27-year old righty Alexi Ogando pitched in 31 games (29 starts) for the Rangers during the regular season and he was 13-8 with a 3.51 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He appeared to get tired at the end of the season, so the Rangers shifted him to the bullpen. He has been outstanding so far against the Rays as he is just letting his fastball rip, instead of trying to pace himself. He has pitched in 2 games in this series and he already has two holds. He has worked 1 2/3 innings so far against the Rays and he has only given up 1 hit while whiffing 1 batter without giving up any runs. He is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.60 WHIP. If Mike Adams and Koji Uehara keep having a rough time in the playoffs, Ogando might start pitching later in ballgames.

40-year old lefty reliever Darren Oliver has really turned his career around since become a full-time reliever. He has pitched in 58 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 5-5 with 2 saves, a 2.16 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Oliver has now pitched in 122 games (0 starts) in his last two years with the Rangers and he is 6-7 with 3 saves, a 2.34 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He has now pitched in 314 games (137 starts) in his first 10 years with the Rangers and he is 60-54 with 5 saves, a 4.93 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP. The Rangers are really going to need Oliver to keep pitching well to help the Rangers get to the playoffs and then go a long way once they are there.

23-year old righty closer Neftali Feliz has taken a small step backwards in 2011 for the Rangers, but he’s still pitching pretty good ball. He has pitched in 57 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 2-3 with 26 saves, a 2.77 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Feliz has only allowed 36 hits in his first 55 1/3 innings this year while whiffing 43 batters and walking 28 of them. The Rangers hope that he can tighten up his control the rest of this season. Feliz has now pitched in 147 games (0 starts) in his first three years with the Rangers and he is 7-6 with 68 saves, a 2.54 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. He is off to an outstanding start to his major league career.

31-year old lefty starting pitcher C.J. Wilson spent the first five years of his major league career working out of the bullpen. He got a start to compete for a job in the starting rotation in spring training of 2010 and he won a spot. Wilson has pitched really well in his new role. Wilson has pitched in 63 games (all starts) in his first two years in the Rangers’ rotation and he is 30-14 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Wilson walked 4.1 batters per nine innings in 2010, but so far in 2011, Wilson has cut that down to 3.0 batters. He has pitched in 30 games (all starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 15-6 with a 3.13 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. The Rangers need him to finish strongly this year to help them back off the Angels in the A.L. West.

35-year old Yoshinori Tateyama really knows how to pitch and that trumps the fact that he doesn’t have a big time fastball. Tateyama has pitched in 33 games (0 starts) for the Rangers so far this year and he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 2.77 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. He has only given up 27 hits in his first 39 innings pitched this year while whiffing 40 batters, which is impressive. Even more impressive is his pinpoint control as he has only walked 7 batters so far this year. Tateyama is one of the first relievers in when the starter has trouble, but he won’t get to pitch late in games that the Rangers are winning as they have a lockdown back end of the bullpen.