the Texas Rangers and Cole Hamels... any Playoff Chance This Year?

well, it's the proverbial "put up or shut up" time.. game 5 underway in 7 hours, Hamels starting for the Rangers..

despite my earlier thought that the Rangers would fold like a cheap suit, should a game 5 occur.. I now think Hamels will be the deciding factor.. he will pitch well, say, 3 runs given up in 7 innings.. and the Rangers, the team with the best record in MLB away from home this year, will win a close game.

........ he (Hamels) will pitch well, say, 3 runs given up in 7 innings............and the Rangers, the team with the best record in MLB away from home this year, will win a close game. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

Three Keys Today:

1) It's vital Texas jumps on Stroman early and quiet down a Toronto crowd that will be at a fever pitch hours before they strike up O Canada. Getting on the board before the Jays do will be critical to setting the tone today.

2) Just as ace Cliff Lee was five years ago (for the Rangers vs the Rays), Cool Cole needs to be dominant today and establish the strike zone asap. He's been here before and knows how to handle a hostile road crowd; so no distractions there.

His struggles have come in the early innings.....the Jays strategy, as well, will be to jump on him should he has issues with his breaking ball and change up. Simply put, Cole needs to minimize any "mistake pitches" as the Jays will make him pay.

Sidenote: It will be interesting to watch and see if Toronto comes in anxious and over-aggressive today (at the plate). While the Jays can be a patient team (especially if a pitcher isn't getting ahead in the pitch count) they might be a tad amped up being this is a game five elimination game and want to knock Hamels out early.

3) Choo, Moreland and (especially) Fielder need to raise their game today.....this trio more than any need to set the tone for the team when they're at the plate. Their leader, Adrian Beltre, simply isn't 100% yet and they need need to be at their very best. Deshields, Elvis and Odor will feed off them if they can be successful at any point of the game.

While Odor had a pair of terrific games in Toronto, it's unrealistic to expect him to repeat those performances and singularly carry the Rangers.....he's a young player (remember, just 21) and he needs to be more in a supporting role to the sage veterans today. Whatever is in Prince Fielder's head (ie: post-season play) he needs to reckon with those demons starting TODAY.

2016, here we come

the Rangers got intimidated from the top of the 7th inning antics.. total embarrassment.
go Astros!

Well my boys are done with this year. I had tears at the end. That's okay. Their gonna come back next year and kick some dam ass!

I had tears at the end. That's okay. Originally Posted by Tara Evans

not me.. I was screaming obscenities while they made 3 errors in a row.. they deserved to lose.. and have those homers from Encarnacion and Bautista landed yet? God, they crushed those Mother Fuckers..

https://youtu.be/6M8szlSa-8o

I was cursing too.

Well my boys are done with this year. I had tears at the end. That's okay. Their gonna come back next year and kick some dam ass! Originally Posted by Tara Evans

Yeah, just like the cowgirls ... wait until next year ... Ol Jerry still has not found his glory hole ...

If the Rangers want to exact their revenge next season (on Toronto or the rest of baseball) for what took place yesterday, it's simple: don't come out of the blocks ten, eleven games under .500 to start the season, Period. It's too tuff to make that kind of a deficit up, even the marathon that baseball is.

As an example, do what the Jays and Royals did.....position yourself (early and throughout the season) to get home field advantage in the playoffs. While that didn't bother the Rangers too much in games one / two....it can (and I believe in yesterday's case) take it's toll; especially when it comes to an elimination game 5 or 7 and you're playing in front of a drunken hockey crowd.

Oh, btw...kuddoes to you, Canada. Way to show the world what kind of (stupid) fans you are.....one of your own players effs up (but) you want to blame the officiating team for this "injustice". I, personally, will be pulling for any team your Jays play the remainder of the playoffs.

Lastly, I thought this was a baseball / Cole Hamels thread...? Or does that inquiry get filed under the column that trolls will always troll, no matter the topic of conversation? Yeah...that's prolly it.

I'm with you on the Toronto fans.. boorish ass clowns... the players too.. they screamed at the umpires over called strikes the whole series.. pathetic.

it's easy to say now, but I thought it yesterday.. why take Hamels out of the game? sure, there was a meltdown occurring, but he was pitching well.. 3 ground balls that became errors, and a little pop fly that was misplayed, isn't on him.. Hamels wasn't rattled.. his successor was not prepared to pitch.

I'm with you on the Toronto fans.. boorish ass clowns... the players too.. they screamed at the umpires over called strikes the whole series.. pathetic.

it's easy to say now, but I thought it yesterday.. why take Hamels out of the game? sure, there was a meltdown occurring, but he was pitching well.. 3 ground balls that became errors, and a little pop fly that was misplayed, isn't on him.. Hamels wasn't rattled.. his successor was not prepared to pitch. Originally Posted by Chung Tran

Hamels was up there in pitches, I guess banny was worried about ALCS instead of the situation on the field.

Hamels was up there in pitches, I guess banny was worried about ALCS instead of the situation on the field. Originally Posted by Boltfan

Right. Banny's a "numbers guy" and figured Cole had given the team all he had (even though he still looked strong IMO).

Dison had been lights out since joining the Rangers and the thought process was (since he's primarily a sinkerball / groundoutpitcher) we'd have the option to get a force at home / double play, etc to get us out of the inning; unscathed perhaps. No one envisioned a 3-run HR since he'd not given anything up akin to that all season long. By the way, Bautista needs a 101 mph fastball in his ear next season, first game in fact; no questions asked as to why.

Our mercurial shortstop, Elvis Andrus, is altogether a different topic but needs to be addressed just the same. He owned up to his mistakes, post game interview but (nonetheless) he committed two egregious errors in that inning that were (at the pro level especially) "routine plays". Asking your pitching staff to get 6 outs in a single inning is too much to ask considering the environment / stakes, etc. Elvis' error dominoed (IMO) and "created" the Moreland and Odor mistakes.

Andrus' bat was cold the entire series (.182?); he did nothing to help his team on the scoreboard. Fine. But you cannot be the catalyst for a complete and thorough meltdown (especially) when the heads up play of Odor just gave you the lead with 12 outs to go in the game / series. If Andrus contract wasn't so ridiculously untrade-able, I'd say move him in the off season for a bag of sh*t since that basically what he gave his teammates and fans in the 7th.

Bautista's a habitual chump and a big reason I really dont care for the jays. But man. dont think Ive ever seen so many errors in a game. Felt like I was at my sons little league game.

Sometimes the pressure to perform and the adrenaline rush just gets to a player and he or she bumbles an easy play, or several seemingly easy plays. We've all seen Elvis turn high speed double plays over and over and they were things of beauty.
It was all on the line and apparently that was running through his head before the ball was even hit. I still think Elvis has become one of the better shortstops in the game.
I'm still proud of the team and the progress they made this season.

They should be very competitive next year, Yu Darvish will be back, they have a good bullpen and some very good Triple A talent that got some call up action this year.