What started out as an unbelievable season had a really unbelievable ending. 4 up with 6 to go turns into an uninspiring Wild Card game. But that was the status quo for the last half of the season for the Rangers. Yes, they won 93 games, but when you look beyond that you see a team that never could put up a long winning streak. A team that always had at least a third of their lineup struggling. A team that insisted on letting Michael Young go to the plate 651 times.
Their star dipped back into bad habits (at least on the field) and wouldn't take a walk despite teams doing everything short of rolling the ball to keep the ball out of the strike zone. Then he disappears for a 5 game stretch. Two of those games were losses to the Mariners. Want to know how the season could have ended different? When the Angels and A's got their three game set against Seattle in the week leading up to the end, they swept the M's. The Rangers lost 2 of 3. There's your division folks.
And can I ask why put Robbie Ross on the one game playoff roster if you decide to use Derek Holland out of the pen? I've been an ardent defender of Ron Washington, despite his obvious lack of in-game managerial skills, but it's moves like that when you see how much of a disadvantage the Rangers are during the actual game.
I taught my son (the football picking one) the tortoise and the hare story the other day. The Rangers were easily the hare in 2012. The quick start. The resting of key players at odd times (see the two losses with Spring Training lineups here and here). The Rangers have always been credited for being loose. Well it certainly showed the last half of the season. It would have been nice if some urgency had been shown.
I know I'm rambling. I didn't really have a thesis when I started this entry. It doesn't hurt like Game 6 (although the first game of the DH against LA a few days ago did). Last year I thought the Rangers were the better team. This year, they showed that they had no fight left in them. Seriously, Josh Hamilton saw 8 pitches tonight and made 5 outs. What an terrible end to a fantastic story. Until, as a friend of mine said, we find out what really caused his eye problems.
OK, I'm rambling again. Maybe I'll get some coherent thoughts and return. When do I get my ALDS and ALCS refund?
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