<![CDATA[ShutDownInning - The Articles]]>

<![CDATA[ShutDownInning - The Articles]]>Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:51:13 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Ranger’s 2012 MVP Candidates]]>Mon, 17 Sep 2012 06:47:01 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/rangers-2012-mvp-candidates.html

by Will Mitchell

A Texas Ranger has won the league MVP 5 times in the last 16 seasons. (Juan Gonzalez ’96, ’98; Ivan Rodriguez’99; Alex Rodriguez ’03, Josh Hamilton ’10). That’s 31% of all AL MVPs since 1996. This is far more than any other team during that span. 2012 looks to continue the trend. All of the Ranger players have contributed to the team’s success but this post will focus on the Rangers’ two legitimate 2012 AL MVP candidates, Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton, and which All Star has a better shot at claiming the highest honor for individual performance. As you will see, their offensive and defensive numbers are similar, heck, even their jerseys are only three numbers apart.

Josh Hamilton owns the statistics in the AL offensive categories. He currently leads the AL in Home Runs, Runs Batted In, and ABs per HR. He is also in the top five in OPS, Slugging, Total Bases, Runs Scored, Runs Created, Extra Base Hits, Intentional BBs, Sacrifice Flies, and more. Hamilton’s offense has always been there, but this year we saw him struggle in the middle of the season from May 29th through July 31st where Josh batted .204 (37/181) which also coincides with the Rangers toughest stretch in terms of W-L record (28-25). This stretch revealed a level of inconsistency from Josh that Rangers fans haven’t seen from him since he joined the club in 2008.

Conversely, Adrian Beltre has been steady and consistent the entire season. While some of his power numbers do not rise to the level of Hamilton’s, Beltre is not far behind. Beltre has a better batting average than Hamilton (by over 30 points), almost 30 more hits, and Beltre has struck out close to half as many times as Hamilton. Beltre and Hamilton are virtually tied in plate appearances and games played. Beltre’s numbers are more impressive when considering he protects Hamilton in the Ranger lineup where Beltre is coming up in clutch situations and rising to the occasion. In the AL, Beltre enjoys top five rankings in Hits, Total bases, and Sacrifice Flies. He will also finish the season with over 35 home runs and 100 RBIs. Beltre’s numbers since August 1st when the pennant chase begins to heat up are a .338 avg., 14 HRs, and 31 RBIs. By comparison, Hamilton is batting .283 with 13 HRs, and 39 RBIs. The past six weeks have been very kind to the 3 & 4 spots in the Rangers batting order, which is why both of these men are in the conversation for the 2012 MVP.

If offensive numbers made an MVP, Hamilton would have an edge despite the mid season slump, but offense is just one part of the MVP equation. Defensively, no one is better at third base than Adrian Beltre in the American League. The reigning gold glove winner at one of the toughest positions has a higher fielding position this season than he did last season, and the other two seasons he won the gold glove. In fact, at .972, Beltre has his highest fielding percentage of his big league career. He only has 8 errors all season. Josh Hamilton only has 5 errors in 268 chances with a .981 fielding percentage, and five assists in the outfield. Hamilton has never won a gold glove in his career, but he has to receive consideration this year again for that honor.

Numbers alone do not make an MVP. In the clubhouse, where there is no real objective way to measure leadership, we have to go by what we see. What I see is two guys that have a lot of fun playing baseball. Both have perpetual smiles in the dugout. Beltre is two years older than Hamilton but has nine more years of MLB service time. This makes Beltre feel a lot older than Hamilton, at least to me. Beltre is in the middle of a very comfortable five-year contract. Hamilton is a free agent after this season. A good season won’t mean millions of dollars to Beltre in 2013 as it could to Hamilton. In terms of “motivation”, one would expect Hamilton’s numbers to be far better than Beltre’s. As we can see, that is simply not the case. Beltre plays hard no matter what, he’s durable, and he seems to be the captain of the infield, and a strong presence in the clubhouse. I’ve never questioned Hamilton’s effort. Every player has a bad day, where things just don’t feel right. There have been games, particularly in the middle of the season where Josh just seemed distracted. Josh’s life is literally an open book. He will always be under a microscope off the field. I don’t think that “private issues” are any of our business, but Josh did profit from his plight earlier in his career and so some of the criticisms he receives are fair game. Beltre simply doesn’t have this baggage. He is a shy guy when it comes to the media but a leader in the clubhouse and on the field. While this shouldn’t give him an edge in the MVP race, it does give him an edge in the “intangibles” category of the MVP evaluation in my opinion.

It’s that time of year again where September creates the suspense accompanied with meaningful baseball and everyday players become legends. The Rangers enjoy a modest lead in the AL West as they stare at their third straight division title and currently sit poised to have the number one seed heading into the playoffs. As Rangers fans, it has been an awesome three seasons in a row. This could be the end to a spectacular run with amazing players and teammates. The rest of September to me could have that feel of the magical summer of 1961 where Mantle and Maris were competing with each other for the HR title and AL MVP (the quiet Roger Maris won both). Every night either Hamilton or Beltre is getting a big hit or making a circus play in the field and their team has the best record in the AL. Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, and possibly Derek Jeter may still have a say in the MVP before 2012 is over, but Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton do just as much for their team and their team is the best …so far.

Will Mitchell is a Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at Will.Mitchell@ShutDownInning.com or on Twitter @WillMitchellesq.

]]><![CDATA[Depth]]>Sat, 15 Sep 2012 11:42:08 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/depth.html

by Jeff Johnson

When the Rangers had three players go down in what seemed like two minutes in their game against Cleveland Wednesday night, I had an epiphany. I finally had a clear understanding of the depth that this franchise has. Not just depth at one or two positions, but quality depth across the board.

Adrian Beltre was the first casualty when he injured his left shoulder making a phenomenal diving stop He stayed in the game another three innings or so before Ron Washington forced him to sit the rest of the game as a precaution (Beltre returned to the DH role Wednesday). The greatness of this team’s depth is they simply plugged in rookie phenom Mike Olt, who is generally regarded as a plus defender at third base. Of course there was panic and some concern when a player of Beltre’ s caliber is injured, but I feel like this team could push on without him and not completely fall off the map. They would suffer in his absence indeed, but Mike Olt makes for a solid big league backup in this case. As fate intervened during Mike Olt’s next at bat, he went down with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the calf or ankle (plantar fasciitis). Most teams at this point are down to a single bullet in the chamber, but the flexibility of Ron Washington’s roster is one of its hidden strengths in my opinion. Ian Kinsler finished the game at third, but Michael Young would be a long-term solution if the time called for it. Michael Young is not who most Ranger fans want to see at third, but for a third string third baseman, he is about as good as baseball has to offer.

The Rangers would go on to win that game, but then news came out that Josh Hamilton was hurt with an injured knee and would miss Thursday’s game as well. All of those things I said about replacing Beltre and trying to move on without him can be said about Hamilton. Rangers cannot replace his presence in this lineup, but having guys like Martin, Gentry, Cruz, and Murphy to fill in while he is gone are far from terrible options. Most teams fall off way worse than that when you start getting to fourth and fifth outfielders, but the Rangers have the ability to plug more guys in when the need is there. The versatility of players like Michael Young, Craig Gentry, Mike Napoli (when healthy), Jurickson Profar makes a manager’s job so much easier because they can be the plugs to keep this ship floating until the regular starters get back on the field.

The pitching staff is no stranger to this depth either as we have witnessed over the course of the summer. When arms are tired or injuries occur in the bullpen, there have been guys step up all summer and hold the fort until the team returns to full strength. Tanner Scheppers, Robbie Ross, Martin Perez, and even Michael Kirkman at times have made what was a solid bullpen on paper before the season started to a deep and outstanding bullpen here in September. Say what you want about Roy Oswalt and his role on this team (and I would have a hard time disputing any of it), but his value has been important. A lot of teams would love the luxury of having a veteran spot starter like Oswalt so they can avoid wasting service time on younger players, it just so happened that the bump hasn’t been kind to Roy this season. Scott Feldman served in that same role earlier in the season and held things together until the regulars could get back and right the ship.

Do the Rangers have what it takes to finally win the big one this year? Who knows, but what I do know is that the depth of this organization is mind-blowing at times compared to other MLB teams. Not a single team in this league has much quality beyond the 12th and 13th guys on the bench, but the Rangers have more than their fair share and have proved that they can win a lot of games with that depth in this injury riddled season of 2012.

Jeff Johnson is a Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at Jeff.Johnson@ShutDownInning.com or on Twitter @Houstonhog.

]]><![CDATA[Rangers Get Biggest Bang for Buck]]>Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:44:04 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/rangers-get-biggest-bang-for-buck.html

image found at boston.com

By Eddie Middlebrook

The offseason between the 2010 and 2011 seasons saw crazy money thrown around to big-time players, including: Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Jayson Werth, Adam Dunn and one Adrian Beltre.

I thought this would be a good time to go ahead and look at the value of those players to date.

I used Jon Heyman’s preview article to come up with 10 players who were supposed to be the best 10 available. I established “value” with the understanding that WAR on the free agent market is worth roughly $5M per win. The contracts don’t include vesting options.

*Pena signed one-year deal with Cubs in 2011. In 2012, he signed with the Rays for one-year, 7.25 million.

At first glance, it is easy to see that Beltre will be able to fulfill his contract with relative ease (barring injury), while only Adrian Gonzalez and Cliff Lee have a slim chance to fulfill theirs.

As much as Ranger fans should be excited about Beltre honoring his contract with his play on the field, they also need to be concerned with signing free agents to long-term contracts. Keep this table in mind when the offseason starts in less than two months, and the Rangers have to think about paying Josh Hamilton and/or Mike Napoli.

The response to long-term contracts should be the same as to drugs, “Just Say No.”

Eddie Middlebrook is the Chat Coordinator and Junior Staff Writer for ShutDowninning. He can be reached at Eddie.Middlebrook@ShutDowninning.com or on Twitter @emiddlebrook

]]><![CDATA[Legends of Last Fall]]>Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:44:11 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/legends-of-last-fall.html

image found at fromdeeprightfield.com

By Bob Bland

During last year’s postseason, two Rangers whose performance was larger than life were Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli. They delivered plenty of heroics throughout the playoffs, both at the plate and in the field (maybe not so much glove-wise in Game 6 of the World Series, but I digress).

Napoli hit .328 with a .500 slugging percentage and .914 OPS during the 2011 playoffs. But while Napoli was excellent, Cruz was downright otherworldly, tying the record for most home runs in a single postseason (also held by Carlos Beltran and Barry Bonds) with eight - including an unbelievable SIX in the ALCS against Detroit.

Cruz and Napoli combined for a Herculean 31 RBI, which means they drove in almost 40% of all Texas runs during the 2011 postseason (36.5%, to be exact). Both also used their rocket arms to gun down opposing baserunners at several key moments during the playoffs. It’s hard to imagine the Rangers advancing to their second-consecutive World Series without the efforts of Napoli and Cruz, which was truly the stuff of legends.

Yet while the Rangers are once again poised to made a deep playoff run, hopefully culminating in the franchise’s first-ever championship, they have managed to do so thus far without any significant contributions from either of these two legends of last Fall.

Napoli slumped mightily earlier this season, hitting just .223 in 92 games, and he’s been on the disabled list for the past month. Right now, he’s experiencing postseason action earlier than his Ranger teammates, as his rehab assignment is taking place during the Texas League Championship Series as a temporary Roughrider. So far, his bat does not appear to have thawed at all.

Although Cruz hasn’t quite had the horrible year Napoli is experiencing, he also hasn’t capitalized on the momentum of his tremendous 2011 postseason performance. He’s batting a pedestrian .254 (14 points below his career average) with a somewhat yawn-inducing .452 slugging percentage (42 points below his career average). Those certainly aren’t terrible numbers, but they also don’t inspire much confidence that the Cruz from last year’s playoffs will return once this October rolls around.

Can the Rangers win it all this year without Napoli and Cruz returning to their 2011 postseason form? Sure, they can. But their chances would be greatly improved if they got an performance boost from these two legends of last Fall.

Bob Bland is a Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at Bob.Bland@ShutDownInning.com or on Twitter @SDIBob.

]]><![CDATA[Who To Root For]]>Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:07:44 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/who-to-root-for.html

By James Holland

I’m in the minority when it comes to the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics. While most fans and writers were hoping for at least a split in their current series I was wishing for the A’s to sweep them. You may think that I’m crazy for suggesting this but there are some valid reasons.

First I will start off by saying that the Angels had been surging as of late and I believe they will be a tough team to face in the playoffs. Yes, tougher than the A’s. If Texas keeps winning and the Angels keep losing that pushes them back further out of the division lead and possible wild card.

The next factor to consider is the remaining schedules of the teams. The Angels remaining opponents are the Royals, the Rangers, the White Sox, the Mariners and finally the Rangers again. The Athletics have an even tougher schedule as they host the Orioles before going on the road to play the Tigers, Yankees and Yankees and then returning to home to play the Mariners. That’s a 10-game road trip in which the A’s will face nothing but contenders. Then you have Texas whose remaining opponents are all division foes: Mariners, Angels, Mariners, A’s, Angels. Of the final ten games of the season for Texas, seven are at home are at home.

There are even more factors to consider such as team offenses. The number one and two teams by batting average are the Rangers and Angels. The A’s are 29th. The Rangers and Angels rank first and fifth respectively in runs scored per game. The A’s are 18th. It’s team pitching where Oakland currently has the upper hand as they are allowing 3.44 earned runs per game which is fifth best in baseball. Texas is 13th at 3.87 and the Angels are 17th at 3.96. However, when your team is near the bottom in offense then the pitching had better be lights out. Based on those indicators I would rather see the A’s make the playoffs than the Angels.

One final thing to consider is the new playoff format. If the current standings hold up then Baltimore and New York would play a tie-breaker game for the AL East title with the loser getting a wild card spot. The A’s would then host the wild-card play in game against either the Yankees or Orioles. The A’s would probably hope for Baltimore. I know I would. Either way it’s a pressure-filled game that the A’s have yet to play all season. The Angels, and Mike Scioscia, have played under that kind of pressure before.

So as you’re watching things unfold down the stretch keep in mind that as bad as we want the A’s to lose, we want the Angels to lose even more.

It’s all about experience.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

]]><![CDATA[For the Love of the Game]]>Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:24:58 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/for-the-love-of-the-game.html

by Eddie Middlebrook

Why do you love baseball? Is it the fact that the game is timeless, spanning across many generations over three centuries? Or is it simply because you grew up playing the simple game that a family member or friend helped teach you?

For me, it was more of the latter than the former. My earliest memory of childhood was having a bat and ball in my hand playing the great game. My father and grandfather taught me the great game of baseball. Many things have come and gone in my life, but there are not many greater things than putting on that glove and holding it to your face to let the aroma of leather fix your nostrils. You try breathing it in until it fills your lungs to capacity.

As the season winds down and the Rangers are about to enter their third consecutive postseason, take time to remember why you love this simple game. We have spent the last several months arguing over Michael Young’s place in the lineup and who is the ace of the Rangers’ staff. Sometimes it is good to step back and enjoy this incredible ride the Rangers have been on for the last three seasons.

For me, this incredible journey will always be bittersweet because it will always be intertwined with the simple fact that my father never saw the Rangers play in the World Series. My dad was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in December 2008. After going into the emergency room for stomach pains, he finds out mere hours later that he has cancer (at the age of 47), and has to have most of his colon removed and be fitted for an ileostomy bag. He was given three months to live and it was at this point that we had an emotional conversation about him living to see Christmas, my mother’s birthday and all those special occasions the next year. One of the things I mentioned was he still hadn’t seen the Rangers win a pennant and a World Series. At this point in time, the Rangers had one playoff victory and weren’t on the verge of winning another, but it was just something that came to my mind to say.

Flash forward to Oct.6, 2010: My father passes away that morning after a long bout with chemotherapy and the cancer. That afternoon, the Rangers won their second playoff game and went on to win their first pennant over the Yankees.

I ask that you take a moment (if you have an opportunity) to thank that person in your life who taught you this beautiful game. This game has been passed down through the generations and though it has changed, it can still simply be a game of “catch.” My dad would’ve been 51 this September. I didn’t just lose a parent, but my best friend and someone that taught me countless things in my life. What I wouldn’t give to have one more “catch” with my dad.

Eddie Middlebrook is the Chat Coordinator and Junior Staff Writer for ShutDowninning. He can be reached at Eddie.Middlebrook@ShutDowninning.com or on Twitter @emiddlebrook

]]><![CDATA[The Stretch Run]]>Wed, 12 Sep 2012 06:50:18 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/the-stretch-run.html

by Patrick Despain

It’s here. Whether you want the season to last forever, or you have been looking forward to this since April, Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in the midst of the stretch run in Major League Baseball. Baseball purists live for this. This is like your first love. It is so sweet and your heart jumps when they walk in the room. Everything is fresh, and the sky is crystal blue and nothing can take you down. You are in love. You’ll do anything…pray it never ends, stand by this person or even get so enthralled in them, that you lose your perspective in life.

That is where we are as Ranger fans. Yes, they have been to back-to-back World Series, and we have been disappointed twice. But it all starts over again. We have all found a new love…the 2012 season. This is where we wipe the slate clean for good, if you have not done so to this point, and we all get behind the 2012 Texas Rangers. 2010 and 2011 are behind us, just like Tiffany or Carla or whoever. We all start over with this team.

Currently, the Rangers have a 3 game lead with 21 left to play. Of those 21, they play Oakland 7 times, Seattle 6 times and Los Angeles 6 times. It’s not an easy road, but then again, nothing worth doing is. It shouldn’t come easy, because that builds character. This team has shown more resolve and character in the last 3 years than any team I can remember. But, the Rangers are a solid ball club. They have stars, they have good pitching, they have solid defense, and they have a huge heart.

We can talk about all the things that certain players do wrong or right. Kinsler infuriates at times, Beltre amazes at times. But they are all a part of a team. Which is what we are. We are all fans of the Rangers. We argue, we agree or disagree or we even go as far as to unfollow someone on Twitter. We may not like what the other has to say, but we are all on the same team here. We have all fallen in love again, with the 2012 Texas Rangers. It’s all our new girl or boyfriend. And it is fantastic.

I’m not asking everyone to get along. That’s beyond my scope, and I would never tell anyone what to think. But remember, we are on the same team. We all love this team, and we are in the midst of the greatest part of the greatest game. Major League Baseball in September and beyond. As we are watching and thinking about the team, and our next “genius tweet”……It’s all about team. It’s the stretch run. This is the point of the season where we all congregate at RBIA and chant, “Napoli, Napoli, Napoli.” This is the point where we buy champagne and open it after they win the division. This is the point of the season we buy hats and shirts and we text or tweet each other what a great play was just made. It is the stretch run. It’s our time.

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

]]><![CDATA[Hiatus]]>Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:48:58 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/hiatus.html

by Mike McGehee

I began working for the Texas Rangers baseball club in an official capacity on March 3rd, 2012. I did so mostly out of the necessity to pay bills and be a productive member of society, but let’s be serious, it is literally a dream job. A job in baseball was too good to be true.

When I took the job, one thing I told myself was that I was not going to let it slow down my writing. I had found something great through the kindness of many wonderful people on Twitter; I had found a chance to do a Rangers podcast as a full time co-host. I was able to be a small part in the creation of the thing I am most proud of today. This website. I didn’t want any of that to suffer.

Well that failed miserably.

I have learned so much working closely with a professional baseball team, some things I can share, some I can’t, all are boring and procedural (Don’t mistake that for the job being boring, it’s the farthest thing from it). But the hours necessary to do what I do have taken me away from my writing and I hate that. But this is not goodbye; this is not my letter of resignation. Instead, this is a pledge. One to do everything I can in my power to do better and return to as a regular contributor here at shutdowninning.com.

As some of you know, I host a semi-regular; life-allowing podcast called Scooping the Texas Rangers - available on iTunes and the Tunein radio app - and tonight was our first ever live recording. Another kind Twitter friend is a manager at The Melting Pot in Arlington, Texas and allowed us to set up shop in his store and invite people to come watch us do what we do. Going into today, I believed that it would either be a complete failure or a rousing success.

Thankfully it was the latter.

And it had nothing to do with the great guys I work with, Todd Kaufmann and Jeff Johnson. They were fantastic, but I’ve come to expect that, the chemistry that we’ve been able to develop over the last year is a huge reason for the success that we’ve been able to have. It had everything to do with you, the reader and listener. The turnout was wonderful, the service was fantastic, and the setting was even romantic; instead being the kind of romance between the hosts and the listener. Having the chance to sit down over drinks and talk baseball with Anthony Andro is one I won’t soon forget, but it was the people that came and stayed just because of the shared love of Ranger baseball that moved me so much.

And after a wonderfully long version of, “burying the lead,” I come to my point - the shared love of Rangers baseball that brings us all together. It’s an amazing study of human psychology that something as simple as a game played by nine men on a baseball diamond can affect so many lives in so many ways, but it does. This team, this fan base, and even by extension, Twitter has brought so many of us together and we celebrate this team together. We fight like family over a team that has truly made us just that. We celebrate in the most fantastic of ways because we’re family. We go and meet up in strange fondue-y places because we’re family. It feel like one big extension of a clubhouse that seems determined to never have a bad day, because they are all there picking each other up.

So thank you all for tonight. I realize my first post back is light on baseball, but hey, by the time you read this, you should have a nice podcast full of my baseball brain available on iTunes. (Scooping the Texas Rangers. Wink)

We are less than a month away from the postseason, and the one year anniversary of my not-so-professional writing career and the team looks to be in position for another stretch run.

I’m back.

Mike McGehee is a co-founder and Senior Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at Mike.McGehee@ShutDowninning.com or on Twitter at SDIMikeMcGehee.

]]><![CDATA[Let’s Turn Two]]>Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:17:24 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/lets-turn-two.html

Image found at wikipedia.com

By James Holland

It’s become a tired cliché this season. You know what I’m talking about: The Michael Young GIDP. Sitting there watching him do it again on Friday night for the 22nd time this season I wondered just how the Texas Rangers fared on both sides of the ball when it comes to the double play.

On Offense

The Rangers rank 18th in baseball with an average of 0.74 GIDP per game which is down from 0.82 last season. So Texas is actually grounding into fewer, though it may not seem like it. The worst team in baseball is the Detroit Tigers with 0.96 per game. The best at 0.57 is the Seattle Mariners.

On Defense

Defensively the Rangers turn 0.84 double plays per game which is down from 2011 when they averaged 1.00 per game. That ranks them sixteenth in baseball. The best team at turning two? The Minnesota Twins at 1.17 per game. The worst? The San Diego Padres at 0.60.

Individually

Before I get to the Rangers I thought I would point out that with over 450 at-bats this season Alejandro De Aza of the Chicago White Sox is the only player in baseball to have not grounded into a double play this season. As far as the Rangers go the player with the fewest GIDP is David Murphy with four. Next is Nelson Cruz with six. Adrian Beltre , Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Mitch Moreland are tied with eight apiece followed by Geovany Soto (9), Ian Kinsler (12) and Elvis Andrus (13). Craig Gentry only has three but he also has way fewer at bats.

And yes, the worst number on the team belongs to Michael Young and his 23 GIDP’s. His career worst was 27 in 2006.

Now, looking at the overall picture you see that Texas ranks in the middle on both offense and defense amongst the thirty teams. And I know that they say defense and pitching wins championships but if you look at the top sixteen teams in baseball on defense in regards to GIDP you’ll find that only six are legitimate playoff contenders (Tampa Bay, Atlanta, St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles Angels and Texas) The worst playoff contender: The Cincinnati Reds who rank 29th in GIDP.

One more thing to consider is runners left on base. As stated before, Texas is 18th in GIDP per game. They rank 20th in LOB with an average of 14.24 runners per game. That number is actually down from last season though very slightly. It was 14.61 in 2011. And how about RISP? You might think that they are at the bottom of the rankings there but they’re actually 11th with 3.44 per game. Also down from last season (3.56). And finally there is runs per game where Texas leads all of baseball with an average of 5.10. The Yankees are second at 4.85.

So taking all things into consideration you see that Texas is hitting into fewer double plays, leaving less men on base and leaving fewer runners in scoring position than last season, all while leading baseball in run production. And while we will all groan when we see another GIDP I think it’s safe to say that this team is going to be okay.

I would like to thank the good people at teamrankings.com and fangraphs.com for the endless supply of stats.

James Holland is a Senior Columnist for Shut Down Inning. He can be reached at James.Holland@shutdowninning.com or @SDIJamesHolland on Twitter.

]]><![CDATA[Hypertension]]>Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:45:36 -0800http://shutdowninning.com/5/post/2012/09/hypertension.html

Image found at star-telegram.com

by Chris Kautz

The Rangers have been playing an exhausting brand of baseball lately. I don't mean that in the sense that it has been bad baseball, just that it has been mentally taxing.

Thursday against the Royals, they went 10 innings and won on an Ian Kinsler triple followed by an RBI single from Michael Young. Friday they took the Rays to 11 innings and lost on a two run homer from Ben Zobrist. On Saturday, they went to extras again. This time they got doubles from Geovany Soto and Jurickson Profar, and a plunking of Josh Hamilton to win4-2 in 10 innings.

All those extra inning games led me to tweet a request for Sunday's rubber match with the Rays. I requested a nice, comfortable five run win. What I got was a nice, comfortable six run loss.

There's no doubt those extra inning games were fun to watch. I also think they took a few days off my life expectancy. Close games always get my blood pressure up, but it's much worse as the season draws to a close. It's now getting to the point in the season when every game counts. Every game means just a little bit more than the one before it. The fact that the A's just keep winning isn't helping that stress level, either.

Texas now comes home for a three game set against Cleveland, before finishing out the season with 19 straight games against AL West opponents. 13 of those 19 will be against the Angels and A's. I'm confident the Rangers will win the division, but I'm also confident I'll need some hypertension medication during the process.

Chris Kautz is a Senior Staff Writer for ShutDowninning. He can be reached at Chris.Kautz@ShutDowninning.com or on Twitter @SDIChris.

]]>