Showdown time.

Texas finished up the first part of the current home stand yesterday by taking the rubber match from the A's.

Chi-Chi Gonzalez got the spot start as Texas gave their whole rotation an extra day of rest. Gonzalez held Oakland scoreless for five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Errors led to a couple of unearned runs to go with the earned run Chi-Chi gave up. Keone Kela came in and closed out the fifth without further damage. The A's managed an additional run in the seventh but the bullpen was able to lock things down after that to hold them to a total of four runs.

Shin-Soo Choo led off the Rangers' scoring for the day with a solo home run in the bottom of the first. In the fourth inning Adrian Beltre, shown here on card AL-6 of the 2015 Topps set, hammered a two run shot into the Oakland bullpen to put the Rangers up 3-0. He returned to the plate in the fifth inning to launch a three run bomb into the Texas bullpen as part of a five run inning (Elvis Andrus had a two run single to bring in the other two runs). Rougned Odor finished off the home run parade with a three run dinger in the eighth inning. Final: Rangers - 12, A's - 4.

With the win, the Rangers kept pace with the Astros who have been thumping on the Angels the past couple of days. That leaves Texas 1.5 games out in the division race and still in control of the second wildcard slot. They are also just three games behind the Yankees for the first wildcard. Meanwhile, the Twins won't go away and remain just one game back of Texas in the wildcard hunt.

The Rangers home stand continues tonight in Arlington with the Astros coming to town for what is probably the biggest series ever played between the two clubs. If the Rangers can take three of the four games that will be enough to put them on top in the American League West. If they lose three of four they could find themselves on the outside looking in as the playoff fight continues. A split could maintain the status quo and that would only make the 'Stros happy.

Cole Hamels takes the bump for Texas tonight and it's time for him to bring the ace stuff. It's games like this that prompted Texas to trade for him and now's the time to prove the Rangers got a real ace. If Cole can keep the Houston offense quiet there's a real chance the Rangers could break out early. The Texas bats have been heating up lately and they may be able to continue that against Houston. It's showdown time in Arlington.

Senators Saturday - Mike Epstein, 1970.

1970 was Mike Epstein's fourth season with Washington. He appeared to have the starting first baseman's job nailed down and was coming off an outstanding season in 1969.

Epstein, shown here on card 235 of the 1970 Topps set, appeared in a total of 140 games with the Senators in 1970. He made 517 trips to the plate and put up a .256 batting average. That alone wasn't all that impressive but his on-base percentage was .371, second only to Frank Howard in the starting nine. Mike helped his on-base percentage with his 73 walks. The 117 times he got rung up by opposing pitchers did not help. As you might guess from the number of whiffs, Epstein was a power hitter. He notched 15 doubles, three triples (tied for second best on the club), and 20 home runs (second to Big Frank) over the course of the season. He also scored 55 runs while bumping in 56 RBI.

Mike played in 122 games defensively for Washington, all at first base. He played 1044.1 innings and committed just 10 errors. That gave him a fielding percentage of .992, a point higher than the league average. Add in the fact that Epstein had more range than the average first baseman at the time and his defense appears more than adequate.

1970 wasn't a bad season for Mike Epstein but it hadn't been what he was looking for either. His defense had improved from 1969 and that was a positive point. However, Mike's offensive numbers had dropped across the board, with the exception of strikeouts. Not to terrible levels, but significantly from the previous year.  Since the Senators were starving for offense, Epstein probably wasn't going to be shipped out in the off-season. The front office had their eye on him though and he needed to get his production cranked back up if he wanted to avoid being traded before his value dropped too far.

Recent arrivals.

Had a couple of more autograph requests come back this past week. Both were former Washington Senators. Joe Hicks and Bennie Daniels both signed and returned two cards.

One of the cards Mr. Daniels signed and sent back was this mis-cut 1961 Topps card. It and the 1961 Topps card Mr. Hicks signed are now the oldest autographed cards I have in my collection. I sent my request to Mr. Daniels on August 25th and he got it back to me on September 4th. Pretty fast turnaround. Thanks much Mr. Daniels and Mr. Hicks.

I really enjoyed getting the returns from the Senators players. Great to be able to fill in some from the franchise before it moved to Texas. Speaking of filling in, I really need to fill in some more holes in my Senators team sets and current Rangers team sets. Looks like I am starting to run out of subject matter for Senators Saturdays and posts on the current Rangers run for the post-season. It would seem a trip to Duane's Sportscards is in order. Spiff Jr has been hinting that he would like a return trip there as well. I think we are going to try to shoehorn it in between other family activities this coming Saturday. Love to say hey to anyone else who might be there as well.

Edging closer.

The Rangers were two games back of the American League West leading Astros when they started their game in Seattle last night. Texas was also in sole possession of the second wildcard spot in the AL. Neither of those positions were predicted by anyone at the start of the season.

Cole Hamels took the mound for the Rangers to face off with Taijuan Walker for the Mariners. Hamels did well through six, allowing just one run. Meanwhile Walker left the game in the fourth as the Rangers scored six total off him, one run was unearned. In the seventh Hamels stumbled and allowed three runs before finding the third out. That finished the night for him. Seattle scored two more off the Rangers bullpen in the eighth to run their total to six. Meanwhile the Texas offense kept going and put up one each in the sixth, eighth, and ninth. Final: Rangers - 9, Mariners - 6.

While the Rangers pitching was not the best, their offense picked an excellent time to break their recent home run drought. With only two long balls on this road trip, the club had been winning games with small ball. Last night was different. Mitch Moreland led off the parade with a solo shot in the second to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Shin-Soo Choo, shown here on card 120 of the 2014 Topps Heritage set, dealt Seattle a body blow with a three-run blast in the third. Rougned Odor continued his hot streak with a two-run shot in the fourth to help chase Walker from the game. Joey Gallo added some insurance in the eighth with a moonshot of his own. Very good so see some power flashing from the Ranger bats.

While Texas was handling Seattle, Sonny Gray and the A's blanked the Astros. The Twins and Angels lost as well. That moves the Rangers to one back in the AL West and  2.5 up on the Twins and 4.5 up on the Angels in the wildcard hunt. Great news for the Rangers. This evening they play Seattle again and once more tomorrow afternoon before heading home for a ten game home stand. During that home stand Houston comes to town for four crucial games. Hopefully the guys can use that showdown to get ahead of the 'Stros for good.

Minor League Monday - Gary Green, 1990 CMC.

By the time the Rangers drafted Gary Green in the 1989 Minor League draft, he already had Major League experience. Green, shown here on card 163 of the 1990 CMC set, played in a total of 28 games in 1986 and 1989 with the San Diego Padres. Texas apparently thought he would be a good insurance policy for shortstop Jeff Huson.

Green ended up splitting the season between Triple A Oklahoma City and the big time in Arlington. With both teams he played only at shortstop.

Gary appeared in 55 games for the 89ers and got 193 plate appearances. He put up middle infielder type numbers with a .234 batting average and a .319 on-base percentage. He scored 19 runs and notched 25 RBI. He hit 11 doubles and four home runs. He did strike out 43 times while walking just 22 times - a disturbing ratio for a hitter with little power.

In the field for OKC, Green committed ten errors for a .961 fielding percentage.

Once in Texas, Gary appeared in 62 games and made 99 plate appearances. He continued to struggle at the plate as he put up a .216 batting average and a .263 on-base percentage. He scored 10 times and bumped in eight RBI but his power dried up almost entirely. He hit just three doubles to account for all his extra base hits. Green whiffed 18 times while walking just six to make his strikeout to walk ratio even more lopsided.

Gary was able to improve his defense while with the Rangers. He played 300 innings at short over 58 games and made just five errors. That gave him a .972 fielding percentage. Not only was that 11 points higher than his fielding percentage with OKC, it was only one point below the league average. Since Green had quite a bit more range than the average shortstop, the fact that his fielding percentage was about the same was a plus.

Shortstop was a crowded position for Texas in 1990 with Jeff Huson, Jeff Kunkel, and Gary Green all contending for playing time. Unfortunately for Green, he hadn't done anything to make himself stand out from the other two. He needed to come to Spring Training in 1991 and blow the doors off if he wanted to play in Arlington again for any length of time.

Senators Saturday - Casey Cox, 1970.

Joseph Casey Cox is sporting the red Senators look on card 281 of the 1970 Topps set. It's a look I don't particularly care for but it's what the team switched to in the late 60's.

1969 had seen the club move Cox from a full-time reliever role to a swing-man with more than a couple of starts. He responded with a pretty good season. That performance caught the Senators attention.

In 1970 the team decided to move Casey into the rotation on a permanent basis. He appeared in 37 games for Washington, with 30 of the appearances being starts. That was full-time in the rotation for Washington, nobody made all their trips to the mound in a starting role.

Cox tossed 192.1 innings over his 37 appearances. His watched his ERA jump to a rotation worst 4.45. His WHIP edged north as well to 1.326. Apparently Casey struggled a bit with his slider and sinker control as he walked 44 while striking out just 68. He ended the season with a 8-12 record.

1970 was a rough season for Casey Cox. The transition to full-time starter did not go as smoothly as the transition from full-time reliever to swing-man. Cox needed to regain control of his primary pitches and get the ERA and WHIP back down to at least the 1969 levels. If he could do that he might be able to stay in the rotation in 1970.

Better late than never.

Ok, the title of today's post can refer either to Derek Holland's 2015 season or to the timing of this post. Holland, shown here on card 258 of the 2010 Topps Heritage set, missed the first part of the season with a left shoulder sprain. Since returning he has been a front-line starter for the team. As for the timing, I meant to post this yesterday, before the Rangers lost to the Padres last night. Didn't get it done though so it's late.

On Sunday the Rangers finished out a trip to Baltimore. Holland took the mound for the getaway game as Texas went for a sweep of the series.

Holland pitched quite possibly the best regular season game he's thrown since August 8, 2009 when he shut out the Angels on three hits. Against the Orioles Dutch went all nine innings and allowed just three hits while striking out eleven Birds. He allowed no walks and no runs en route to his eighth career shutout. It was an excellent outing and one that shows the pitcher Holland really is when he's on.

While Derek was doing his thing, the Texas offense was busy as well. They put up six runs, thanks in part to the now electric Elvis Andrus who went 2-for-3 with a walk, RBI, a run scored, and two stolen bases. Prince Fielder and Delino DeShields also had multi-hit games as the club raised their season record to 68-61.

The win gave Texas some padding in their hold on the second wild card spot. It also brought them to three games back of the AL West-leading Astros as Houston fell to the Twins. Against all odds, things are looking interesting in Arlington as the season enters the final month of play.