The Texas Rangers closed out their baseball season at home with a 14-4 victory over the Oakland A's. The final game of the season saw Hank Blalock drive in four runs and smash a homerun. Matt Harrison pitched six strong innings and he becomes the first rookie starting pitcher for the Rangers to win nine games. He boosted his chances for a starting position going into next season.
Josh Hamilton also had a good day getting two basehits and netting two more RBIs to extend his lead in the RBI race. His average now stands at .304. The Rangers battled this season under early pressures that Ron Washington would lose his job, but the Rangers responded in a big way winning seven straight series in late April - early May.
Despite losing Ian Kinsler and David Murphy to season-ending injuries, the Rangers relied on depth from their farm team and has looked good and very promising for the future. Though the Rangers are done at home, they still have a series at the Angels before they close out the season. While many, including myself, had hopes they would finish .500 or above to end the season, the Rangers have built a cornerstone to go off of. Their defense was tightened up in the second half of the season, and their pitching improved from 14th in the league in all major categories to 10th.
The Rangers will go back into reshaping mode this offseason, and it appears that Jon Daniels and Ron Washington are going to lead that charge. Other coaches are yet to be determined. The playoffs won't see the Rangers in it again, but you might see them soon enough.
Keywords: final home stand, Ron Washington, Texas Rangers
