Kids, don't try this at home. During Wednesday's Texas Rangers-San Diego Padres game, the broadcast caught a fan trying to secure a foul ball behind the third-base dugout. What appeared to be a middle-aged man in a Rangers pullover attempted to make the catch. What ensued was a hodgepodge of nonsense.
As the ball descended, the fan stumbled upon the top of the dugout, dropped the ball and fell into the protective netting above the dugout. In a rather graceful way, he bounced off the netting, flung back on top of the dugout and lost his beer in one motion.
After a few pity-filled high-fives, the fan was escorted from his seat, only to return a few pitches later. Apparently, Padres players and coaches pleaded to keep him in the stadium after witnessing such acrobatics. San Diego had a full dugout as they were hitting during the inning when the foul ball incident occurred.
Unfortunately for the Rangers and the fan, his triumphant return was not enough to spark a rally as Texas fell to San Diego, 6-4. It might go down as the most memorable loss of that Rangers fan's life.
Rangers searching for answers in make-or-break month
If the defending World Series champions are going to go on a run, it seems like it has to be in July. The Rangers enter Thursday with a 39-47 record and a seven-game gap between first place in the AL West. Texas is also eight games out of a wild card spot, which they used to reach the Fall Classic last year.
After winning the rubber match of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 13, the Rangers are 6-12 with losing streaks of five and six games during that span. The silver lining is that Texas only lost half a game in the standings, but the Houston Astros jumped the Rangers for second in the division and are playing their best baseball of the season.
Since June 13, the Rangers rank in the bottom 10 in batting average, on-base percentage, wRC+ and runs scored. They've been held to two or fewer runs six times.
Texas finished in the top three in runs, batting average and OPS in 2023. Entering Thursday, the Rangers are 15th in runs scored and 18th in batting average & OPS.
With the pitching staff trending in the right direction health-wise, it's not an ideal time for Texas' offense to be flat. The Rangers lineup was the reason they stayed in the race last season. It can’t be why they're out of it by August this year.
The Rangers have to show some fight in the next few weeks, especially if other American League teams make upgrades before the trade deadline. Texas has the talent and when healthy should be able to compete with the best of them. That hasn’t been the case this season, but a few good weeks could spark the Rangers into a similar run from last October.
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