While Rangers fans everywhere seem to be freaking out about the Rangers right now, and the hysteria over losing three series in a row for the first time since 2009, something seems to be getting lost...
There are only five teams in baseball with a better record right now.
There's only one team in the A.L. with a better run differential than the Rangers.
Flash back to one year ago today...on April 21, 2010, the Rangers dropped to 5-9 on the season, after having lost 8-7 in 12 innings to the Boston Red Sox.
The day before, the Rangers had blown a 6-2 lead (in a game where they had 9 stolen bases) in the "Darnell McDonald Game," when McDonald tied the game with a 2 run homer off of Darren Oliver, then singled home the winning run off of Frankie Francisco.
A year ago today, the Rangers registered loss #6 in a 6 game losing streak that had them in last place in the A.L. West, 3 games back of the division leaders.
The only reason the Rangers didn't lose three series in a row at that point was because they managed to split a four game series at home to the Detroit Tigers, after being swept by the Yankees in New York (while being outscored, 17-6, over three games) and losing two of three in Boston.
It was May 1 before the Rangers finally climbed back to .500 on the season. And things still seemed to work out okay for the 2010 Texas Rangers.
So keep your chins up. This team is still the class of the A.L. West. The Anaheim Angels are not a better team than the Texas Rangers right now. The Rangers should still be considered the favorites in the division. And unless there's a significant injury to one of the team's key pieces, an injury that keeps someone other than Josh Hamilton out for a couple of months, I expect the Rangers to win the A.L. West by a comfortable margin.