Relax Rangers Fans, It's Called a Pennant Race for a Reason

Oh boy, the always panicked fan base of the Texas Rangers are all out of whack again...shocking I know.

One of the best quotes in the history of cinema was delivered by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, and I think it fits perfectly with the life of a Rangers fan.

"Of course it's hard, if it wasn't everyone would do it...the hard is what makes it great."

Is it hard to be a Rangers fan?

Anyone that isn't has no idea how hard it is. Even Cubs fans have experienced some success in the playoffs.

The Rangers haven't had a great month of June, that is obvious, but as usual the Rangers fan base has decided to over-react to the current situation.

The Angels have crawled to within a game with Seattle not far behind at 2.5 games back, while the Rangers have slumped without Josh Hamilton.

So what?

So the Rangers won't coast to a division title and a playoff berth, did anyone think they would? If you say you did then you either don't know baseball or are simply lying. The real question anyone needs to ask right now, is why this team is slumping.

Is it the starting pitching? No.

Is it the bullpen? No

Is it the defense? No

That leaves only one phase of the game, which explains why Rangers fans are more angry and frustrated than usual. No Rangers fan is used to an offense as pathetic as the Rangers have been over the month of June.

Some of their problems are due to the caliber of pitching they've seen from New York to San Francisco, but that only explains a few games.

Right now the Rangers are having terrible at bats, lunging for balls they should lay off and taking pitches right down the middle of the plate. All of which are completely uncharacteristic of each hitter in the Rangers lineup.

How Rudy Jaramillo has a voice left is beyond me.

The good news in all of this is the Rangers can and will hit better. With the pitching holding up, they simply have to start hitting like themselves again to regain not only AL West supremacy, but supremacy of the entire American League.

Sitting a game up on the Angels and only 4.5 games behind the Red Sox, one good stretch will put them where they were not too long ago, among the league leaders.

So relax, sit back and enjoy the rare pennant race. It's been five years since the Rangers were in contention and a full decade since they actually made the playoffs.

It could be worse, they could be out of it entirely already.