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| After game three Frenchy said, "He's from Mississippi. He doesn't have any idea what he's done yet." |
Meet Mitch Moreland, drafted v late (but driving a hard bargain and a $60,000 signing bonus pretty much on his own) by the Rangers in 2007. The Rangers 1B at the time was the super-duper Mark Teixeira. "Tex" was traded at the deadline later that year for Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, and a couple of other players. The Rangers installed Chris Davis at 1B the next year and for a young kid he did pretty damn good, earning a nickname even, "Crash" Davis.
'09 came around and "Crash" was really struggling, striking out a ton. The ballclub sent Davis down to Oklahoma City to see if he could figure it out. He did well there and got called up late in '09 and did okay, enough to earn him the starting job this season.
Davis, who has always played good to great defensively, just was not hitting. & worse for him the Rangers had another kid 1B, not Moreland, a switch-hitting Mark Teixeira clone named Justin Smoak (great great baseball name) ripping through the Minors, itching to have "Crash"'s job.
& Smoak got Davis' job early this year. Davis got sent back to OKC and Smoak did alright up in the show, hitting the occasional homer, walking a fair amount, playing decent defense.
But the Rangers really really really wanted Cliff Lee, you see. And to get Lee, and to also prevent the Yanks from getting him, the Rangers had to pony up super-prospect Smoak to the Mariners. They did, Cliff Lee was ours but who the eff was going to play 1B?
"Crash" got another shot, was not getting it done, and behind the scenes the Ranger brass started working for a trade to bring in a veteran 1B. "What the eff," they must have thought, "Let's give Moreland a shot."
Moreland, meanwhile, did not get off to a good professional start. At one point he talked the organization in to giving him a shot as a pitcher. That did not work out, either. He went back to 1B & 3B and worked hard to make it to the Show.
Moreland immediately endeared himself to Ranger faithful because like his at-bat last night, even against tough left-handers, he always battled, he drew walks, worked counts, always did whatever he could to get on base & help the club. Maybe he's not as talented as "Tex" or Smoak, or, hell, even "Crash" but Moreland is that old-school gritty-ass type known as a Motherfucking Ballplayer. He'll do anything and everything to help the team out.
(Now that I think about it, the Rangers should have put Mitch Moreland in to pitch in game two when all sorts of hell was breaking out for the Rangers.)
But that behind the scenes stuff came to fruition. The Rangers acquired Jorge Cantu in a trade. I think the idea was that Cantu would become our everyday sort of guy. He is a legit, decent sort of hitter, most certainly a vet, & v good defensively. But, either, Cantu hates the Rangers & the AL, or I do not know what, or he has just lost it, because he stunk w/ the Rangers. He did exactly one good thing with the Rangers, he hit the eventual game-winning (division-clinching) home run up here, against the A's, on Renee's birthday.
Cantu bats right, Moreland left. So, when the post-season started against the Rays and their tough lefty, David Price, Cantu started. He struck out three (or was it four?) times. Wash & Hurdle had seen enough, they put their faith in Moreland for the rest of the Ranger playoff run. Moreland has started every game since, even against lefties. He has played v well, incl even making a couple of really nice defensive plays, something he is not really known for. His top line stats for the post season are: .341 AVG/.386 OBP/.512 SLG (.898 OPS!) w/ three walks and one home run (last night.)
They say he even has a nickname now, "Moose".
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