Linkin’ Park: Lurking Around The Web For You

You can open your eyes, it’s over now.

The Rangers have finally emerged from a nightmarish month of June still six games over .500 and 1.5 games behind the Angels in the AL West. As the calendar finally turns to July, Ranger fans will have to move on from watching their team post a putrid, horrific, abhorrent June record of….. 11-15.

That’s it? Oh, that’s not so bad. After all, the Rangers were 10-18 on May 1 just last year. And Jamey Newberg reminds us it was much worse than that not too long ago.

That’s not to say all of the last four weeks can or should be forgotten. The Rangers were on pace for a record-setting offensive month for awhile, and not the good kind. Even with a few promising showings over the last week, the offense still may not be fixed. But things should be kept in perspective. Teams lose, hitters slump, standings fluctuate. That’s baseball.

So don’t blame Rudy, says Jennifer Floyd Engel. Don’t try for a quick fix either, writes Gil LeBreton. And hopefully the Rangers’ top-ranked farm system can provide some reinforcements along the way.

For those with a statistically driven mind, David Brown at Baseball Time in Arlington had posted a great analysis of good velocity and how it correlates to good pitching.