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HERE COMES THE SOX
Ian Kinsler homered in the Rangers’ first and last at-bat of the game Sunday, as the Rangers salvaged game three and avoided a sweep at the hands of the Twins. Texas’s lead-off man homered to start the game, and hit his second one in the twelfth inning to wrap up the win. It was the only game of the series in which the Rangers hit more than one home run, so updating the statistic put forth last week, the Rangers are now 18-30 when they don’t hit two or more home runs in a game.
In this series, the Rangers looked much like the Rangers of June that pitched well, but struggled offensively to end up at 12-15 for the month. The offensive problems start at the top with Kinsler, who hits lots of home runs, but doesn’t get on base as often enough to key the offense. Sunday’s pair of round-trippers brought his home run total to 22. After a hot April, he has been less than ordinary, with batting averages of .243 in May, .245 in June, and .161 in 13 July games. His on-base percentage is barely .200 this month.
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The Rangers also sorely miss a big bat in the middle of the order, the type of hitter that Josh Hamilton was in 2008. Hamilton returned to the roster from his second stint on the disabled list, but is hitting just .250 in 10 July games, with one home run and three RBI’s. Last year, he drove in almost a run per game. Part of Hamilton’s problem is the number four hitter batting behind him. Last season, it was Milton Bradley, but this year, no one has established themselves as solid protection for Hamilton. Astonishingly, manager Ron Washington said after Saturday’s game against the Twins that he preferred a more experienced player to bat fourth. He was referencing his number four hitter Saturday night, Nelson Cruz, the same Nelson Cruz that made the All-Star team and is second in the A. L. with 23 home runs. Washington prefers the experience of Andruw Jones batting fourth behind Hamilton, the Andruw Jones that is hitting .195 in July, up from .170 in June. It’s no wonder Hamilton isn’t seeing any pitches.
The Rangers still talk about adding a pitcher for the stretch run, particularly a bullpen arm. The bullpen was certainly good this weekend against Minnesota, allowing a lone run and just five hits in 13 innings of work. Texas released Orlando Hernandez from his AAA contract over the weekend, but seems poised to add top prospect Neftali Feliz to their pen soon. A better solution to the team’s current problems may be to shake up the batting order to generate more runs.
Before the break, Texas was 28-17 at home, a .622 winning percentage. They start the second half with 13 of their first 16 games at home, so there was optimism for a strong start. The schedule however, is much more difficult in the second half. The Twins were extremely impressive in taking two of three over the weekend, and are in the thick of the Central race, trailing the Tigers, who were swept in New York, by just two games when this week began. Minnesota does a tremendous job in developing players in their minor league system and is traditionally one of the most fundamentally sound teams in baseball. Couple that with two really strong offensive players in Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, as well as solid starting pitching, and you have a team that should compete until the end for the division championship if they stay healthy.
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Texas is at a critical stage of the season. The Angels are playing well, having won six of seven games since placing Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero on the disabled list. The three-game deficit the Rangers now face is only one-half game away from their largest deficit of the season. A bad couple of weeks by the Rangers, coupled with a good couple of weeks by the Angels could make playoffs in 2008 a dream.
By: Richard W. Humphrey
MLBcenter.com Texas Rangers Correspondent
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