A look inside the Texas Rangers’ team meeting following their eighth straight loss
The team meeting, something all big-league managers dread, the moment they hope to avoid each season but never do because that’s the way baseball go, was finally called Wednesday night by Chris Woodward.
The Texas Rangers had just lost their eighth straight game and 14th straight on the road, 6-3. They led the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in the sixth inning, albeit ever so briefly before one of those Coors Field hits — a blooper off the glove of a diving Adolis Garcia — drove in two runs in the home half.
The Rangers then watched the Rockies deliver the knockout blow with a two-run eighth.
The series finale is Thursday afternoon. It’s a quick turnaround, so quick that Woodward didn’t want his players to stumble into the ballpark still thinking about Wednesday.
So, he brought the team together, though what more could he say that he hadn’t said individually to players as the losing streak stretched to six Sunday after being swept by Seattle or after a narrow loss Tuesday to Colorado in 11 innings?
“What am I going to tell them? They understand,” Woodward said. “The first thing I said, ‘I don’t have to say much here.’”
It was time for the players to hear from their peers. The veterans spoke up, though this losing streak is only mildly easier on them. At least they’ve been through a skid like this and are able to pull out of the tailspin.
Many players, the rookies and the second- or third-year players still trying to establish themselves, don’t have that know-how. Kyle Gibson, who is scheduled to return Friday, said there’s nothing to do but show up Thursday and try again.
“It was good for the other guys to hear that things are going to get better,” Woodward said. “We’ve got to believe in that. A lot of guys talked about the process, and we’ve got to stick with that.”
Brock Holt, the native Texan and former World Series champion with Boston, was one of the veterans who spoke. The great thing about baseball is there’s usually a chance to turn things around the next day following a loss.
“As bad as it’s been, we’ve got to try to forget about it,” he said. “Tomorrow’s a new day, a new game. It’s hard. It’s really hard whenever you’re grinding like we are and it’s just not working out on the field.”
