A lonestar in california

Well, once again, for the second time in the span of a week, I’m at a loss for words when it comes to describing the Rangers latest loss. I suppose it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Rangers dropped the fourth game of this disastrous visit to Fenway park, not after the way the first three games went. After that, you might have figured they’d find a way to lose this one, too.

As it turned out, they didn’t have to find a way to lose. They just got their asses kicked instead. The game was sort of doomed from the start of the second inning, when Kason Gabbard caught his cleat somehow on the mound while delivering a pitch to Kevin Youkilis, and tweaked his back. Gabbard made it through the inning unscathed despite the fact that something was clearly not right (he walked three) but was pulled before the start of the third – fortunately, he seems to be okay, and should make his next start, but with his repuation for questionable durability, you’ve got too keep your fingers crossed. 

Dustin Nippert took over, and things proceeded to implode. Nippert made it though the third, but melted down in the fourth, and wound up giving up all of Boston’s runs in the span of two innings. The Rangers offense, meanwhile, left another 10 men on base, and contines to struggle to score runs, and the Rangers got pounded, 8-3.

I actually tuned in during the fourth, just in time to hear Dustin Pedroia crack a 2-run double. That was followed by a David Ortiz RBI double, and at that point, I did something I’ve never done before (at least not when I had plenty of free time to listen to a game): I turned off the computer. I didn’t even want to check the progress on MLB Gameday. I don’t think I’ve ever been this disenchanted with this team – not even last year, during the disastrous month of May. I said at the end of my last entry that bad baseball is better than no baseball, but when you tune in just in time to hear your team going down by 5 runs, it’s probably better not to watch the slaughter, lest you get too depressed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be listening to as much as the Detroit series as I can, and I’ll be rooting this team on no matter what happens – such is the duty of a true fan. The wins will come, sooner or later – this team isn’t the Pittsburgh Pirates. But these losses would sure be a lot easier to take if they actually meant something in the long run – we’re already 7-13, our worst start since 2002 (yes, even worse than last year). I’d be a lot happier if the Rangers would start the housecleaning now – get rid of the guys like Ben Broussard and Adam Melhuse, bench Laird and Catalanotto, get Jarrod Saltalamacchia, up here now, and as they become ready, guys like Eric Hurley and Brandon Boggs too. Sorry if I’m starting to beat the drum again, but I’ve had enough of watching this team full of deadbeet spares. I don’t mind losing, just so long as the losses mean something in the longrun - and right now, with guys like Laird and Broussard in the everyday lineup, losing doesn’t mean squat.

There are some signs that the Rangers are headed in the right direction, like the fact that the Rangers seem intent on giving Jason Botts more playing time. That’s very good news, perhaps the first thing the Rangers have done this year that makes real sense, considering the rebuilding operation they are supposed to be running. But it’s quotes like this from Jon Daniels that really disappoint me:

“We’re not going to panic,” Daniels said. “It’s 19 games. Obviously, I’d like to see us hold a couple of leads or push a few more runs across and be a couple of games better. But we need to keep it in perspective that it’s only 19 games. We need to give these guys a chance.”

Who’s panicking here? Seriously? We knew we weren’t gonna contend this year, theres no reason to panic. But why in the name of holy ham sandwiches do we need to give guys like Gerald Laird, Ben Broussard and Ron Washington a chance??? Why do they deserve anything? One’s not even on board with the organization’s plan, and the others aren’t doing anything but blocking the younger, more important players. So why does Daniels refuse to believe that the team has hit bottom here? This team is tanking it’s season early on again, and the manager is in way over his head. It’s not time to panic, it’s time to clean house, in an orderly and swift fashion. I know JD’s the one with the plan here, but he needs to stop being afraid to enact it – because the way the on-field team is performing right now, all he’s doing is wasting the organizations time, and the time of fans like me, who are more than ready to see the winds of change start to blow. He’s taking the right steps by forcing Ron Washington to play Jason Botts more - now he just needs to go all the way.

Jarrod Saltamacchia watch: Salty picked it back up on Monday, going 2-4 with an RBI as Oklahoma smoked the Iowa Cubs, 6-1. Nelson Cruz also hit a pair of home runs, and had 4 RBI, and Kaz Fukumori turned in another scoreless inning. Here’s a tip: if you want to see a few pictures of the Redhawks in action up in Iowa, I reccomend heading over to Baseball is My Boyfriend - Micah’s got some good shots of Doug Mathis, Salty, and the rest of the OKC crew from Sunday linked, and some from Saturday too, if you go to the previous entry.

Next up, the Rangers head to Detroit, to take on the Tigers. The Tigers have the same 7-13 record as the Rangers, but have been showing signs of playing a little better lately – the way things have been going for the Rangers, it would not suprise me to see the Tigers wake up just in time for our visit, much like when the New York Yankees came into Arlington last May, and seemed to turn their entire early-season losing streak around with a four-game sweep of the Rangers. First up, it’s Vicente Padilla vs. the fireballing Justin Verlander, who is off to horrible start to the season, as 0-3, with a 7.03 ERA so far, but he’s still a guy who can shut just about any lineup down if he can get his stuff together. Padilla is 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA against Detroit in his career, but that was before the Tigers assembled the most fearsome offense on paper in the AL – he’ll need to maintain the composure he’s shown in his first 4 starts this season. So batten down the hatches Ranger fans - this series might not be any better than what we just saw in Boston.