And we're not talking about the Angels.

How else to explain how one of the most durable players in Baseball over the previous eight years could essentially tear his hamstring at the precise moment - Sept. 1 - the pennant race was to begin its final sprint? How else to explain how, just as the most important homestand in a decade was to open, a slew of biblical-style storms would rain down upon Texas, ending one drought but extending the Rangers' figurative one?

And about that blown five-run lead with four outs to play on the penultimate Sunday of the season? Well, we're still talking to occultists about that one.

"September is when you have to play your best Baseball," manager Ron Washington said, trying to debunk the idea of any mystical forces at work. "We didn't play our best. It's really as simple as that."

Wherever you choose to place the blame, it is certain the AL West and the wild card were lost in September when the Rangers posted a 13-15 record while the two teams the club was chasing, Los Angeles and Boston, played solid if unspectacular Baseball. The Angels went 16-12, Boston 15-13.

Both teams were catchable, but not for a club that had its soul squashed on the first day of the month.

That's when Michael Young, second only to Ichiro Suzuki in games played in the majors since the start of 2002, popped his left hamstring as he ran to first in the second game of a doubleheader against Toronto.

Young, who has never been on the DL, took just one at-bat between the injury and the game in which the Rangers faced AL West elimination.

"I sat there thinking, 'How are we going to fill that hole?'" Washington said. "The second half of the season he was nails for us. And then you've got to try to replace that? That's a lot to ask. For a while, we did, but it catches up to you."

Byrd seemingly willed himself into Young's role during a sweep of Cleveland. But there were ominous signs in that sweep. The opener was washed away by rain, forcing the Rangers to play three games in 19 hours in Cleveland.

When they returned home, the situation repeated itself at the start of a nine-game homestand against the AL West opponents, whom Texas had owned for the first five months of the season. The opener was washed out, and rain all weekend tormented the clubs. The Rangers won one of three games during the sloshy weekend, but, by the end, they were clearly dragging.

"It messed with our routine over the week more than anything," Byrd said. "It was a culmination of a lot of things - the long week, the thrown-off schedule, the long waits."

The Rangers went 2-7 on the homestand and lost ground in both races. After 10 days without Young and a week without Josh Hamilton, who suffered a pinched nerve in his back, the offense collapsed.

The Rangers scored nine runs over the final seven games of the homestand. They were shut out four times in a five-game span. And when the homestand was complete, the Rangers trailed in the division by a season-high 71/2 games.

As September wore on, the Rangers made more errors in the field and became more generous on the mound. Pitching and defense, both of which were anchored largely by young and inexperienced players, became sloppy after being the most consistent areas of the club for the first five months of the season.

"I think after we had the injuries, a lot of guys tried to elevate their games," Washington said. "I think we were just trying to do too much and we got away from playing the way we had all year."

CHAT with Evan Grant about the Rangers at 11 a.m. Monday on the Rangers blog.

READ Evan Grant's 10 defining moments of the season.

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Staff writer Evan Grant breaks down the 2009 season