2014 Plays of the First Half: Texas Rangers Edition

FIRST BASE:

Prince Fielder: 4/13 vs.Houston Astros, Fielder lays out at first for a diving stop and quick tag of the base for the out.

4/17 vs. Seattle Mariners, Fielder catches Robinson Cano’s line drive to first, then throws to 2B to out Brad Miller for the DP.

4/25 at Seattle Mariners, Prince Fielder leaps straight up to rob Corey Hart of a base hit.

Carlos Pena: 6/26 vs. Detroit Tigers, Pena runs over to second base to grab the ball throws it back to  Scott Baker at first base for a 3-6-1 double play!

Brad Snyder: 6/18 at Oakland Athletics, Snyder makes a backhanded catch of John Jaso’s line drive at first base for the out.

SECOND BASE:

Donnie Murphy: 4/1 vs. Philadelphia Phillies, Murphy catches a line drive then throws to first base for a double play.

4/28 vs. Oakland Athletics,

catches a chopper off of

bat tags

, tosses it to Fielder for a great double play!

Josh Wilson: 4/13 vs. Houston Astros, Wilson reaches out to to snag a liner from L.J. Hoes

4/13 vs. Houston Astros, Wilson makes a diving catch with a quick throw to first and robs Jose Altuve of a base hit

Rougned Odor: 5/8 vs. Colorado Rockies, In his debut he scoops a grounder and throws to Elvis Andrus for a 4-6-3 double play. WELCOME TO THE RANGERS ROOGIE!

5/12 @ Houston Astros, Roogie is so good he catches the ball with his jersey.

6/27 vs. Minnesota Twins, Odor robs Kendrys Morales of a base hit with a backhanded stop and throw to first.

7/7 vs. Houston Astros, Roogie runs into shallow-center and makes an over-the-shoulder catch!

THIRD BASE:

Adrian Beltre: 4/25 at Seattle Mariners, Beltre makes a quick catch on sharp line drive.

5/11 vs. Boston Red Sox, Beltre makes a backhanded catch in foul territory to retire

7/1 @ Baltimore Orioles, Adrian Beltre scoops the ball barehanded and throws to first to retire his ex-teammate Nelson Cruz.

SHORTSTOP:

Elvis Andrus: 4/15 vs. Seattle Mariners, After Kevin Kouzmanoff dives and misses Andrus snatches the ball and launches it to first base to retire Mike Zunino!

4/15 vs. Seattle Mariners, Andrus snags the ball, spins and fires to first to out Cano.

5/8 vs. Colorado Rockies, In classic Andrus style he fields the ball, leaps and throws to first for the out.

5/30 at Washington Nationals, Elvis Andrus dives to make the catch and quickly hops up throws to first for the out.

6/6 vs. Cleveland Indians, Here’s a reminder of what Elvis Andrus is capable of. He fields the ball, steps on second base, jumps over Carlos Santana as he’s sliding into second, throws to first and gets the out!

6/28 vs. Minnesota Twins, Andrus takes care of balloon issues too. We can count on him for some comedic relief, too!

LEFT FIELD:

Shin-Soo Choo: 4/15 vs. Seattle Mariners,  Choo runs and reaches to his right to grab a line drive for the out.

5/11 vs. Boston Red Sox, Choo runs and makes a sliding catch to rob A.J. Pierzynski of a base hit.

6/4 vs. Baltimore Orioles, Choo plays the ball off the wall and fires it to second to get Caleb Joseph out.

Michael Choice: 6/11 vs. Miami Marlins, Choice fields a single off of Marcell Ozuna’s bat and throws to second for the out. You knew I’d include a Michael Choice play, right?

Daniel Robertson: 7/7 vs. Houston Astros, Robertson runs and dives to rob Chris Carter.

7/11 vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Robertson tracks down Josh Hamilton’s fly ball for the out!

Jake Smolinski: 7/12 vs. Los Angeles Angels,  SMO makes two diving catches to rob both Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols of a base hit. SMO can stay as long as he’d like!

RIGHT FIELD:

The right field has been owned by one player so far this season, Alex Rios. I think we tend to forget about Rios, presumably because there is little drama around him. He knows what his job is, he comes to the game prepared and ready to play and gives the Texas Rangers his best. I can’t ask for more than that.

3/31 vs. Philadelphia Phillies, Rios makes a leaping catch for the out.

4/19 vs. Chicago White Sox, Rios tracks down a line drive and makes a sliding catch for the out.

5/8 vs. Colorado Rockies, RiosGrande catches a line drive and launches to home to complete the inning-ending double play!

5/16 vs. Toronto Blue Jays, Alex Rios runs to the wall and makes a leaping catch for the out.

CENTER FIELD:

: 6/7 at Oakland Athletics, Robertson fields the ball and launches it home to nab

6/24 vs. Detroit Tigers, Robertson catches a fly ball on the run off of Miguel Cabrera’s bat.

7/4 @ New York Mets, Daniel Robertson lays out to end the inning.

Leonys Martin: For Martin’s section of plays I’ll give you the date and who the Texas Rangers were playing, but for his plays I simply say this: Leonys Martin has NEVER met a wall he didn’t like!

4/4 at Tampa Bay Rays

4/11 vs. Houston Astros

4/16 vs. Seattle Mariners

4/17 vs. Seattle Mariners

4/19 vs. Chicago White Sox

4/25 at Seattle Mariners

4/28 vs. Oakland Athletics

5/17 vs. Toronto Blue Jays

7/2 at Baltimore Orioles

7/3 at Baltimore Orioles

7/12 vs. Los Angeles Angels

CATCHER:

J.P. Arencibia: 4/14 vs. Seattle Mariners, Arencibia throws to second to catch Michael Saunders’ steal attempt.

4/25 at Seattle Mariners, After Mike Zunino strikes out swinging JPA throws out Cole Gillespie at second.

Chris Gimenez: 7/8 vs. Houston Astros, Gimenez throws to third nabbing Jose Altuve for the out.

Robinson Chirinos might not be PUDGE, Ivan Rodriguez, but that doesn’t mean you should feel comfortable stealing when he’s behind the plate. Here’s a few highlights from the first half of the season of Robinson ‘The Cannon’ Chirinos.

4/1 vs. Philadelphia Phillies

4/28 vs. Oakland Athletics

5/23 at Detroit Tigers

6/7 vs. Cleveland Indians

6/20 at Los Angeles Angels

6/24 vs. Detroit Tigers

7/11 vs. Los Angeles Angels

PITCHING:

Considering all the injuries and changes to the Texas Rangers pitching staff we’ve still been treated with a few memorable and even some historic moments in the first half of 2014.

Nick Tepesch threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings on 6/13 at Seattle Mariners.

On 4/19 Colby Lewis earned his first win since July 2012 by throwing 5 1/3, one-run innings versus the Chicago White Sox.

tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings on 5/8 versus the Colorado Rockies that helped the Texas Rangers become the

first

team to shutout the Rockies in 2014.

We were treated with two unique relief pitchers in the first half.

First baseman-turned designated hitter-turned first baseman Mitch Moreland treated us to a perfect inning of relief and even reached 94mph!!

Catcher Chris Gimenez tossed a perfect inning of relief on 7/10 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in his first Major League appearance as a pitcher.

On 4/18 Martin Perez pitched his first career shutout against the Chicago White Sox, striking out 7 and giving up only 3 hits.

Perez earned his second shutout on 4/23 at Oakland Athletics once again giving up only 3 hits while walking 2 batters.

In his first start this season (4/6 at Tampa Bay Rays) Yu Darvish whiffed Wil Myers marking his 500th career strikeout, becoming the fastest starting pitcher in MLB history to achieve such a feat.

On 5/9 against the Boston Red Sox, Yu Darvish came close to pitching another no-hitter, walking only two batters and striking out 12.

On 6/11 against the Miami Marlins

earned his first career complete game shutout, giving up just 6 hits with 10 strikeouts.

The Texas Rangers have treated us to some fun moments along with some “please baseball gods let us forget this ever happened” moments. But, being a loyal Rangers fan means you’ve got to take a lot of bad to enjoy the great moments that have already come and will continue to come. And with that said, I’ll leave you with this:

True baseball fans do not cheer for their teams to win; they cheer for them not to lose. Victory does not come with joy, it comes with relief. Losing causes pain. ~ Will Leitch