Texas in the playoffs? It's strange but true

Sporting News, The, Sept 2, 1996 by Bob Nightengale

They are the lone Ford Escort in a parking lot full of Mercedes and BMWs. They are the leisure suit hanging on a rack full of Armanis. They are the warm bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon sitting on a shelf with Heinekens and Molsons.

They are the Rangers.

Here we are, heading into September, and the Ranger, are in first place in the American League West. They not onlv art, in first place, but they have a comfortable lead over the Mariners.

The Rangers have spent 24 in futility, and if you count the 11 years spent in Washington as the Senators, they have gone 35 years without a day in postseason.

Why, except for the 4-year-old Marlins, the Rangers are the lone team that has never played a postseason game.

Now, with a second-year general manager a manager who was run out of Baltimore and a pitching staff that not only is without Nolan Ryan but also lost its top two stars to free agency, the team is on the verge of playing into October. The Rangers play 15 of their final 23 games at home, and their only road games are against the Brewers and Angels. The postseason has become almost a certainty.

"I don't think it surprises us," says general manager Doug Melvin, who should be the league's executive of the year. "But I know it's surprising everyone else in baseball. People didn't expect this. Even when we had our lead, everyone thought we couldn't bold it because of our past.

"But I guess until we get there, and step into the playoff picture, there will always be criticism.

"That's all right, but I think our team is good enough to win the World Series."

Indeed, instead of a collapse - as has been the summer tradition in Texas - there is honest-to-goodness pennant fever.

Juan Gonzalez, who never looked like he would leave up to expectations, might be the league MVP. He entered the week batting .332 with 38 homers and 118 RBIs. Ivan Rodriguez is having a career year, batting .318 with 17 homers, 73 RBIs and 44 doubles, a record for catchers. Kevin Elster, who wasn't even supposed to make the team, has become a shoo-in for comeback-of-the-year honors. As the Rangers' starting shortstop, he has hit a career-high 22 homers with 93 RBIs. Third baseman Dean Palmer has 31 homers and 93 RBIs. And all five starters have at least 10 victories, compiling the most victories of any rotation in the league.

"It's a special group of guys," Melvin says, real professionals on and off the field. They stress the team factor. Nobody goes their separate way, and Johnny (Oates) doesn't allow that to happen. He really stresses the team concept."

Ah, Oates. This is a guy who was supposed to be paranoid, incompetent and simply a product of the good ol' boy system when he was hired two years ago by Melvin after Oates was fired by the Orioles. Instead, it has proved to be another ingenious move by Melvin. Look around baseball, and Oates and Bobby Cox of the Braves are the only managers who have had five consecutive winning seasons.

"There were other people out there I could have hired," Melvin says, "but all would have been first-year managers. It would have been another learning process. This club has done that since the days of Whitey Herzog and Billy Martin. I thought this club was close enough where we didn't need to go through another learning process,

"We needed to bring someone in here that would be a stabilizing influence, and I felt confident when we got him."

The huge difference this season also is that the Rangers are fundamentally sound. They are leading the league in defense and set an A.L. record with 15 consecutive errorless games.

This is a staggering achievement considering this team never ranked higher than 11th in the league in fielding percentage from 1987 through 1994.

"Everybody knows we can hit," Gonzalez says, "but now we can catch the ball as well as hit it. It makes a big difference."

The Rangers will be in the playoffs.

Who would have thunk it?

Oh, that ligament

When pitcher R.A. Dickey, the 18th pick in the June free-agent draft by the Rangers, showed up on the cover of Baseball America, orthopedic consultant John Conway did not like the position of his elbow. He told the team to get this kid examined.

Dickey didn't have an injured ligament, as was first suspected. In fact, it turned out he has no ulnar collateral ligament in his fight elbow.

"It seems to be the most bizarre thing anybody has ever heard of," says Dickey, who was unaware he had any arm problems. "It was like winning the lottery and then losing the ticket."

Who knew? In three seasons at the University of Tennessee, he set school records for victories, innings, strikeouts and appearances.

Dickey was devastated by the news, but the Rangers, showing there is heart in this game, decided to sign him for a $75,000 bonus with the promise of medical help if Dickey needed it.

Bill's in

There will be no controversy. Bill Russell will return in 1997 as manager of the Dodgers. "He's done a good job. He's doing a good job, and the staff has been very supportive of him and what he's doing," executive vice president Fred Claire says. "When you ask about the situation, all I say is look at history."