The Texas Rangers have always seemed to have that team that just gives them trouble during the regular season that should not give them trouble. You know, one of those teams that you are supposed to beat that you just can’t seem to beat. In 2010, we all remember the infamous four game sweep the Rangers took at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles right before the All-Star break which included Cliff Lee’s first game in a Rangers uniform. Rangers fans and Rangers media alike seem to panic just a little bit when the bad teams take the Rangers down a notch. This weekend was another one of those moments.
The Seattle Mariners are projected, by all accounts that I have read and seen, to finish fourth at best in the American League West in 2013. A fourth place team is a team that the Rangers should be able to at least sweep if not win three out of four, right? There are a few things that have to be considered when the Rangers play the Mariners, in my opinion. If Yu Darvish is Superman than the Mariners are Kryptonite. Yu was very bad all season against the Mariners, and this season began the same way. Although Yu calmed down and pitched a pretty good game over all, he still did not look like the Yu Darvish we all have grown to know and love over the past year or so. Darvish has a horrible career ERA at Safeco Field and it is not much better in Arlington against the M’s. In fact, the Rangers ERA as a whole against the Mariners in 2012 was 4.28, and they walked fifty-nine batters in just nineteen games. Only the Angels walked more times in 2012 against the Rangers and they had many more intentional walks than the Mariners did. Even though the Rangers did win the season series 10-9, they did not look good doing it and so far they are not looking so good against the Mariners in 2013. (baseballrefrence.com)
The Rangers can’t hit in Seattle. The Texas Rangers batting average at Safeco Field in 2012 was .219, and they only hit seven home-runs and knocked in twenty. Overall against Seattle they still only hit .249, which is better but still not great. They let guys like Joe Saunders and Blake Bevan dominate them when that should not be happening. We all know that the Rangers bats fell short over all at the end of the season, but if they could have hit a little better in Seattle in April and May, then the Race would
have been over before that final series in Oakland where they dethroned the Rangers and won the West. But for some reason, the Mariners have some sort of hold on the Rangers organization right now. The Rangers hit just .214 over the weekend with an on base percentage of just .275 and a slugging percentage of just over .300. Although the Rangers are focusing much more in 2013 on playing small ball than they did in 2012, you have to be able to get guys on base to play small ball, and that is just not happening against Seattle.
