In reading the title of this post, you were probably thinking that this is going to be a short article. You may be right, but I am going to give it the old college try anyway. The Texas Rangers just completed a 9 game road trip, all against American League West opponents. IT began very promisingly in Seattle where the Texas Rangers took two out of three from the Mariners and it ended with a 5 game losing streak to the Athletics and the Angels. We discussed all of this on The Ranger Report Podcast on Nolan Writin last night. Check it out here.
Positive number 1: The Texas Rangers didn’t sustain any season ending injuries this week. I know, your thinking “how is that a positive?” Well, if you have been paying attention to the Texas Rangers at all in 2014, you know that it is. The fact that the Rangers went a whole week without using the disabled list even once is nothing short of a small miracle. Donnie Murphy left the game last night with some soreness, but I think he should avoid the disabled list. Then again, I may be wrong. He may be done for his career the way this season in going.
Positive number 2: Some Texas Rangers players and even Ron Washington himself got some rest this weekend in the Angels series thanks to the umpires. It’s always nice when an ump is trigger happy, isn’t it? Granted, Ron deserved to get ejected because he knows the rules about leaving the dugout, but the call was total bunk.
That was an awful reversal. Seriously. Just awful. #LetsGoRangers
— Ben Dieter (@TheRangerReport) June 23, 2014
That is what I thought about it right after it happened, and many Texas Rangers fans agreed with me. The night before two Texas Rangers (Alex Rios and Michael Choice) were ejected for just questioning the strike call, not even being rude or cussing at the ump. Sometimes the umps make it about themselves, and those times are never fun to watch as a fan, no matter which team they are messing over.
Positive number 3: Nick Martinez. Nick pitched a great game against the Angels Saturday night. It was nice to see someone on the staff pretend to be an ace over the last week of play. Nick had the best stuff I had seen him have in a Texas Rangers uniform, and I believe that he is going to have a bright future as starting pitcher, hopefully for the Texas Rangers. He is very reminiscent of Derek Holland when he was learning to be a major league pitcher. Great stuff from Nick last night.
So there you have it. The three main positive things I took from the Texas Rangers recent road trip. Enjoy, and lets go Rangers!
