Where things are.
If George Springer hadn’t caught the ball, Texas would be one game under .500 today, in spite of everything.
Sure, you could also point to a couple bullpen meltdowns and play the “if only” game, but that’s more a part of the game than Springer’s ridiculous play, and if you want to highlight the fact that this club is where it is even though it has only one win when Ross Detwiler starts, you probably also need to acknowledge that it’s lost just once when Nick Martinez takes the ball.
Martinez, basically the Rangers’ eighth starter, tied a franchise record yesterday by logging his 15th consecutive start (dating back to the fall) of three earned runs or less, equaling the mark set by Rich Hand in 1972 — when the league ERA was 3.06, dramatically different from today’s 3.92.
Heading to Boston and then New York to kick off a nine-game roadie on the heels of losing three of four at home, including two of three to the bad Indians, the Rangers have taken the first four of five from the Red Sox and Yankees, boosting an AL-leading May OPS to .804 and MLB-leading May numbers in both slug and runs.
This month, Texas is just one behind Houston for the most big league home runs (32), and — in an unrelated note — sorta — the Rangers are also one ahead of those same Astros for most bombs in May on the farm (133), more than 20 ahead of the Royals’ minor leaguers, who are next.
Going into tonight’s series finale with the Yankees, the Rangers sit 4.5 games out of the Wild Card, with nearly three-quarters of the season to go.
Josh Hamilton joins the club tomorrow.
Matt Harrison threw four scoreless innings in an extended spring training game yesterday, maintaining his velocity throughout, and his next start on Thursday could be his final tuneup in Surprise before a rehab assignment in Frisco. Buster Olney (ESPN) suggests “the expectation now is that [Harrison] could be back [with Texas] by the end of June.”
Martin Perez — who is slated to make his first extended spring appearance on June 5 — could be back in Arlington sometime in July, along with Derek Holland, who will begin a throwing program within the week and could be on a mound in three weeks, assuming the next MRI is lit green.
Rougned Odor (.289/.400/.711, five strikeouts and six walks in 45 AAA plate appearances) will probably beat all three pitchers back. He’s in AAA for more than just his lost offensive approach, but at least at the plate he’s doing what he needed to do with his demotion.
Prince Fielder (.351/.407/.544, on pace for 30 home runs and 113 RBI) has a park-adjusted OPS+ of 163.
In the three seasons in which he finished top 5 in the MVP vote (2007, 2009, and 2011), his OPS+ numbers were 157, 166, and 164.
Delino DeShields Jr., the club’s new leadoff hitter, is reaching base at a .400 clip, something he managed to do once in five minor league seasons.
He’s seeing 4.10 pitches per plate appearance, which leads regulars on the club (ahead of two-hole hitter Shin-Soo Choo’s 3.95) and is among the top 20 in the league. Last in that category for Texas: Leonys Martin (3.38) — a bottom 10 mark in the league.
Hamilton’s return does prompt the question about DeShields’s playing time, and it’s probably not going to come at second base (Ryan Rua is more likely to see some work there), but one way or another, neither Hamilton (.364/.391/.545 with five doubles and a homer in 46 AA/AAA plate appearances) nor Martin should be viewed at this point as a fixture in the lineup, at least as long as DeShields continues to ignite the offense the way exactly the way the club hoped he would, if not more so.
Thursday, when the Rangers return home, this time with Hamilton in uniform, they’ll be hosting Boston — whose starting pitcher hasn’t been announced, but would be knuckleballer Steven Wright if he’s given the ball again after pitching well yesterday — and sending Martinez to the mound, and right there are three pretty good reasons to consider it appointment baseball.
Especially if, between now and then, a Texas club coming back into focus continues to close the gap on the AL, and on expectations.