Now that I've titled this post with a double entendre (hee hee, haw haw), can we get down to business? Get your mind out of the gutter and onto the basepath please!

When Chris "Crush" Davis exploded onto the Rangers scene in the middle of '08, hitting homeruns and playing inspiring defense, we all looked at each other and said "Texieria who?" Going into the '09 Spring Training, we had a lot of questions.  We were wondering how the highly controversial move of Michael Young and the promotion of Elvis Andrus was going to effect the team. We were wondering if Kinsler's hands were going to get any softer. We were trying to decide between Salty and Teagarden. But we we were not worried about 1B. We had a sure thing over there.

Now that we've discovered that Young fits nicely at 3rd, Andrus' promotion was well deserved and Kinsler can have some soft hands, we're pereplexed about Chris Davis' bat. And the horrific number of times it seems to miss hitting the ball. There's probably nobody who is wondering what happened more than the former star of the Longview H.S. (TX) Lobos.

With Davis on his way to shattering (no pun intended) the season strikeout record, everyone wants to know one thing: What happened? And everyone wants to know: When's the Rangers braintrust gonna send Crush to OKC to figure it out?

One quick observation: Would we be as worried if the .200 BA was coming with less strikeouts? If Chris was putting more balls in play, walking more and flying out to CF, would there be as much of a hullabaloo about sending Davis to the Redhawks? When David Murphy started the season going 0-for-everything, he was doing so with fly balls and ground outs. No one was clamoring for his demotion.

With seemingly everyone packing Davis' bags for him, here are my two reasons why he shouldn't get the luggage out right away. 

Reason #1 - He's just one slumper in a team full of slumpers. As mentioned in other prolific articles, the Rangers have been playing some quality teams with quality pitchers. Davis started the season crummy and then tried to get better on a steady diet of very good pitching. In the series again the Giants and now against the DBacks, he's showing better plate discipline and catching up to fastballs again.  He could be coming out of right now.  Meanwhile, there have been other guys on this team that have been struggling as well and Davis could get better when the rest of the team heals.

Reason #2 - Who else you gonna put there?  Most pundits are saying that uber-prospect Smoak isn't ready yet. Max Ramirez, another prospect, is trying to learn the craft of catching, rather than the ubiquitous C/1B role (and "DH" prospect). Hank Blalock, and his missing rib bone, probably isn't healthy enough (or durable enough) to play that spot everyday. And the experiment of Andruw Jones at 1B is intriguing, but not an everyday solution.

A month ago, before the June gauntlet began, Rob and I were driving home after a great day of watching the Rangers win a doubleheader against the A's. We were listening to two post-game shows on the radio. On one station, the two guys were talking about how it was time for Davis to go to the Sooner state and figure out what's wrong with his hitting. On the other station, the two guys were talking about how his defense is really good (and it is!) and we could put up with crummy hitting for now.

I don't think that anyone but the Rangers braintrust know exactly what to do. But I do think that we gotta give him more time. Because he may just need a little more time to figure it out and I don't think we have any immediate, viable everyday options.

The biggest question among Rangers fans in the last four weeks has been a question we're not used to asking.

If you've followed this team, even for a couple of years, the seemingly eternal question has always been "When are we gonna get some pitching in here?" Last year was no exception, being among baseball's leaders in ERA, HR allowed, runs allowed, etc. etc. etc.  Why?  We play in a 'hitter friendly' park; the Texas heat wears out pitchers; and no free agent in their right mind wants to come here are the typical reasons on why we can seem to pitch our way out of a paper bag.

And Ranger fans have also been wondering what's happened to the defense over the past few years. Until recently, we've had trouble identifying a long term solution at CF and SS. We haven't seen a catcher like Pudge in awhile and we've had a rotation of guys playing 1B since Texieria thankfully left town.

Nope, the questions are no longer about the pitching and defense. Our current pitching staff is pretty darned good and we're getting great performances out of old friends and new discoveries. The bullpen has shaped up and we have an above average closer, when healthy.  On the defensive side, we have Young's move to 3B, the discovery of Elvis at SS, the ungodly stretches of Davis at 1B, an improved defensive Kinsler and solid outfield.

Nope, it's not the pitching and defense. Those elements have been keeping us in games this year. The question is this: What's going on with this offense?  When's the last time you've asked that question about the Rangers.  When was the last time you cringed not at the pitching, but at the hitting?

Looking at the last two months, one could find at least one explanation for the alleged swoon this offense: We’ve been playing good teams with good pitchers (it should be noted that we've avoided some good pitchers as well). And while the pundits have been going on and on about how Kinsler, Young, Andruw and others have been swooning as of late (and how Salty and Davis are rally killers) I believe there is an obvious reason why this offense is off track. And there are good reasons to believe that they’ll get back on track in late June and July. That reason? Hambone.

When Josh Hamilton went on the DL with an abdominal issue, one might surmise that the offense wasn’t going to get too derailed losing a .250BA cleanup hitter. The outfield law office of Andruw, Murphy, and Byrd seemed primed to take over in Hammy's absence.

However, since Hambone went on the DL, the offense has sunk to .218. .218?!?! A Rangers offense?

The way I see it is this: Even with Hamilton hitting below what would be hoped, its obvious that he’s still a dominate force in the lineup. When the top four hitters on the lineup card read KINSLER-YOUNG-HAMILTON-CRUZ, the manager and starting pitcher of the other team have to change their approach. When Ron Washington bumps Young to 3rd in the lineup (a place he admits that he's uncomfortable) and puts any other hitter (Elvis, Murphy, Andruw, Omar) in the 2 spot, the whole demographic changes. As a result, Young doesn’t get as many good pitches to hit (although his BA is still pretty stout). Cruz isn’t as effective as Hamilton in protecting the spot above him on the lineup card. Additionally, Kinsler hasn’t been getting on base as much (his walks are way down) and he can’t be as disruptive on the basepath.

Perhaps the most insane observation is that the Rangers have become a bit quieter on the basepath. Obviously, if you aren’t on base, you can’t steal (or double steal, a category the Rangers have all to themselves), apply the sac bunt or engage any other disruptive play.  In the months of April and May, this team was dizzying on the path.

Yes, we have two below average lefties playing 1B.  Yes, Davis and Salty are squashing more rallies than Iran's Revolutionary Guard.  Yes, we have put everyone but Millwood in the number 2 spot in the batting lineup (although he's pitched so well this year, I think he'd probably hit pretty good too).  And yes, we're probably leading the league in RISP.

But I think the rest of the lineup will hit much better with Josh Hamilton creating fear and doubt in the minds of opposing managers and pitchers. When Hambone's in the lineup, the other hitters will get better pitches, there'll be more baserunners on base to disrupt the flow of the opposing defense and the dominate offense that is the Rangers will no longer be a question.

At the beginning of the month of June, the Rangers were soaring above the then slumping LA Angels. The Rangers had come off of a monster month of May and they were not only in first place in the AL West, but they were battling for the best record in the American League. The pitching and defense were awesome and the hitting was adequate, although not up to the usual Rangers production.

Why did they do so well in the month of May? Outside of a sweep by the Tigers and 2-out-of-3 by the Yankees, the Rangers were playing, at the time, teams that were average to below average. And those two team who took it to us (Tigers and Yankees) are division contenders at this point.

But then the Good Guys got to the month of June. An entire month of teams above .500, including the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Giants. The only palooka on the list was the Astros, and those 2 wins and one loss were sloppy, embarrassing games that were badly managed in the 9th inning and beyond.

It is said that any given team can beat any other team on any given day. For the Rangers in June, this is particularly true. It seems our Rangers can beat average to below average teams without much difficulty (month of May) and struggle against division contenders (month of June). It also appears that this team folds under the weight of a particularly good pitcher or, as mentioned above, faces a pitcher who's on for that game (this was particularly true with Scherzer last night).

We've been reminded by the local media that "contending year" was supposed to be 2010. Seeing what we've seen in the past two months, this may be pretty evident. If this team has blossomed early, then we'll know it after the Rangers play the Angels 6 times in 10 days. If not, this season could resemble the roller coasters of near by Six Flags: Good when playing the lapdogs; struggling when playing the big dogs.