{"id":633,"date":"2010-07-16T18:12:55","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T23:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=633"},"modified":"2010-08-26T18:44:10","modified_gmt":"2010-08-26T23:44:10","slug":"when-julio-borbon-hits-the-texas-rangers-win-baseball-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/633","title":{"rendered":"When Julio Borbon Hits, The Texas Rangers Win Baseball Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It should not come as a surprise to baseball fans that the Texas Rangers<\/a> are currently sitting atop the American League West with 51-38 record, good for a 4.5 game lead over the Angels.\u00a0 Thus far, they have consistently fired on all cylinders due to a perfect blend of youth and experience that can be compared to the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.\u00a0 Over the past two seasons, the Rangers have managed to climb out of the cellar<\/a> within the A.L. West to emerge as a legitimate contender for the pennant.\u00a0 Prior to the All-Star break, they made a crucial acquisition of the Mariners\u2019 Cliff Lee with the hope of filling the team\u2019s only void: experienced starting pitching.\u00a0 With Cliff Lee, the Rangers now have a bona-fide ace who is one of the best competitors in all of baseball, and has a proven history of postseason success.\u00a0 Yet, while Cliff Lee will presumably guide the Rangers to a division championship, his pitching alone will not be enough to make them contenders for the American League\u2019s best record.<\/p>\n

Rather, the key to their ultimate success lies in one of the few under-performers in their explosive offense.\u00a0 Even though the Texas Rangers offense has been electric all season, thanks to spectacular performances from Josh Hamilton and Vlad Guerrero, there has been one player whose impact continues to be under appreciated.<\/p>\n

Julio Borbon.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After an impressive rookie campaign where he hit .312\/.376\/.414, Borbon<\/a> had a dismal start to the 2010 season which landed him on the bench and ignited the rumor that he might be sent down to the minors.\u00a0 Considering that he was hitting .191\/.214\/.250 at the end of April, and .236\/.252.\/.271 at the end of May, it was hard to understand why the Rangers organization refused to demote him.\u00a0 After doing some research on the young speedster\u2019s current season, I now understand why the Rangers were so intent on letting Borbon find his rhythm at the plate: when Julio Borbon hits, the Texas Rangers win baseball games.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

After a torrid June in which the Rangers went 20-5, including a 11 game win-streak, Borbon saw his average climb to .282\/.311\/.366.\u00a0 Considering the dramatic increase in Borbon\u2019s production, it is no coincidence that the Rangers were arguable the best team in baseball during that time. With so much emphasis on Vlad, Michael Young, and Hamilton\u2019s spectacular seasons, Borbon\u2019s impact on the Rangers\u2019 offense tends to be continually overlooked.\u00a0 However, if we take a closer look at some of Borbon\u2019s 2010 offensive stats and trends, it is evident that he continues to be crucial to the Rangers\u2019 success this season and beyond.<\/p>\n

Typically hitting 8th<\/sup> or 9th<\/sup> in the Rangers lineup, Ron Washington has used Borbon as a second leadoff hitter, a strategy that is employed by most American League teams, as well as Tony LaRussa.\u00a0 As a second leadoff hitter, his primary goal is to be on base for when the lineup rolls over in either the 2nd<\/sup> or 3rd<\/sup> innings.\u00a0 Headed into Thursday, Julio Borbon has had exactly 20 multi-hit games, most of which came during the Rangers\u2019 eye-opening June.\u00a0 Now, here is the why that I attribute the Rangers\u2019 success to Borbon:<\/p>\n

In those 20 games in which he has recorded multiple hits, the Rangers are 14-6 overall and have outscored their opponents 131-80.<\/p>\n

Out of those 20 multi-hit games, he has scored 1 run in 12 of them.\u00a0 In those 12 games, the Rangers are an impressive 10-2.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Borbon has scored 2 runs in 4 of those 20 multi-hit games.\u00a0 In those games the Rangers are 3-1.<\/p>\n

There have also been 4 games where Borbon has had multiple hits but did not score a single run.\u00a0 How do the Rangers fare in such games? 1-3<\/p>\n

With Borbon finally performing at the level that he did during his rookie season, the Rangers are on pace for a postseason birth and must be viewed as a contender for the AL pennant.\u00a0 He makes their offense even more complete than it already is, as he is one of the best bottom of the order guys across the game.\u00a0 Look for Borbon to continually influence the success of the Texas Rangers during the second half of the 2010 season and beyond.<\/p>\n

<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It should not come as a surprise to baseball fans that the Texas Rangers are currently sitting atop the American League West with 51-38 record, good for a 4.5 game lead over the Angels.\u00a0 Thus far, they have consistently fired on all cylinders due to a perfect blend of youth and experience that can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,16,11,13,14],"tags":[579,62,561,563,615,61,564],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}