A lonestar in california

.500 seems to be an elusive mark for the Texas Rangers this year. Yeah, they can tie it – but climbing above it has been another story alltogether. They entered yesterday’s contest at 27-27, the fourthtime in the last two weeks they had entered a game with an even record. But just like the three previous occasions, Texas proved unable to break the .500 ceiling, as a lack of control on the part of Kason Gabbard and the Ranger bullpen would send them to a 5-3 loss.

Gabbard, who has sported a 7.29 ERA since he came off the DL and got attacked by Richie Sexson back on May 8th, had another rough go of it yesterday, in a start that almost seemed like a replay of the debacle 5 days ago in Cleveleand. Gabbard only threw 39 of his 85 pitches yesterday for strikes, walked 6 batters for the second consecutive start, and gave up 5 hits as the Rays jumped on him to score 5 runs (4 earned).

Things didn’t look too good for the Rangers from the start, as Tampa Bay’s Matt Garza retired the first 9 men to greet him, and the Rays took an early 1-0 lead on a BJ Upton RBI single in the first. Milton Bradley did deliver a 2-run single to give Texas a short-lived 2-1 lead in the fourth, but that was all the offense Texas would muster against Garza, and the wheels came off for Gabbard in the bottom of the 5th.

After allowing a single and a walk to start the inning, Gabbard gave up and RBI single to Akinori Iwamura to tie the game at 2. Carl Crawford grounded out, but the Rangers chose to intentionally walk BJ Upton, after which Gabbard walked Carlos Pena to drive in the go-ahead run. After that, Gabbard was lifted for Frankie Francisco, who gave up a sac fly to Evan Longoria, but then walked two straight batters himself to score another run before he finally got out of the inning.

A combination of Francisco, Jamey Wright and Joaquin Benoit would hold the Rays scoreless for the rest of the game, but the damage was done, as the Rangers offense just could not solve Garza, who went 8 innings and struck out 10. Frank Catalanotto did manage to tack on a run with an RBI single in the 9th off Dan Wheeler, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia got an AB as the tying run, but he lined out to center to end the contest.

This is the first time in 9 consecutive series that the Rangers have lost 2 out of three, so this loss ended what had been a pretty impressive streak for Texas – but more importantly, it raises many questions about Kason Gabbard and his effectiveness. Some might speculate that he is perhaps dealing with some physical ailment, although the Rangers continue to deny that possibility. Either way, the facts are that Gabbard has allowed 16 runs on 18 hits and 15 walks over his last three starts, while also failing to get past the 5th inning in all of them. He also now has 29 BB to 20 K’s this season, and Evan Grant has even gone so far as to suggest already that it might be time to take Gabbard out of the rotation for the time being – a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with, although I’d prefer to call up AJ Murray rather than keep Doug Mathis in the rotation full-time.

Speaking of roster moves, it appears that the Rangers will be sending down Kameron Loe and German Duran tomorrow, to make way for Kevin Millwood and Travis Metcalf on Friday. I agree with both moves - although Metcalf hasn’t been lighting up the AAA pitchers so far since his comeback from a torn hamstring, German Duran just looks overmatched at the plate right now in Majors. I think it would be very beneficial for him to go back down and get some consistent playing time again. I’m also happy to see Doug Mathis sticking around in the bullpen – I’ve got a feeling that relief work is probably where his future lies, and he looked pretty good in his first three relief outings this year.

Thomas Diamond had a nice outing in his second start for AA Frisco, allowing just 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7 over 5 innings. His fastball was purportedly in the 90-93 range, topping out at 94, and also showed off a new curveball. Excellent progress for a guy just coming back from TJ surgery – I must say, I am starting to get excited about Diamond again.

MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli has a piece up highlighting the Rangers baserunning this year – Texas has a 28-6 success rate on the basepaths this year, and that’s largely thanks to the baserunning abilites of Ian Kinsler, who has not been caught yet in 15 attempts – which puts him on pace for 40 stolen bases, BTW.

It’s an off-day today for the big club, as they travel back to Texas to prepare to take on the A’s. Kevin Millwood is scheduled to start against Justin Duchscherer, as the rest of the pitching staff will get an extra days rest between starts thanks to his return.