The Texas Rangers must have decided to keep its history of losing streaks after the all star game behind them. At least that’s how it looks so far as they’ve started the second half of the season by sweeping the Seattle Mariners in a four-game series on the road, and extend their win streak to 11, the longest of streak of the MLB thus far this season. The sweep was the third straight for the Rangers.
Saturday night saw Ian Kinsler homer twice followed by a three-run homer to lift the team to a 3-1 win to cap off the series.
Normally at this time, Rangers fans would expect the team to be streaking, but not in a good way. In years past, we’ve seen the team go on major skids right after the break, and those skids are ultimately what make the team miss the post season.
Last year we didn’t see it either, so maybe 2010 was the start of something great.
Rangers catcher Mike Napoli, a former Angel is pleased to see everybody contribute.
“Everyone is bringing it,” Napoli told Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas. “We’re all feeding off each other. We’re passing it on to the next guy while we’re hitting. One guy isn’t trying to carry it. We’re all doing it.”
Michael Young agrees, and says it’s not just the bats.
“We’re playing well in every aspect of the game right now, but it always starts with the pitching,” the team’s all-time hit leader said. “Pitching is going to lead the way. For any team that has goals of getting to the postseason and making some noise when you get in there, it always starts with pitching. We’re throwing the ball extremely well.”
“The bottom line is we all had enough patience to realize it was going to click for us at some point when things weren’t going well,” David Murphy told ESPN Dallas. “You guys came and talked to us every night and there was nothing we could say except, ‘At some point it’s going to happen.’ This team is way too good to not find its stride at some point. Obviously, that’s happened right now, and the key is to carry this thing out and finish strong.”
The team will take the day off Monday before heading to Anaheim (not Los Angeles) to take on the Angels in a three-game series. The Angels are in second place in the AL West, four games behind the Rangers.
After that series is over, the Rangers will return home to host the Toronto Blue Jays.
You can find Nathan’s articles regularly on The Hague Sports.
