The Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics are now tied atop the American League West Division, but that is not at all what it feels like. On Friday, the Rangers had 7 days (6 games) to get two wins. Now, they have just one day to get the last win they need to win the American League West crown for the third straight season, and I would be surprised if they do it. The Athletics were 13 games back in June, and still 5 games back in mid September. But they have looked like the team to beat in the AL since June, as they are over 30 games over .500 since that point, while the Rangers are struggling to stay .500. The Rangers have had the division lead for almost the entire season, and now it looks like they will lose it on game 162 out of 162 games. The pitching looks tired, the bats look like they have never been here before. Josh Hamilton has completely disappeared, unless you count taking up space and striking out. He needs to be batting 8th or 9th
right now but Ron Washington is too stubborn to move him down in the lineup or just plain bench him. Why is David Murphy sitting on the bench in a possible clinching game and Josh Hamilton batting third? I do not question Ron very often, but last nights lineup was a joke. If he runs Ian and Josh out there today then the A’s have won the West. The Rangers have no passion, no desire, no will power and they look like they are not all that worried about it. Josh Hamilton is in mid season form, and if you remember, he was terrible in the middle part of the season. The Oakland Athletics remind me of the 2010 Rangers, the team that was hungry and having more fun than any other team in baseball. The Rangers look old, fat and tired. Like the uncle in Napoleon Dynamite who asks Napoleon “Hey, do you think I can throw this football over that mountain?” This particular Rangers squad best days are behind them, and they can no longer live off past successes to win the West. No Rangers, I do not believe that you can throw that football over the mountain, and if you do not realize what is happening (and I don’t think they do), Friday will be the very last day of the 2012 season for you. I hope I am wrong, but I do not see any chance of the Rangers winning the West the way they are playing right now, and I am not ever sure they want to. So, Rangers, thanks for luring all of us to sleep with false hope and for teaching all of us that no lead is safe if you play without desire or passion or will. Talant is not enough, Oakland is about to prove that.
