Cough. They're (Cough) Learning How to Win

To say that the Rangers choked in the Oakland series would be unfair and a mean slam against a team that has exceeded expectations. And that has played through injuries and distractions and other obstacles all season. So everyone just expected that they'd play through losing Hamilton and Young for this series also. Or that the fatigue wouldn't be a factor for young players.

This week-end's series against the Angels is for all the marbles. Sweep and they've got a good shot at postseason play. Win the series and they're still in the hunt. Lose the series and it will take a Colorado Rockies type miracle. Get swept and they can spend the rest of the season polishing their golf clubs.

But, honestly, in hot stove league debates last winter who really believed that the Texas Rangers would be playing a series with major playoff implications with just slightly more than 2 weeks left in the regular season?

The losing streak of the last week is disappointing, but it is NOT a choke. It's good players who've never been here before -- and who have performed well all season -- learning that champions find that little something that somehow guts out a win when everything is falling apart and nothing is going right. It's comparable to the pitcher who learns how to keep his team in the game on the days he doesn't have his stuff.

The starters have done that. But it didn't magically happen. They had to push through a tough season last year, and some ugly starts early this year to get there. And now the position players are learning what it takes on their part.

I'm not writing off this team for this year. Yes, the postseason does look unlikely. But there's still a lot of exciting baseball ahead for the Rangers. And if they find that something that championship teams have in the next 2 weeks, oh baby, October baseball 2010 on Fox from the Ball Park in Arlington!