Ray Miller: Rebuilding the Texas Rangers

[majesty95]

Rangers Report

The Rangers hired their 12th manager since defecting to Arlington from Washington, D.C. 11 years ago. Interestingly, the new manager comes from Baltimore, just a 39 mile drive from Washington. More interestingly, the new manger was hired by the Rangers six years ago but then was quickly released from his contract to take a position with the Orioles.

Die hard Rangers fans may remember Ray Miller's short stint with the club in 1977 but most will not. They may, however, be familiar with Miller's work with the Oriole's pitching staff. Miller helped guide the O's to the World Series in 1979 and has helped lead them to three-straight second place finished in the AL East.

Miller will be charged with turning around a club that finished 64-98 a year ago and that has finished under-.500 two of the past three years. The good news is that Miller has become recognized as one of the better pitching coaches in baseball and the Rangers have a solid group of young and veteran pitchers.

With Baltimore, Miller guided the Orioles to the AL's best ERA in 1979 and followed it up with a third place finish in ERA the next year. He also coached three 20-game winners in those two seasons, something the Rangers haven't had since 1974.

Miller's first priority will need to be shaping a talented group of starting pitchers including Danny Darwin, Rick Honeycutt, Charlie Hough and Frank Tanana. He'll also need to groom some young pitchers into effective middle relievers. There's really no reason that this group posted the third worst ERA in the American League last year.

Then Miller will need to work on the hitters. Whomever he chooses to be the hitting coach will have their work cut out for them. The Rangers scored the fewest runs in the AL last year and had the second worst batting average.

The good news is the team can field pretty well (6th in the AL) and an improved pitching staff should keep them in games. New GM Joe Klein will just need to find some hitters for the coaching staff to work with.

It could be another long, hot summer in Arlington. It could also be the beginning of a new era. Some of the pieces are there. Its just up to the front office to find the rest of the pieces to fit the puzzle.

I will post a yearly recap of my Texas Rangers replay starting in 1983. I am using historical transactions and have disabled the draft. I'm using a three year recalc with current year's stats doubled. The idea is to see if my managerial skills alone can change the fate of the Rangers in the 80's. I'm not going to use any real life data for my decisions. I'm solely going to rely on my memory and (more importantly) the player's performance in game. Hopefully I can give the virtual fans in Arlington more to cheer about than what Doug Radar and Bobby Valentine were able to.

Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. Thanks for following and wish me luck!

[majesty95]

Welcome to Texas

i was not familiar with eddie chiles before i came to texas. I heard he had a big texas personality and that he was a major player in ending bowie kuhn's tenure as commissioner. I was also told he knew what he wanted and he wouldn't accept anything less. So, i figured i had my work cut out for me when i accepted the rangers' managerial position. However, it didn't really register with me until i actually met him.

"miller." he said when i was introduced to him before the media conference to announce my hiring. "i want you to understand one thing. Losing is not an option. I don't want to hear excuses and i don't care what problems you've encountered. You're job is to produce victories. That's you're lone objective. Do that and you'll have a long career here in texas."

well, there it was. My expectations laid out out to me in a clear, decisive way. Fortunately, this wasn't a great departure from coaching under earl weaver in baltimore. Earl was a fiery guy and hated to lose also. Having come from that type of a situation should help me a great deal here with the rangers.

Earl's philosophy was "pitching, defense and the three-run homer". I'm partial to that way of thinking as well. I want solid pitching, a good defense and timely hitting. Fortunately, we have some of those parts in place already. I'm not sure i like our hitting right now but i'll have to make the best of it. Like mr. Chiles said, "no excuses".

Charlie hough and frank tanana look to be solid front end starters and danny darwin has the potential to be a very good pitcher. I think rick honeycutt and mike smithson have some talent too so overall i like what i'm starting with in the rotation.

The bullpen has a couple of solid relievers in dave tobik, jon matlack and dave schmidt and some young arms in tom henke and odell jones. I feel pretty good about my options there as well. Hitting and fielding are a different story though.

Buddy bell is a world class third baseman and i certainly have few concerns with him. Larry parrish is a solid middle of the order guy and should help solidify the core of the lineup as well. Jim sundberg is a good defensive catcher and hits reasonably well so i feel good about that position too. Other than that, though, its shaky at best.

I'd really like to have a good center fielder and george wright isn't bad but he doesn't have elite range and is a mediocre hitter. Billy sample is a decent fielder and hitter but is not spectacular. Mickey rivers is a little better defensively and can hit well but he has to stay healthy and is left-handed so may not be able to play every day. Parrish is a liability in the field but has an outstanding arm so its hard to put him at dh.

Dave hostetler led the team in home runs with 22 but doesn't hit for average and is a below average fielder at first base. Bucky dent is a solid fielder but hit only .193 a year ago so that's an iffy position also. Second base will likely be handled by either wayne tolleson, an average fielder who hasn't shown he can hit much, or curtis wilkerson, a slightly above average fielder who's a rookie that may struggle at the plate as well. The good news is that both tolleson and wilkerson have very good speed and can steal bases but with that not being a focus of my offensive approach i'm not sure how valuable they'll be in that regard.

Pete o'brien and bill stein are options at first base and dh with o'brien being the better fielder and stein possibly the better hitter. Other than that there isn't much to like about this lineup. I can only hope that a few of these guys surprise me. Otherwise it's going to be a long year with me and mr. Chiles.

[majesty95]

Whoa! How come when I edit everything turns to lower case???

That sucks! I don't want to go back and have to re-capitalize everything. Ugh!

[majesty95]

Preseason Predictions Build Pressure

There's this new group of statisticians out there using computers to predict outcomes and evaluate trends. Its pretty rudimentary but its the in thing right now as people are enamored by computers. This group, which calls themselves the Baseball News Network, started putting out predictions this year. They claim their program was 78% accurate in predicting last season's results. So, their predictions are popping up in magazines and newspapers around the country.

Unfortunately, this group's program has predicted us to go 87-75 this year after going only 64-98 last year. While I'd love to see that type of turnaround, I'm not sure getting the fans and, worse yet, the owner's hopes up is a good thing. I've certainly had added pressure put on my shoulders as well as the players. I've tried to deflect the early questions about the predictions but some people are just going to believe what they want.

Now that we have the fans and owner's hope up, I have to find a way to get as close to that level as possible, or surpass it.

Opening Day starts tomorrow and I've finally finalized the starting rotation. Charlie Hough is going to start Opening Day and will be followed by Frank Tanana, Danny Darwin, Rick Honeycutt and Mike Smithson.

Odell Jones is going to be our closer after spending last season at AAA as a starter. He doesn't throw very hard (88-89) but has a lot of movement which I think will be good in the late innings. His control is pretty good and I think he can harness his skills well for an inning or two every couple of days.

Dave Tobik, Dave Schmidt and John Butcher will be the main middle relievers while youngsters Victor Cruz, John Matlack and Tom Henke will fill in as needed.

I've decided to have Billy Sample lead off and play left field. He has the best career on base percentage on the team and is a good base runner. Jim Sundberg will hit behind him and catch a majority of the games. However, Bob Johnson will see plenty of action as well. I went with Sunny in the two hole primarily because he's got the 2nd best career on base percentage and isn't a big power hitter.

Buddy Bell will bat third and play third base. Larry Parrish will play right field and bat cleanup followed by Dave Hostetler at DH. I'm giving Pete O'Brien the start at first base and batting him sixth. Pete is the best defensive 1st baseman we have and has good potential at the plate. George Wright will be in center, Bucky Dent at short and Wayne Tolleson at 2B to round out the lineup.

Bill Stein and Mickey Rivers figure to be the primary backups and will get plenty of playing time. Stein will likely play for O'Brien against left handers while Rivers will share time at all three outfield positions.

We open the season with a six-game homestand against the White Sox and Red Sox. The White Sox are predicted to finish just ahead of us in the AL West while the Red Sox are predicted to struggle. I'm not sure I buy that as Boston won 89 games last year but I guess we will see. We actually play Boston six times int he first 12 games so we will have a good idea of where both teams stand at that point. In all, the White Sox are the only AL West team we play in April as we play every AL East team except Detroit. I'm not sure what that's going to tell us about how we stack up in our division but again, we will see how tings play out.

[majesty95]

Things Start With a Sss-fizzle

Things didn't start off quite the way we wanted them to. Opening Day saw us fall behind early and then rally in the ninth before eventually dropping game one to the White Sox 5-2. Game two were were tied going to the eighth but I left Tanana in too long and he gave up two runs that we couldn't get back and lost 4-2. Game three we showed some fight by tying the game in the ninth and then winning it in 10 but we lost all of the momentum with a a day off the following day.

The series with the Red Sox was similar to the opening series with Chicago as we dropped the first two games of the series before winning the rubber match.

Starting off the season 2-4 isn't exactly what we wanted but we took some positives from those six games.

1. Our bullpen hasn't given up a run in 12.33 innings pitched.
2. Billy Sample looks like a reasonable leadoff hitter with 4 stolen bases in six games.
3. George Wright is leading the team in extra base hits.
4. Buddy Bell had nine hits and has started the season off well.

The big concern though is the hitting after Bell. Pretty much everyone has started off struggling at the plate and guys like Tolleson and Dent haven't shown much promise offensively while also having some mishaps in the field.

I know some of those guys will start hitting which is a good thing. I'm just not sure yet which ones to count on. Obviously the bullpen won't have that same type of success all year either so I'd like the offense to get going before the bullpen encounters any issues.

[elfsutton]

This is kinda cool. I personally know Ray Miller. He lived about a mile from my old house. I actually heard him talk at my hometown Rotary Club once with my pops. He is a very cool guy.

[majesty95]

I don't know why buy I've always liked him. I also like pitching and defense so I thought he'd be a good fit

[elfsutton]

I always wanted to have him work for either the Pirates or Indians. The time I got to hear him speak, he was working for the Orioles organization I do believe. It was interesting, that was some years ago, well over 25 so I dont quite remember what he talked about but it was too cool. Never thought to get his autograph, as, like I said, he was a neighbor. His house is about a mile from a place I used to live, in a very tiny town in SE Ohio. Its funny, he lives directly across the street from the town's little league field. I went to school with his son, which was an acquaitence of mine. Lot of famous ballplayers from the area I lived in (parents still do).

Side note, my cousin had a son to the nephew of Bill Mazeroski, I actually met Bill a few times too, lived behind his brother, very well thought of baseball coach in my hometown so by a cousin, I am sort of related, lol. Played golf on Bill's golf course a few times.

The Niekro brothers are from Bridgeport Ohio, about a half hour drive from my home town and the farm that Cy Young( I think that is the one) grew up on is about 45 minutes from my mom's house too. I was born a Sutton, so might (cant get a straight answer from my birthfather) be related to Don Sutton but that I can not prove.

It was always fun growing up in the Ohio Valley, lots and lots of famous folks to talk about and hear stories of.

[majesty95]

Get Out The Broomsticks

Its not often that you have to leave town to get on a roll but sometimes it happens that way. It could have been the pressure form the hometown fans and media that those guys at the Baseball News Network created. Whatever it was though, it was nice to get on the road and clear our heads.

Frank Tanana got us going in Cleveland in what was the first of three straight day games. Frank pitched a complete game, six-hitter and the bottom of the order chipped in six RBI as we took the opener 7-3.

Pitching remained key as Danny Darwin had a three-hitter after eight before Odell Jones closed out the game in the ninth for a 4-1 win in game two. George Wright and Buddy Bell each picked up two hits and an RBI and have been the top producers on offense so far this season.

Game three was a tight one as three runs by us in the sixth gave us a 3-1 lead. Rick Honeycutt kept us in the game allowing only one run in eight innings before Odell Jones took over. Jones gave up a run but we held on for a 3-2 win and got our first series sweep of the season.

We were off to Boston the next day to face the Red Sox again and I was hoping the momentum we had going in Cleveland could help us do better against the Sox than we did during the series in Arlington. I wasn't disappointed.

The first game saw us jump out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth and hold on for a 7-4 win to push our winning streak to five games. Mike Smithson gave us our fourth straight start of at least eight innings by a starter picking up his first win of the season.

Game two was kind of over before it began as we put up five runs in the first inning and then two more in the second. We cruised to an easy 16-2 win and Charlie Hough nailed down the completed game for his second win.

We fell behind 3-1 to the Red Sox in game three but fought back to tie it in the sixth. Larry Parrish started the eight inning with a walk and ended it with a flyout but not before we scored five runs to escape Boston with our second straight series sweep and a seven game winning streak.

We had the next day off and traveled down to Baltimore for a three-game series with the Orioles. Game one signaled an apparent end to the winning streak as the O's jumped on Danny Darwin for five runs in the first. We tried to battle back with two in the fifth and two in the seventh but the Orioles added two in the eighth and we wound up taking a 7-4 loss to end the streak.

We were disapponted by the loss but took everal positives from the winning streak that give us hope that we have things turned around going forward:

1. Getting five straight 8+ inning starts from the rotation is always a great thing. That says a lot about the talent we have pitching.
2. While our scoreless inning streak by the bullpen ended, they've still only allowed three earned runs in 24 innings. Hopefully they can continue pitching to that level.
3. George Wright hasn't walked yet this year but leads the team with 20 hits. He's been moved around the lineup and is continuing to produce.
4. Buddy Bell leads the team with 10 RBI and is second to Wright in average as .333. Hopefully he's on his way to his fourth straight All-Star game.
5. Billy Sample continues to set the pace at the top of the lineup and is third on the team in batting at .321.

There hasn't been much to complain about lately. While we're not bad on defense I'd still like to see us cut down on the errors a bit but 10 in 13 games is hrdly anything to be concerned about. Jim Sundberg (.114) and Dave Hostetler (.063) have been disappointing so far so hopefully they turn it around. Otherwise things are looking positively for us early in the season and we're hoping to pick up some more wins against the AL East the rest of this month.

[majesty95]

That's crazy elf. A lot of talent from that area. Football too! I went to high school in Minnesota with Paul Molitor's nephew but never met him. I talked to Deion Sanders once but that's not a big baseball name, lol. Glad you're enjoying the early part of the dynasty!

[elfsutton]

Yep, it is a good read and will be keeping up, good luck and have fun.

[majesty95]

The Ebb and Flow

The seven game winning streak certainly got everyone excited. However, as a coach you have to keep things in perspective. I realized things would level out. And that they did.

After losing to the Orioles to end the streak, we rebounded with back-to-back solid pitching performances. Rick Honeycutt gave us eight quality innings in the first game to pick up his second win in a 3-1 victory and then four pitchers combined to hold the Orioles to one run again the following night as we won 5-1.

We returned to Arlington the next night but ran into a Moose, literally. Moose Haas was too much for us and we got shutout for the first time this season, 6-0. We rebounded with a solid eight inning effort from Frank Tanana in game two though as he picked up his third win and we slipped by the Brewers 2-1. We lost the rubber match and lost a series for the first time after having won three straight.

The Blue Jays came to town next and we opened the two-game series with a tough 5-4 loss in 13 innings. However, Mike Smithson picked us up in the second game with a four-hit, two-run complete game and a 3-2 win. We'd still won 11 of our past 15 so things were still looking bright. Minor bumps in the road are to be expected.

The Yankees came to town to wrap up the homestand. We got off to a good start in game one touching up previously undefeated Shane Rawley (3-0) for six runs in the game and held on for a 6-5 win. Game two was more offense and less pitching as the game two starters (Bob Shirley and Frank Tanana) combined to allow 13 runs. The Yankees were also able to get four runs off our bullpen and we dropped game two 10-8.

Game three moved us into May and again the Yankees bats were hot. They picked up six runs off of Danny Darwin and four more off the bullpen. It wasn't the way we wanted to end the homestand (going 3-5) but it showed us we were not invincible and gave us some things to work on as we lost 10-5.

Key points from the past 10 games:

1. Our pitchers have given up 25 runs in the past three games, much of which was on the bullpen. I expected them to cool off but not that much. Hopefully its just an aberration. The bullpen still ranks 4th in the AL with a 2.29 ERA.
2. Buddy Bell and Wayne Tolleson each have eight hits in their past five games. Bill Stein and Mickey Rivers are both hitting over .400 during that period. Bell leads the team with a .337 AVG and 13 RBI on the season.
3. Billy Sample has cooled off and has fallen to 9th in the batting order. He has hit better as of late but is hitting only .255 with a .290 OBP for the season. He does have 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts however.
4. Dave Hostetler continues to struggle and he, Jim Sundberg, Bob Johnson and Pete O'Brien have a combined .161 AVG on the season.
5. Bucky Dent (2nd) and Wayne Tolleson (4th) have become two of our top hitters solidifying a perceived weak spot.

May continues our tour of the AL East as we play the Blue Jays, Brewers, Yankees, Orioles, Indians and Tigers before facing an AL West club again. That's 38 straight games without facing our own division. Hopefully we come out of that with very few injuries and can get some momentum back going. I'd like to be on some kind of a roll when we meet up with the division leading Royal for six games at the end of the month.

[majesty95]

-----

Rangers Report

We're a month into the 1983 baseball season and the Rangers have surprised some people around the league. They won only 64 games a year ago but have started 13-10 to open the season. The 13 wins also include a seven game winning streak mid-month. While the Baseball News Network predicted the Rangers to win 87 games, not everyone around the area shared those high hopes. Its still early but things are looking positive in Arlington.

Here are some highlights from the first month:

• The Rangers have allowed the third fewest runs in the American League.
• Rick Honeycutt is tied for 7th in the AL in ERA.
• Buddy Bell's career high batting average is .329 (he;s currently hitting .337).
• Bucky Dent is hitting .297 and is one of the team's best hitters after not being assured of starting in the spring.
• Billy Sample is tied for 4th in the AL in stolen bases.

Here are some noted from around the league:

• George Brett is leading Major League Baseball in AVG (.410), home runs (9) and is tied for the lead in RBI (25 with Dave Winfield).
• Oakland's Bill Krueger has an MLB best 0.88 ERA but is only 2-2.
• The Angels Rod Carew went 0-4 on Opening Day has had a hit in every game since (19 games).
• Vida Blue has won all five of his starts for the Royals.
• Carl Yastrzemski has one hit in his last nine games (31 at bats).
• Tom Seaver is 0-3 with a 10.29 ERA in his past three starts.

[majesty95]

Mediocrity Abounds

The beginning of May hasn't been nearly as friendly to us as April was. After losing the final two games to the Yankees we immediately left for Toronto. Flying from Dallas to Toronto after a game is a long trip. I guess it took something out of the guys and we came out struggling against the Blue Jays.

Game one saw us compete but fall in 12 innings 7-4. The next night we were tied going into the eight before surrendering a run to lose 3-2 and we followed that up with a 16 inning loss 4-3. I'll give it to our defense and pitching to keep us in those games but not getting timely hitting and having our bullpen fail us late is somewhat of a concern.

Fortunately, we got a day off the next day and were able to rest a bit before starting a three game series in Milwaukee. Our bats came alive in the series and we won the first two easily, 8-4 and 9-3. Our bullpen failed us again in the rubber match which was another extra inning game. Danny Darwin and Tom Henke combined to give up 5 runs in the middle of the game and then Dave Tobik gave up the winning run in the 12th. Tobik is now 0-5 on the season even though his ERA is only 4.30. I'm going to have to re-evaluate our late inning relievers.

We had another day off before starting a two game series with the Yankees in New York. We won the first game 7-1 but our bullpen failed us again in the second game and we lost 5-4.

Another day off and we were on to Baltimore. We won two out of three from Baltimore in April but lost two of three this time around. Our bats went completely silent in the first two games as we were shutout 3-0 and 7-0. We bounced back with a 3-2 win in game three behind a gutsy 10 inning performance from Charlie Hough. We would eventually win in 11 and it was nice to finally get an extra inning win. I'd prefer not to keep putting that stress on the bullpen but that game should certainly help our mindset going forward.

Overall we are currently 4-8 in May and our overall record has dropped to 17-17. We're still better off than the team was last year but we have to get some momentum going and get out of this mediocre range around .500.

Key stats from the first two weeks of May:

1. Bill Stein, Pete O'Brien and Mickey Rivers have combined to hit .170 so far this month.
2. Wayne Tolleson, primarily our leadoff hitter recently, is hitting just .227 in May.
3. Buddy Bell and George Wright continue to scorch the ball, hitting .380 and .365 this month.
4. Tome Henke and John Butcher have combined to give up 10 runs in 5 appearances in May.
5. Charlie Hough has allowed just two earned runs in 19.33 innings this month.

[RobToxin]

Go Rangers! My favorite team from those days too. Go knuckleballer!

[majesty95]

The Heat Is On

We just wrapped up a six game road trip and are about to embark on a 13 day homestand. This will be the first long homestand of the summer so I'm curious to see how it affects not only our players but our opponents. I've played and coached in Texas as a visitor and it is certainly very hot here. However, I've never been here for more than 3-4 days in the summer so this will be a new experience. We have to make sure and keep the guys rested and hydrated while they are playing.

May wasn't good to us. We finished the month 10-18 and fell six games under .500. I was hoping for things to change in June and so far we have been playing better.

We finished May and started June by taking two-of-three from the division leading Royals. That was a big confidence booster getting two of those games at home after being swept by them in Kansas City.

The Tigers came to town next and our bats went flat again. We were fortunate to get a complete game 1-0 shutout from Rick Honeycutt in the third game to avoid the sweep.

We headed back out on the road after a day off and were able to take two-of-three each from the Mariners and Twins. Good pitching was the key in those four wins. We got four quality starts from our starters including two complete games and only had to use relievers for 7.33 innings in those wins.

The hitting was pretty good and we had some multi-hit games but we're still struggling to get extra base hits. We're actually among the worst clubs statistically in hitting but our pitching is among the best. If I could find a couple more hitters we would be in pretty good shape.

The rest of June we will face teams from the AL West so we have a chance to move up the standing if we can get on a roll. A few of these guys have shown flashes but its been very inconsistent. It doesn't help that we lost Larry Parrish for the year in May either. He went down with a torn ACL and that has left a big hole in the lineup.

No excuses though. We have to make due with what we have. I'm just going to hope we have a mild summer and everyone stays healthy and hydrated.

[majesty95]

Middletown USA

We've reached the All-Star Break at possibly an inopportune time. We're riding the second seven-game winning streak of the season and it comes immediately following a six-game losing streak and after a stretch where we lost 10-of-11 games. I certainly hope the break doesn't halt the momentum that we found. However, I hope it gives us some time to reflect and see if we can find some consistency. This has certainly been one of the most streak filled seasons I've been a part of.

Buddy Bell has cooled off slightly and just missed out on his 4th straight All-Star selection and fifth overall although he still leads the team in all of the Triple Crown categories (.312-9-51). Buddy was beat out by George Brett of Kansas City (.342-15-53) and Doug DeCinces of the Angels (.296-15-54). Personally, I feel Buddy's higher average an nearly identical RBIs were deserving of the selection over DeCinces but its hard to argue either way. We did get one All-Star as closer Odell Jones made the team with a 3-1 record, 16 saves and a 1.80 ERA (2nd among closers behind Boston's Bob Stanley [1.69]).

I'm looking forward to the second half of the season. We've finally found a good rotation of hitters and figured out who our everyday guys are going to be. I decided Jim Sundberg is going to be the everyday catcher. He's hitting slightly better than Bob Johnson and his defense has been better. I'm going to give him a majority of the starts in the second half.

Dave Hostetler was sent to AAA which leaves Bill Stein as the primary first baseman. Pete O'Brien may eventually wind up as our first baseman but is filling in decently for Larry Parrish in right field for now.

Mickey Rivers has played himself into the regular spot at designated hitter. Its not that Mickey's stats have been all that great (.239-2-15) but moreso that the rest of the guys have played themselves out of the lineup. Hopefully that will change in the second half.

All things considered, we had a productive first half. I still want some more consistency but being two games over .500 is a positive, especially considering how poorly we've been hitting much of the season. I know the fans and ownership wanted a little more (we're 16 games behind the White Sox) but its a giant leap forward from where they were last season.

[majesty95]

If Only Zanax Had Been Around 30 Years Ago

I may need some kind of medication for my blood pressure before this season is over. Perhaps I need to drink more heavily. The ups and downs of this season have been very trying.

After going into the All-Star break on a seven-game winning streak, we came out losing three in a row in Toronto. We then swept a three-game series at home against Milwaukee. Then we would go on to lose 11-of-17 to end the month of July. How we are going to find some consistency I'm not sure.

Our pitching continues to be pretty solid for the most part although they have had some rough innings that cost us games. Our hitting has been somewhat more productive but they're having a hard time putting string of consecutive hits together. We're also, obviously, not seeing a lot of consistent performances from game to game. While none of our starters have been in great slumps lately, we're also not getting standout performances. Losing Buddy Bell for two weeks didn't help either.

Things don't appear to get much easier in August either. We have 12 games against Boston and Cleveland, teams that we are a combined 6-13 against. We also have five games against the division leading White Sox who we are 0-6 against.

I think this month will be very telling for us as a team. Either we turn it up a notch and reverse the trend against some of these teams or we start going backwards and make everyone remember last year. I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that. Hopefully the baseball Gods will help me out.

[majesty95]

In With The New, Out With The...New

The month of August was another back-and-forth month. We had four winning streaks of 3-4 games but also two three-game losing streaks. However, we did end up 17-12 for the month and are two games over .500 going into the season's final month so we are seeing progress.

September gives us an opportunity to call up any players on our 40-man roster that are currently in the minors. That will give us some depth and allow us to evaluate some guys that we could need to rely on next season.

This month also brings to an end the trading season. Our GM, Joe Klein, made a deal with the Dodgers that sent perhaps our best starting pitcher (Rick Honeycutt) to Los Angeles for young pitchers Dave Stewart and Ricky Wright and $200,000 cash. I'm not entirely sure the reasoning behind the trade but I know Klein is big on Stewart. He thinks the righty can be every bit as good, or better, than Honeycutt. I imagine this would be a good trade if Stewart becomes a solid #2-3 starter and Wright can help in the bullpen. However, I can't help but feel the $200,000 played some role too. I'm not sure what the team or owner Eddie Chiles could need it for but I assume it played more of a role than either will let on.

Fortunately for us, Stewart has looked good in his first two starts. In his first start against the Tigers, Stewart threw six innings giving up three hits, one run and striking out four to earn his first win as a Ranger 5-1. His next start he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up no runs but got a no decision in the 1-0 loss. So far the early showing favors Klein's decision to make the deal.

Danny Darwin has also been looking really good over the past month. Danny went 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA in five starts last month. I'm definitely impressed with what he has been showing this season.

After struggling a bit in July, closer Odell Jones is back to his All-Star form picking up 12 saves and posting a 1.17 ERA in August. I think we could have a star pitcher for several years in Jones.

Offensively, Bill Stein (.381) and Mickey Rivers (.344) were the standouts for the month. Stein has solidified himself in the middle of our order while Mickey is proving to be a valuable outfielder who deserves to be in the lineup everyday. The one disappointment has been Buddy Bell who has cooled of quite a bit since the All-Star break. Buddy hit only .229 last month and his overall average has dropped to .285. Still not bad but far from the .330 he was hitting much of the first part of the season.

After finishing up a three-game series with the Tigers on the 1st, this month will feature all American League West opponents. We don't face the division leading White Sox at all but have eight games with the Royals and A's, the two teams ahead of us in the standings. We've played .500 ball against those two teams which is a big reason why we are where we are in the standings. If we can get hot and take a couple of those series I think we have a chance to move ahead of the Royals in the standings. I think a 3rd place finish and finishing above .500 would be a great start to our new regime. Hopefully the guys can execute and we can make that happen.

[majesty95]

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