So what’s the only thing that’s worse than watching your team get it’s tail whipped in their home opener? Well, that would be not getting to watch/listen to your team at all. Which, thanks to mother nature, was the case Wednesday afternoon, as game 2 of the Rangers/Orioles series was postponed until Thursday (today).
That’s the bad news. The good news is today is now a doubleheader – which translates into what should be a veritable baseball overload for all the Rangers fanatics like me out there. Perhaps the best part about this whole thing is that the Wednesday $1 dollar hotdog night promotion at the Ballpark in Arlington is now in affect for both games, yet another reason to regret that I live in California.
Kevin Millwood will be on the mound in the first game against veteran righty Steve Trachsel of the Orioles, and Kason Gabbard, who was scheduled to start Wednesday’s game, will instead take the hill for Texas in the nightcap, against fellow left-hander Adam Loewen.
As exciting as doubleheaders are for baseball junkies like me, who have nothing better to do but listen to back-to-back games on a Thursday afternoon/night, this does throw a wrench into the Rangers rotation plans: with Kason Gabbard and Kevin Millwood both pitching on the same day, they will need to find a spot-starter for Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. Gabbard was supposed to be the starter for that game, but now that he’s pitching a day late, someone like Jamey Wright will presumably make the start.
Josh Rupe and Dustin Nippert are the only other pitchers in the Texas bullpen besides Wright that would be able to make the start, and Rupe is likely going to be optioned to AAA Saturday to make room when Luis Mendoza comes off the disabled list. Nippert, based on his on his first outing this season (when he gave up 6 runs on 5 hits while getting just 2 outs against the Angels) isn’t a very likely candidate to get the call either, so that leaves Wright as really the only option. Let’s just hope there’s no catastrophic injuries or meltdowns by the pitching staff between now and Monday – if the bullpen suddenly gets taxed over the weekend, the Rangers could find themselves playing roster roulette if they have to call up a spot starter from AAA.
In other news, fireballer Robinson Tejeda, who was DFA’d by the Rangers when they traded for Dustin Nippert at the end of Spring Training, has cleared waivers. This comes as a pleasant suprise, because as I had previously documented, I was pretty sure Tejeda would be snatched up by some other pitching starved team. Instead, this now appears like a another shrewd gamble by Jon Daniels, who probably picked the prefect time to slide Tejeda through – I guess at the beginning of the season here, none of baseball’s other 29 teams where willing to knock someone off their 25-man roster so early just to take a chance on a guy like Robinson. Hopefully, Tejeda can make the transition from starter to releiver in AAA, and learn to harness his electric stuff. If he ever does, he could wind up being a solid addition to the middle or perhaps even the back of the bullpen someday.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia watch: Salty was the hero yesterday for Oklahoma, as he drove across the only two Redhawks runs with a 2-run single in the 4th inning, giving OKC left-hander AJ Murray a 2-1 win in a 6-inning, rain shortened contest. Salty also picked off Russell Branyan at second base during the game, as commenter John noted under my last post.
A few last tidbits: Ron Washington plans on starting Milton Bradley at DH in the first game of the doubleheader, and in RF in the second… Josh Hamilton will likely start only the first game… Jason Botts is finally going to get to start his first game of the season in the nightcap tomorrow. Ron, who was clearly dissapointed after Botts beat out his favorite for the final bench spot, Kevin Mench, in spring training, has given Botts all of one at-bat so far this season – if Jason is going to get anymore playing time, he’s going to have to run with this opportunity.
Hopefully, the Rangers can sweep this doubleheader with the O’s, and win the series - it would be nice to see the offense back Kevin Millwood for a change. I know we probably won’t be scoring 30 runs again (like we did the last time the O’s and the Rangers played a doubleheader), but we’ve got to at least do something to avenge the thrashing we took on opening day.
