The Rangers pulled off a rare offensive explosion on Sunday with a 9-5 win over the Giants. In the three series-ending games so far this season, the club has scored eighteen runs and is 2-1. Meanwhile, in the other five games, the Rangers have managed to score nine total runs and post a 1-4 record. Some good things happened on Sunday, but the club still has a lot of work to do in their quest for a postseason spot.
Joey Gallo is a beast
We all knew the capabilities Joey Gallo showed he had last season. There was a small question whether that strong start carried over to 2020. Gallo’s camp started late and had a subpar opening day against the Rockies. Nevertheless, those thoughts are in the past, and Joey proves himself the main man in the lineup. “There may be [no] more talented player in all of baseball, realistically,” Chris Woodward said after Sunday’s game. “I know Trout is good and Mookie Betts, these guys are pretty good players. But Joey is with size, with power, with speed, with an arm. He’s got all of it.
Joey also shows he’s a beast in being a teammate to his brethren and trusts each guy in the clubhouse. “We have a lot of talented players.” Joey said on Sunday. “When somebody goes down, there is somebody there to step up.” Gallo launched his third home run of the year in Sunday’s win. He is also striking out at a 23.3% rate (per plate appearances), which is about 12% lower than any other year.
All 3 of Joey Gallo's homers this season have come during series-ending gms. I asked Joey if that was a coincidence.
He responded jokingly, "I’m just going,“what, I haven’t hit a home run in this series, I should probably try this game and see what happens.” #Rangers #togetherwe
— Alex Plinck (@aplinckTX) August 2, 2020
Injuries are plaguing the team.
The Rangers got some bad news with Danny Santana earlier on Sunday. Santana hadn’t played since Tuesday against Arizona, and the team placed him on the 10-day injured list. Meanwhile, Rougned Odor left Saturday’s game with an oblique issue that currently has him day-to-day. Earlier in the week, Texas learned both Jose LeClerc and Corey Kluber were going to miss significant time.
It’s unsure whether the shortened season is causing these issues, and the uncertainty of the season (in general) raises questions on when these guys will take the field again in 2020. However, Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels told me, it can work both ways. “[In] a normal season, you might be willing to wait a little while and see how things play out. Whereas this year, you wait a couple of weeks and give a guy two weeks down and then start building up the throwing program again, and now you’re halfway through the year before you have an answer.” Daniels also told me that he feels a benefit in the vast number of off-days and expanded roster helps where they don’t have to rush guys to the IL and have “dead spots” in their roster.
well the likelihood of Danny hitting the IL is 100% now, Santana placed on the 10-day IL with Anderson Tejeda replacing him on the roster.
Tejeda getting his shot, he was one of the three on the Rangers taxi squad who traveled to the Bay Area with the team. #Rangers https://t.co/9oLjt08Fyg
— Alex Plinck (@aplinckTX) August 2, 2020
The bullpen is a mixed bag
The pen is going through a rough patch. Texas’ bullpen allowed eleven runs in eleven and a third innings in San Francisco. The Rangers found out that Leclerc will miss some time with the injury. Chris Woodward is basing the closer role on matchups or equivalent to spinning a Fisher-Price barnyard See-and-Say toy. However, with Jonathan Hernandez’s two-inning outing on Sunday, the pointer on the toy might be settling towards Hernandez more. “I find the most difficult spot in the game and put him in it. That’s it,” Chris Woodward said after Sunday’s win.
"I feel pretty good about the work that I did."
We'd have to agree 💯#TogetherWe | #MoreThanAGame | @Rangers pic.twitter.com/hCbpJUWZuM
— FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) August 2, 2020
The offenses’ consistency is still missing.
If Dora the Explorer asked me to find this Rangers’ offense’s consistency, let me say that would be one answer I wouldn’t yell at my TV screen. Now some of these issues are traced to the lack of consistency in the schedule. Through the first eleven days of the 2020 season, the Rangers will have played eight total games (counting Monday’s off-day). That’s one more game than the Nationals and Brewers played in 2020, and both had their entire weekend series postponed this weekend. The club hasn’t found a niche in the second or third slot in the lineup, and Chris Woodward has rearranged to locate a productive starting nine, but no such luck. The hope is that Sunday’s victory builds in Oakland because, after Monday, the club has three more off days left in the season.
"Maybe he brings me some luck." – Scott Heineman on how he feels to have his brother behind the plate. #TogetherWe | #MoreThanAGame | @Rangers pic.twitter.com/3COrV63QuS
— FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) August 2, 2020
The Rangers go back to action on Tuesday to face off against the Oakland Athletics. Jesus Luzardo will make his first Major League start for the Athletics while Texas sends their ace, Lance Lynn, to the mound. Lynn will try to keep the scoreless train going (twelve innings) at the Oakland Coliseum.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login
You must log in to post a comment.