Joe Ortiz is 2-0. He is also having the best first two weeks of any rookie reliever I can remember in a long while. In 8.2 innings pitched, Joe is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA. He has walked one and struck out six. He has only allowed five hits. The twenty-two year old Venezuelan may be new to the big leagues, but he definitely is showing that he fits in with the big club. And he is also quickly becoming a fan favorite as well. Which brings me to my reasoning for picking the Rangers to win the American League West in the beginning of the season: our bull pen is good. Robbie Ross, Michael Kirkman, and Joe Nathan are just some of the names that I am starting to feel very confident when they take the mound. Now they are not always going to have a great game, but I feel that when the opponent gets to our pen, guys like Joe Ortiz are going to prevent them from scoring any more runs. When I look at the Mariners, Angels and Astros I don’t see that. The Athletics have a pretty darn good pen as well, which is why I picked them second. The Angels, even with their walk off victory against the Astros last night, are off to an embarrassingly bad start. With all that money and all that talent, they should be undefeated, if money and offensive firepower could strike out the side in the ninth. But it can’t. But Joe Nathan can. And Joe Ortiz can do the same thing in the seventh and eighth. So if you asked me right now, in this moment in history if the Rangers could have kept Josh Hamilton if they would have given up Joe Ortiz, I would say no thanks. I will take Joe. I am really looking forward to seeing what this season brings for this bull pen and that young man in particular. Lets see if the Rangers can win another series this afternoon.
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