The Byrd Man Of Arlington: Marlon Byrd Steps Into Offensive Void, Leads Rangers Out Of Losing Streak

Until Josh Hamilton returns – and maybe even for a period of time after – the struggling Rangers offense needs somebody to be willing and able to carry a heavy burden.

Marlon Byrd offers up his stout shoulders.

Over the past two nights, thrust into the most important run-producing spots in the lineup, Byrd served notice to the Los Angeles Angels that the death of the Rangers offense has been greatly exaggerated. On Tuesday, Byrd lifted the Rangers with a pair of homers and five RBIs in a 9-3 win as the No. 3 hitter. It came on the heels of a 3-for-4 night that included another homer.

And yet, Monday had seemed like such a waste to Byrd. Sure he had the three hits. And, yeah, he did homer one pitch after pounding a foul ball off his chronically sore left knee. Oh, and there was the running catch at his shoe-tops in center field.

But it was that one other at-bat Monday that haunted him after the game and on the ride home. With the Rangers holding a slim 2-1 lead – the kind of lead that wasn’t going to hold up all night – Byrd came tothe plate against rookie Sean O’Sullivan with all the advantages. There were two men on and one out, meaning O’Sullivan was going to have to pitch to him. Byrd had doubled and homered on fastballs in his first two at-bats, so he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to see another one. And when O’Sullivan threw a breaking ball on the first pitch of the at-bat and missed, Byrd was dead certain, O’Sullivan would have to throw a changeup.

Byrd did everything right, except that the anxiousness had him start his swing a fraction of a second early. Instead of driving the ball up the middle, he grounded it to the right side to start an inning-ending double play.

“I didn’t get the job done.,” Byrd said afterward. “I didn’t execute. This game is about executing at key moments and I didn’t get it done. I’d rather have gone  1-for-4 with the hit when we needed it and won than 3-for-4. I like pressure and I like playing big games against good teams. To not get the job done in the situation we were in, just kille the whole night.”

On Monday, Byrd was hardly the only Ranger to fail in a key situation in a 5-2 loss that shoved them 2.5 games behind the Angels. Rookie Julio Borbon, making his major league debut, struck out on a change after the Angels intentionally walked the bases full. Just before Byrd’s double play, David Murphy, who had also homered earlier in the game, got antsy on  a fastball and popped it up to second. And in the eighth, pinch hitter Hank Blalock swung wildly at the first pitch, then grounded to short with two men on.

For Byrd, though, none of that mattered. What mattered to him was that he had a chance to help the club and failed. It didn’t sit well with him.

And so Tuesday, after the Rangers wasted a three-run lead built partly by his first inning homer, Byrd got another chance in an almost identical situation. He came to the plate in the fourth with two outs and two on, got a first-pitch changeup from Joe Saunders and this time held his swing in check long enough to drive the ball up the middle and on to the hill in center field.

“It was just another chance to get the runs home and, like I said, I like those situations,” Byrd said. “We needed runs. The Angels feed off mistakes and if you don’t execute when you have a chance, they see that as a mistake and they capitalize. To come through in  a situation where I felt like I had failed a night earlier and to help the team win, it makes the night that much better.”

It makes things so much easier on the offense, too. One reason teams slump at the same time  is that everybody is trying to fill a void that may be created by the absence of a key player (in this case Josh Hamilton) or a couple of poor games. The best way out: For one guy to take the lead, allowing the rest of the team to follow him. This is exactly what Byrd has done the last two games.

Perhaps Byrd’s big game Monday and Ian Kinsler’s leadoff homer on Tuesday made it a little easier on Michael Young to take the first inning walk Joe Saunders offered him Tuesday. Byrd followed with a homer. Perhaps when Saunders also offered Young a fourth-inning walk with two outs, practicing the old adage of not letting an opponent’s best hitter beat you, it was easier for Young to take the walk again. And then Byrd followed with the second homer.

“Offenses feed off one another,” Young said. “It looks like he has been locked in the last couple of games. We did a good job of making a very good pitcher work hard and it was a total team effort. But that second homer, that was huge.”

A week ago, in this little space, I wrote that maybe Byrd, a free-agent-to-be, had been overanxious to swing at the plate because he was trying to put up the best possible numbers to ensure long-term security. It was an unfortunate choice of words. There is a negative connotation that is implied by that statement. It suggests a player is selfish and not caring about the team. In the case of Byrd, nothing could be farther from the truth. Perhaps on occasion this season since he’s essentially been Josh Hamilton’s replacement in the lineup, he’s tried to replace Hamilton’s slugging and that’s led to him swinging more often than usual at first-pitch fastball.

Selfish? Hardly.

From the moment Byrd walked in the Rangers clubhouse after a mid-May callup in 2007, he’s forged himself into a core player and leader. When  young players needed a little sassing, nobody was more attentive than Byrd. When the dugout needed energy, nobody was more energetic. A big reason why Milton Bradley didn’t implode during the 2008 season with the Rangers: Byrd, Young and Ian Kinsler – the team’s de facto leadership committe – went out of their way to welcome him and include him. This season, he’s stepped in for Hamilton in center field, a thankless job if there ever was one and played exceptional defense. He’s hit in six different spots in the batting order already, more than anyone on the team. He has been a two-out demon for opponents, batting .448 with 16 RBIs with two outs and runners in scoring position. Among the 125 AL players with at least 20 such plate appearances, he is tied for the league lead in hits (13), is third in batting average, eighth in RBIs (16) and ninth in on-base-plus slugging (1.184).

“He’s a tough kid,” Washington said. “He gets a ton of two-out RBIs and that’s not an easy thing to do. But Marlon is tough and is up to it.”

And so I’ll bring the impending free agency thing up again. But I’ll bring it up in a different manner: Those stats and that clubhouse presence, the Rangers shouldn’t ignore them this fall. This team has let two 30-something leaders walk away in the past – Doug Melvin underrated Mark McLemore’s contributions and Jon Daniels underestimated Mark DeRosa’s – only to see them reach the playoffs elsewhere. Maybe this time around, the outcome will be a little different.