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Half Time: A Look At The Texas Rangers At The Season’s Halfway Point Compared to 2008

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Rangers reached the halfway point of the 2009 season in Monday’s 9-4 loss to Los Angeles. As soon as tonight’s game becomes official, there will be fewer games remaining in the season than have been played. It’s a good time to look at some numbers to see exactly where the team is better and where it is worse. Not surprisingly in virtually every pitching category and every defensive measurement, they are significantly better. Offensively, mostly they are worse.

What follows is a statistical comparison between the 2008 team and the 2009 team along with some commentary on statistical categories that particularly stand out. Your thoughts, as always, are welcomed and encouraged.

In all charts, categories in which the Rangers have improved over last year will be in bold:

OFFENSE

On-base percentage: All things considered, this might be the most precipitous offensive drop-off. After 81 games last year, the Rangers were second in the AL in OBP and looked like they had started to master the strike zone. Much of that was due to Milton Bradley’s exceptional first half. With Bradley gone, it appears the Rangers have stopped taking pitches. Only three players have taken more walks at this point than they did last year: Michael Young (30 in 2009 to 28 in 2008), Ian Kinsler (37-27) and David Murphy (24-16). Almost all of the difference in walks at this point (56) can be attributed to the loss of Bradley and the injury to Josh Hamilton. They combined for 74 walks in the first half last year. This season, Hamilton and Bradley’s replacement, Andruw Jones, have combined for 33 walks. That’s a drop of 41 right there.

Home runs: The Rangers have hit 21 more homers than they did last year, but somehow have scored 32 fewer runs overall. Blame that on the number of solo homers.  The Rangers lead the majors with 80 in the first 81 games. It puts them on pace for 160 solo homers this season, which would fall one shy of the MLB record since tracking began in 1974. The 2001 Rangers hit 161 bases-empty homers.

Stolen bases: Not only have the Rangers run more, they’ve been more successful when they have run. That’s significant. The Rangers have three players – Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz (both with 16) and Elvis Andrus – on pace for 20 steals. They haven’t had a trio with 20 steals in more than 20 years. And this trio has been successful 91.8 percent of the time.

PITCHING

The overall improvement of the Rangers pitching staff is remarkable. Save for strikeouts, where the club has had nine fewer than in 2008, every area of the pitching staff has seen improvement. And not just token improvement. It’s been significant. The overall ERA has dropped by more than half a run and that’s been pretty consistent with the starers and relievers performances. While the starting rotation has gotten much of the credit for improvement this year, the bullpen’s ability to protect leads has been nothing short of exceptional. The Rangers have not lost a game this year in which they have taken a lead to the ninth inning. They are 34-0 in those games.

Everything, however, starts with the starting rotation. The rotation is averaging just over six innings a game. That keeps arms fresher in the bullpen and allows manager Ron Washington to deploy the bullpen in a defined manner.

The additions of bargain-basement RHP Darren O’Day (waiver claim) and RHP Jason Grilli (purchased from Colorado) have really had an impact on the bullpen. Since Grilli took the mound as a middle man on June 9, the day he was acquired, the Rangers have compiled a 2.44 relief ERA.

FIELDING

Unearned Runs: Perhaps no stat explains the Rangers success this season better than the significant drop in unearned runs. Bottom line: The Rangers have outscored opponents by 29 runs. The defense has saved 41 runs over last year’s porous group. You could make an argument that the improved defense, then, accounts for the entire Rangers’ turnaround. And you know what? You might not get an argument from anybody on the club. The Rangers have allowed the third fewest unearned runs in the AL this season.

Last year, the Rangers allowed a major league-worst 107 unearned runs for the year. The closest AL team was Chicago with 71. It was the most unearned runs allowed by an AL team since the turn of the current century. It tied the club record, originally established in 1973 and was tied for the sixth highest AL figure since the club  moved to Texas.