manager of the year....

they sure play hard for him....

NO COMMENT

As I've stated here before, I'm not a big fan of di-bi-tri-secting every obscure stat out there but some credit is due those folks who have pointed out at various stages of this season that certain player performances couldn't be sustained given the "peripherals". Again, since I pretty much just gloss over those things I can't point to anything specific, but am only suggesting that may be the case here and what we're seeing is the effect on the aggregate.

Additionally, an uber young team, talented as this one may be, is just going to go through growing pains. Opposing scouts will find their holes and good teams will exploit them.

Finally, the point about pressing is huge. Baseball is a most fascinating game at high levels, One has to focus but not overthink, one has to relax and play loose but take his job seriously.

Still, it's been a fun ride.

What this team needs on offense is a couple of high OBP guys to space out in the lineup. But those guys don't exist in the system, except Smoak, and you can't count on a rookie to be a high OBP guy next year. Only free agency can help, and the Rangers have no money. So the most promising solution is to change the approach with what they've got. In his career, Kinsler's OBP has ranged from 20 to 50 points higher than this year, so there is hope there. Young's career OBP has been 10 to 20 points lower than this year, because he doesn't walk much. That's not going to change. Hamilton should be considerably higher based on his two previous years. Other than that, the players are so young they don't have track records to establish a trend. Conclusion: Who knows what to expect in 2010? My personal view is that things will get considerably better for the offense next year and pitching will be the issue again. Several pitchers over-achieved this year, and several hitters under-achieved. With players this young there would have been multiple question marks going into next year no matter how they finished this year, so hold on for an interesting ride.

"It's September: This is what we play for."

It is exhausting being a Ranger fan. What's happening to the Angels in Boston is exactly what the Rangers needed to make up ground and what do they do? Lose 5 of 6. This was by far the most teeth gnashing series I've ever watched. I haven't turned off any games this year because I have always believed that the Rangers are going to come back... what I believe to be the nature of any true fan of any team. But... around the 6th inning of last nights game... I couldn't take it any more... and I turned off the game.

Stranger things have happened... they can still win. I really hope they turn it around. Who knows... perhaps the baseball gods will smile on them. I'm praying for a complete Angels collapse.

Joey... it seems painfully obvious to me (and I know to many others) that Kinsler has got to change something. I swear, I think he's hit one ground ball all year. I seem to remember him saying that his swing is no different than last year but it's got to be. Every freakin' ball he hits is a damn pop up. At least if he hit a ground ball... there's three opportunities for the defense to screw up as opposed to just catching the ball (real scientific stuff I know).

What is Rudy telling him? I mean... it's not working. Kinsler was such a great MVP candidate last year before he got hurt and this year he looks and sounds like such a douche. Granted... he has 29 homers but I think many of us fans would rather see the Kinsler of last year. I feel as though he's tried to reinvent himself as a power hitter when there was nothing to fix in the first place.

I know the Kinsler issue is probably old news but I feel like i've dealt with watching it long enough this year. I realize this may be more of a rant then a question but I always enjoy reading your take along with your fancy graphs, etc. etc.

BBTIA rocks by the way...

What is Rudy telling him?

What every good hitting instructor tells his hitters, whether he's talking to 10 year olds or 30 year old veterans, - stay inside the ball, trust your hands, keep your weight on your back foot, hit the inside pitch out front, let the outside pitch get deep, hit the pitch over the plate back up the middle -

It's nor all that complicated, but it's the most difficult thing to do in sports.

A. Stephens...

No crap. I played ball for 13 years... I hit a baseball quite a bit (not all that well) and I know it's hard, but I'm certainly not a professional. If being a hitting coach is as easy as you make it sound then it sounds like you could take Rudy's job.

I realize that my post was probably more of a rant when I got done with it than a question. There were plenty of things to rant about after this series than just Kinsler but his swing has been the most frustrating thing for me to watch all year.

I agree with you. But with your experience, then I'm sure you would agree it's his approach not his mechanics that are the main culprit. My point in the response was really directed toward the flood of Rudy bashers that typically show up when the offense struggles or when it doesn't comport to their personal philosophy of what a productive offense should look like. I'm not saying your question fit that template, that was just my knee-jerk reaction to it. If it appeared I was being a smart-a_s, that wasn't my intent.

Understood. I'm a believer in the Ranger long term game plan and certainly wouldn't try and tell Rudy how to do his job and certainly appreciate BBTIA's authors and readers for their more educated approach at disecting what's wrong and right with everything Rangers as opposed to say... the DMN blog which is full of a bunch of idiots.

I'm sure you'd understand as well, being a Ranger fan, that I'm starting to come off my emotional high I rode all season long watching my team succeed beyond expectations only to watch as the chance they make the postseason dwindle with every weak pop up and squibbler ground ball yesterday and the day before... and the day before. So... perhaps I'm a little testy. As all Ranger fans should be I guess.

There is, currently, a hitting technique being taught to many kids which demands the dreaded uppercut swing. I had a high school 'star' at my kids practice tell me he couldn't hit grounders to the infielders (because of his uppercut swing technique.) I don't support this but...

Its difficult to watch something ugly whether its a person that walks by or a team falling on their faces...I went to the movies last night...laughed at "Its all about Steve" I needed that...Maybe our guys do too...I hope that this is all a result of pressing because if its not...the alternative is unbearable

I think a lot of it is pressure too. You don't see the "atta boys" and horsing around that you saw when they were winning. Everyone has gone into a shell. I also agree that "one game at a time" thinking has gone out the window and the older guys (managers, coaches and players) have forgotten their responsibility to the younger players.

Apparently we've signed Scheppers. At least we didn't lose him too.

You guys sound like you're discussing the dearly departed at a funeral! Are we going to see suicides at the end of the season, as we see in Brazil in years when they fail to win the Soccer World cup? Lighten up!. At the very least this has been a more sccessful season than just about anybody predicted before spring training. Well done,JD. Well done Ron W. And well done, team. And do even better next year...:-)

I agree with Phoenix... I'm freaking exhausted! Just a little consistency with this team would go along way with me right now.
No doubt they are pressing... but I've said it before (on here) and i'll say it again, this team has to be more patient at the plate.
Going against a young staff like the A's you can't be free swinging... striking out 10-12 times a game will win you nothing... zilch!

I still love these guys and will watch till the bitter end... but a new philosophy needs to take hold next season... or else!!!

This is the problem with the Rangers...

When Padilla was signed by the Dodgers, Joe Torre was asked if the signing was prudent given that Padilla's release by the Rangers was due to chemistry/clubhouse issues.

Torre's reply, "Our team is strong enough for that to not be a consideration".

At the time, August 16th or thereabouts, I wondered whether his response was saying more about L.A. or about Texas. I think I know now.

Either way, the Rangers are a team that has to have a pampered/coddled/no-distraction environment to succeed - and that will never succeed. They are sissies. Anyone remember the tank-job protest after DeLucci was traded? After Mench? After Kapler? Sissies.

Dovetailling into Joey's assesment [the distraction of expectations and urgency of winning, whether stated by the media or by coaching] is exposing the weak-willed/minded attitude fostered by the organization and players alike.

I think there are still chemistry/clubhouse issues that are unspoken, and of course they are unspoken because speaking would expose even further that this is a team of sissies.

So, who's the Padilla now?

Hank -

Sissies? You gotta be kidding me. This team has a small handful of veteran players: Young, Blalock, Vizquel, Byrd, Kinsler, Millwood and now Pudge. The majority of the team is comprised of young players in their 2nd or 3rd year of professional ball, and they have many who are either absolute rookies, or guys like Feldman who are having their first real pro year all the way through with the same role. Think about the 1st/2nd year players this team is rolling out there: Elvis, Teagarden, Salty, Davis, Cruz, Murphy, Borbon, Feldman, Hunter, Harrison, Holland, Feliz, etc etc etc. And even Josh Hamilton is only in his 3rd year of pro ball. If you stop to think about it long enough, you will acknowledge that the team is green and playing way over its head - and it has been all season. The talent is there, but it is raw - and there are holes that need to be filled to solidify the group for the long haul.

Padilla was dumped because he showed over and over again that he played by his own rules, and didn't give a flip for his team. Torre can say that about him because he knows that Padilla must be on his best behavior in LA, and because he's only going to have to deal with Padillla for a couple of months at the most - if they make the playoffs.

The team is run by Nolan Ryan - I'd love for you to call him a "sissy" to his face. I can't think of any player in Texas Rangers history who less exemplified a "sissy" than Ryan!

Let me add this nugget, too.

This team is 15 games over .500 in mid-September, yet they have NO SUPERSTAR hitter save Michael Young, and he's not a superstar in the same vein as Pujols. Hamilton showed flashes of being that kind of hitter last spring, but he's done really nothing since last season's all-star break. Look at the other teams with winning records and you'll find a palette of offensive superstars that make many of our guys look like AAA players.

And now consider the pitching staff. Yeah.

The fact that this team has won for so long in 2009 with this group of guys is really pretty amazing if you think about it. I think it has nothing to to with players or owners or management being "sissies."

@Jim

Thanks for demonstrating further that this team is weak-willed.

And thanks for allowing me to have an opinion, as do you.

You described conditions that create the distractions/pressures, I mentioned, that a weak-willed sissies can't overcome.

Oh yeah, a Pujols name-drop? There will be several teams in the post-season without Pujols.

I'm not saying it hasn't been an entertaining year by the Rangers, it has. And, I have appreciated it.

Don't like it? Have me banned from the site. Woohoo.

A quote from today's Newberg Report. "I know I give too much time to those few emailers whose dependency on the team (whom they profess to care about) to fuel the negativity that appears to drive them confuses me."

Quote from King Rama in Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida. "Oh, don't the days seem lank and long, when all goes right and nothing goes wrong, and isn't your life extremely flat, with nothing whatever to grumble at."

The Ranger fan base could use a few more Jamey Newbergs, and a few less King Ramas.

LOL Hank - I don't think I demonstrated any such thing. I think it's preposterous to assume that a bunch of rookies and former spares (and what else can you call guys like Feldman, Byrd, O'Day, Nippert, Grilli, and Murphy but former spares who were rescued from the scrap heap) will play like seasoned veterans and storm their way into the post season.

No one called for you to get banned from the site either. I never said you can't share your opinion, as insulting to the team as it is.

Huh. Kevin Sherrington blogged this morning about flawed team chemistry.

He also called out Josh Hamilton for being weak-willed; not taking the field for fear of pain, not pain that actually exists at this point in his recovery.

He draws a contrast in attitude between Hamilton and Mickey Mantle who played regardless of pain.

Call it what you want. I call it sissy.

The Padilla issue obviously reminds me of the Ponson issue last year. I think the Rangers are better for letting Padilla go as they were with Ponson. Ponson was somewhat successful with the Rangers last year and I was suprised when they let him go... as I was with Padilla. If he's sucking the life out of the young players I don't know why you wouldn't let him go... I don't think that's being a sissy... It's good business.

Padilla also just looked creepy.

Hank,

I agree with your comment that they don't make ballplayers like they used to... or as you say: "sissy". You won't find a Mickey Mantle, Nolan Ryan or Cal Ripken any more... Michael Young is pretty close. Ballplayers are unfortunately too weak when it comes to fighting through pain. I don't know if that's more them or the upper management thought trying to protect their investment. Josh has dissapointed me and alot of Ranger fans this year. It's purely speculation but I think there's other things going on with Josh. I hope that's not the case... but he just doesn't look, sound and act like he did last year.

As far as team chemistry... I think it was great until right after the Cleveland series. They apparantly left it in the dugout there though because I don't know where the hell it went.

Where is Sherringtons blog?

Oh my god, Hank. So I guess when you have a torn muscle in your stomach you need to gut it out and play, or else you're a "sissy." Or I suppose if you have a pinched nerve in your back that makes it impossible for you to even walk normally (in fact, numerous reports surfaced that last week Michael Young with his strained hamstring was getting around better than Hamilton was with his back issue), I guess you're just supposed to play through it, even though as an outfielder you will be called upon to run out there! LOL. If you want to call Josh Hamilton "injury-prone" - go for it. I'm right there with you. But to call him a "sissy" is crazy. It's so entertaining to watch armchair athletes like Hank criticize players for not playing like they should when they've never once walked in the shoes of a ML player, and have no idea the kind of wear and tear that accrues over the course of just one season. If you or Kevin Sherrington think that Hamilton is faking his injury, let's see some real proof of that. An injured Hamilton who can't run or swing the bat is worse for the team than a healthy Borbon taking his place.

You're entitled to your opinion, but so am I - and I say you're dead wrong. I read the Sherrington story, too, and I also think he's wrong.

I think Hank may be onto something.

What was that line I heard many years ago when I lived in Dallas.... Ah yes! "Fort Worth! Where men are men - and women are men - and cows are women." Yup. No sissies in Fort Worth.

This team misses Young's presence in the lineup. Before next season, they need to get a free agent (good luck with that given the financial woes of the Rangers) who has a high OBP. They look tired and they've run out of gas this season. It's been a great run, but I think it's over.

This team still has a chance....but they just need to take a deep breath....clear their minds and go out and have fun and play the baseball that each and every one of them are capable of playing......it's been a darn good season and many of us are extremely proud of this group of guys....Kinsler, Murphy, Young, Andrus, Byrd, Cruz, Holland, Hunter, Feldman, Millwood, Salty, Teagarden, Pudge, Feliz, Francisco, Blalock, Davis, Hamilton, Wilson, O'Day, Eddie, all of them, all of OUR Rangers..............just take that deep breath guys as many of us are with you guys on every pitch and every play!! Go Rangers!!!