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Wednesday, August 26, 1998
Pennant fever? Experience helps Rangers keep
their cool
By T.R. SULLIVAN Fort Worth Star-Telegram
ARLINGTON, Texas - The ghosts of collapses past have been exorcised.
There has been little talk about the scorching heat, even during
one of the hottest summers in recent memory, and few worries about
how young players will respond to the pressure.
Instead, Mark McLemore looks around the Rangers clubhouse and
says: "I see a lot of guys with experience. It's the Geritol
bunch ... with Will Clark being the oldest. That eliminates the
panic effect. Not that we have it, but with these guys, you're
going to eliminate that right away."
The pennant race is returning to The Ballpark in Arlington,
and this time it should be calmer. The Rangers are 2-1/2 games
behind the Anaheim Angels in the American League West and insist
they have the battle-tested experience to handle pennant-race
pressure better than during the frantic, nerve-wracking run of
1996 when they nearly all fell apart. "Before, going through
it for the first time, you were nervous," outfielder Juan
Gonzalez said. "Now I think we'll be more comfortable."
The Rangers' run in 1996 had a successful ending. They won
the first division title in franchise history. But there was a
tense stretch in late September when they lost nine of 10, including
four consecutive in Seattle, cutting what was once a nine-game
lead to one with 10 days left in the season.
Only two brilliantly pitched games by John Burkett and Ken
Hill saved the Rangers from total disaster.
"It wasn't very pleasant," infield coach Bucky Dent
said. "But there were a lot of things the team was overcoming,
trying to win for the first time and getting that ghost off our
backs. There was a lot of pressure there.
"But I look back on all the teams I played on, even the
good teams, and it still always came down to winning games in
that final week. The big thing is we did win it."
In doing so, the Rangers put to rest the horrible reputation
they had carried through the years as a team that wilted when
the heat of a pennant race was turned up high. That kind of talk
dominated the 1996 race, much to the Rangers' annoyance.
They futilely tried to downplay such talk before the division
was clinched but admitted afterward it was a much bigger factor
than they ever expected.
"That was the big monkey on our backs," first baseman
Clark said. "This franchise hadn't done anything in 25 years.
Now we've got a division title under our belts, and we've got
some guys that have been through a pennant race. You still have
to go out on the field and execute, but as far as being mentally
prepared, it should be a little easier."
Fourteen players on the Rangers' 25-man roster have participated
in postseason play, which means they've previously been on a team
that emerged victorious in a pennant race.
Only nine of the 25 players from the Rangers 1996 playoff team
had been in postseason before that season, and Clark and shortstop
Kevin Elster were the only regulars. This year, seven of nine
regulars have been in the playoffs, the exceptions being center
fielder Tom Goodwin and the designated hitter platoon of Lee Stevens
and Mike Simms.
"Experienced players help you immensely," manager
Johnny Oates said. "There's no substitute for talent, but
if you put talent and experience together, I'm a firm believer
there's no substitute for experience."
For Gonzalez, McLemore, outfielder Rusty Greer, catcher Ivan
Rodriguez and many others, 1996 was the first time they went through
a full season in a heated pennant race from start to finish. "It
was a new experience for me, and experience is a good teacher,"
Greer said. "Personally I tried not to put more emphasis
on those games than I did on the 100 games before. That's when
you start pressing. I just tried to say, it's another ballgame
and go out and perform the way you do all year."
The Angels, who haven't been to the playoffs since 1986, have
to deal with the reverse. Many of their key players haven't been
in postseason but were there in 1995 when the Angels blew a 14-game
lead in the second half and lost a one-game divisional playoff
to the Mariners.
"It could be an advantage," Dent said. "They
have all those things haunting them too. But it still comes down
who plays the best, who wants it the most and who gets after it
... who has the will and wants it the most."
---
Distributed by The Associated Press
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