The Texas Rangers Gift to the American League

Adrian Beltre is one of the few Rangers who can still intimidate the opposition

Texas is a big, brash, bold, braggadocios state. Apparently they are benevolent now as well. At least when it comes to the American League wild card race.

The Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays began a series Monday evening in Florida.  The two teams entered play tied for the two wild card positions. However, the two are headed in two different directions. The Rays have won four of five after they took the first game of the series 6-2. Texas has dropped seven straight and 10 of 11.

The Rangers represented the American League in the World Series in 2010 and 2011, and made it to the wild card game last year, where they lost to the Baltimore Orioles. Texas got off to a good start in 2013 and led the AL West by seven games after 41 contests. Since then the Rangers have been a .500 team over their last 108 games (54-54). and entered Monday's play 6.5 games behind the first place Oakland A's.

Texas' poor play has enabled the Yankees, KC Royals, Orioles, and Cleveland Indians to all remain in the hunt for a wild card spot. There have been a number of reasons for the Rangers' demise. Injuries - Matt Harrison was lost for the year after just two starts, endured two back surgeries within nine days of each other in May and recently underwent surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. (Debilitating compression is relieved through removal of a rib and surrounding tissue.) The left-hander won 18 games in 2012.

Colby Lewis missed the entire season after undergoing elbow surgery in July, 2012. Then last month he had a hip resurfacing procedure to avoid complete hip replacement. Neftali Feliz was recently activated after he completed rehab from last season's Tommy John surgery. He's still not at full strength and has to be used cautiously. Swing man Alexi Ogando has been on the disabled list three times with shoulder inflammation and bicep tendinitis. #2 starter Derek Holland is healthy as far as anyone can tell, but has been awful in September with three losses and an ERA above 8.

Inept offense - The lineuptook a big hit when Josh Hamilton left for LA as a free agent after last season's 43 home runs and 128 RBI. He's struggled mightily with the Angels (.734 OPS, 20 HR, 68 RBI), but those numbers may have been different had he stayed in Arlington. Free agent acquisition Lance Berkman has played just 71 games due to injuries.

Nelson Cruz had 27 HR and 76 RBI when he was suspended for the remainder of the season for violation of the league's substance abuse policy.  Though he has 40 stolen bases, Elvis Andrus took a step back offensively (.652 OPS). Ian Kinsler started the year like a house afire - .919 OPS 5 HR 16 RBI in April - but he's hit just .256 since then with 6 HR and has been caught eight times in 19 stolen base attempts.

The Rangers were also counting on rookie Jurickson Profar to make a major contribution, but the top prospect has only produced a slash line .237/.310/.330 and has been thrown out on four of six stolen base attempts.

The combination of all the above have spelled disaster for Texas and it will come as no shock if the Rangers continue to slide right out of a playoff spot and into an early vacation.

My My My Kuroda, Has the Knack for Pitching

There was plenty of concern from fans this past off-season when the Yankees signed Hiroki Kuroda to a one year free agent contract. Fans questioned the idea of signing a National League pitcher to throw in the highly competitive AL East. Those feelings of disappointment only got worse when Kuroda got clobbered by the Tampa Bay Rays in his regular season debut. But no ones belly aching now.

Kuroda was as good as it gets Tuesday in tossing a complete game 2-hit shutout against the dangerous Texas Rangers. For the second straight night Nick Swisher delivered the big hit, this time a 2-run home run in the 7th , to ignite a 3-0 Yankees victory. The win guaranteed the Yankees no worse than a split of the four game series.

Matt Harrison wasn't nearly as sharp as Kuroda, but he managed to put goose eggs up on the board through the first six innings. Manager Ron Washington pulled his lefty starter after Derek Jeter reached with a one out single in the 7th. Hard throwing right-hander Alexi Ogando came on to face Swisher, who turned around to bat from the left side. A great battle ensued that ended when Swisher turned on the 8th pitch of the sequence, a 98-mph fastball, and put it in the seats for a 2-0 lead. It was Swisher's grand slam that turned the tide in Monday's series opening victory.

One thing that baseball has proven time and time again is that it doesn't matter how hard you throw if your ball doesn't move. Ogando found that out four pitches later, when Mark Teixeira ripped a line drive off a 99-mph fastball into the seats for a 3-0 Yankees' advantage.

Then it was time to watch Kuroda work the final two innings. He had spun a no-no through six innings and had the crowd and YES announcers buzzin. Those at home sat up a little straighter and moved closer to the edge of their leather couch. Not that I am speaking from experience or, um, anything. Rangers' shortstop  Elvis Andrus broke things up when he hit a slow bouncer back up the middle to start the 7th. Yankees' shortstop Jayson Nix made a diving stop, but his throw was not nearly in time or accurate.

Andrus eventually made it to third base with two down, but Kuroda got Nelson Cruz to ground out to end the inning. Mike Young led off the 8th with the Rangers only other hit, but Kuroda induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of David Murphy to quickly erase Young from the base paths. The outs were two of the 17 that Kuroda got via a ground ball. He also struck out five and picked up his second complete game shutout of the season, though his prior shutout was a rain-shortened seven inning affair against Toronto back in July.

In fact, it was just the fourth career complete game and shutout of the Japanese veteran's five year career in the US. It was the Yankees first complete game shutout since CC Sabathia tossed one against the Rays on July 10, 2011.

Baseball Digest | Beltre Powers Texas Back To ALCS

Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre was just 1-11 entering Tuesday afternoon’s ALDS Game 4 match with the Tampa Bay Rays, but by the time the game was over, Beltre had put his name alongside the likes of Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson. Beltre became the sixth Major Leaguer to hit three home runs in a single playoff game to propel the Rangers to a 4-3 victory and a second consecutive trip to the ALCS.

The Rangers other run was their first run, a lead off home run by Ian Kinsler off of Jeremy Hellickson in the bottom of the 1st inning. One frame later, Beltre crushed one deep into the left field seats for a 2-0 Rangers lead. The Rays got the run right back in their half of the 2nd inning when Matt Joyce doubled off Texas starter Matt Harrison to score Sean Rodriguez from first base. Joyce was stranded in scoring position though when Harrison struck out Desmond Jennings for his third K of the inning. (Harrison would strike out nine batters in just five innings and earned the win.)

Read the rest of this free story at BaseballDigest.com.

Yankees Wallop Rangers

Hughes Fires Blanks at Rangers

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: Alex Rodriguez • Ian Kinsler • josh hamilton • Mark Teixeira • nick swisher • Phil Hughes • Yankees 5/25 recap • Yankees vs. Rangers

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	2	0	4	0	1	3	0	1	0		11	19	0
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		1	4	0

WP - Hughes (3-2) LP - Harrison (4-4)

Phil Hughes was on the brink of stardom on May 1, 2007. He had pitched 6.1 innings of no-hit ball, in just his second major league start, against a potent Texas Rangers lineup. The Arlington, TX crowd sat in anticipation, not knowing whether to boo or applaud the effort. Then Hughes tried to get a little extra bend on his curveball as he faced the Rangers’ Mark Teixeira. But, no one cared about the pitch after Hughes grabbed his leg. A pulled hamstring began a two-year run of ineffective performances and injuries.

Yesterday, Hughes returned to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and finished the job he started a little over two years ago. Hughes threw eight superb innings against the current Rangers potent lineup, and the Yankees rolled to an 11-1 victory.

It was Hughes’ second consecutive win and his third of the season. His performance was so good that it overshadowed a 5-hit, 4 RBI day by Alex Rodriguez, and garnered him the clubhouse championship wrestling belt handed out to the team’s top performer. He appealed to Joe Girardi to finish the game, but having thrown 101 pitches, Hughes lost the debate. Of those 101 pitches, 65 were for strikes as Hughes’ curveball and fastball dominated the day.

The Yankees gave Hughes immediate offensive support, scoring a pair of runs before a single out was recorded. They busted the game open in the third against Rangers starter Matt Harrison with four more runs. A-Rod, who had singled in a run in the 1st, doubled in another and came home, along with Teixeira on Robinson Cano’s triple. Nick Swisher added an RBI groundout to complete the scoring in the inning, and later drove in another two runs with a single and a sacrifice fly.

Hughes’ only real trouble came in the 2nd inning, when Nelson Cruz led off with a double and Hughes hit Hank Blalock with a pitch. But the promising right-hander struck out Marlon Byrd looking and threw strike-three pitches past Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden to end the inning. Hughes went on to retire 20 of 23 hitters and lowered his ERA a little over two points to 5.16.

Game Notes

Nelson Cruz homered off of Al Aceves in the 9th inning to break up the shutout.

Alex Rodriguez’ 5-hit game tied a career high. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he joined Ruben Sierra as the only former Texas Ranger to have a 5-hit game as a member of the team and as an opponent.

Mark Teixeira’s big May continued yesterday with a 2 RBI, 3-run scored day. For the month, he’s hitting .330/.404/.736 with 10 HR and 26 RBI in 23 games.

To commemorate Memorial Day, all Major League teams wore red caps with the red, white, and blue insignias. The word blasphemy could be heard throughout the Yankees Universe.

The series continues tonight at 8:05 ET with Joba Chamberlain (2-1, 3.70) vs. Kevin Millwood (4-4, 3.12). It’s Chamberlain’s first start since he was hit by a line drive on the side of the knee against Baltimore last Thursday.