Butch: “Who are those guys that are coming after us so hard, Sundance?”
Sundance: “I’m afraid we both know who they are, Butch. Looks like we got to show ’em they got the wrong mountain this year!”
We know damn well who they are. – They are those hard-riding devil dogs from the north plains that stand between Houston and Oklahoma, the hot-dam, shoot-em-up, take-no prisoners Texas Rangers – the ones with that wild-eyed trail boss manager who looks like he wants to start a fight with our A.J. Hinch every time he steps onto the same turf he’s forced to share with our noble leader.
Who are these guys, anyway, we ask again. – Like we already said. We already know damn well who they are and we know too, as Astros fans, that they aren’t up to “no good.”
Let’s take a record look at the situation – from how things look this morning – to how things looked ten games ago.
AL WEST STANDINGS (Morning of Saturday, May 20, 2017)
| AL WEST | W | L | PCT. | GB | LAST 10 |
| ASTROS | 29 | 13 | .690 | 8-2 | |
| RANGERS | 23 | 20 | .535 | 6.5 | 10-0 |
| ANGELS | 22 | 22 | .500 | 8.0 | 6-4 |
| MARINERS | 20 | 23 | .465 | 9.5 | 4-6 |
| ATHLETICS | 19 | 23 | .452 | 10.0 | 4-6 |
And here’s the way things stood in the AL West, only ten games earlier in the records of each club:
AL WEST STANDINGS (Ten Games Earlier, Around May 10, 2017)
| AL WEST | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| ASTROS | 21 | 11 | .656 | |
| MARINERS | 16 | 17 | .485 | 5.5 |
| ANGELS | 16 | 18 | .471 | 6.0 |
| ATHLETICS | 15 | 17 | .469 | 6.0 |
| RANGERS | 13 | 20 | .394 | 8.5 |
Lost in our local euphoria over how well the Astros have been playing – and they’ve been great – the Rangers have been winning even more often over the same period:
- The Rangers’ perfect 10-0 win streak has allowed them to be the only AL West club to actually gain on the first place Astros during this period;
- The Rangers have gone from 5th and last place to the 2nd spot in the division during their streak, picking up 2 full games on the high-flying Astros during their own hot short run;
- And look out. – The long summer season of baseball is descending upon us and it looks like 2017 is going to be an exciting, quite contested, and most bumpy ride.
- The Astros’ opening series loss to Cleveland last night was both a sobering reminder of the tender spots in our starting rotation and a reminder of an ancient baseball adage that says good pitching stops good hitting. The Cleveland starter and his relief crew were outstanding.
- Better luck today in our Saturday day game.
____________________
Bill McCurdy
Publisher, Editor, Writer
The Pecan Park Eagle
Tags: Rangers Out-Streaking Astros in May, Who Are These Guys
The Pecan Park Eagle 
May 20, 2017 at 4:27 pm |
Fiers today. He may not be horrible, but when he pitches it behooves the Astro offense to score some runs early and often.
May 20, 2017 at 5:12 pm |
As I’m sure you know, Bill, that “wild-eyed trail boss” of the Rangers is a former Houston Cougar. If it weren’t for his current job with Texas, I would be pulling for him.
May 20, 2017 at 5:42 pm |
What entertains me is my two LSU Tigers, Harris and Bregman,…..Geaux Astros.
May 21, 2017 at 7:15 pm |
Scoring no runs won’t do the trick.
By the way, attendees of Astro games are beset by endless, loud commercial messages and confronted by 30 to 40 billboard signs. It’s not as bad as an NBA game, but it is edging up.