BREAKING
NEWS
The Rangers Need A Hero
As Texas stumbles along the worst stretch of the season thus far, someone must step up
Getty Images
Padilla will look to end Texas's skid on Wednesday night.
It's sad to say, but most Rangers fans half-expected this.
Not the fact that Texas has dropped five straight; not the fact that the Rangers' team batting average for the last week and a half is a considerable distance from the Mendoza Line; not even the fact that outside of Seattle, Matt Harrison has yet to beat a winning team in 2009.
What Texas fans half-expected--some more than others, to be certain--was the terrible ignominy that has accompanied this latest stretch. Tuesday night was a fitting example.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia channeled Major League 2's Rube Baker, firing a ball over Jason Jennings's head and allowing a run to score. Justin Upton would homer shortly after that, on a ball that apparently deflected off rightfielder Nelson Cruz's glove.
This is a performance befitting a Rangers team in the chaos of Yankee Stadium; only they weren't in Yankee Stadium, they were at Chase Field in Phoenix, losing to the cellar-dweller of the National League West, a full two games back of fourth place -- and up coming Rangers opponent -- San Diego Padres.
These stretches, very simply, can kill a team.
Thus, Vicente Padilla has a golden opportunity to be a hero on Wednesday night; not in the traditional sense, in which the victor will be showered in glory and praise. Texas fans will meet the next win with a sigh of relief, not an exaltation.
But, in any case, a hero is a hero.
And, as it stands now, the Rangers need one of those.
Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations
Posted Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 9:08 PM CST
