The Texas Rangers have been through a lot of adversity this season. From having four of the five starters on the DL at some point to a serious turnover of the bull pen to the loss of Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Michael Young, and now the suspension on Nelson Cruz, the Rangers should not be having a successful season. But here they sit, 20 games over .500 and in first place in the AL West.
It leads me to ask why? Well, I’m glad I asked. I think there are several factors that led to the Rangers success so far in the 2013 baseball season. These are in no particular order and my poll question when this is posted is there for you to decide what you think is the biggest factor.
Jon Daniels. Daniels and his staff looked bad after letting Josh Hamilton go, but now that decision looks much better and almost like they knew what they were doing when they let him and his wife chose Anaheim over Texas. Hamilton is having a dreadful season with the Halos, posting a batting average of .229 with a OBP of just .286. He has just 19 home runs and 60 RBI, with only a little over a month left in the season. He seems to have declined fast. Napoli is having a pretty good season for the Red Sox, so I am not sure why they let him go but that is neither here nor there.
Jon and his crew have done a great job over the years of bringing talent to the metroplex, and letting Ron Washington work with that talent to get the best out of it. Which brings me to the next reason…
Ron Washington. Wash amazes me sometimes with his in-game decisions, but man do his players play hard for him! How he can get guys like A.J. Pierzynski or Milton Bradley and other trouble players over the years to behave and play hard is beyond me! Alex Rios even had a reputation before coming here as being a guy that didn’t play hard, and he has been playing very hard since arriving here. Ron seems to get the best everyday out of the lineup that is provided to him, and if he isn’t he calls a team meeting and that usually seems to turn it around. I am very, very impressed with Ron Washington this season and think he should be up for manager of the year.
The Bull Pen. The pen has Joe Nathan as the closer, Josh Frasor as the old guy, and the rest of that pen is young and inexperienced. Not any more. I know that Tanner Scheppers has struggled of late, and who knows what is going on with him, but overall the pen has outperformed itself. It has been way better than most people, including myself thought it would be. Guys like Ross, Soria, Cotts and Frasor have been way better than expected. I think that this is on of the main reasons that the Rangers lead the AL in come from behind wins.
The Starting Rotation. The starting rotation looks nothing like any of us thought it would at the beginning of the season, but it has still gotten the team wins. Derek Holland has become a very consistent pitcher and almost an ace on the staff, Darvish has been Darvish, and the other guys (and there have been a lot of them) have pitched very well most of the time. The rotation has been a strength for this team, when by all appearances it should not have been.
Will this success continue into September? Only time will tell, but I for one think it will.
