The longer the Rangers stick around the more I feel like they’re here to stay. With the way Ian Kinsler is swinging the bat he throw the team on his back and carry them into October. With a 27-28 record on the road, the Rangers really need to pull things together down the stretch. The Rangers have 26 road games left, including three games at the New Yankee Stadium, four games in Anaheim, and a big three game series against the Rays in Tampa. It doesn’t get any easier at home either with three games series versus the Mariners, the Angels and the Rays.
You know how I know the Tampa Bay Rays aren’t here to stay ? They can’t beat the O’s. Last year if Tampa had been down 5-1 and then Ben Zobrist hits that same home run the Rays will come back and win this game in extras. This year, it’s not shaping up that way as the Rays have fallen back in the AL Wild Card to four games behind the Red Sox. Be careful counting these Rays out with Scott Kazmir heating up in his last four starts going 3-0 with a 3.26. They are also hitting .312 with a pitching E.R.A of 3.00. This upcoming series against Texas is going to be huge, Tampa has a dominating 40-20 record at the Trop, either way, a Rays sweep, Rangers sweep, any mix in between this race is far from over.
The Red Sox are looking at the month of September with inconsistant pitching, the Red Sox bats have finally come around with 14 HR’s in 7 days. Ortiz is on fire bombing 3 HRs in his last 4 games, Drew with two dingers last night and V-Mart showing Sox fans how great of a leader he can be. Varitek has been sitting more and more, which means he’ll be fully rested when/if we need him in October. Pitching is a whole different ball game, the Sox have a combined 4.50 ERA over the last 7 days tying them for 18th in the MLB. The good news for the Red Sox is that their competition will hopefully be beating each other up in September and early October, the Rays start a series with the Rangers tonight. Then the Rays have six games left with the Bronx Bombers, six games with the Rangers, and six games against the Red Sox. The Red Sox will have their hands more than full tonight with the Bombers in town. It appears that Penny has lost his swag and Pettite is turning things up a notch. It’ll be interesting to see if the Red Sox can take the first game of this series against a red hot Yankees team.
One thing is for certain, the team that wins the wild card this year will have most definately earned it.
