Texas Rangers Thread

[StylisticS]

Let's go A's.

 

[Mrdude108]

All we need is an Angel loss! Go A's! If they win, we can clinch with a W tomorrow.

We need a Ranger/Mav Smilie for occasions like this.

 

[DWhite Fan]

All we need is an Angel loss! Go A's! If they win, we can clinch with a W tomorrow.

We need a Ranger/Mav Smilie for occasions like this.

Oakland up 3-1 in the top of 9....

 

[DWhite Fan]

Oakland up 3-1 in the top of 9....

If the Angels lose tonight, the Rangers are the West Champs! LOL! Good to see fans still at the Ballpark in Arlington waiting to celebrate tonight with the Rangers
:starspin

 

[dback]

MLB Network is showing the end of the Angels game... 2 down, 1 to go.

 

[dback]

Texas Rangers. Your 2011 AL West Champions!!!

 

[dback]

Gotta love the Ginger Ale celebrations.

 

[StylisticS]

Your 2011 American League West Champion Texas Rangers !!!

 

[Robbieac]

:dance2: :dance3:

Congratulations Rangers!!!!!

Nobody should take us lightly in the playoffs. If they do, they will be burned.

We have been getting hot at EXACTLY the right time!

 

[YosemiteSam]

Gotta Love It!

 

[StylisticS]

They showed the celebration on MLB Network. Great fans we have as well as great players. Seriously, the professionalism of the analysts and presentation that the MLB Network brings is far superior to the NFL Network that its beyond laughable. I enjoy watching the MLB Network far more.Fun watching them enjoy every minute of this night of clinching from not only Texas, but the Dbacks and Brewers as well. They also talk great about the individual performances like Matt Kemp and don't bring players down about how much of a leader a player isn't like NFLN does.

Sorry for the rant LOL.

 

[cowboyeric8]

Go Rangers!

 

[TheCoolFan]

Nice. The season was a success now - doesn't matter what happens in the playoffs. Considering we rolled the dice with 3 unknowns in the rotation and didn't have Cliff Lee, entering the season I thought we'd be lucky just to make a wildcard.

You gotta think Ogando goes to the bullpen in the playoffs now, especially with Mark Lowe's injury.

 

[Mrdude108]

Nice. The season was a success now - doesn't matter what happens in the playoffs. Considering we rolled the dice with 3 unknowns in the rotation and didn't have Cliff Lee, entering the season I thought we'd be lucky just to make a wildcard.

You gotta think Ogando goes to the bullpen in the playoffs now, especially with Mark Lowe's injury.

I don't think it's a success unless we get to/win the world series, probably win it because if you regress, it can't really be success, even if we lost Cliff Lee. Just my opinion.

Agreed, I think Ogando goes to the bullpen for that exact reason, although I'm not sure if I start Harrison over him but he has bullpen/setup/relief experience so it makes sense.

I love the fact that our bullpen is just awesome, which was a real killer last season so that will help us big time during the playoffs. The biggest thing is Hamilton and Beltre getting hot. Beltre and Hamilton are both healthy, Cruz is almost there so we will have a whole healthy team for the first time in months, for the most part.

Young, Hamilton, Cruz, Beltre, Napoli alone is going to be frightening to opposing pitchers. Throw in our speedy guys like Endy, Gentry, Andrus and Kinsler. Our offense is just sick. Get the rotation going and I don't see a team in the AL that stops us.

 

[DIAF]

So much for the Angels and the predicted down-to-the-wire finish.

 

[Ranzo]

Championship!

 

[Ranzo]

By Richard Durrett
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Now that the Rangers have clinched the AL West, they've got some decisions to make. Among them:

* How to line up the starting rotation. If the Rangers start at Yankee Stadium, do they want Derek Holland pitching Game 2 or would they prefer to use Colby Lewis, who has more experience and has much better numbers on the road this season.

* Will they go with a 4-man rotation for the ALDS like they did last year? I think they will and that Matt Harrison will be the fourth member of that group, shifting Alexi Ogando to the bullpen.
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/texas-rangers/post/_/id/4872271/looking-ahead-playoff-decisions-loom



==============================

It's curious how quickly and much Alexi fell off as the season dragged on. Well, maybe he can a power arm in the 7th in the playoffs. Harrison still worries me in the rotation...almost would give Marty the slot.

 

[DIAF]

By Richard Durrett
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Now that the Rangers have clinched the AL West, they've got some decisions to make. Among them:

* How to line up the starting rotation. If the Rangers start at Yankee Stadium, do they want Derek Holland pitching Game 2 or would they prefer to use Colby Lewis, who has more experience and has much better numbers on the road this season.

* Will they go with a 4-man rotation for the ALDS like they did last year? I think they will and that Matt Harrison will be the fourth member of that group, shifting Alexi Ogando to the bullpen.
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/texas-rangers/post/_/id/4872271/looking-ahead-playoff-decisions-loom



==============================

It's curious how quickly and much Alexi fell off as the season dragged on. Well, maybe he can a power arm in the 7th in the playoffs. Harrison still worries me in the rotation...almost would give Marty the slot.

I don't think its curious one bit. I think it was to be expected. Either hitters would get used to his limited repertoire, or if not that, he'd tire from a lack of stamina, being a relief pitcher up until this season. Or both.

I think you'd almost HAVE to have Holland as the #2 pitcher. You can't really trust anyone else, especially Colby Lewis.

 

[Ranzo]

I don't think its curious one bit. I think it was to be expected. Either hitters would get used to his limited repertoire, or if not that, he'd tire from a lack of stamina, being a relief pitcher up until this season. Or both.

I think you'd almost HAVE to have Holland as the #2 pitcher. You can't really trust anyone else, especially Colby Lewis.

I wouldn't argue with the way you framed the point. Still, odds are a certain percentage of hitters would be overpowered by him, but as it happened everybody had his number. Anyway, he should be well rested if called upon.

RE: Lewis. He has the playoff experience and unquestioned mental toughness, so it's the choice they have to make. OTOH, he is second to Harrison in the potential to give the Rangers no chance in any given start.

This is why making it to the WS is going to be an enormous challenge and beyond a match-up vs Philly or even SF again is not very appealing. Yet they still have to play the games.

 

[Alweezy]

I don't think it's a success unless we get to/win the world series, probably win it because if you regress, it can't really be success, even if we lost Cliff Lee. Just my opinion.

Agreed, I think Ogando goes to the bullpen for that exact reason, although I'm not sure if I start Harrison over him but he has bullpen/setup/relief experience so it makes sense.

I love the fact that our bullpen is just awesome, which was a real killer last season so that will help us big time during the playoffs. The biggest thing is Hamilton and Beltre getting hot. Beltre and Hamilton are both healthy, Cruz is almost there so we will have a whole healthy team for the first time in months, for the most part.

Young, Hamilton, Cruz, Beltre, Napoli alone is going to be frightening to opposing pitchers. Throw in our speedy guys like Endy, Gentry, Andrus and Kinsler. Our offense is just sick. Get the rotation going and I don't see a team in the AL that stops us.

I don't think the Rangers regress if they don't make the World Series. A lot of people including guys on this forum have stated we only got there because of Cliff Lee. To the OP point, this team without Cliff Lee had a better record and showed that it belonged in the postseason coming out alive during that early September death series vs. LAA, TB and Bos all in a row.

So now we're square... we had one season where it can be argued the team was carried to the postseason and beyond. Now they get a chance with a clean slate to see where they can go. If we're going to set measuring bars of sucess this would be the season to do so.