Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Chris Shelton, First Major League hit, Jason Botts, Jason Jennings, Ron Washington
After Tuesday night, the Rangers are 0-6 in games Jason Jennings has started this season. And Jennings himself is now 0-5. He only lasted 2 innings and 53 pitches, and he managed to give up 5 runs on 8 hits and a walk in those two frames – reminiscent ofso many starts before, when he buried the Rangers by allowing runs early. But this time, he wasn’t pulled because of his performance, or lack thereof – this time, he at least had a valid excuse for leaving early. He was in the midst of sparing us all to death with the same flat, slow “sinking fastball” that has gotten him tattooed so many time this season, when he “felt a twinge” in his elbow after allowing a leadoff single to Ross Gload in the third. It appears Jennngs has aggravated his ulnar nerve, and is now “uncertain” as to when he’ll pitch again.
Really, considering the way he has been pitching, it’s hard to get too upset about this development – Jennings is only here on a 1-year, $4 million dollar contract, and means absolutely nothing in the Rangers long term plans. It’s always unnerving to lose a starter, but Jennings has been more of a liability than anything for the rotation so far – this probably means that Sidney Ponsonis now a new mainstay in the rotation, but other than that, I’m actually having a hard time coming up with a downside to this injury. I hesitate to say I’m happy about losing one of our own players, but still…
As for the rest of the game, Jennings craptasticperformance before he hurt himself, along with some crappy first-inning umpring pretty much buried the Rangers for the entire night. Home Plate asshole – er, umpire, that is, Bill Welke was on a roll when the game got started, and that roll went against the Rangers in a big way.
In the top of the first, Welke absolutely blew a call at home plate, when Jose Guillen groundedinto a fielders choice with one out and runners on the corners. Ian Kinsler fired Guillen’s grounder to the plate, and as replays would later show, Jarrod Saltalamacchia applied the tag to runner Mark Grudzielanek in time - but Welke called him safe, and the Royals scored twice more in the inning to take a 3-0 lead. This would have been a fine time for Ron Washington to get himself tossed, and perhaps make a point to Welke (not to mention motivate the team, perhaps) but he didn’t – and things where about to get worse.
In the bottom of the first, Welke called leadoff man Ian Kinsler out on a 3-2 pitch that appeared to be outside, again, according to replays. Kinslertook issue with the call (small wonder) and wound up getting tossed by Welke, who made a huge show out of the entire affair.
This was where Ron Washington needed to step in and get in Welke’s face. You’ve got to protect your players, and taking the previous half-inning into consideration, a statement clearly needed to be made by somebody. Of course, we’ll never know whether it would have done any good or not, because Ron chickened out again, and trotted back to the dugout with the defeated Kinsler.
It never ceases to sicken me, how much Ron lets his players get trampled on – he was only ejected once in 2007, and he hasn’t been ejected yet this year, either, despite having ample chances like last night. Now I’m not necessarily saying we need a Lou Pinella-type managing this team, but as a major league manager, you just cannot let your players get shit on like that. In my opinion, doing so is inexcusable for a guy who’s supposed to be leading a baseball team.
The rest of the game wasn’t really much to write home about – Josh Hamilton picked up his AL-leading 28th RBI, and the Rangers did manage to rally back to within two, but Saltalamacchia pulled a Gerry Laird move when he fouled out to the catcher with two men on in the bottom of the 7th, and Joaquin Benoit allowed the Royals to put the game away when he gave up a 2-run triple to Mark Teahen in the top of the 8th – the Royals would win by a final of 9-5. Perhaps the real highlight of the game was Brandon Boggs, who made his Major League debut pinch hitting for Frank Catalanotto in the bottom of the 5th, and collected his first two big-league hits, in his first two big-league AB’s. Congrats, Brandon – always encouraging to see something like that.
More important where the roster moves the Rangers made before the game. The aforementioned Boggs was called up to take over Hank Blalock’s roster spot, as expected, but in a suprise move, Jason Botts was DFA’d for Chris Shelton. Bottshad only been hitting .158 with 18 K’s in 38 AB’s so far this season, but this was the guy that the Rangers wanted to give once last chance at a real shot at the big leagues, because of his stellar minor league record - a guy who even got an endorsement from Jon Daniels in spring training.
Now, I completely agree with bringing Chris Shelton up – he was hitting a stellar .354 with 3 HR and 18 RBI in OKC, and his ability to act as a third catcher if needed adds much-needed versatility to the bench, and will allow the Rangers to get Jarrod Saltalamacchia much-needed AB’s at DH on days Gerald Laird catches. But the guy DFA’d should have been Ben Broussard, who has been almost totally worthless this season, as he is hitting .173 with a .244 OBP in 75 AB’s – that’s a .537 OPS. Not to say that Botts was really doing any better, but at least he had even that slight chance to factor into the Rangers long-term plans – something that can’t be said for the 31- year old Broussard.
Another case of the Rangers not finishing what they started – they put Botts on the roster with the intent of finding out if he could hit, once and for all, and yet they only gave him 38 at-bats before deciding to chuck him. Not a very good sample size – this just illustrates the Rangers propensity to overvalue their spares with “major league experience” and trod on the players who are supposed to be getting a chance to prove themselves. Not encouraging, regarding the Rangers player management skills, although it admittedly was probably too late for Jason Botts, whose career was mismanaged by the Rangers right from the start – he should have gotten a real chance a couple years ago, before it came down to a lack of options and roster space.
With all the players that have cleared waivers lately (Shelton, Robinson Tejeda, Nelson Cruz) I imagine it’s very possible that Botts makes it through, if he’s not traded first, but if he does, he’s not gonna see the Majors again anytime soon – and, it might be a little awkward, considering the potshot at the organization he took when he got the news:
“I think I’ve been here for a pretty long time and I deserve a fresh start somewhere else. It’s not the most negative thing to me right now that this has happened. I’m excited about it.”
Asked if he thinks he’ll get back to the majors?
“I don’t know. I think there’s plenty of examples of people leaving the Texas Rangers and going on to really great things. There could be something huge in my future. Kind of an exciting moment.”
I feel for ya, Jason – at this point, I just hope you wind up with an organization that will have a place for you.
Anyway, I’m running out of time for this entry already (I’ve got to start writing these things a little earlier), so I’ll just do a few quick hits here: Ron Washington is makingthe team take infield practice before games… it’s also noted in there that Scott Feldman is still likely to start on Saturday against the A’s, despite throwing 68 pitches last night… Ron also finally had his meeting with JD about the state of the team – it appears Ron’s not gonna be axed for a little while yet, which bums me out, of course… and Michael Young wants to start the all star game this year. Good luck with that, Mr. No-range-at-shortstop-whatsoever.
Tomorrow it’s Kevin Millwood vs. Brian Bannister – Bannister has a 2.48 ERA and a .195 opponent average – but he has given up 7 runs and 13 hits in his last 11.2 innings. If the Rangers are gonna win a game in this series, I’ve got a feeling they’d best do it now – Zack Greinke, who starts for the Royals on thursday is 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA so far this season.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brandon Boggs, German Duran, Hank Blalock, Michael Young, Ramon Vazquez, Travis Metcalf
Apparently, the Rangers will indeed not have Hank Blalock in the lineup on Tuesday when they face the Kansas City Royals. That much I expected.
However, it appears Hank is now going to be out for 3-4 weeks as an MRI has revealed that Hank’s injured hamstring does indeed have a “small tear” in it, despite the initial diagnosis that it was only strained.
Hank had been hitting .299 with 2 HR and 7 RBI, but Ramon Vazquez and German Duran will have to now fill in for the next month or so. Travis Metcalf, who subbed along with Vazquez for Balock when he had Thoratic outlet surgery last season, is still rehabbing from spring surgery to repair a torn hamstring muscle of his own, and isn’t an option to fill in for Hank, at least not yet – so it appears that the power output from third base is about to drop to zero for the Rangers.
Brandon Boggs is tabbed as the likely get the call from AAA to take Blalock’s place on the 25-man roster for now, as he’s the only position player on the 40-man roster at this point eligible for a callup (Joaquin Arias, the only other possible option on the 40, is still recovering from arm surgery last year, and is not yet 100%).
Even though the Rangers probably won’t do this, in my opinion, now would be a fine time to let Michael Young try out third base – with his ever-decreasing range at shortstop, a move to third could be in his future (a position change of some sort most certainly is), so it might be interesting to try him there on a temporary basis now, and see how he handles it. It’s not like you can get any worse defensively at short with Vazquez or Duran, after all.
Tomorrow Jenny Jennings will take on Brett Tomko of Kansas City. I sure hope the Rangers can break out the bats again - if there was ever a game with the potential to be a slugfest, it’s tomorrows.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Hank Blalock, Ron Washington, Sidney Ponson, Vicente Padilla
If there was a tonic for the implosion on Saturday night, (which, if you read my previous entry, you already know really got under my skin) I think the Texas Rangers found it on Sunday. Vicente Padilla pitched arguably his best ballgame in over a year, tossing 9 scoreless innings for the first complete game shutout by a Rangers pitcher since Kenny Rogers on May 14th, ‘05 against – yep, the Minnesota Twins. Meanwhile the Rangers offense took some frustration out on the Twins pitching staff, namely Livan Hernandez, scoring 10 runs an launching three homers over the course of the game.
Milton Bradley got things started in the bottom of the first, as he teed up a Hernandez curveballfor a three-run bomb to right. RBI singles by Ian Kinsler and Michael Young, along with a sac fly by Josh Hamilton made it 6-0 in the second, and Jason Botts would swat a home run of his own in the third before Hernandez finally left the game. Overall, the Rangers tagged Livan for 7 runs on 9 hits (2 homers) and a walk in just 2.2 innings – nice to see the opposing pitcher the one getting abused for a change.
David Murphy ripped an RBI triple in the 4th off Minnesota reliever Brian Bass, and Gerald Laird knocked him in with a single, to make it 9-0, and Josh Hamilton would launch a homer off Twins closer Joe Nathan later in the 8th to put Texas in double digits – a very satisfying day for the offense without a doubt, as they collected a total of 15 hits and 5 walks on the day.
Meanwhile Vicente Padilla was busy mystifying the Twins, as he induced three double play balls, while holding the Twins to 7 hits and 2 walks over 9 frames. He only struck out two, and got 10 ground balls to 15 fly balls, but it didn’t seem to matter – Padilla was just having one of those days when you’re bulletproof. Even when he was well-past the 100 pitch mark in the 9th inning, Vinny was hitting a good 95-94 on the radar gun with his fastball, as he got the final out on a comebacker when he jammed Delmon Young, sealing the deal on his third career complete-game shutout.
So how does a win like that feel as a fan, after I was so distraught Saturday night? It feels GREAT.
What does this mean for the Rangers? Well, it was a well-played game, with no errors or blunders, no micromanagment of the offense in the early innings, and Ron Washington didn’t have a chance to implement any lousy bullpen management – it was almost like a different team took the field today than the one that melted down on Saturday night.
But the question still remains: will the team that showed up Sunday keep showing up on a consistent basis now? And, of course, what does this mean for Ron Washington’s job security?
As for the first question, I think if I learned one thing about this team this weekend it’s to not get your hopes up too high after one good game.
As for Ron Washington, based on my perusing the official Ranger blogs and postgame writeups tonight, all seems quiet tonight on that front - which, of course, could mean any number of things. For now, I think it means the Rangers will continue to sit on their hands - we’ll see, but my pessimistic side outweighs my hopeful side on this issue: the Rangers haven’t done it yet (fire Ron), so what makes you think they’ll do it now?
Other Ranger news quick hits:
Sidney Ponson is staying in the rotation for “a while,” according to TR Sullivan. Which, for now, is expected, considering his effectiveness on Saturday, but hopefully he won’t be someone the Rangers fall in love with long term. Don’t think that’s likely? Well, Ron Washington seems to like him already:
“Right now, he’s still here,” manager Ron Washington said before Sunday’s game with the Twins. “He was good last night. He proved he could pitch. He worked fast and got ground balls. And he’s pitched in the big leagues before. He’s got experience.”
He’s got “experience”, and “he’s pitched in the big leagues before”. Am I the only one going ”oh brother” right now? I know I advocated bringing Ponson up a while back, so Salty would get his callup, but I honestly thought Ponson would stink, and be gone as soon as Gabbard or Mendoza come off the DL… one good debut though, and Ponson already appears to have made Ron Washington’s list of “Chosen Ones”. Yikes.
Hank Blalock is still in doubt for Tuesday’s game against the Royals – no surprise, really, although Hank does say he’s “optimistic” that he won’t have to go on the DL. It appears Ramon Vazquez would play third base again if Hank can’t go – so much for seeing more of German Duran, I guess. Remind me why we called him up again, if all he’s gonna do is warm the bench?
Double link-back for ya here: Joey Matschulat notes in his “quote of the week” post that Adam J. Morris over at LSB observes that the New York Yankees Jorge Posada has been put on the DL with a torn rotator cuff, which could keep him out for an extended period - and as such, the Yankees might find Gerald Laird enticing. Joey provides Yankees prospects Dellin Betances and Jesus Montero as possible targets for a return in such a trade – interesting thoughts indeed.
And finally, if you like reading worthless articles that rehash a guys entire career while celebrating relatively meaningless milestones, Eddie Guardado has reached 800 career relief appearances. Yawn.
Off-day tomorrow… fortunately, both the Redhawks and the Frisco Roughriders will be in action, or I might not have anything to do tomorrow evening. Monday night network TV still sucks, even though FOX has moved “House” to Mondays.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rants, Ron Washington, Salty vs. Laird, Sidney Ponson
They did it again. The Rangers have managed to to mess with my head, and severely disappoint me- again. I know, I should be relatively immune to the disasters, errors, and gaffes of Texas Rangers “baseball” by now, but after Friday nights emotional win, I made the mistake of actually actually considering the possibility that maybe this team had turned over a new leaf, and getting emotionally involved. And when they staged an immediate comeback again in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead after falling behind early, I made another, far more gave mistake by becoming fairly certain they had turned over that new leaf, and feeling good about my team again.
But then I got splashed in the face with the baseball equivalent of a bucket of cold water, and I woke up from my short-lived fantasy.
Despite what I expected pre-game, Sidney Ponson was actually quite solid in his first start of the season. Working extremly quickly, he retired the first 6 batters he faced, before giving up back-to-back singles to start the third inning. Craig Monroe then hammered one to left-fielder Frank Catalanotto, who gave it his best effort, but saw the ball go off the tip of his glove for an RBI double to make it 1-0 Twins. The scoring on the play was a little fuzzy at first though, as it was scored as a double, then changed to an error, and finally changed back to a double – which according to Eric and Victor on KLRD, was the right call. after things finally got sorted out, Mike Lamb scored on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia passed ball to make it 2-0 Twins, but Ponson worked out of the inning with a strikeout and a lineout.
But the Rangers bounced back the very next half inning, as the third frame seems to have held some magic for the Rangers offense the last couple games. Ben Broussard lead off with a single, and then Ramon Vazquez perfectly executed on a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners. Next Ian Kinsler blooped a single to CF, but Broussard didn’t seem to be awake at third base, as he went back to tag up, and wound uo not scoring at all on the play. I don’t know what Matt Walbeck was telling him over at third, but Ben’s head has seemed in the clouds more often than not this season with his outright defensive blunders, and lousy at-bats - so who knows exactly what went on at third base on that play. Fortunately, it wouldn’t really matter in the long run.
Michael Young struck out next, but Josh Hamilton followed that with a 2-run double. Milton Bradley then struck out looking, but David Murphy, whose superhuman clutch abilites have been one of the highlights so far this weekend, cracked one back up the middle to score Kinsler and Hamilton, and give the Rangers the lead. Murphy would later drive in a run with a fielders choice in the 5th, to give Texas a 5-2 advantage – a 3 RBI night for the “Murphinator”.
But not long after that, in the top of the 6th, was when the balloon popped for Texas fans. Maybe “popped” isn’t a very good analogy. Imploded right in the collective faces of Ranger fans would be more like it. Yeah, I think that’s a little better.
The inning started with a Brendan Harris “double” that popped in and out of David Murphy’s glove in RF, a ball Murphy later said he should have had: ”[It was] very catchable. I’m not saying it’s an easy play, but I definitely should have had that.” Then Joe Mauer hit a comebacker to Sidney Ponson. Ponson lobbed the ball to third, right past poor Ramon Vazquez, who twisted his ankle trying to flag it down. This allowed Harris to score, and Mauer to wind up at second. Vazquez was left in the game, and he did play all 9 innings (props for the that, I suppose) but the immediate discomfort of the ankle may have contributed to him bobbling a Michael Cuddyer grounder, the innings second error, to put runners on the corners with one out.
Jason Kubel then grounded a ball to the right side, just beyond the grasp of Ian Kinsler to score Mauer, and that prompted a strange decision by Ron Washington. He came out and took the ball from Sidney Ponson, who was still getting the groundballs, and was still at a manageable 93 pitches. Jamey Wright was brought in from the bullpen, and proved to be an immediate downgrade. He walked Delmon Young (which is not an easy task) to load the bases, and then gave up the tying sac-fly to Mike Lamb, earning himself a blown save. He did escape the inning after that, but would give up a leadoff single to Brendan Harris in the 7th, which got him pulled, and evetually saddled him with the loss.
Eddie Guardado came on to face the lefties Mauer and Justin Morneau, but Mauer reached on the perfect bunt down the 3B line, and Morneau hit a broken-bat grounder back to the mound, which produced the same result as a sac bunt. Michael Cuddyer was then walked intentionally to set up the double play, and Guardado got Jason Kubel to pop up for out #2. Then Ron Washington made another bullpen mistake. He brought in the ever-unreliable Frankyln German to try and get Delmon Young, and right-handed batter. Which was fine, if not smart, from the percentage standpoint - but Franklyn German is the last guy you want in that spot, I don’t care if he can throw a 200 MPH fastball with his toes while standing on his head eating cheetos. He can’t hit the strike zone with it, both historically and recently.
German fell behind 2-0 on Delmon Young, and then served up a meaty get-me-over strike, which Young slammed into LF for a 2-run single. Mike Lamb tacked on another run for the Twins with an RBI single, as German allowed all three of the inherited baserunners to score before he finally did what he was called in to do: get one out.
The Rangers never recovered, as the Twins thumped Scott Feldman version 2.0 in the 7th for 4 runs, three coming via Michael Cuddyer longball, which made it 12-5, and offically buried the Rangers for the night. The Rangers did load the bases with nobody out against Twins rookie Bobby Korecky, who was making his Major League debut, but Ben Broussard swiftly killed any possible dreams of an impossible comeback by grounding into a double play, and Ramon Vazquez put the fans that where still in the ballpark out of their misery with a groundout to first, to end the disaster – er, I mean game, that is.
Perhaps the most laughable thing about this game was the fact that they actually had a fireworks display afterwords. Nothing like a good fireworks show to get you pumped after getting your ass kicked 12-6, right?
I know the Rangers put this stupid article up on their website during the game, I just don’t see how they can keep Ron Washington on as manager much longer. If they do, fans are liable to storm the dugout and haul Wash off to the ancient Mayan pyramids in South America to offer him as a sacrifice to the baseball gods. Please, Nolan, JD, Tom – just as a fan, I’m begging you guys – do something. Shake things up, make a change. Hey, it’s not like firing Wash could possibly make matters worse!!!
While I’m piling on the Rangers right now, I might as well add this: Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Gerald Laird are supposed to split time evenly behind the dish now. Excuse my french, but that’s bullshit. Another note to the Rangers: you called Salty up, you need to play him. He’s the future of this organization at catcher, Gerry Laird is the past. Capiche? As The Beast says in the Del Taco commercials: NO splitting NO sharing (and yes, I’m aware that’s a horrible analogy, but the point still applies). Salty needs to play full time, not catch two days, and then take two days off, as the Ron and the Rangers currently have it planned.
I really like what Gerald Laird had to say about his cut in playing time, though:
“Basically, I told them I’m an everyday player and I can be an impact player in this league,” Laird said. “I want to play every day, but I can’t control that. I just have to play hard and keep getting better.”
Ahhh, Gerry. No matter how bad things have gotten, at least we’ve still got our “Superstar” to entertain us. “Impact player”… good one buddy!
Other news: Kaz Fukumori was the one axed from the roster to make room for Sidney Ponson Saturday. I forgot to note this in a previous entry, but he’s the one who broke Adam Melhuse’s hand the other day in Detroit – on a warm-up toss. Ummm… can you say “control issues”?
There’s also news on Hank Blalock, whom the Rangers are holding off on putting on the DL for now. They’re hoping that if they hold him out this weekend, with the off-day on Monday he might be able to play on Tuesday. I really hope that will be the case… but at the same time I sort of doubt it. In any case, heal fast Hank, heal fast – we need ya man.
Welp, that’s about all I can think of for tonight. I apologize if this entry is a bit over the top, but I’m afraid I’m really ticked off right now at the way this team is being managed – and that’s not just a shot at Ron, I mean JD and Nolan, too. They need to wake up, and set a few things right. It’s already too late to salvage our season - not that we really expected to contend anyway. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – it’s time to clean house in Arlington. Hopefully, all that will take place on the off-day Monday – even if it is the day before Wash’s birthday. It does appear though, that Tom Hicks was almost as disgusted as me last night, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll get my wish.
Today, it’s Vicente Padilla vs. Livan Hernandez – I sure hope Vinny can bounce back from what the Tigers did to him the other day. Laird is supposed to start behind the plate unfortunately - I already told you how I feel about that. Hoepfully, his ”impact” upon the bottom of the order won’t be too negative, eh?
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Bad Managing, David Murphy, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ron Washington
Boy, it’s been awhile since Rangers fans have seen the above words up on the jumbotron. But on Friday night, the Rangers laid to rest a 7 game losing streak with a hard-fought victory over the Minnesota Twins, a 10-inning affair that came down to a dramatic walkoff single.
Things started off bleak, though, as Kevin Millwood had his struggles through the first few innings. Justin Morneau drove in Carlos Gomez with a single in the first, and then struck a big blow in the top of the third, when he smoked a grand slam to right field, to make it 5-0 Twins. It looked like the night was setting up for the Rangers 8th consecutive loss at that point (as I noted in my previous entry) but in the bottom of the third, something wonderful happened: a rally.
Rallys have been far a few between for the Rangers lately, but tonight, they managed to put together a whopper. Gerald Laird and Ben Broussard, who are usually automatic outs at the bottom of the order, singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out for the top of the order. Then it was delivery time. Ian Kinsler singled up the middle to plate Laird, which Michael Young followed him with an RBI single of his own to plate Broussard. Kinsler and Young advanced to second and third on the play when Delmon Young bobbled the ball in LF, and that set it up for Josh Hamilton, who struck the innings biggest blow with a 2-run single, reaching second on a throw home. Hank Blalock followed with the game-tying double, and then things got wierd.
Jason Botts hammered a ball into RF, over the head of Michael Cuddyer and off the wall. Hank Blalock came chugging around third, but was called out at the plate on the relay throw home by umpire Alfonso Marquez (despite the fact that he looked safe to me). That was bad enough, but as Blalock was being called out, Jason Botts, who apparently forgot to pay his brain bill before the game, suddenly jumped up after his slide into second base, and decided to try and go to third. Needless to say, he was out by a country mile on Joe Mauers toss to third, and the electricity of the huge inning was gone. Frank Catalanotto struck out looking to end the frame, but that didn’t take away the significance of what had transpired before the Botts/Blalock double play: an actual, bona-fide rally to tie the game at 5 apeice. Even with the way it was suddenly cut short, I think it’s safe to argue that that the bottom of the third Friday was the most important half-inning of baseball played by the Rangers so far this season.
The game stayed 5-5 for what seemed like an eternity, as both Kevin Millwood and Twins rookie Nick Blackburn gritted out another three innings of scoreless ball, and the respective bullpens took over after that, as Eddie Guardado, Jamey Wright and CJ Wilson each pitch a scoreless inning for Texas from the 7th to the 9th.
The Rangers offense didn’t exactly dazzle with RISP the rest of the game, though. They got David Murphy to third base with 2 out in both the 4th and 6th innings, but left him both times, and they couldn’t do anything with Josh Hamilton’s 2 out double in the 7th, either. Perhaps the biggest dissapointment of the night though, was when Ron Washington decided to let Gerald Laird and Ben Broussard lead of the bottom of the 9th when he had both Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Milton Bradley on his bench. Laird hit a lazy fly to CF, and Broussard popped out to LF, in almost predictable fashion. Yet another nonsensical decision by Wash – why would you let your 8 an 9 hitters start a critical inning like the bottom of the 9th? It especially made little sense to let Laird hit to lead the inning off, as he has a .626 career OPS against RHP, and the Twins pitcher at the time, righty Pat Neshek, has held right-handed batters to a .523 OPS for his career. And both Saltalamacchia and Bradley are switch hitters, not vunerable to any LOOGY moves that could have been made by the Twins…
Fortunately, that display of idiocy didn’t come back to haunt the Rangers. Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless top of the 10th, and the 10th inning was when the Rangers finally got it done. “It” didn’t come without a cost, however.
After Josh Hamilton started the inning with a comebacker to the new Twins pitcher, Jaun Rincon, Hank Blalock doubled into the alley in left-center. But Blalock came up lame as he rounded first base, and headed to second – he apparently strained his right hamstring, an injury which is likely going to land him on the DL. Fortunately, it’s not torn, or he could be out of the lineup for an extended period, but it’s not really nescessary to say he’ll be missed – German Duran, who should take over for him in the meantime, won’t come anywhere close to equaling his offensive output.
Credit goes to Hank though, for skipping into second base with his bum leg, and setting up what would be the winning run - there’s probably more than a few “superstars” who would have just stopped right there, or headed back to first base. After German Duran replaced Blalock as a pinch-runner, Jason Botts worked a walk from Rincon to put runners on first and second. Frank Catalanotto then struck out looking for the second time on the night, making it 2 out for David Murphy. And after being stranded at third twice in the game, Murphy would be the one to deliver. He hammered the second pitch he saw from Rincon to deep LF, over the head of Delmon Young and off the wall. German Duran motored home from second to score the first run of his big-league career, the game winner, and Murphy was mobbed between first and second base. Which was kind of unfortunate in one way, because had Murphy touched second, he would have been credited with a double – but instead it went as a long single, and I’m sure David and his teammates could probably care less.
So ends the fairytale story of Friday night. After the game though, it was time for the serious discussion to continue again - the subject of that discussion being about the future of Ron Washington, who still seems to be nearing the end of his tenure in Texas.
Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels, and Tom Hicks all met for lunch Friday afternoon to discuss the Rangers current plight. After which, Evan Grant had these notes up, and stated what stood out to him was “any affirmation that Washington’s job is NOT in jeopardy”. Later, after the win, he put up another entry, saying that after this win, he didn’t think there would be a decision on Wash until Monday, which as he notes, is an off day, and would “[make] for a more natural transition if there is one to be made”, despite the fact that Tuesday in Ron’s birthday.
MLB.com’s Ken Daley also chipped in on the subject, with some more quotes from Jon Daniels in his postgame writeup:
“Tom [Hicks] has been an owner for a long time now” — since June 1998 — “and he has been through a lot of ups and downs with different sports,” Daniels said. “I think he understands the ebbs and flows of a season. That’s not to say we’re going to sit back and say, ‘Ho Hum, we’re in a bad stretch.’ No, we’ve got to address it and we’ve got to get better. And I think that’s something that everyone wearing a ‘T’ on their chest needs to cope with right now.”
But not inviting the manager to Friday’s meeting indicates more than the team’s future is up in the air. When a reporter pointed out that Daniels has not denied Washington’s job is in jeopardy, he said, “I haven’t said it is, either.”
“I don’t get a nightly call from Tom saying, ‘Here’s the status of your job situation.’ That’s not how it works,” Daniels said. “I think that’s a question that’s going to be asked of anybody in a leadership position when the team is struggling.
“He is our manager. I think everybody in our organization can do something to help us pull out of this — he included, me included. He understands he’s going to have to answer those questions, just like I’ve answered them myself.”
When asked what, specifically, Washington can do to reverse the team’s sagging fortunes, Daniels said, “That’s a tough question to answer. I think everybody has got different ways of motivating guys. He’s been trying. But [a start like this] gets old, because it happened last year.
“Some things you have to have patience with, and some things you have to address. I’m sure that Ron will continue to address things that are within his power. When a team struggles, I think, typically we look to the leadership of the team — on and off the field — to turn this thing around. That’s on me; that’s on Ron; that’s on the leadership of the team on the field and in the clubhouse. It’s on all of us.”
That, right there, sounds pretty damning for Ron Washington to me. It sounds like while the Rangers are willing to wait a couple more games to see what happens, they may have already come to the conclusion that Ron Washington is not the manager for them anymore.
And as such, I don’t see the reason to wait any longer to make a move. We may have scratched out a win, but the game still featured the trademark errors, gaffes, and a bonehead managing move (the lack of pinch-hitters in the bottom of the 9th). If the Rangers execx have reached the conclusion that they are 90% sure that they are going to part ways with Washington, they should have done it tonight. Even after such an emotional win, I think it still would have played well for the organization to show some fortitude and make a decision about their future. It would have been a fine time to say “this game is the first game of the rest of 2008″ and make the changes that need to be made. In my opinion, that’s better than dragging the indecision out over the weekend, and setting Washington up for a kick in the balls by firing him the day before his birthday. Ron doesn’t deserve to be jerked around like that, and neither do the players in the clubhouse, or the fans - just release the poor guy, so we can move on with out season, and he can move on with his baseball career, whatever that may entail.
Moving on to some more notes on Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s callup now, it appears the Rangers have the right idea about what to do with Salty once they do start playing him: they’ve stated he’s not going to be playing any first base, an encouraging sign, and it appears he will take over most of the full-time catching duties, as JD says ”he’s not going to come up here and sit like a veteran backup would” although they haven’t figured out exactly how they’ll divide the playing time between Salty and Laird.
You’d think it should be at least 75/25% Salty, and I think it should be even more than that, but the Rangers probably will still want to get Laird AB’s, as he has admittedly been hitting better of late (average up to .260 – props to Gerry for this little hot streak, BTW). They still failed to provide a valid excuse for not having Salty starting on Friday night though:
Laird was in the starting lineup Friday, perhaps only because Daniels and Rangers manager Ron Washington had yet to meet with the two catchers to explain the team’s plans. They planned to speak shortly before Friday’s series opener with the Twins.
That’s still not an excuse for not playing Salty tonight, IMO – he needed to be playing, as he’s now sat for 4 straight days. If Salty starts his latest trip to the Majors off on a massive slump, I think we’ll know why.
Adam Melhuse, whose broken hand opened up this opportunity for Salty, has been outright released, per his request. He’s going to be out 2-5 weeks, and the Rangers informed him there would be no roster spot awaiting him when he returned. Best wishes to Adam, wherever he winds up – which will most likely be as a backup on someones minor league squad, once he recovers.
Looking at the clock in my bedroom right now, I need to wrap this up now, so I’ll reduce the rest of the entry to a couple quick hits: Brandon McCarthy’s “setback” is going to keep him from even throwing again for another 6 weeks… like I said in the previous entry, if he needs surgery, he might as well do it now… Sidney Ponson is going to indeed debut tomorrow… and finally, make sure you check out Jamey Newberg’s latest peice over at the Newberg Report – I think right now, as fans, every single one of us could take a lession from that.
Ponson/Scott Baker tomorrow. Hopefully, this team got something started with this win – I’ve had it with this lethargic spirit. GO RANGERS!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Melhuse, Brandon McCarthy, Eddie Guardado, Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Welp, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is here to stay, per Richard Durrett of the Dallas Morning News. Unfortunately, the Rangers still see the need for him to split time with Gerald Laird, who got the start for tonights game.
In my opinion starting Laird tonight is a big mistake, because this will make 4 consecutive days Salty has not played. He didn’t play Tuesday up in Iowa (day game after a night game), the Redhawks had an offday on Wedensday, and he was held out of the lineup in OKC because of his callup last night. The last thing you want to do is let a guy get out of sync, and 4 straight days without playing for a guy who’s used to going 5-6 times a week like Salty might be very bad. Leave it to the Rangers to mismanage their top catching prospect, of course.
This does mean that Adam Melhuse is going to be DFA’d or released, and Sidney Ponson called up to start Saturday. Eddie Guardado was also activated today, so that means that Frank Francisco, Josh Rupe or Kaz Fukumori will need to be optioned down to make room for Ponson however.
It’s also noted by Durrett that Brandon McCarthy has had a setback in his recovery from elbow inflammation, and still has and inflamed elbow. Looks like McCarthy’s season is pretty much in the toilet – if he needs surgery, he might as well pursue it now.
Currently listening to the game right now… Justin Morneau just jacked a grand slam off Kevin Millwood in the top of the third inning… it’s 5-0 Twins. Unless the offense wakes up tonight, this is gonna be 8 losses in a row. Sigh.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Frank Catalanotto, Jason Jennings, Left on Base, Ron Washington channels Joe Morgan, Salty watch
Welp, make that 7 straight losses. Boy, we all knew this would be a tough road trip, but I don’t think even the most pessimistic of Ranger fans would have predicted that we’d lose 7 straight to the Red Sox an Tigers, and wind up with the franchise’s worst start since 1982.
After sitting through the heartless slaughter that was Wednesday nights game, I wasn’t able to get too upset about today’s loss, however. Probably because I fully expected the Rangers to get beat anyway. I think the real shock would have been if we had somehow managed to avoid the sweep with Jason Jennings (or Scott Feldman, for that matter) on the mound.
Jennings wound up making his scheduled start, despite the fact that the Rangers had previously reported that Scott Feldman would make a spot start, and allow Jennings to get two extra days rest before starting again. Instead, they held Feldman out to be used in long relief if needed, and sent down Wes Littleton, who had thrown 82 pitches appearing in 3 of the last 4 games for the Rangers, and called up Kazuo Fukumori (as I predicted yesterday – check it out, I finally nailed a prediction! Wheee!!!). They have yet to place Luis Mendoza on the DL yet though, and are still keeping their options open on whether to start Feldman against the Twins Saturday, or call up AJ Murray or Sidney Ponson.
Anyway, Jennings (or Jenny, as I think I’m going to start calling him) was his typical self Thursday, lobbing meatballs up to the plate when he did hit the zone, and only actually hitting the zone about 50 percent of the time, as only 44 of his 81 pitches through 5 innings where strikes. He gave up three home runs, one to Curtis Granderson, and two to Magglio Ordonez, which accounted for all 5 of the runs that he surrendered, and walked 5 on the day before he was lifted for Kaz Fukumori, who promptly gave up back-to-back jacks in his first inning of work to Brandon Inge and Ryan Raburn.
Raburn’s homer, which was to RF, was a bit of a controversial one, as it hit the yellow line atop the wall, and bounced back onto the field of play. I couldn’t tell you if it was a homer or not from the replays I’ve seen, but the umpires did call it a big fly however, after a quick huddle to discuss it – something that only brought marginal protest from Ron Washington. This is one of my biggest problems with Wash: that’s a call that most major league managers would, and probably should get ejected over. Especially when your team is on a 6 game (now 7) losing streak. Not that it would have probably made eny difference in the outcome of game, but Ron had the perfect opportunity to show some fire, and send the message to his players that he actually cares about this team, and is willing to fight for it, but no, Ron just strolled out, briefly conversed with the ump, and strolled back to the dugout as if he’d just gone out to get the address of the nearest fried chicken joint.
Small wonder why players like Frank Catalanotto have been complaining lately about the stagnant atmosphere in the clubhouse:
“It’s getting a little monotonous, every single day seeing the same thing. “You come out, you play lethargically and nothing changes. I wish I had the words to say what it is. We need to pitch better. We need to hit better in the clutch. It seems like right now everything’s going wrong for us.”
I think the above-chronicled events are a perfect example as to why that feeling is so prevalent in the Rangers clubhouse.
Getting back to the game for a moment, the Rangers offense continues to disappoint: they left another 11 men on-base, stuck out 19 times, and failed to take advantage of the fact that Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman walked 7 and threw only 56 strikes of 110 pitches during his 4.2 innings of work. The only two Ranger runs of the game came on Michael Young’s solo home run in the first, and a bases loaded walk of David Murphy by Bonderman in the 5th, as the Rangers mustered just 4 hits to go along with the 8 overall walks they took on the day. They are now hitting .194 with RISP – that is one ugly stat.
Other notable news: both Ian Kinsler and Milton Bradley had the day off with sore hamstrings. According to the Rangers, it’s nothing to be alarmed about – Kinsler asked for the day off to take a breather, and Ron Washington held Bradley out as a precaution, despite originally planning to play him. Hopefully, this won’t affect Milton’s play, but Ron’s statement about whether or not this is part of his knee problems is kind of cryptic, though:
“His hamstrings have been sore for the last week or so,” Washington said. “But as a designated hitter, he can manage it. His [right] knee is fine. There is no problem with his knee. But this could be a part of that. I don’t want him pushing it.”
Just for fun, I’m going to tag this entry with “Ron Washington channels Joe Morgan” again.
Salty watch: Hopefully, this will be the last Salty watch I do this year. There’s not anything official that I can find on Salty’s callup as of 1 AM PT here tonight, so the official word won’t come down until the morning, but based on everything I’ve heard, this is it. I can only hope his stay will be permanent, and that he will immediately take over the full-time catching duties from 5 tools Laird – it really doesn’t make sense to call him up and just send him back down, so I’m hoping that will be exactly the case.
In my realistic estimation however, he’ll probably get only 4-5 days behind the plate though, as the Rangers continue to try and “inflate” Laird’s trade value – hopefully, Milton Bradley’s legs are OK, and he can play the field a little more so Jarrod can DH when he’s not catching. The last thing we need to have happen is Salty being run out there at first base again. Hopefully the Rangers will have figured out that’s not a good idea by now.
Tomorrow (or today, depending upon how you look at it), it’s Kevin Millwood vs. Twins rookie right-hander Nick Blackburn. Hopefully the Rangers can get something going against him, although he has pitched well to start his freshman season in the bigs. Interesting stat: Kevin Millwood has never beaten the Twins in his career, and has a 5.64 ERA against them.
Hopefully, Salty will make his 2008 debut tomorrow, and maybe provide the offense with some spark – we sure could use it.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Melhuse, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Salty vs. Laird, Salty watch
Stop the presses. Hold on to your socks, folks. This might be the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Jarrod Saltalamacchia may be on his way back to Arlington.
Adam Melhuse has come up with a bruised right hand after getting hit by a pitch in the dirt today in Detroit, and if it proves serious, it could mean Salty will be called up to replace him. He’ll be evaluated Friday, after having X-rays today.
It’s not set in stone yet, but JD terms it as a “Distinct possibility” and says “We’ll know more [Friday]“. So I can’t start the celebratory parade just yet, but I can start planning the route, it seems.
The article also notes that the Rangers are trying to decide between Scott Feldman (who did not start today after all) and Sidney Ponson to make Saturday’s start against the Twins, which tells me that if Salty is called up, it’ll be a permanent move, with Melhuse being dropped from the 40-man roster for Ponson.
Again, nothing here is set in stone, but this is the first peice of news regarding this team worth getting excited over in quite awhile – this could be the beginning of the huge changes I’ve been advocating. Time will tell, but for now, Ron Washington better damn well play Salty over Gerald Laird. Jarrod is no backup catcher.
In the meanwhile, cross your fingers, and hope Adam Melhuse has a broken hand. Yes, I know that sounds cruel, but if it gets me my Salt fix, it’ll be worth it – I’ll even be willing to pay for Melhuse’s medical bills.
PS: Oh, yeah, the Rangers lost again today to the Detroit Tigers, 8-2. Jason Jennings made the start as origionally scheduled, instead of Scott Feldman, and he got hammered. I’ll have more on the depressing stuff later.
Update, 8:04 PM: Commenter “525DP” (who is Jarrod’s father) is reporting that Salty will be leaving for Arlington in the morning over on Lone Star Ball. I’ll have the update once things become official.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bold predictions, FAIL, Luis Mendoza, Pitching moves
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… the Rangers got absolutely blasted tonight in Detroit. Again, I don’t really have much to say about this game, except that I think it’s a testament to my will and endurance that I sat through the entire 3 hour, 33 minute affair, listening to Eric and Victor an Gameday audio here at my computer. Seriously, I should get free tickets or something, as should any other Ranger fan who stuck out the entire “game” (and I use that term loosely – very loosely).
The Rangers did shell Kenny Rogers early, scoring 5 runs in the first two innings, but in the bottom of the second, Luis Mendoza staged an epic meltdown, and blew the entire lead. Apparently, Mendoza was trying to pitch through a sore shoulder (more on that later), but instead all he did was embarass himself and the team, and put an unnecessary load on the bullpen.
Frank Francisco took over for Mendoza in just the third inning, and allowed a go-ahead homer to Jacque Jones, making it 6-5 Detroit. The Rangers rallied in the 4th however, as a leadoff single by Gerald Laird (who has seemed to wake up offensively of late) and a walk to German Duran got things going. But the Ron Washington inexplicably decided to bunt with Ian Kinsler (only Ron Washington would bunt in the 4th inning with 2 on and nobody out, in a game that had slugfest written all over it). While the sacrifice worked, it may have cost the Rangers a big inning. Rogers, who would not make it out of the inning, then walked Michael Young (semi-unintentionally) to load the bases, and then walked Josh Hamilton to plate the tying run. Carlos Rapada then relieved the Gambler, however, and got Milton Bradley to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, and from there, well, I think this picture sums up the rest of the night for the Rangers:
Image credit goes to the FAIL blog, of course.
If you’re actually curious about the rest of the game and who got shelled and who didn’t, here is the box score, complete with play-by-play.
Now, as to Luis Mendoza’s aforementioned arm trouble: apparently, it started after last Friday’s disasterous start in Boston, in which he gave up 7 runs in three innings. According to Mendoza, his arm feels okay warming up, but weakens once he gets to the mound and starts to unleash his stuff:
“When I warm up, it’s good but when I’m out there it’s weak,” Mendoza said. “I’m worried about it. I’ve never had an injury before. I’m wondering what’s going on.”
Pitching coach Mark Connor meanwhile, was livid at the fact Mendoza kept his problem to himself.
“I had to drag it out of him,” Connor said. “I’ve been doing this 20 years and I can tell you I’m not seeing the guy that I saw last year or the guy I saw early in Spring Training. I’ve been asking him off and on the past couple of weeks if anything has been bothering him and he said, ‘No.’”
…
“He’s a good kid with a great future, but he’s got to protect his career and he’s got to protect the ballclub,” Connor said. “He put us in a bad position. He’s too valuable to the organization. He has to learn to be honest.”
I couldn’t agree more. After the way the bullpen got rocked in this game, the Rangers are in quite the predicament with Scott Feldman, a guy who will be making just his second big league start going tomorrow (more on that later). Frank Francisco threw 52 pitches, Jamey Wright 38, Wes Littleton 31, and Joaquin Benoit 35. More than likely none of them will be available in tomorrows day game, along with Josh Rupe, who threw 56 pitches Tuesday night. That leaves Franklyn German as the only fresh pitcher in the bullpen, and closer CJ Wilson, who threw 10 pitches tonight, as the only other available pitcher in the bullpen.
With basically 80 percent of the bullpen unavailable or questionable, the Rangers have to make a roster move here to get at least one, preferrably two fresh arms up from OKC. Let’s break down the possibilites, shall we?
Luis Mendoza is likely headed for the DL, and Rupe and Littleton both have options, so thats three possible spots. Eddie Guardado was supposed to come off the DL Friday (after his activation was delayed again today) when Scott Feldman was sent back down from his spot start, but Mendoza’s injury likely changes that. He’ll probably be activated tommorrow instead, and theres also three pitchers on the 40-man who could be recalled from the Redhawks (who just had an off-day wedensday) - Kaz Fukumori, Kameron Loe, and AJ Murray. Of those three, I’d say Kaz Fukumori is most likely to get the call, as by my count, his 10 days since being optioned to the minors have just passed, and he has not allowed a run in 5.1 innings in OKC.
Another note: with Mendoza on his way to DL-land, one would think that Scott Feldman just stays on the roster for and in the rotation for now. The Rangers can go with a 4-man rotation and an 8-man bullpen until May 3rd, when we’ll need another 5th starter again (Monday is an off-day for the Rangers).
If the Rangers put Mendoza on the DL retroactive to April 18th, when he supposedly first had his problems, he could be off in time to make that start on May 5th. But there’s no garuntee he’ll be ready (shoulder problems never seem to turn out well for pitchers), and if he’s not, things could get interesting. That of course leaves AJ Murray, Doug Mathis or Sidney Ponson as the guys available, and of those three, only Ponson would really be in line to make the start, if you go by the OKC schedule. He’s set to go on May 2nd (Murray and Mathis should go on the 30th and 1st, respectively) - all you have to do is call him up, and move him back one day.
You still have to make room on the 40-man roster for Ponson though, and as I mentioned yesterday, Adam Melhuse would be the most likely guy to get knocked off, which means… you know. Let me put it this way: I’m predicting that May 3rd, 2008 is your due date for Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s callup. Mark it down.
Speaking of predictions, it appears my prediction yesterday that Ron Washington would be gone by Friday if the team didn’t improve it’s play is already moot – JD and Nolan Ryan have announced their plan of action to improve the Rangers crappy play, and that is: sit back, do nothing, and see if the team improves. Great plan, guys. A+++ for creativity and daring. Seriously, take a few days off – your brains must be tired after all that planning. I’ll take over while you’re away, hows that sound???
Scott Feldman opposes Jeremy Bonderman tomorrow – tough pitching matchup for a team looking to stop a 6-game losing streak. Even if we loose, it will have to be considered a huge sucess if Feldman just makes it through 5-6 innings, and takes a load off the bullpen – it’s been three consecutive days now that out starting pitcher has not made it past the third inning. With the bullpen as gassed it is, we just cannot have another early inning meltdown – if we do, brace for the sweep. Oh wait, that’s right – with the way the last 6 games have gone, you’re already braced for the sweep. Never mind.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bold predictions, Errors, Frank Francisco, Roster moves
It’s only 21 games into the 2008 season, and already Rangers fans have had to endure two 5-game losing streaks. And with this latest one, they have dropped to a new low at 7-14, and they now alone hold the distinguished title of worst record in the AL. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Texas Rangers: we’re below the cellar.
It wasn’t much a game yesterday, and as such, there’s not much worth saying about it. Some highlights: Frank Catalanotto hit a home run in the top of the 2nd, that gave the Rangers a short lived lead. But the very next half inning Ben Broussard booted an Edgar Renteria ground ball hit straight at him at first base, which went as a double, and wound up allowing two runs to score. The play should have been scored as an error, according to both Victor Rojas and Eric Nadel, the KLRD announcers, but instead both runs where earned, and the play (or lack thereof) may have rattled the exciteable Vicente Padilla, as he promptly gave up three homers and 5 runs the next inning. Josh Rupe replaced Padilla in the 4th, did turn in 4 strong innings of relief, but got charged with three runs when he ran out of gas in the 8th, and loaded the bases with nobody out for his replacement Wes Littleton, who promptly allowed all three runs to score by walking three batters. The Texas offense meanwhile, left another 10 men on base (including 4 men in the first two innings), the only other run coming on a Josh Hamilton sac fly.
Overall, it was just another horrible game, that is not even worth anymore space or words of this blog entry. Blech. Lets move on.
The Rangers announced some interesting developments concerning the pitching staff yesterday, the first of which was the placement of Dustin Nippert on the 15-day DL. After Monday’s horrid outing in which he gave up 8 runs in 2.1 innings, you had to know something like this was coming – Nippert clearly needs some time in the minors to polish his game, and since he has no options, stashing him on the DL, and sending him on a “rehab” assignment is the only way to do it.
Frank Francisco replaces him – a logical choice, as Frankie Frank was mowing through the AAA hitters in OKC, as he had not allowed a run in 8 appearances and 9 innings, accumulated 5 saves, and had struck out 16 to just three walks. That’s some absolutely filthy stuff from the 6′3″ right-hander, as his infamous splitter (which was so good in 2004, before he had to undergo TJ surgery), a pitch the Rangers wanted him to work on after it failed to fully materialize during spring training, seems to have returned.
“Pretty much everything is better,” said Francisco, who had a 5.63 ERA in Spring Training. “I’ve been throwing my [split-fingered fastball] for strikes, my curveball for strikes and my location is way better on my fastball. I’m getting ahead in the counts with my fastball and my splits and late in the counts I’m throwing my offspeed pitches, not necessarily for strikes, but where I want them.
Eddie Guardado is also scheduled to come off the DL today (Wendensday), so the bullpen should look a lot better this week, with both him and Francisco in there. A roster spot will have to be made for him, of course though, which means somebody goes to OKC. Josh Rupe and Wes Littleton both have options, and are therefore the prime targets to go down, while Franklyn German is the weakest link in the bullpen - he just doesn’t have any options.
Rupe is probably the most likely candidate, since his ERA sits at 6.00, but without him, the Rangers lack a long-reliever – Jamey Wright is the only other pitcher in the Texas bullpen that can really go past 3 innings if needbe, and he’s been moved to more of a late-relief role lately, thanks to the great effectiveness of his power-sinker this year.
Wes Littleton has been used for multiple innings in three of his four outings this season though (getting up to 2.2 innings against Toronto April 16th), so my guess is, Rupe gets the the demotion, and the Rangers just wing it with Littelton/Wright as the guys they’ll use for multiple innings if needed. What I would like to see is Franklyn German put on waivers, but the Rangers still seem to be in love with his radar gun readings, and since he hasn’t truly melted down yet, I doubt they’ll put him on waivers. Of course, I’ve been incorrect in my predictions of who would go up or down every time this year, so I suppose you never know – I could get my wish.
Speaking of up and down, Kason Gabbard’s back problem now appears more serious than the Rangers first admitted – the rotation’s lone southpaw is now termed “in question” for his next start. They’re now saying the Gabbard has a strained muscle, rather than the back spasms they initially diagnosed him with, and while they’re not making any decisions until Kason has his scheduled bullpen session today, TR Sullivan lists Sidney Ponson and AJ Murray as the favorites to take his place. He also mentions Doug Mathis, who is 4-0 with a 3.12 ERA for OKC, but leaves out Scott Feldman, who has already been called up to make a spot start earlier this month.
Ponson is probably the guy the Rangers would like to have make the start, because they seem to enjoy throwing worthless “veterans” out there on the big club, and where convinced Ponson had something when they signed him in the spring, but he’s not on the 40-man roster – neither is Mathis, who I would personally like to see make the start (although that isn’t likely). Murray is on the 40 however, which seems to make him the frontrunner, despite the fact that he has a 5.16 ERA so far in OKC.
If however, the Rangers did decide to go with Ponson, there could be a huge upside to it. A massive one. About the only guy whop can be knocked off the 40-man is Adam Melhuse – and if you knock him off, you necessitate the callup of – guess who – yep, Salty. So despite the fact that we’d have to watch Ponson pitch for the duration of Kason Gabbard’s DL stint (which probalby wouldn’t be more than two or three starts at the most), I’m rooting for Sir Sidney. He could very well be Salty’s ticket to Arlington.
Speaking of Salty, he had the day off today (they didn’t want to start him in a day game after a night game). The Redhawks wound up losing, 5-1, as Iowa’s Sean Gallagher (whom you may remember was one of the pitchers Jon Daniels was pushing the Cubs for when trying to trade them Marlon Byrd this winter/spring) held them to just 3 hits over 7.2 innings.
Tomorrow, the Rangers send Luis Mendoza out to the hill to try and stop this latest 5-game slide – the Tigers are sending a familiar face in Kenny Rogers to the hill. It’s noted in the game notes that Marlon Byrd had his MRI, and has been diagnosed with a bone bruise, for which they gave him a cortisone shot. I guess this means will see him as soon as his 15 days on the DL are up – I’m trying to decide whether that’s a good thing or not. Good I guess, for the OF defense at least.
I’ll close out this morning’s post with a bold prediction: if the Rangers lose the next two games, I’m betting Ron Washington will be fired when we get back to Arlington on Friday. I don’t want to see the Rangers lose the next to games of course, but I think you all know what I think of Ron. If nothing else, that’s just what I’m telling myself right now to avoid getting too depressed over the teams play of late.
