The Texas Rangers Are a Great Team. Or Just a Good Team with Great Timing?

By Richie Whitt Wed., Aug. 25 2010 at 11:15 AM

Categories: Texas Rangers

With a little help from Andres Blanco, your Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, Tuesday night. They are now 71-54, their lead in the American League West is 8.5 games and their magic number to clinch their first division title this millennium dwindled to 27 over the Anaheim Angels and 30 over the Oakland A's.

Sounds pretty damn good, huh?

Sensational. Magical even.

Not so fast.

Again, the Rangers are 17 games over .500. So how much better are they than last year's team?

They're not.

Actually after 124 games last year the Rangers had the same record as this year's team: 70-54. Those Rangers got within 3.5 games of first place as late as September 4 before limping to the finish at 87-75, 10 games out.

The difference isn't the Rangers, but the Angels. In 2009 on August 25 the Rangers were 5.5 games back of Anaheim. In 2010 they are 10 up.

Now, I realize the Rangers are well-equipped for a post-season journey considering Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson and MVP-candidate Josh Hamilton and a reliable bullpen.

But essentially aren't they the same team in a crappier division?

Tags:

Baseball, C.J. Wilson, Michael Young, Ron Washington

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@Scotts Merkin: all the haters are currently getting their bandwagon boarding passes.
So where are the haters now? so far 3 wins against a division leader from the twins, Vlad is hitting again, Josh is a Monster, I love Kirkman, and Did anyone know that Harrison could throw 97-98
Meow, meow..sorry I missed the feeding frenzy..some good schtick up above here..meow..do you meo..mei..like dragging up the meow..mea..rear? That wasn't the question! Meow, meow..Do you like sucking worse than even Russel Martinez? Meow..Rangers are a cumulative 15 games better than the Fagelenos because of Vlad..and we have a fighters chance because of Clee and Cwil and Clew..meow..feel free to "look it up" and "PUT It on the...meow,meow..meh"
@Bob Bland: Are you free tomorrow night? You sound like a super sexy beast!
Radio Daze Here are the rankings in July ratings, short and to the point: In the coveted men 25-54 demographic that stations sell to advertisers, it was KTCK-AM (1310) The Ticket in the lead, followed by ESPN-FM (103.3) and KRLD-FM (105.3) The Fan. In Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-7 p.m., the category that features the primo hosts, The Ticket scored a 7.6 share, which was first in the entire market, ESPN followed at 3.8 (tied for 10th) with The Fan following at 2.3 (No. 19). July is an odd month because of so many vacations by hosts. Still, The Fan lags behind the worst during the morning and afternoon drive times, the most listened to hours of the radio day. The Fan's best hour, manned by Newy Scruggs, began at 10 a.m. It pulled a 3.5 share to finish just behind Ben and Skin's 3.6 on ESPN and Norm Hitzges' 5.8 on The Ticket. Best news for The Fan is that Rangers baseball allowed the station to own the 8-11 p.m. time slots. But neither the Cowboys nor the Rangers games have helped attract listeners to the rest of the lineup.
Earlier post using my name in this thread was not by me. I guess someone got tired of posing as Rooster, Kergo, et. al. I guess if pretending to be a middle-aged fat ass going through a divorce and living in abject poverty floats your boat, then by all means knock yourself out.
I dont trust a lot from ESPN, like the radio hosts, but I give Karl Ravech and Kuirkjen and Olney a pass. they know their baseball pretty well, it just took Cliff coming here to make them actually talk about us because those East Coast producer dont like their hosts talking midwest sports teams
Like ESPN is supposed to be what we go by?? There predictions are no more accurate than any true fans prediction--you should know that S. Merkin (we know you're smarter than that). Do you like love letters sent by Craig Myers? Do you like stories about dogs with Big Cock Hunter? Are you amazed that The Fan is still in the toilet when it comes to ratings?
Rangers better now because they got Sparezman, Sparelina, and Sparetu to ride the pine and talk about the good old days.
Pretty sure the good/great determination comes in Octobers. Goal #1: Get healthy Goal #2: Win division Goal #3: Play smart, solid ball and see what happens when it counts Sub-goal: Don't worry about how you get there, only worry about how you do when you're there. It's not the Rangers' fault Anaheim sucks this year.
The Ranger use their talent better than last year and adding Cliff Lee automattically made the Ranger legit. Thats why most MLB net and ESPN people picked the Rangers to make a deep run in October. Vegas thougt so too! Do you like living with a male brit? Do youlike Brit Ball soup on your couch?
Do you like the fact that we are in a piss-poor division? Do you like the fact that the temperature has dropped from 107 to 87? Do you like watching Michael Young commit at least one error each and every night? Do you like watching the Old Milwaukee cans floating ashore in Lake Lewisville? What do you think about mega-star speaking engagements for less than a pack of Winston�s?
do you like to try new defenses? do you like only the finest of glovework?
Good points, but maybe the division is crappier because the Rangers are better. I mean, the basically Rangers have traded places with the LAAA. Other, than that, the division seems about the same.
Interesting statistic. Glad the Angels are sucking our exhaust.
have you seen my baseball?