a base runner getting doubled off on a fly ball doesn’t make much difference, but in a 3-2 game like Sunday’s against the Giants, every out is precious, and it hurts to give such an out up, as Ian Kinsler did. A passed ball with a runner on third matters little when the offense scores big, but when that passed ball comes in the bottom of the 11 th inning, as it did last Saturday, it costs a game.
Texas did get an encouraging start from their highly touted young left-hander, Derrick Holland. He allowed just four hits in seven innings, allowing one run earned, but tainted in his best performance as a starter. He had not lasted as many as six innings in his previous four starts. He was poised and had command of three pitches.
After the game, the Rangers headed for Phoenix for an off day before resuming play Tuesday against the Diamondbacks. The last place snakes offer the opportunity of salvaging this six-game road trip before returning home to finish inter-league play this weekend against the Padres. When American League play resumes next week, they immediately go head-to-head with the Angels in a showdown of teams that almost certainly will be one and two in the division. It is for sure a strange year to find the Rangers in first place, reasonably satisfied with their pitching and scratching their heads to generate offense. At last report though, the sun still rises in the east.
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By: Richard W. Humphrey
MLBcenter.com Texas Rangers Correspondent
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