It's all about pitching.

Under the watchful eye of Nolan Ryan, seen here on card number 45 of the 1989 Baseball Cards Magazine set, the Rangers have emphasized pitching in the past few years. The question remains though, have they improved over last year's World Series team? As in yesterday's post, all stats are from the entire year. Let's work through the rotation and then look at the bullpen.

Number one starter:
2010 -
Cliff Lee - 3.18 ERA, 1.003 WHIP, 5.67 SO/BB, 16 HR.
2011 -
C.J. Wilson - 2.94 ERA, 1.187 WHIP, 2.78 SO/BB, 16 HR.
I gotta admit, I figured that this one was going to be a cake walk for Lee. It isn't. Lee was clearly better in WHIP but lagged behind in ERA. Lee gets the edge though in his strikeouts to walks ratio. Going to have to call a tie here.

Number two starter:
2010 -
C.J. Wilson - 3.35 ERA, 1.245 WHIP, 1.83 SO/BB, 10 HR.
2011 -
Colby Lewis - 4.40 ERA, 1.213 WHIP, 3.02 SO/BB, 35 HR.
Colby has obviously been bitten by the long ball this year but this is another mixed bag. WHIP and the strikeout ratio go 2011's way. That ERA on Lewis this year and the homer problem throw this slot to 2010 though.

Number three starter:
2010 -
Colby Lewis - 3.72 ERA, 1.189 WHIP, 3.02 SO/BB, 21 HR.
2011 -
Matt Harrison - 3.39 ERA, 1.276 WHIP, 2.21 SO/BB, 13 HR.
Even closer here. 2010 gets the WHIP and strikeout ratio. The lower ERA and and significantly fewer home runs allowed give 2011 the spot.

Number four starter:
2010 -
Tommy Hunter - 3.73 ERA, 1.242 WHIP, 2.06 SO/BB, 21 HR.
2011 -
Derek Holland - 3.95 ERA, 1.354 WHIP, 2.42 SO/BB, 22 HR.
Dutch has had some bad outings this year. It seemed like Hunter never really did last year. Going to have to go with 2010 on this one.

Bullpen:
2010 -
Derek Holland, Dustin Nippert, Darren O'Day, Darren Oliver, Frank Francisco, Alexi Ogando.
2011 -
Scott Feldman, Darren Oliver, Mike Adams, Mike Gonzalez, Koji Uehara, Yoshi Tateyama, Alexi Ogando.

I am sure I am leaving some guys out here since I can't completely recall last year's pen. I will say that I feel much more comfortable with this year's group of guys. With the exception of Uehara and Tateyama they are all pretty solid and generally keep the lights out. Going to have to go with 2011 on this one.

Closer:
2010 -
Neftali Feliz - 2.73 ERA, 0.880 WHIP, 3.94 SO/BB, 5 HR.
2011 -
Neftali Feliz - 2.74 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 1.80 SO/BB, 4 HR.
Feliz was just better last year. His ERA hasn't gone up all that much but I don't like the rise in WHIP and drop in the strikeout ratio. 2010 on this one.

Ok, here's the rundown:
Number one starter - Tie
Number two starter - 2010
Number three starter - 2011
Number four starter - 2010
Bullpen - 2011
Closer - 2010
Not as encouraging as yesterday's post. The pitching isn't bad but it looks like some ground has been lost. The staff is good enough to keep the team going but if the offense shuts down then there could be serious problems.