Lots of stuff happened on Opening Day for the Texas Rangers some good and some bad. With that being said, let's look at some of those good and bad. Also, we'll take a look at a couple of questions from our fans.
The Good:
Elvis Andrus- Batted 3 for 3 with a two run home run in his first at bat. Cue the baby shark music.
Nomar Mazara- It was not til the end of the game but he lit up a Cubs pitcher and made it a far 482 ft home run.
The Bad:
The Pitching- all around this was NOT what any fan was expecting. Yes we did know that it was going to be a long season but for us to go through the bullpen in one game is totally uncalled for. Starting on March 30th the Rangers go on a 9 game span and if you have this same result every game your bullpen is going to be taxed by the first two weeks of the season.
The Hitting- this was absurd other than the home runs hit by Andrus and Mazara. Albeit Nomar Mazara didn't hit his until the ninth inning when the Cubs pitchers had retired an abysmal amount of Rangers batters.
Defense- this was something as Rangers fans we knew would have problems at least for the first few weeks. If you want to win games though you can't have the errors that the Rangers had in the Opening Day game. If the Rangers had turned those defensive errors into outs we would not be talking about this at all.
Chris Woodward- Yes, I just said the manager and this is hopefully just Opening Day jitters. However, you can't make pitching changes over and over again and not to expect results. He needs to figure this portion of being a manager out otherwise he will not last more than a month as the Rangers manager.
Mike Minor- Yes absolutely I could add this to pitching however he needs his own section, right? For the first 3 innings he was cruising and was looking like a true ace. Then the wheels fell off and before he could get through four innings he had given up 6 runs and what could have been a good outing turned into a real bloodbath.
With all of this being said, the Rangers have a long road ahead of them. However, it is a long season and this is only one game of a 162 game season. Things have to change if this team wants to contend and they will have to figure it out pretty quickly before they fall into a hole the first month that they can not crawl out of.
Now 2 questions submitted by fans:
1) What will be the longest inning game this year and will it be against: Texas rangers? William E. Katy, TX
---Excellent question William. I think the longest inning game this year will be a 15th inning game against the Anaheim Angels the final score will be 2-1. Honestly I can't go longer than 15 innings with the Rangers at least not with the way I saw their bullpen get lit up on Opening Day.
2) Do you think the New York Yankees will win the division this year? Megan M. New York, NY
---Megan that is a good question and to be honest their are three teams that could win that division: Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, and the New York Yankees. However, it is too early in the season to be able to say someone will win the division, but I do think the New York Yankees if they remain healthy can and will win the division. My Prediction for this division is:
1) New York Yankees
2) Boston Red Sox 1.0 game back
3) Tampa Bay Rays 2.0 games back
4) Toronto Blue Jays 6.0 games back
5) Baltimore Orioles 39.5 games back
Well that's that for this week. Remember you can submit your questions to the following for consideration:
screamerproductions@yahoo.com
JimmyKersey1: Twitter
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Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you!