The Texas Rangers moved to 14-9-2 on the spring training baseball season by winning a couple of games Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday the Rangers defeated the Seattle Mariners 8-5 while pounding out 13 hits and making only one error in the entire game. Michael Young, Hank Blalock, and Jason Botts each had two hits for the Rangers with runners in scoring position. The Rangers finished 9-24 with runners in scoring position Saturday.
On Sunday, the Rangers defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-2, with 11 base hits and no errors in the game. Luis Mendoza pitched five scoreless innings for the Rangers. Mendoza, a right-handed pitcher, is a youngster the Rangers hope they can count on this year in the starting rotation.
Wes Littleton got credit for the win for the Rangers. San Francisco tied the game 2-2 in the seventh inning off Frank Francisco, the Rangers middle reliever. The Giants got more hits total than the Rangers 12-11, but Texas got more runs 5-2 and that’s what counts.
Now let’s talk about this Ranger team in general. The Rangers are picked by most baseball pundits to finish third or fourth (last) in the AL West this year. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Seattle Mariners are picked to finish first and second, respectively, in the AL West.
I’m going with the Angels to win the division, because of their pitching and defense. Also I believe their hitters are better than Seattle’s.
Their starting five of Kevin Millwood, Brandon McCarthy, Vicente Padilla, Jason Jennings, the newcomer to the team and Luis Mendoza will have to win 10 to 15 games a piece for the Rangers to contend for the AL West Crown in 2008.
This team is probably a year or two away. However, hiring Nolan Ryan to oversee the pitchers is a step in the right direction. Ryan, a Hall of Fame Pitcher himself, certainly should be able to get something out of this staff.
Rangers GM Jon Daniels should be proud of hiring Ryan. If nothing else turns out to be right, this (hiring Ryan) will. Hitting should not be a problem for the Rangers.
Josh Hamilton, the new centerfielder from Cincinnati, should help the Rangers in the outfield as well as at the plate.
Let’s hope Hamilton can have another injury-free year like last year. Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Hank Blalock, Travis Metcalf, and possibly Kevin Mench are all good hitters and this team should not have trouble scoring runs.
The main thing besides pitching that the Rangers have to worry about is defense. Last year errors killed the Rangers in a lot of games. If the Rangers can cut down on errors this will be quite an improvement and help them win at least five to ten more games.
The biggest battle up for grabs is the catching position held right now by Gerald Laird. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who is a former Atlanta Brave, is challenging Laird for the position. Saltalamacchia, nicknamed Salty by his Ranger teammates will be the Ranger starting catcher sooner or later. The only question is will it be this year?
Right now, Saltalamacchia has a higher batting average than Laird (.276 to.263) and a higher on base percentage (.300 to .282) than Laird. But Laird is tied on the team in homeruns with four homers and also has thrown out six of ten attempted base stealers. This battle promises to go right down to the wire.
Nelson Cruz, Marlon Byrd, Frank Catalanotto, Ben Broussard and Myron Bradley are more veterans and youngsters the Rangers hope to count on at the plate and at various positions on the team.
You put this all together and I’m saying the Rangers will finish third in the AL West this season, possibly win 87 games and be better defensively and in the outfield.
Unfortunately, the pitching will be more of the same as the last few years and that probably won’t be good enough. I think this Rangers team will get better in 2009, and then in 2010 they should contend for the division crown. This will be an interesting team to watch. For this year 2008 if they get 87 wins and third place that would be quite an improvement over last year’s 80-82 last-place finish.