ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas manager Ron Washington is continuing to show faith in his lineup the way it is.
Michael Young was batting fifth for the 60th time this season and was followed by Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli.
Young is having one of his worst career seasons and has just three home runs and 33 RBI. Cruz has solid power numbers (11 home runs, 50 RBI) but is batting just .233. Napoli is hitting just .233 and is in an 11 for 69 slide that's included 26 strikeouts.
"Some guys are struggling, bottom line," Washington said. "If they are struggling, what does moving them to fifth do? No. I'm penciling them in tonight and I'm going to ride it. Then I'll pencil them in tomorrow night and I'll ride it."
The recent struggles aren't just limited to those three players. The Rangers have scored just eight runs in their four game losing streak and haven't been as consistent this season as they were in 2011.
One thing that sticks out to Washington has been the team's inability to score runners from third with less than two outs. Washington said the success rate in those situations needs to be around 80 percent. That hasn't been the case for the Rangers this year.
Despite the problems, the Rangers still lead the majors in batting average, runs scored, on-base percentage and total bases.
Washington can't pinpoint one reason for the team's struggles but he isn't going to panic.
"If we knew what it was, we'd fix it," he said. "But you have to stay the course. These guys have track records."
