Texas Rangers New 1-2-3 Punch

Apr 18, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Martin Perez (33) celebrates after defeating the Chicago White Sox 12-0 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers have always been known for dinging the ball all over the ballpark, and not so much for pitching. When Derek Holland and Matt Harrison went down earlier this year, it looked like Prince Fielder was going to have to carry this team with his big bat. Well, we all know that Prince is off to a disappointing start, and Robinson Chirinos actually leads the team in home runs with 2. Last night the offense showed some signs of life with a great performance from just about everyone (except poor Donnie Murphy, who couldn’t buy a hit last night). The Texas Rangers won the game 12-0, and the offense wasn’t the story of the game.

The Texas Rangers now have a duo (and it might turn into a trio) at the top of the rotation that has been almost unbelievably good so far in 2014. Yu Darvish (1-0, 0.82 ERA, 23 strikeouts and 4 walks in 22.0 innings pitched), Martin Perez (3-0, 1.86 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 7 walks in 29.0 innings pitched) and Robbie Ross (1-0 with a 1.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts and 8 walks in 18.0 innings pitched). That’s right. The Texas Rangers have three pitchers with a combined ERA of 1.23 in their rotation. Even if you add in Tanner Scheppers and Colby Lewis, you are looking at a combined ERA of 4.05. But the top three guys are looking good, and I think that Colby will get better with each start and Nick Martinez will take over for Tanner until Matt Harrison is ready to return. The Texas Rangers rotation is beginning to look pretty good for the 2014 season.

With all the worry and specualtion that we all had at the beginning of the season, it is nice to know that at least we know what we are going to get on most outings from Perez and Darvish, and if Ross continues what he has been doing, this could still turn out to be a pretty special season for the Texas Rangers.