Rangers consider small-ball approach

10/19/2005
Home runs alone don't bring happiness.
The Rangers got that message loud and clear in 2005. Their 260 homers brought them close to a Major League record, but all that bashing from the top of the lineup to the bottom didn't prevent the Rangers from dropping 10 games off their 2004 pace en route to a 79-83 finish.
"We'd trade some of those homers for some wins," first baseman Mark Teixeira aptly noted as the season was winding down.
If the Rangers are going to make significant improvement in 2006, the pitching -- both from a rotation and bullpen standpoint -- has to get markedly better. Early indications are that the club will try to add a couple of experienced starters and a couple of experienced bullpen arms to what is already in place. But there's also a sense that for Texas to be all it can be in the American League West, the Rangers need to mix in some small ball to go with the long ball.
"There's a game you play to beat the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 starters and the middle of the bullpen," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said. "But there's also a game you play to beat the No. 1 and No. 2 starters and the eighth-inning and ninth-inning relievers. That's something we have to get better at."
In other words, you can't just sit back and wait to crank out homers against the elite pitchers. You've got to move runners over, take walks, show some aggressiveness on the base paths and manufacture a run here or there while hoping your own pitching holds up.
A check of the final statistics illustrates Showalter's point. The Rangers' success is largely based on what they can get done against the Angels and A's in the AL West. Against the premium pitching on those two clubs, Texas didn't do much in 2005.
Bartolo Colon was 4-0 against Texas in four starts with a 2.28 ERA. The Rangers hit just .231 against him. The Rangers did manage a .287 batting average against Jarrod Washburn, but that didn't resonate in the win column -- the left-hander was 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA against Texas.
Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez converted all six save opportunities against Texas, holding the Rangers to a .237 batting mark.
Oakland's Rich Harden was 2-1 with a 1.48 ERA in three starts against Texas. The A's right-hander held the Rangers to a .165 average. Barry Zito was 2-0 with a 4.29 ERA and limited Rangers' hitters to a .184 batting average.
Oakland closer Huston Street converted all five of his save chances against Texas, while compiling a 2.45 ERA and holding the Rangers to a .244 batting mark.
Because it's so tough to pound the ball and string together hits against the top-line pitchers in the AL West, the notion of adding a small-ball element and adding a different dimension to the offense, particularly against No. 1 and No. 2 starters and closers, takes on credence.
"I think our overall hitting approach is really good," center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. said. "But there are times when all of us have to do a little more to make sure we're scratching out runs somehow and some way when the power game isn't there." The Rangers had only nine sacrifice bunts in 2005 and their .267 batting average ranked eighth among 14 AL clubs. Perhaps they could steal a page from the White Sox, who traded home run hitter Carlos Lee to Milwaukee for speedy outfielder Scott Podsednik before the 2005 season. Podsednik gave Chicago a go-go element at the top of the lineup, and the White Sox landed in the World Series.
A leadoff hitter with great speed and a keen eye would figure to score a siege of runs batting ahead of Michael Young, the consummate No. 2 hitter.
But even if the Rangers can't acquire such a player this winter, they figure to emphasize to the existing players that it's important to have a small-ball element to go with all their power.
"You aren't going to have many big innings against the top pitchers, and you can't have an ego when you are facing those guys," Showalter said. "You have to put the ball in play, move runners [up]. You have to beat the real good ones to go where you want to go."

Source: http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/