SportsDay's Evan Grant, Kevin Sherrington and Barry Horn discuss Cole Hamels' recent struggles and Rougned Odor's hot streak on the "Ballzy" podcast this week.

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Cole Hamels

Barry Horn: What is going on with Cole Hamels?

Evan Grant: "It's been two disparaging starts and it went bad for Cole pretty quickly. That last start, first three innings he dealt against Seattle and then 10 of the next 14 guys got on base against him. You can run just about any scenario you want out there. The one that I would be concerned about is he's hurt. As usual, the Rangers and Cole would say, 'No, everything's fine.' I didn't really notice a difference in velocity. Yesterday, if you go back and you look at pitch charts and look at his location, he was just centering everything. You look at the first inning home run that he gave up to Robinson Cano, a guy who he's really had a lot of success against, it's a 2-2 pitch the ball is up right over the heart of the plate. I think the first step here is to try to make some degree of a mechanical adjustment, see if he's overcompensating for something because he felt like he was out rhythm last time. The next step might be to see if Jeff Banister decides he wants to try to figure out a way to get (Yu) Darvish and Hamels an extra day of rest here in September and maybe just fresh them up a little bit. Maybe even give them both an extra bullpen. With the potential return of Colby Lewis they will have that opportunity.

"But I will just say that for the Rangers to go deep into the playoffs Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish are going to have a lot of starts against back-to-back starts against the same team. Cole has done that three times now. The first was against Minnesota, a last-place team. They clobbered him in consecutive outings. That was attributed to the blister. The second was against a Kansas City team that was slumping badly at the time and he dominated them both those outings. And the third was the last two starts against Seattle and for the time being it leaves you with a somewhat unsettling feeling."

Kevin Sherrington: I agree with that and certainly you shouldn't feel necessarily good about it. And Yu Darvish was coming off a bad start, too. That's back-to-back bad starts from your aces. I would think that they can work this out.

Grant: "We all know this. This club's biggest advantage going into the postseason is the idea that Hamels and Darvish would start the majority of any five- or seven-game series. You need them as sharp as they can possibly be."

Sherrington: If they're gonna have a bad spot, this is where you want them to have it. They still got a little bit of time here to work it out before the season ends, there's not a lot of pressure here.

Rougned Odor

Horn: What should Ranger fans feel good about regarding the team at this moment?

Grant: "I would say that one thing that people might want to takeaway is that the world better watch out -- Rougned Odor is on fire at the plate. He has six home runs in the last five games. I think he's 15 for his last 28. He's been more patient at the plate. You know, he had the home run yesterday but I thought the great at bat was he battled Felix (Hernandez), who was a guy he really struggled with in the past, for 10-11 pitch at bat where he singled in a run in what was one of the Rangers' rally innings. And I do think that Rougie is in a very good place right now at the plate. He's hitting in the No. 5 spot and he's getting opportunities to hit with guys on base and he's punishing pitchers. He's had a sensational year at the plate and it's only going to get better, I think."

Sherrington: The thing that gets me about him is when they sent him down last year, one of the things they wanted him to work on was going the opposite field. And he did that and he came back and he was doing that. So now he comes up, people are throwing him stuff away and he's yanking it into the right-field seats. And not only putting it up there, but putting it in the upper deck. So it's remarkable to me that the things they wanted him to work on and which he did, I think it just shows you the kind of hitter that Rougie Odor can be. That this is a special hitter. This is a guy who if he's gonna hit 30 home runs when he's 22, how many is he gonna hit when he's 25? Is this a guy who can hit 40 home runs at second base? That's remarkable to see what he can do.

Grant: "I can't disagree with you. He's got remarkable power, particularly for his size. He has cut down on the chase up and out of the zone, which has been his biggest weakness over the last year. He's covered that area away by at least occasionally being able to go the opposite way and he has become a very dangerous hitter, particularly with the protection around him. I think that pitchers are being forced to throw him strikes with guys around him on base. He's not missing it.

"You go back the last to the game in which he was thrown out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double. Got the stare down from Adrian Beltre, got the slap upside the head and looked like he was a shamed child at that point in time. And he came back and hit the walk-off home run. The thing that stands out for me is this is a guy who wants to get better. He wants to improve and I think he has the ability to grasp how to improve. When you look at where he's come from a year ago to where he is now and you see significant improvement in a lot of those areas. And that only leads to the fact that he is 22 and there's a lot more that he's going to refine over the next couple years and he's going to become a tougher and tougher out because he eliminates those areas where he's susceptible. I think naturally that's what will happen. I don't think he's gonna stop being an aggressive hitter but I think there will be some natural refinement that goes on and he's going to be as dangerous a hitter as there is in the Rangers' lineup."

Twitter: @bhorn55 | @Evan_P_Grant | @KSherringtonDMN | @BallzyPodcast

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