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While two of the top teams in the AL battle it out this weekend in Baltimore, the sports world (ESPN, MLB Network, etc.) will continue to be obsessed with two of the not so top teams. Now, please, don’t misunderstand me, The Orioles are not going to win the AL East, they probably won’t even come close to winning the AL East, but I think they will flirt with .500 this season, and they do currently lead the AL East. The Rangers are 6-0 for the first time since 1996, when they won 7 games straight to start the season, and are looking to continue their offensive and defensive dominance. No one in the main sports arena picked the Rangers to do jack squat, with one ESPN annalysist saying that the Rangers would do no better than third in the AL West. When asked who the surprises of the season are so far, Baseball tonight said it was the Red Sox and Rays slow start, the Reds good start, and that all of the Yankees players do not have halo’s over their heads (Okay, I made up that last one). My point is, no one mentioned the 6-0 Rangers or the 5-1 Orioles. They are too concerned with the Yankees and Red Sox. But we are not here at the Ranger Report!
This should be a really good test for the Rangers. With Lewis going tonight, Harrison tomorrow and Holland on Sunday, the Rangers have a chance to prove that they can take down a team that is 1) hot right now and 2) they had trouble with last sesaon. The Rangers were swept at home in a 4 game set right before the 2010 All Star Break, for crying out loud. So the questions for this weekend are:
1) can the Rangers sweep their first road series of the season?
2) can the Rangers continue to play stellar defense?
3) How will the Harrison and Holland do the second time up?
4) Is Baltimore for real?
I look forward to seeing how the Rangers respond to the first road trip of the season, and, don’t worry, I will have a thing or two to say about the Yankee series coming up next weekend.
I am excited and cautious about this weekend series againstBaltimore and the whole 9-game road trip. I think on paper, the Rangers are much better teams than Baltimore and Detroit (I think also NYY but some would argue otherwise). I really want series wins in all 3 which would make the Rangers road trip at 6-3. Reality is that a 4-5 or 5-4 road trip would be considered a success.
This is an interesting 1st road trip b/c of the following:
1) Rangers struggled with Baltimore last year and now have Buck-ball going
2) Historically have struggled in Detroit (minus last year).
3) Historically have struggled with NYY in general (minus last year’s post season success).
I am very encouraged by the start and think this is a different Rangers team with lots of leadership in the Rotation, Pen, and Field/Bench. It also seems that all members of the team (even Murph, MY) have bought into the team concept and winning a WS is much more important than individual stats and accomplishments.
Here is to the 1st road trip….I expect 5-4 road trip. This weekend I think 1 of the SPs that are throwing in Baltimore will give up some runs but otherwise we will see a solid effort. I actually think the Rangers offense will score more runs than Baltimore if it becomes softball games.