Gomez feeling free with Rangers, and it shows

Carlos Gomez says that he doesn’t like to talk about where he was a season ago, yet he will talk about it.

He was stuck on a Houston team where he didn’t feel comfortable and where he wasn’t seeing any results for his hard work. He felt that his broken English served as a punching bag in a local newspaper column, which added further to his summer of discontent.

Getting released Aug. 19 was the best thing that could have happened to him.

The Texas Rangers scooped him up and haven’t complained about him one bit, especially with the way he is playing.

Gomez came off the disabled list a week ago sizzling at the plate, capping a week’s worth of games Thursday with a two-homer, five-RBI performance in an 11-4 victory over Toronto.

He was back in the lineup Friday as the Rangers and the New York Yankees played into extra innings in a game that was delayed by rain before it — the game and the rain — even started.

The Rangers lost 2-1 after Matt Bush blew a save in the ninth inning by allowing a homer to Brett Gardner and then allowed the game-winning single with two outs in the 10th.

Despite that, Gomez is happy again, and he’s playing as he did as a two-time All-Star before getting derailed in Houston.

“I know last year I was in the wrong place,” Gomez said. “I got released, came here, and they gave me the opportunity to be myself again, and that’s the key so far to what I’m doing.”

The opener of a three-game weekend series at Yankee Stadium started after a delay of 1 hour, 42 minutes, and then a pitcher’s duel broke out in the first MLB meeting between Japanese stars Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka.

Darvish allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings. He didn’t walk a batter for only the second time this season and struck out 10 before being lifted after only 88 pitches.

Tanaka allowed three hits and two walks in eight scoreless innings, and struck out Gomez three times.

Gomez had collected a hit in all seven games since being activated and was on a 10-game hitting streak that spanned his month on the DL with a strained right hamstring before both ended Friday.

Among his nine hits on the seven-game homestand that ended Thursday were five home runs. He drove in 14 runs and scored nine times.

His average sat at .267, the highest it has been since Aug. 4, 2015, five games after the Astros acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers. It was all downhill since, until he found his traction again a week into his stint with the Rangers.

He batted .284 over his final 33 games of the season, many of them as the Rangers’ leadoff hitter. Surrounded by veterans instead of being the lone veteran on a team full of young players, Gomez found himself at ease and also again got to experience the value of having veterans on a team.

“When you have veterans, when you’re not doing it right, they know before you why you’re not doing well and come to you,” Gomez said. “Here, I go out to play every day and I have the support of my teammates and my coaches. I felt like last year everything was against me. I’m ready to play baseball.”

Gomez’s play has reminded those most familiar with him — catcher Jonathan Lucroy and manager Jeff Banister — of the player he was with Milwaukee from 2010-2015. Power, average, defense, speed, though Gomez admitted that his hamstring is still a week away from being 100 percent.

“When he’s rolling and gets on a hot streak, a lot of crazy things can happen,” Lucroy said. “I’m not surprised. The guy’s an unbelievable talent.”

Gomez’s surge since the Astros cut ties with him (.274 average, .352 on-base percentage, .527 slugging percentage and 17 home runs in 77 games) gives credence to the off-dismissed importance of clubhouse chemistry.

Gomez had felt it before, with the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and Brewers. He has again with the Rangers, and doesn’t want to leave it via free agency in the off-season.

“I don’t want to go anywhere else,” Gomez said. “I have to continue doing my job well the rest of my season if they want to stay. It’s a business. If they want me to stay and make me an offer I deserve, I’m not going to go anywhere.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2017 at 2:09 AM with the headline "Gomez feeling free with Rangers, and it shows."