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9/05 - 9/11

Well this week sure was a humdinger. The Rangers were swept by the disgusting Angels at home and could only manage a single win against the Mariners. I do not feel like writing this report and I have put it off as long as I felt possible. Now I'm going to struggle through it because sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to do.

The stupid Angels have opened up an enormous lead in the AL West, and some of that is the Rangers' fault. Mostly it's the A's fault, but some of it is obviously the Rangers' fault and that makes it even worse. Here's how the division's landscape has changed over the last seven days:

Now that Texas is undoubtedly the worst team in Major League Baseball, let us look at the reverse standings. This is obviously pretty important. The worse the Rangers are, the better draft position they'll have. Also they will be allowed to spend more on draft picks and foreign players.

It's hard to believe there is a team with as bad a record over its last thirty games as the Rangers have, but look at the Diamondbacks. And the Twins are only a game away. Still, the Rangers have a healthy five game, uh, lead.

Transactions:

Games:

It's always fun to watch when your team's opponent scores more than twice as many runs as you do.

The Rangers had been playing better before this week, even if they were losing at breakneck speed. Things unraveled. Maybe some of it is the Ron Washington news, but the pitching is what was hardest hit. I wouldn't think pitchers would be as fazed by news like that. Maybe I'm wrong. And as much as I hate to say it, the Angels are red hot right now. The way they're playing they could have a three game series against almost any team and throw down similar numbers.

Team Hitting and Pitching:

Well I look at this and I look at last week's numbers, and the offense was somehow significantly better this week than last. Not good, but better. And they still scored fewer runs per game. Fluky, small sample stuff. Not hitting with runners on, probably.

The pitching went from passably okay last week to full on nightmare this time around, even with a shutout.

Individual Hitting (10 PA Min):

Leonys Martin is kicking ass. You might look at the .478 BABIP and say "luck". Well I look at the 3.7% strikeout rate, the .240 ISO, and 32% line drive rate and I would say he's just plain hot. Plus I've watched the games and the dude his stinging the ball. Four stolen bases, a double, a triple, a homer.

Beltre is the other bat in the lineup who is hitting well. He's walking a lot. Some saber types don't believe in lineup protection, but to an extent I do and you can see it in action here. Beltre is not the type of guy to post a 25% base on balls rate. Not even in a small, weekly sample. But he did, and he's also among the league leaders in OBP for the whole season. He's not that kind of hitter, but obviously he can adapt and adjust. I love Adrian Beltre so much.

Telis did okay. Rookie catcher posts an 86 wRC ...nothing to complain about there. When that's the third best hitter on the team, though...there's where you're complaint is. Nobody else really did anything worth a damn. Telis, Rosales, and Rua weren't awful. Choice, Odor, Andrus, and Sardinas were. Odor's coming off a hot streak and to some degree Choice is, too. Elvis, though? I would really like to see him finish the year well.

Starting Rotation:

Holland had another great start. Hopefully he can keep that going tonight. Lewis was good and continues to look like a viable rotation candidate for 2015. Martinez...mixed results. He didn't allow a lot of runs. His strikeouts and walk numbers are better. He's developing. Tepesch and Baker were both bad, as neither could make it out of the fifth inning in their starts.

On the whole the rotation wasn't the biggest problem. They had an ERA of 3.60 in 35 innings which is pretty good, but the peripheral numbers were poor so it's hard to say it was a good week for them. Mostly you can blame that on Tepesch and Baker, though. Baker in particular shit the bed.

Bullpen:

Feliz is starting to look dominant again. He's didn't get a lot of strikeouts but is getting some swings and misses on 95 mph fastballs. He only had two innings this week but they were good. It seems like Kirkman pitched more often than that. Anyway he was good and Klein as good. Literally everyone else they sent out there struggled to one degree or another. It was not a good week for the bullpen. Not at all.

The problem with expanded rosters is pretty obvious here. Unless the starting pitching falls apart (which it didn't this week), there just aren't enough relief innings to go around. So you have a guy like Bonilla. He only gets 2/3 of an inning for the whole week. If he doesn't perform well, he doesn't have an opportunity to redeem himself. I'd say a guy needs to pitch at least three times a week just to stay sharp, and in this bullpen this week, only a few guys got into three games. So take these end-of-season numbers with a grain of salt.

Conclusions:

It's been a rough seven days all the way around for the Rangers. They're on their way to more than 100 losses. They all know it. They've all probably heard that the team hasn't had a year like this since the days of Nixon and hippies. They lost their manager in bizarre fashion. It's just been an awful year. This week was no exception.

I'd like to see this team finish on a high note. There's a sizable gap between them and the next worst team...they can "afford" to play well. I think they need it. The fans certainly need it.