Rangers-Astros rivalry finally showing spurs in Silver Boot series

The 2000 season was the last time the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros were both coming off playoff appearances the previous season.

And, boy, did it turn out to be a dud for pro baseball in the Lone Star State.

The Rangers were 71-91, the Astros 72-90 in 2000. It was the year the Astros moved from the Astrodome to Minute Maid Park (remember Enron Field?) and Michael Young made his big league debut with the Rangers.

They were in different leagues and had begun their annual Lone Star Series only three seasons before.

That’s all changed now, especially considering that many of their 19 games were tension-filled in 2015, when the young, upstart Astros surprised all of baseball by being one or two years ahead of schedule in their rebuilding process.

The Rangers also were a surprise, shaking off a disastrous start and numerous injuries to surge to the American League West division title past the Astros, who clinched a wild-card berth and beat the Yankees in the Bronx to advance to their first division series since 2005.

Both are considered postseason contenders in 2016. Many are even predicting the Astros to reach the World Series.

The Rangers have high expectations as well, and are atop the division as the two meet for the first time this season Tuesday for a three-game series at Globe Life Park.

Although it’s only April, the stakes involved in each of their 19 meetings should not be underplayed. The Rangers finished just two games ahead of the Astros last season (and three ahead of the Angels) and didn’t clinch the division until the last day of the season.

Texas did it by going 13-6 against Houston, including winning eight consecutive games in the series from Aug. 3 to Sept. 25. The Rangers were 23-34 against the rest of the division.

Perhaps a breezier road to clinching the division would have served the Rangers’ bullpen well in the playoffs. Instead, it was forced to treat the final month as if the season depended on it, because it did.

“They had a young team last year, and I think they may have gotten a little too into the rivalry instead of just playing,” said DeShields, who spent the first five years of his professional career in the Astros’ minor league system.

“I don’t know,” he said. “They looked tense, like they were trying to force things to happen instead of just letting it happen and trust in their abilities. That’s just me observing.”

“I expect a lot of intensity,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told the Houston Chronicle. “I expect a lot of guys to remember the rivalry that we as a group — the first time we were all together — we created last year. ... I love the Astros-Rangers rivalry that’s brewing.”

Manager Jeff Banister loves it, too. He grew up just 30 miles south of the city and was a diehard Astros fan. He appreciates the renewed intensity between the two fan bases.

One of the signature moments of his rookie season as manager came against the Astros when a kerfuffle erupted near home plate during a July game in Houston.

No punches were thrown, but an iconic image of Banister was stamped when television cameras caught him pointing his finger in the direction of Hinch in the middle of the scrum. You could almost hear the Rocky theme in the background.

Both managers downplayed the incident and maintained a friendship. But as if to remind the fans of the moment, the Jeff Banister bobblehead giveaway — complete with finger pointed and the same powder blue retro uniform the Rangers were wearing for that July game — is scheduled for Tuesday. The bobbleheads go to the first 15,000 fans.

After a slow start, the Astros (5-8) won their first series after taking two of three from the Tigers over the weekend in Houston. Like the Rangers, they were off Monday.

The season is still in its infancy but it doesn’t look like there will be a repeat of 2000. And even if there were, the rivalry that finally hit a fever pitch in 2015 shows no signs of cooling off.

“The Lone Star series will be a rivalry forever, whether one team is struggling or rebuilding, it’s still going to have good games, because the energy is always high,” DeShields said. “The fans bring it every day on both sides.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Rangers-Astros rivalry finally showing spurs in Silver Boot series."