What a difference flipping the month on the ole calendar can make. Does May have to end later this week?
While the thought of the month of May conjures up rain, rain and more rain in DFW, the Texas Rangers have been making it rain a bit on their own.
Don’t look now, but those pesky Rangers have won seven-straight after a 4-3 win at Cleveland Tuesday night. That’s the longest winning streak for the club since winning seven consecutive last September when the season was already decided. They’re 16-9 in May – the most victories since winning 20 back in August of ’13. Texas is back to .500 at 23-23, which is quite an accomplishment after an April from hell. Texas looks for its second consecutive opponent sweep at Cleveland later today.
Mitch Moreland hit the game-winning home run in the eighth inning Tuesday, giving him a 10-game hitting streak. Elvis Andrus continues to rip it up at Cleveland, going 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. And the bullpen threw 3 and 2/3 scoreless innings, with Shawn Tolleson getting his fifth save in as many tries, all on this road trip.
But the obvious story is Prince Fielder, better known as Hercules or whatever character of great strength you wish to compare him to.
“On fire” doesn’t seem to do him justice these days. He smells of pure gasoline; quite pungent.
Fielder went 3-for-5 with a double and a home run Tuesday. His 440-foot round-tripper was his 10th of the season and tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth. Overall he went 3-for-5, including a double.
There was a rumor that several female Cleveland fans traded their jerseys in for Texas grays with 84 on them, but that couldn’t be confirmed.
Fielder has been nothing short of brilliant lately, especially on this road trip. Through eight games on the current stretch away from home, he’s hitting .486 (17-for-35) with five homers and 15 RBI. Fielder has had three-hit games in each of the last four contests, and leads the majors with 23 multi-hit games on the season.
“(Fielder’s hot streak) is as good as I’ve seen,” said Rangers manager Jeff Bannister. “We needed that (homer in the fifth inning). It created some energy and gave us hope. Once you feel that energy inside the dugout, we feed off that.”
There’s been a lot of feeding going on. Fielder downplays his hot streak, but there is no denying that his season thus far has been something special.
“I’m just trying to get good pitches to hit and putting the barrel on it,” he said. “I have great guys around me (in the lineup) right now and I’m getting some pitches to hit and I’m simply trying to get some good wood on it.
If we keep playing like this, we’ll be all right. We’re going to enjoy it and keep working hard.”
Texas returns home this weekend to take on the Red Sox. Then the White Sox come calling in the first week of June.
If I were Bannister, I might order to have all calendars in the Rangers clubhouse removed. Maybe they’ll forget what month it is by the time Chicago gets here.
Or maybe the White Sox should have some fire extinguishers handy when Fielder comes to the plate.
