Rotation is Texas Rangers' strength based on early returns

At this point in a major league season, everything good or bad needs to be tempered with three little words: It’s still early.

Indeed, after Tuesday the Texas Rangers still have 153 games remaining this season. They have played nine games, which equals 5.5 percent of their season.

To put it in football speak, if this were a 16-game NFL season, the second-half kickoff in the first game would have just been in put in the air.

The football analogy applies also in early-season reaction to Rangers games. In the NFL, every game is under the magnifying glass — there are only 16 of them, after all — and the panic button gets pushed early and often.

Some facets of the 2016 Rangers have drawn a similar response when they’ve faltered. The bullpen and Shawn Tolleson are already making fans nervous and/or outraged. The offense hasn’t generated the same kind of reaction, but it hasn’t been exempt from early criticism.

The starting rotation, though, has been the team’s golden child.

It’s still early, but the Rangers’ rotation entered a late game at Safeco Field with the most quality starts (7) in the majors, the most wins (4) in the American League, the second-best opponents average (.220) in the AL and the sixth-best ERA (3.35).

For the first time in club history, covering 45 seasons, starting pitchers posted eight straight starts to open the season with at least five innings and no more than three runs allowed.

None of the five pitchers are named Yu Darvish, either.

Early or not, that will do for a group of starters who atare their core are self-starters.

“We’re not letting us get away with bad pitches,” staff ace Cole Hamels said. “We’re trying to correct them a lot sooner and we’re trying motivate each other to make sure that we make these pitches count. We’re trying to push each other to new heights.”

Derek Holland started Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners, against whom he has had good success in his career. His first start of the season Thursday at Anaheim rated as the worst — five innings, three runs — of the rotation’s first eight.

“I know,” Holland said Monday. “I’m the weak link.”

Hamels, who pitches Thursday in the opener of a seven-game homestand, is the only starter who is 2-0, and he, Martin Perez and Colby Lewis each registered a quality start in his first two outings.

Not all has been rosy. The five Rangers starters entered Tuesday with 23 walks allowed, the most in the majors. Lewis, though, walked only one over six innings Monday the day after Perez walked five in the lone loss by a rotation member.

While the walks have pushed pitch counts and flipped lineups, it’s not like the Rangers’ starters have been throwing the ball to the backstop. In some instances, walks are the result of a hitter not chasing a pitch a starter executed.

“I don’t feel bad because I made a good pitch and he took it,” Perez said.

Perez pointed to health as the key for the rotation’s success. He was able to have a full off-season of normal preparations rather than trying to return from Tommy John surgery as he did before 2015.

Even though Lewis had knee surgery in October, he came to camp 30 pounds lighter after becoming a cycling enthusiast in getting ready for the season. Holland, whose left knee was injured before the 2014 season, was so healthy that he did squats and other exercises that got him in better shape.

Hamels is the fittest of all, and collectively the starters have been able to carry high pitch counts and work deeper into games until the winning bullpen pieces can take over. The bullpen hasn’t been as air-tight as expected, but it’s still early and the Rangers continue to believe that the unit can shorten games.

That has been the rotation’s biggest plus, manager Jeff Banister said. But as important as it is to have their arms and bodies in shape, the starters are of the same mindset come game time.

When they have needed to make a pitch to get a ground ball to get out of an inning, they have been able to get one.

“I like the fact that we have the ability to miss the bat but, also, when we’ve needed the ground ball, we’ve gotten the ground ball,” Banister said. “We have a group of starters that has the ability to execute, and we’ve been able to execute when we’ve needed to.”

The rotation is expected to get better in late May when Darvish completes his recovery from Tommy John surgery. He will find starting pitchers who are pushing each other to be better and feeding off others’ successes.

That might sound cliche, but Hamels and Holland believe it to be true.

“I think we showed that last year with what we were able to accomplish later on in the season with everyone being healthy,” Hamels said. “We feed off each other. We really do try to push each other when we’re playing catch and even in our bullpens. Guys are very aware of what we’re trying to accomplish and what we’re trying to work on.”

It’s still early, but the Rangers’ rotation is showing signs that it will be a team strength all season.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Rotation is Texas Rangers' strength based on early returns."