As predicted, Cliff Lee presented a huge obstacle for the Ranger offense yesterday. And despite their best efforts in working the count and drawing walks, they couldn’t beat him, as one critical mistake by Scott Feldman turned out to be the difference in a 5-2 loss.
Early on, it looked as if the Rangers would have a chance against the red-hot Cleveland lefty, who came into the game with a 6-1 W/L mark, and an AL-leading 1.37 ERA. David Murphy came up with a 2-out RBI single in the top of the first to put the Rangers up 1-0, and Ian Kinsler knocked in a second run in the second with a broken bat roller up the middle.
That 2-0 advantage was short-lived, however, as Scott Feldman was victimized by some shoddy defense (which has been a recurring theme in the games in which he has started) in the bottom of the second. After a leadoff double by Ben Francisco, Indians first baseman grounded one toward the left of Ian Kinsler – and Kinsler flat out missed the play, the ball going under his glove. That allowed Francisco to score, but Marlon Byrd, the right fielder made a second error on the same play, airmailing the throw home to allow Aubry to advance to second. Byrd would atone for his mistake the next chance he got, however, as he gunned down Aubry trying to score on a Jhonny Peralta single to keep the lead at 2-1.
It would ultimately be Feldman’s control, which didn’t seem to be at it’s best on this particular night, that was his undoing. The very next inning, he gave up a 3 run homer to Ben Francisco on a mistake pitch that was supposed to be a sinker outside, but wound up a meatball in the LF seats.
Peralta tacked on a solo shot in the 6th, which was Feldman’s last inning, and that was all the Indians would require, as Cliff Lee allowed just 2 hits from the 3rd inning on (after allowing 7 of the first 13 Rangers to reach), and the Indians bullpen capped the night off with scoreless outings by Rafael Perez and Joe Borowski. Even though Feldman took the loss though, and beat himself up a bit over it, Ron Washington is still impressed with what he’s seen from “The Swan” so far:
“He’s still progressing,” manager Ron Washington said. “He just had trouble with his command. He’s still progressing, and he always finds a way to get into the sixth inning. He still has a ways to go, but once he gets his command together, he’s going to be tough. Tonight, he had Cliff Lee. He had to be really, really, really good.”
Getting through 6 innings was enough of an accomplishment for Feldman last night, as it meant the Rangers bullpen (namely Eddie Guardado and Joaquin Benoit) only had to throw 21 pitches in the 7th and 8th innings, and should be fairly well-rested for today. That could be important, considering rookie Doug Mathis (who lasted just 21. innings his first start) will be on the hill.
This loss drops the Rangers a game back of .500 again – twice in the past week now, the Rangers have pulled even with .500, but they have yet to find a win to actually put themselves over the mark. Rangers baseball: sometimes, it’s like banging your head on the ceiling.
The Rangers did get some good news today on Kevin Millwood though: the Rangers #1 starter threw 65 pitches in his simulated game yesterday with no problems, and has been cleared for action against the Oakland A’s this Friday in Arlington. Said Millwood:
“My groin feels good, I didn’t have any problems with it,” Millwood said. “I felt my stuff and location was as good or better than it has been all year.”
Wondering if Kason Gabbard’s horrendous outing on Friday might have been the result of some physical ailment? Well, according to Mark Connor, it’s not. Connor said he queried Gabbard about it after the game, and got an “unequivocable positive answer” from the left-hander. Actually, to tell you the truth, in one way it might have been a consolation of an injury had been responsible for the way Kason looked Friday. Because otherwise, it means he just flat-out sucked.
Some other notes from that article on the Rangers pitchers who reside in the mythical land known as the disabled list: Luis Mendoza is being assigned to AAA for his rehab assignment, and should start for OKC Monday. The Rangers say it’ll take 3-4 rehab starts before he’s ready to come back though… Brandon McCarthy has been cleared to start throwing again… at this point, I’ll believe any progress re: his recovery when I actually see it… and John Rheinecker (remember him?) had “cleanup” surgery on his shoulder Saturday, but should still return sometime after the all-star break.
Also worth noting is the fact that the Rangers future first baseman, Chris Davis, has been promoted to AAA Oklahoma. He’s still got some kinks to work out with his K/BB ratio, but I imagine this means that we’ll see him at first base by September for certain now. Which is why moving Hank Blalock to first base was a stupid, knee-jerk move.
Doug Mathis goes today against CC Sabathia – I hate to be negative, but all I really have to say is, it will be a small miracle if we win this game.
