With tonight's win the magical May run continues and can you believe it the Rangers are back at .500. Fielder is crushing it and the bullpen is suddenly solid. This Ranger team may be too flawed to contend but wow has it been fun watching them the past three plus weeks. Yet still, with Holland, Perez and maybe Harrison available later this summer, dare we dream of a Ranger run at an Astros team that cant keep playing as hot as they have the first two months of the season? Come on Ranger fans we have all been hiding for a season and two months time to come back out of the shadows and enjoy some Texas Rangers baseball talk.
Fielder's physical healing is the key to it all. Looks like a player worthy of his contract. Now if Hamilton comes back and plays like what the Angels are paying him, the Rangers have a couple of potent power hitters. Fielder, Beltre and Hamilton are three great power hitters to build your lineup around.
25-25 after a pair of wins over Boston and Josh Hamilton with two HR's already showing that he is happy to be back in Arlington. His reception thus far shows there are no more forgiving fans than Ranger fans. With Beltre, Fielder and Hamilton that is a potent lineup suddenly with some power.
Hamilton with a walk off double today as Rangers go a game over .500 with a 4-3 win over the Red Sox. I kid you not this team is fun to watch and pitching help is on the way though right now all five starters have been solid to good through this May run and the bull pen is really stepping up. 19 wins in May after only 7 in April. Unfortunately, looks like Beltre will be on 15 day DL so injury bug still keep hitting this team.
was there the night Hambone had the two tators(it was sweet) and the newbie 2B got the RBI triple. Who will play third?
Time to bring in Joey Gallo. You can't say we're going to ruin him/it's too early, etc. if you are putting Alberto/Klein/Gonzalez/Odor on the front line and giving them a chance to play for a wild card contender. If he tanks for the two weeks it takes to get Belts back in action, you send him back to AA
Hopefully Hambone keeps up the solid efforts. (walk off winner recently piggy backed off the earlier twin HR)
We'll see Joey Gallo in Arlington. I haven't been this excited about a Rangers Power Hitting Prospect since days of Juan Gonzales/Sammy Sosa/Dean Palmer.
Excited to see Gallo get a cup of coffee in majors these next two weeks filling in for Beltre, though frankly I expect a lot of strikeouts and hopefully a couple of moon shots.
I was busy on a couple of projects, but turned the TV on just in time to see Gallo's second at bat, a massive two run homer. He can crush it. I think his natural power is close to Hamilton's. In his third AB, he didn't get all of it, but the baseball hit off the wall for a double.
Yes, box score says he had 3 runs and 4 rbi. 3 hits and a walk. Also a gentleman after the game, took the powerade shower and used all of his 6'5" to shield Emily Jones who was interviewing him. Poor Emily got a shower Sunday when Josh Hamilton ducked.
I think Gallo has worked the corner outfield spots. Hate to have a kid with potential to be rock solid at third for a decade spend too much time as a utility guy. It can be distracting to learning outfield/first base. Hamilton, Choo, Beltre, Fielder/Moreland are pretty solid hitters for the corner spots and DH. I seem to remember Hamilton as injury prone because he's practically willing to risk his life to make a play or take a base.
Yeah. In April I was thinking the Rangers' hitting coach should be fired and Jon Daniels put on notice. I heard last night the Rangers are second in the league in runs scored. A lot of pitchers have been injured and/or ineffective. Minor league callups have been stellar.
So Gallo has 2 home runs and 11 strikeouts in his first 4 games, averaging almost 3 k's a game. That is the big knock on the kid. Last night you could see how it is affecting him because on three of his four k's the third strike was called looking. There is a ton of upside on Gallo and hopefully these two weeks (or more if they keep him until Hamilton comes back) give him a taste before he goes back to the minors to continue to develop.
So what did the Orioles do with Davis to get him to start performing at a high level? Is Gallo going to be Davis for the Rangers then Davis for the Orioles with some other team?
OK: The Rangers have won three in a row from the Dodgers. I wasn't really hopeful that Wandy Rodriguez would outpitch Clayton Kershaw last night, but he lasts longer and gives up fewer runs. Gallo is playing corner outfield now since DeShields and Hamilton are injured. Gallo is still striking out a lot, but he also gets a disproportionate number of home runs and walks. I think that is what it is. He swings really hard. Wandy got in trouble in the sixth, so he didn't continue the Rangers streak of 12 quality starts, but starting pitching is a Rangers strength ... no need to raid the farm system to rent a pitcher this year. Harrison's about ready for a comeback and Martin Perez is well along on rehab.
Gallo has 5 home runs in 50 at bats. That is pretty stout. At this rate he may stick around a lot longer especially with DeShields and Hamilton still on the DL and both out for a while. The consensus was that Gallo needed more minor league time so his confidence wouldn't get shot by being called up too early, I don't think that is an issue any more. I am more and more thinking he has seen his last days in the minors.
On three consecutive nights we had starter only zealots can appreciate going up against 3 of the Top 10 starters in MLB. Vs. Kershaw, Greinke and Sale Rangers won 2 of 3.
OK, fellow zealots, I'm back - I didn't give up on the Rangers, but have been busy doing some paying work. The run since early May has been nice, but it's a bit early to print World Series tickets. The starters have pitched well, but in order to make a serious run in late summer, I think we need to see Holland and Perez back on the mound (and Matt Harrison, too, if his back will hold up). Also need Beltre back in the lineup - without him, the Rangers are a bit too left-handed and are vulnerable to solid southpaws. And DeShields is the sparkplug at the top of the lineup that sets the table for the big hitters. And if someone has the magic solution for eliminating the errors by Elvis, please email it to Jon Dabiels ASAP!
Good assessment HHD - I too think we need those pitchers back in the lineup and getting W's to make a serious run late in the summer. Otherwise it will be a struggle for this team the rest of the way.
