Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Chris Davis, First Major League hit, Josh Hamilton
There’s not really a whole lot to say about last night’s Lone Star Series finale in Houston. Unable to clinch the silver boot trophy with a decisive win, or move 2 games above .500, the Rangers instead suffered though a 7-2 drubbing by the Astros to take the boot by an anticlamactic default of run differential, and also saw another possible injury to Josh Hamilton further dampen their spirits.
Kevin Millwood didn’t seem to have anything working for him in the early going last night - his command was poor, he and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia struggled to get on the same page, and the Astros rapped out 7 hits and 7 runs in the first two innings, including a 3-run triple by Hunter Pence in the top of the first. Said Millwood:
“I made a lot of bad pitches and they hit them,” Millwood said. “Even after that, I didn’t make a whole lot of good pitches. My defense picked me up the last three innings. I was coming off a game where I felt I threw the ball pretty well but tonight was the total opposite. I felt good. I felt I all my pitches were there but I didn’t locate them.”
That put the Rangers in an insurmountable hole, as Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez turned in a brilliant performance, striking out 9 while allowing just one run on 5 hits over 8 innings. The Rangers are now 8-16 on the season against left-handed starters, and are hitting just .253 as a club against them – even having both Milton Bradley and Josh Hamilton back in the lineup last night didn’t help the Rangers avert their woes against left-handed pitching.
Of course, Hamilton wasn’t actually in the lineup but for one inning – in the most discouraging news of the night, he took a Wandy Rodriguez pitch off his left hand in his first at-bat, and was subsiquently pulled after just one inning. Brandon Boggs took over for the rest of the game, and Hamilton was sent for X-rays of his hand, which fortunately came up clean.
”It’s just bruised, but it’s as sore as can be,” Hamilton said. “Everything felt fine running, but my hand didn’t start hurting until I got out into the field. Must have been the adrenaline from having a ball come right at your face.”
Hamilton is listed as day-to-day, and probably won’t be playing tomorrow against the Phillies. Although right now this doesn’t appear too serious, I gotta agree with what Evan Grant said on the DMN blog – perhaps it would be a good idea to let Hamilton take most of, if not all of this series against the Phillies to fully recoop from all the dings and dents he’s been taking lately. Obviously you want to have his bat in the lineup, but he’s just 2 for his last 17 – I don’t think a couple games off here would do him anything but good.
There was one bright spot in the morass of last nights game however: Chris Davis made his Major League debut, pinch-hitting for the pitchers spot in the top of the 9th inning. Wearing Juan Gonzalez’s (and Jason Botts) old #19, Davis swung at the first pitch he saw from Oscar Villareal, and grounded it to third where Ty Wigginton couldn’t get a handle on it. Davis reached at first on an infield single to begin his career, and promptly scored from first when Marlon Byrd tripled into the gap. Considering his reputation, and god-given raw power, I’m sure that’s not exactly the way Chris (or anyone else, for that matter) envisioned his first Major League hit, but I’m sure he’ll take it – I’ve got a feeling that’ll be the first of many more, albeit probably one of the shortest.
Later tonight, Davis will get his first career start at first base with right-hander Brett Myers on the mound – in some supreme irony, it will also be Hank Blalock bobblehead night. Speaking of Hank though, according to Ron Washington, the Rangers are still dead set on moving him to first base and playing him there when he comes off the DL:
“When Hank comes back, Hank is going to play,” Washington said
Based on that, it pretty much sounds like Davis’ callup is indeed only going to be a cameo, unless he immediately tears the cover off the ball. Which he could very possibly do - and if he does, it’s going to be quite a juggling act for the Rangers if they have to find Davis, Blalock, and Max Ramirez AB’s while still using Milton Bradley as the primary DH.
In the meantime though, the plan is going to be for Davis to start primarily against right-handers while seeing time against select lefties. For example, Ron says he’ll sit Davis on Saturday against the Phillies ace lefty Cole Hamels and play Max Ramirez instead, but he will be out there on Sunday against Jamie Moyer. And Davis is perfectly fine with that arrangement – he’s just happy to be here:
“They told me I’m here and that I will play against right-handers and some lefties,” Davis said. “They said that when Hank comes back there will be a decision that will have to be made. He’s a good player. They need his bat in the lineup. They told me not to worry about that and just focus on playing. I’m going to worry only about the things I can control. I’m very excited about this opportunity.”
So am I.
Quick hits: Chris Davis, Taylor Teagarden, Max Ramirez and Elvis Andrus have all been chosen for the All-Star Futures game at Yankee Stadium July 13th – Davis and Teagarden would be on the US Team, and Max and Elvis would be on the World team. Only thing is, Davis and MaxRam will likely be with the Rangers as they play the White Soxthat day, so they’ll most likely be unable to appear there – but given the choice, I’d bet they’d both rather be playing the White Sox anyway. And finally, Tom Grieve will return to the booth tonight for the first time since his prostate surgery.
Kason Gabbard vs. Brett Myers and the Phillies today – this could be a pretty tough series, despite the fact that the Phils are slumping badly coming into Arlington. They’ve lost 11 of their last 15 games, and scored 4 or fewer runs in 12 of those last 15, but they still rank second in the NL in runs scored, and their lineup features such threats as Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. Gabbard’s gonna have to be on top of his game tonight, but he is coming off two pretty good starts since being recalled from AAA.
On the bright side though, Brett Myers is 1-8 with a 6.03 ERA in his last 12 starts – and he has a 7.54 ERA on the road this year. Perhaps he can be the tonic for our offensive woes, no?
I decided to create a whole new post for this, simply because I didn’t think it would be fair to try and contain the awesomeness of this announcement within the awesomeness of Max Ramirez’ game last night, or vice-versa. It wouldn’t be fair to either one to steal their thunder – they both deserve their own headline today.
As you may have heard by now, multiple sources are reporting that Chris Davis, the Rangers slugging first base prospect, has been called up from AAA Oklahoma, including Smoaky.com, Davis’ hometown paper, and the DMN’s Evan Grant. In the words of Chris himself:
“I was just so excited with a bunch of different emotions and feelings,” said Davis, who called his parents first upon receiving the news. “It’s unbelievably exciting to get something you’ve worked for your whole life. Since I’ve started playing professional baseball, this was the goal. It is so awesome to actually see it happen.”
“It feels good and I’m real excited, but I don’t think it will sink in until I hit the field tomorrow in uniform…This is real.”
The move comes as a result of Hank Blalock’s latest setback, as he has now developed pain and swelling in his right hand (which he bruised on Sunday during a rehab game in OKC) and is now expected to be out till the all-star break.
With Blalock out for a little while longer, the Rangers apparently felt it was time to have a look at the left-handed masher Davis, who has an overall line of .333/.402/.685, with 10 homers and 31 RBI in his 31 games with Oklahoma this season. He had also hit another 13 homers and drove in 42 in AA Frisco earlier this year before his promotion to AAA. Although he was currently in an 0-12 mini-slump in OKC, he seems to be right on the cusp, if not already at the point of being ready for The Show.
Even so, this might not be a permanent move for Davis because as Jon Daniels explains it, the Rangers (for some reason) still plan on moving Blalock to first base, and playing him there once he gets back:
“We’ve been patient up to this point expecting Hank to be back for the Houston series,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, he had his latest setback. I don’t expect it to be long-term and we expect to send him on a rehab assignment in the near future. But we felt this was an opportunity to give Chris a chance to see what he can do and see if we can’t get more production out of that position.”
“More than likely, I would expect Hank to play [if he comes back by the all-star break],” Daniels said. “We’ve had discussions about Chris some time ago, but we hoped Hank would be back by now. Rather than continuing to wait, this is a chance to look at Chris. I said before the season that the key to our season would be the health of our veterans and the continued development of our young players.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see whether this is going to be a cameo appearance for Davis until Blalock gets back, or if it will indeed be permanent – of course, the final determination will probably rest with Chris Davis himself, and how well he plays. If he comes out of the gates swinging, I don’t see how the Rangers could send him back down – it would be pretty stupid to send down one of your top prospects in favor or a guy whose 2009 option you might not even be picking up anyway.
As far as roster ramifacations go, Chris Shelton is likely the player the Rangers will drop to make room on both the 40 and the 25 man roster for Davis – Shelton has hit .216/.333/.330 in 97 AB’s as a Ranger, a pretty worthless line for a first baseman. I don’t think anyone will be sorry to see him go, save for maybe Ron Washington, who liked to use him as a late-innings defensive replacement/pinch hitter.
The guy who’s really going to feel the squeeze as far as playing time goes though is Frank Catalanotto, whose his left-handed bat will now likely be reduced to pinch-hitting since he really can’t play the outfield anymore, and the DH spot is going to be taken by Milton Bradley and Max Ramirez. Of course, it’s not like Cat has any real value as anything but a pinch-hitter anyway, so that’s not really too much of a loss, not when you look at the raw power Chris Davis will offer the lineup – in fact, I’d be fine with it if the Rangers just traded Catalanotto to some NL team for a a bag of peanuts, and where done with it. I still say his contract is the worst signing Jon Daniels has ever made.
Davis should join the team tonight in Houston, although Max Ramirez was originally scheduled to start at first base tonight against lefty Wandy Rodriguez – we’ll see if the Rangers want Davis to make his debut against a left-hander, or if they wait until Friday when Brett Myers goes for the Phillies.
No matter what they do though, just remember this: expect some strikeouts, especially the first few games. Davis is a guy who will probably strike out 150 times in the Majors – he projects to be kind of like an Adam Dunn, only with less walks and a (hopefully) higher batting average. His main tool is his raw power, which is expected to make up for his K’s and lack of walks, so if he comes up and just starts slugging homers, even if he’s hitting .250 he’ll be in fairly good shape.
Anyway, congrats to you, Chris Davis – I wish you many happy home run trots, buddy, and I hope you kick some serious ass so you don’t have to go back to AAA.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: First Major League hit, First Major League homer, Luis Mendoza, Max Ramirez
Wednesday was a dreaded day for Texas Ranger fans. For the first time this season, the Rangers found themselves without either of their 3-4 hitters, Milton Bradley or Josh Hamilton in the lineup, and as a result, the batting order almost looked like something out of a bad dream. Facing off against the Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, the Rangers needed some new heroes, fast - and they may have found them in Max Ramirez and Luis Mendoza, whose timely contributions would carry Texas to an improbable 3-2 victory.
Of course, you’ve got to give a some credit to Rangers starter Scott Feldman, too – Feldman may have had his shortest outing of the season last night, throwing 99 pitches in the span of just four innings, but he set the tone for the Ranger pitchers by keeping his head and working out of almost every jam he got into. Of the 8 baserunners allowed by Feldman(on 6 hits and 2 walks), only 2 scored, and they both came on a 2-run homer in the second by Michael Bourn. Other than that, Feldman fought hard to get the key outs he needed to, and that set the stage for the pitchers who followed him, and for Max Ramirez.
The 23-year old Ramirez was making just his second Major League start, and his first as a catcher last night but it sure didn’t seem to phase him any. He picked up his first Major League hit with a single in the top of the second and looked solid behind the plate as well, earning praise from manager Ron Washington for his handling of the pitchers:
“We certainly weren’t at full strength but that kid behind the plate did a great job,” Washington said. “Not only swinging the bat but handling our pitching staff. The kid knows how to swing the bat, but the thing I wanted to see was him handling the pitching staff and get them through nine innings. He did just that. That’s what matters most and he did an excellent job.”
The big moment for Ramirez however, came in the 4thinning. With the Rangers down 2-1, Frank Catalanotto rapped an innocent 2 out single to right to keep things going for Max. Roy Oswalt, who had struck out the first two batters of the inning, fell behind 3-1 to Max, and then tried to challenge “the new guy” with a fastball in the zone.
408 feet later, the score was 3-2 Rangers.
“I can’t believe it,” Ramirez said. “It was so exciting. My first home run, my first game behind the plate, a really good game. I felt good behind the plate. I tried to do my best job.”
Even though the Rangers would not score again for the rest of the game, neither would the Astros, as the Rangers managed to keep them in check from the second inning on.
Scott Feldman left after the 4th innning of course, meaning he would not be eligible for the win - but if he wasn’t eligible for it, the guy who replaced him most certainly would be. Four days after earning his first Major League save by tossing three scoreless innings against the Nationals, Luis Mendoza turned in some more superb relief, this time when it really counted. He went three sharp innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 2 – an absolutely huge, huge performance, as it allowed the Rangers to go straight to setup man Eddie Guardado, and skip their inconsistent and shaky middle relief corps altogether.
Guardado turned in a scoreless 8th, thanks to a little help from Frank Catalanotto, who turned a spectacular double play to help Eddie get around a leadoff double, and all that was left was for CJ Wilson to close it out in the 9th. Of course, that hasn’t been an easy proposition for CJ these days, and last night was really no exception. He allowed a leadoff double to Ty Wigginton, and then walked Michael Bourn with2 out (which may or may not have had more to do with the umpire than CJ’s pitches). Ramon Vazquez then bobbled a grounder at third which should have ended the game, but instead loaded the bases for Miguel Tejada. But Tejada grounded harmlessly to short, a perfect example of the Astrosfrusteration in this game – they went 0-9 with RISP, and left 10 men on base, a testament to how lucky and good the Rangers pitchers where last night.
This win all but nails down the Silver Boot Trophy for the Rangers - unless they lose by more than 11 runs tomorrow, the boot will be coming back to Arlington for another year. I think though the two most important things to take away from this game however, are the performances of MaxRam and Mendoza.
MaxRam’s defense last night looked pretty serviceable to me, quite contrary to his reputation as a poor defensive player. Of course this is only one game (hello sample size) but if Max can prove just adequate defensively while displaying the hitting prowess he did last night, he is going to assert himself as just as strong a candidate for the role of our future starting catcher as Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden, instead being limited to the duties of primary DH and backup catcher as many people (including myself) have projected him as due to his reputation. Of course, some might think it premature to say that after only one start, but after what he displayed last night in his game calling abilities, I am willing to believe it is at the very least a possibility.
As for Luis Mendoza, I’ve mentioned this before, but I really think he may have a great future in the bullpen. This latest performance should earn him a few more innings in some key middle-relief situations – and if he continues to excel, I could see him possibly becoming our 7th inning guy with that turbo-sinker of his. Once things for certain, he seems to have better stuff than just a long man – but the rotation seems to be full up right now, so the Rangers might not have much choice in the matter if they want to truly get the most out of his abilites.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Hank Balock, Jamey Wright, Joaquin Benoit, Josh Hamilton, trade talk
Further proof that wins and losses are a relatively useless stat for pitchers: Eric Hurley took his first Major League loss Tuesday night by allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. So how did that happen? Well, in short, the Rangers offense was nowhere to be found for the first 8 innings, Joaquin Benoit continued to struggle, and a 11th-hour rally fell short as the Rangers lost 4-3.
The Rangers offense produced a quick run in the first inning, thanks to an Ian Kinsler leadoff double and a Michael Young RBI single. But they got shut down after that, as the 36-year old Brian Moehler proceeded to hold the Rangers to just one run on 5 hits and 2 walks in his 6.1 innings.
Of course Texas was once again missing Milton Bradley from the lineup, but this time their offense took an even bigger blow in the 5th inning, when Josh Hamilton was removed from the game with inflammation in his right knee. Apparently, Hamilton first aggravated the knee last week when he made a diving catch on a Chipper Jones fly ball in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Braves. Since then, it’s been an on-and-off condition, and he started to feel it again in the first inning last night when he came up for his first AB. He tried to grit it out, but apparently couldn’t continue after missing a diving catch in a Ty Wigginton floater in the 4th. Brandon Boggs replaced him at the start of the 5th, and proceeded to go 1-for-2.
This is the same knee that Hamilton underwent two arthroscopic surgeries on in 2006, so there is some history here – the early determination is that there is no structural damage to the knee, but Josh will be reevaluated today, and is currently listed as day-to-day. We reeeally better hope this isn’t serious folks – all I can say is, if we lose Hamilton for an extended period of time, our already-slumping run production is going to take an even bigger nosedive.
Getting back to the game, the Astros took the lead by scoring two in the second inning off Eric Hurley, who otherwise had a very economical and efficient outing. Although he still gave up his usual amount of fly balls (4-12 GB/FB ratio), walked 3 and only struck out one, he was only at 88 pitches when he was pulled after 6 innings with the score 2-1.
In fact, Hurley probably could have gone another inning, but Ron Washington decided to go to the bullpen a little early instead. Frank Francisco came in and tossed a scoreless 7th, but the Rangers also wasted a big chance in the top of the inning when they loaded the bases with 2 out, only to have Brandon Boggs hit a long flyout to center field.
It was in the 8th when things melted down though – for some reason, Ron decided to bring on Joaquin Benoit, despite his well-documented struggles this season. Well, Benoit melted down again, issuing a walk to the first batter he faced, and then giving up a home run to Lance Berkman, making it 4-1 Houston. Carlos Lee followed with a double, and after a flyout by Hunter Pence, Benoit issued a second walk, prompting Washington to finally remove him and bring in Josh Rupe, who got out of the inning by inducing a lineout double play.
That homer really hurt though, because Ramon Vazquez blasted a 2-run shot of his own in the top of the 9th - a shot that would have put the Rangers ahead if not for the lack of ability on the part of Benoit, whose troubles, as Evan Grant noted, just seem to be compounding as the season rolls on.
After putting up a 2.20 ERA in May, the wheels have come off since the calendar turned to June for Benoit, as he’s given up 8 hits, 8 walks and 8 runs, including 3 homers in just 4.1 innings this month. According to Mark Connor, the main problem has been Benoit’s lack of control:
“It just looks like he’s pulling off of every fastball and trying to be a little too fine,” pitching coach Mark Connor said. “His stuff is good enough that even if it’s not 95 mph, he can get guys out at 92 or 93. He just needs to stay on line to the plate and trust it. His location has not been good. That’s it in a nutshell.”
What’s been causing the lack of command however, is still a mystery all unto itself - Benoit maintains his am is healthy enough to pitch, but it sure hasn’t seemed like it for awhile now. Who knows what it is that ails him, but one thing’s for certain: the Rangers screwed up when they didn’t take their chance to put him on the DL last week (in fact, in a interesting side-note, Robinson Tejeda, the guy who was DFA’d so Benoit could remain on the active roster was just claimed off waivers by the Royals yesterday). Benoit’s problem has gone beyond struggles, it’s bordering on outright ineffectiveness – he should be figuring things on a rehab assignment in the minors, not costing us games in the Majors.
Speaking of relief pitchers, congrats to Jamey Wright, whose wife gave birth to their second child on Monday. That does however have the Rangers playing a man short in the bullpen for at least one more day though, as Wright won’t return until Thursday – yet another reason why it’s not good to have a nearly handicapped reliever in your bullpen.
A quick update on Hank Blalock: Hank was again out of the lineup with his bruised hand yesterday in OKC, and could be out past Thursday. Since both OKC and AA Frisco are now off for their all-star breaks, Hank will join the team in Houston and go through some workouts, but the Rangers wanted him to play a 9 inning game at first base before they activated him.
“If he makes some remarkable improvement, things could change,” assistant general manager Thad Levine said. “But it was our desire for him to play [a full nine-inning game at first] when we sent him out, and it is still our desire.”
Oh well – more possible playing time for Max Ramirez, I guess…
And now, we interrupt this blog entry for a required reading alert: Joey Matschulat and Jason Parks have put together their top 25 Rangers prospect rankings over at Baseball Time in Arlington, and they have done a simply awesome job. I won’t spoil any of the list here, but let me just say that it’s stuff like this that illustrates the job Jon Daniels has done in rebuilding our farm system in this past year – we are going to have the makings of a very exciting young team in a season or two, provided everything goes right.
Evan Grant has another newsletter out, and says the Rangers might want to consider just holding onto their chips at the trade deadline this year. I’m sort of in agreeance with part of that, I suppose – we shouldn’t be trying to move our top trade chips like Vicente Padilla, Kevin Millwood and Milton Bradley, we should be letting the deals come to us - and if we don’t find a deal that suits our liking for any of those three, then yeah, you shouldn’t trade them just to be trading them.
However, there are some deals that need to be made – for example, the Rangers need to move Gerald Laird to make way for their young catchers in Saltalamacchia, MaxRam and Teagarden. They also need to move Hank Blalock out of the way of Chris Davis sooner rather than later, and if at all possible, Frank Catalanotto needs to be dumped on some National League team who needs a good pinch-hitter. Of course, there’s no guarantee that Laird will be back before the deadline, or that Blalock and Catalanotto actually have any value left on the trade market, but those are guys we need to be selling at the deadline just so we can clear some spots on the roster. Also, another thing to consider is the Rangers have some needs themselves – namely, a need for a quality, fairly young relief pitcher who still has some service time left and can shore up our beleagured bullpen. And that’s just the kind of return I think Balock or Laird might fetch – and if we play our cards right, I could even see Gerald getting us a decent young starting pitcher.
Quick hits: Max Ramirez is going to make his first Major League start at catcher tomorrow - it should be really interesting to actually get a firsthand look at his defense behind the plate… Brandon McCarthy has begun throwing off a mound again, but still won’t be back until April first at the soonest.
Today it’s Scott Feldman vs. Roy Oswalt – Feldman is coming off a start he should have won, but the Ranger bullpen blew it. Oswalt meanwhile, is just beginning to settle down this month after a very rough start to the season. This might be a pretty sorry offensive game for the Rangers though, considering they’ll be lacking both Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley – I dread to think what the lineup card is going to look like tomorrow.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Ian Kinsler, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
Sorry I missed my usual game recap for Sunday’s game against the Nationals – I wasn’t able to catch the game thanks to some issues with MLB.com’s media player that I still haven’t been able to resolve (I don’t think my computer likes MLB.com very much). So as you might imagine, I really didn’t have a whole lot to say about that game anyway. But there where a few notable highlights that I’ll start you off with here, as we run down Sunday and Monday’s Ranger notes real quick:
The Rangers won 5-3, thanks to a Frank Catalanotto pinch-hit RBI single that broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th – as Evan Grant notes, Cat is now the best active pinch-hitter in Major League baseball, sporting a .292 average and a .382 OBP as a pinch-hitter in his career. Not sure if that actually means anything for his trade value, but I’d like to think it does.
Max Ramirez went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts in his Major League debut – in fact, he was the one Catalanotto pinch-hit for in the 8th. Ouch. I’m not worried though - he’s supposed to be a great natural hitter, so he should be able to adjust to the big leagues before too long.
I do wonder though, that if maybe the Rangers have called him up a little prematurely – with Milton Bradley’s health apparently limiting him to DH again (more on that later) I’m not sure that Max will be able to get enough consistent AB’s in the Majors to make a very seamless transition. Now that the initial euphoria of having Frisco’s resident Beasticon called up has passed, I really kinda wish the Rangers had just brought up Kevin Richardson (the backup at AAA Oklahoma) or signed a cheap veteran (a la Adam Melhuse) to be a scrub backup for awhile, instead of throwing Max into a role where his playing time might all of a sudden become a premium. After all, Ron Washington kinda has a history of not liking young “unproven” players, unless they’re providing some kind of immediate production. Of course, Max has played all of one game, but he apparently didn’t look to good, and it appears he’s going to have to compete with Milton Bradley and eventually Hank Blalock (two proven veterans) for most of his playing time. And that sounds like a losing battle to me, unless Max comes out tomorrow in Houston and goes 3-4 or something (which is of course, quite possible).
Another highlight of the game was Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s laser beam throw in the 6th inning to gun down Christian Guzman, the Nationals leadoff man, trying to steal second - according to Joey Matschulat, it was “one of the best pure throws by a Rangers catcher all season.”
Salty meanwhile, who is 2-3 in throwing out runners since Laird went on the DL, credited Vicente Padilla for getting the ball to the plate quickly, and allowing him to make a good strong throw:
“I knew I had enough time to step to the base and make a good throw,” Saltalamacchia said. “[Padilla] did a great job of getting the ball home quickly so I had a chance at the runner.”
Lets hope this continues.
As for Milton Bradley, he was out of the lineup for a 5th consecutive game on Sunday, and will now be limited to pinch-hitting for the remaining three interleague road games in Houston – although Ron Washington said he could play in a “tight situation”, whatever that means. Once the Rangers return home to face the Phillies, Bradley will once again be the primary DH, and will get infrequent starts in the outfield as he proves ready for them. As I said above, this, and the eventual return of Hank Blalock to play first base is going to be what puts a crimp in Max Ramirez’s playing time.
But when Hank will be getting back seems to be a pretty big question right now. Blalock has had – stop me if you’ve heard all this before – another setback in his recovery. Apparently, he bruised his right wrist diving for a ball in Sundays game in OKC, and was scratched from Monday’s start. Instead of being activated from the DL today, he will be reevaluated instead. Sigh.
One more injury note: Gerald Laird’s MRI results confirmed he is suffering a pulled hamstring – but not torn like Blalock’s was earlier this year. Dr. Keith Meister has given Laird’s recovery a window of 4-6 weeks, however – in other words he might not be back in time for the trade deadline after all. And that might not bode well if you’re like me, and really don’t want to see that stupid catching platoon start back up again anytime soon.
Now for something a little more on the bright side - Josh Hamilton has almost locked up the starting CF spot in the All-Star game. He’s remains second in the AL OF voting, with 1,791,623 votes. And that’s not all: Ian Kinsler has closed to within 166,523 votes of Boston’s Dustin Pedroia in the AL second baseman category, and could conceivably pass him – and of course, whoever’s #1 at the end of voting will get to start the All-Star game.
If you look at the numbers, it’s kind of amazing that Pedroia is in front period – his line of .282/.328/.408 just doesn’t compare to Kinsler’s line of .302/.362/.502. Kinsler also has clear edges in OPS (864 to 736) and OPS+ (131 to 94). Oh, and then there’s my favorite number, the VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) where Kinsler’s 31.1 VORP absolutely owns Pedroia’s 12.6 VORP.
So lets get it done folks: Ian Kinsler for AL starting second baseman 2008! The VORP pretty much tells the whole story.
I’m afraid I’ve got to hurry the rest of this along again, so it’s quick hits time: Evan Grant’s game story focuses on CJ Wilson and Vicente Padilla finding success with their fastballs… MLB.com’s Shawn Shroyer has had a couple nice pieces out on Rangers prospects Tommy Hunter and Elvis Andrus that are worth checking out… Richard Durrett has a piece up on Nolan Ryan and his ties to the Houston Astros… the Rangers have tossed their hat into the ring on the bidding for 16 year-old Dominican pitching prospect Michael Inoa, a 6′7″ 210 pound RHP who is considered to be the “crown jewel” of this years crop of Latin American players.
Today it’s Eric Hurley vs. Houston right-hander Brian Moehler. This will be yet another challenge for Hurley, having to pitch to the Astros high-powered lineup and do a little hitting as well – if he has to give up long fly balls, lets hope they head out into the cavernous center field that Minute Maid Park features, and not down the lines.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
After the low-scoring 14-inning affair on Friday, the Rangers sure needed a game like this one. Unlike the way so many games have unfolded recently, Texas got everything they needed for a win, and then some - Kason Gabbard pitched well for the first 5 innings, Frankie Francisco bailed him out of a huge jam when he needed to, and the Ranger offense saw several guys snap some recent hitting slumps as they pummeled the Washington bullpen late for an impressive 13-3 victory.
Things started off on a high note last night, with Ian Kinsler nailing a leadoff homer out to left field on just the second pitcher from Nats rookie starter Garret Mock. Texas added two more in the first inning on a 2-run double by David Murphy, giving Kason Gabbard a nice cushion from the very start.
Gabbard, for his part, turned in his second solid start since being recalled from AAA Oklahoma last weekend, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 5.1 innings. The 2 walks where Gabbard’s fewest since May 13th when he only walked one batter in a start against Seattle, and his 5 strikeouts where a season high, as he picked up his second win of the year, and his first since April 4th.
Gabbard cruised through the first 3 innings, until he tweaked his ankle running out a run-scoring double play ball in the top of the fourth. Whether it had anything to do with the ankle or not, Gabbard allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth, and another in the 5thbefore he was pulled with runners on first and second and one out in the 6th. With the Rangers 4-3 lead in jeopardy, Frankie Francisco was brought in to get out of the inning – but the first thing he did was allow a single to Paul LoDuca to load the bases. With the drama climaxing, Frankie induced a pop fly to center from Wily Mo Pena. It wasn’t deep enough for the Nats to score the tying run though, because #1, Dimitri Young was the runner at third base, and #2 Josh Hamilton did a nice job of charging and catching the ball, and throwing a strike to home plate. That turned out to be the pivotal moment in the game, because after a 10-pitch battle with pinch-hitter Corey Casto, Frankie got him to line out to short to end what turned out to be the Nationals last chance at doing any damage, as the Rangers offense was about to blow things open.
With Garrett Mock (who had settled down after his rough first inning to pretty much keep the Rangers in check up till he was pinch hit for) out of the game, the Rangers where able to go to town on the Nats bullpen, as they batted around in the top of the 7th to plate 7 runs. Michael Young, who went 3-6 on the night to break out of his recent 2-38 slump, got it started with a 2-run single, and Josh Hamilton followed with his Major-League leading 75th RBI. David Murphy also rapped a 2-run single that inning, and Ramon Vazquez hammered a 2 run double as the Nats had to use three different pitchers just to get out of the inning.
It was pretty much over after that impressive outburst, as Luis Mendoza (called up just yesterday from AAA when Doug Mathis was placed on the DL) came in and pitched the last three innings to earn his first Major League save. He showed some pretty impressive stuff those last three innings too, flashing an absolutely filthy sinker and touching 95 MPH as he allowed just one hit and struck out 3. If he doesn’t find his way back into the starting rotation this season, I’ve got a feeling that Mendoza just might carve himself a niche in the bullpen if he can come in a mow people down in one turn through the lineup like that.
Most significant though where some of the slumps that got snapped by Rangers hitters last night – the most evident was of course Michael Young’s aforementioned effort, but also snapping a big cold streak was David Murphy, whose 2-5, 3 RBI night snapped a 2-27 stretch. Ramon Vazquez also snapped a slightly smaller 1-13 stretch by going 3-4 with 3 RBI, and even Josh Hamilton re-energized his bat, as he had been 0-for his last 10 with 3 strikeouts when the game started.
The only bad news was Milton Bradley was not in the lineup for the 4th straight game thanks to his strained quad, which is apparently still tender. He did pinch-hit again in the 7th, this time coming away with a base hit - but he was immediately pinch-run for by Chris Shelton, so apparently the leg’s not ready to run the bases yet. According to TR Sullivan’s tidbits, the Rangers still don’t think he’ll go on the DL, but they have now pushed back his return to Tuesday (which should be the same day that Hank Blalock comes off the DL, by the way). Sigh. I guess this is the argument against the idea of signing Milton to a contract extension.
In other important news, Ron Washington has answered the questions as to what the club will do with the catching situation now that Gerald Laird is sidelined – and as expected, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will now be the full-time catcher, while Max Ramirez (who is scheduled to make his Rangers debut today playing first base) will be the backup catcher while also seeing time at first and DH.
“[Salty will] get the bulk of the catching,” Washington said. “This is a great opportunity for him.”
Ron did say he wanted Salty to focus on working with the pitching staff and blocking, and suggested that the Rangers will live with the throwing as it improves. And it’s worth noting that last night, Salty pretty much did exactly that: he seemed to do an excellent job handling Gabbard, Francisco and Mendoza, and made a few pretty good stops on some breaking stuff in the dirt as well – so far so good.
Saltalamacchia meanwhile, has acknowledged the chance that he’s been handed and said he hopes that playing everyday will help him take his game to the next level.
“I hope being in there every single day will help me get in a rhythm and get into a rhythm working with the pitchers,” Saltalamacchia said. “I’ve been working on defense every day whether I play or not: calling pitches, throws to second, blocking balls, getting set, receiving, trying to stay in tune with all that so that I feel like I’m in there every day.
“I’ve got to take this as an opportunity, just like when I first got called up. Anytime you get into a game, you’ve got to seize the opportunity. I just need to play and help my team win.”
“Just because I’m the starter now doesn’t mean I’m going to be starting for the whole season,” Saltalamacchia said. “If I hit 1.000 while Gerald is out, I still think they are going to split our time when he comes back. What I can do right now is show them what I can do every day. I can show them I can be a better me.”
Lets hope he can do just that.
Quick hits: Hank Blalock started his rehab assignment in OKC last night, playing 5 innings at first base, and going 2-3 with 2 singles. Chris Davis also went 3-4 with a triple and an RBI in the game, and Matt Harrison pitched 8 strong innings to secure the win… the Rangers players and their families got to pay a visit to the White House yesterday, and meet with former Rangers owner President Bush.
Series finale in Washington today – Max Ramirez will be making his Major League debut, so that’s something to tune in for. The pitching matchup is Vicente Padilla against Nats lefty John Lannan – lets hope the offense doesn’t backslide against the lefty today. I’d really hate to lose a series to the Washington Nationals.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: CJ Wilson, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
It was not a very good homecoming for the Texas Rangers in Washington Friday night. Returning to the spot from which their franchise had morphed 37 years ago, they not only saw their offense shut down and their bullpen futilely spent in the 14-inning 4-3 loss, they lost the veteran half of their catching platoon.
The Rangers pitchers at least did a pretty good job in this one – Kevin Millwood gave the Rangers 8 solid innings, allowing a total 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. Through 7 innings the Rangers lead 3-2, and it seemed Millwood might very well be on his way to a win, and a very important bullpen-saving performance. The only problem was he gave up a solo homer to Elijah Dukes to lead off the top of the 8th inning, which knotted the game at 3 for the next 6 innings.
The Rangers offense, for their part, did practically nothing after Ian Kinsler hit a base-clearing 3 run double in the top of the second. Without Milton Bradley in the lineup for a third consecutive day, they had just two hits and four baserunners from the third inning on, and completely failed to take advantage of a rare solid performance by their bullpen, which matched up with the Washington Nationals’ bullpen until Jamey Wright’s lack of control finally lead to the Rangers succumbing in the bottom of the 14th. After a HBP and 2 walks, Wright struck out 2, and appeared on the verge of getting out of the inning when the red-hot Dukes (who went 5-6 with 2 RBI, stole 2 bases, and fell a triple short of the cycle) grounded the first pitch he saw to the hole and past Michael Young to put a blessed end to one of the most boring and frustrating games the Rangers have had in 2008.
Of course, the real story wasn’t the lack of offense, or losing the game – the real story came in the 4th inning, when Gerald Laird pulled his right hamstring while beating out a bunt single. As he tore down the line, Gerald apparently felt his hamstring tighten just a few steps from the bag, and then give out just as he reached it. He immediately collapsed on the ground in pain, and had to be helped off the field by Milton Bradley and Ron Washington.
“It’s disappointing,” Laird said. “It’s tough to swallow. I want to be out there with my teammates. I felt I had made some adjustments from last year, and I felt I was playing pretty good. Lying on the grass I was saying to myself, ‘This is not happening … this is not happening.’ It’s tough to swallow.”
It is indeed a tough break for Laird who was putting up career-high numbers while platooning with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, hitting .306/.360/.437 in 183 at-bats - 50 points or more higher in all categories than his career line of .257/.308/.387.
Initially it was reported during the game that the strain was “mild” but I think everyone who saw Laird go down at first base had to know that that assessment was extremely optimistic. Later, Ron Washington confirmed that the situation was indeed as serious as it looked, saying
“He pulled it pretty bad. It’s certainly not going to be a day-to-day thing.”
Gerald says he wants to be back by the All-Star break, but the Rangers aren’t going to give a timeline for his return until the MRI results confirm whether or not his hamstring is indeed fully intact (there’s still a worst-case scenario it could be partially torn, like Hank Blalock’s was earlier this year). In any case, him returning by July 14th (the start of the break) seems like an awfully optimistic goal, although it would really be advantageous if he could get back sometime before the trade deadline on July 31st.
In his stead, the Rangers are going to call up Max Ramirez (who was acquired from Cleveland last year in the Kenny Lofton trade) from AA Frisco to serve as the backup catcher, while Jarrod Saltalamacchia should get his shot in the full-time role. Going into yesterday, Max’s line in Frisco was an otherworldly .362/.457/.651 in 235 AB’s with 16 home runs – 17 once you count the one he bashed in the first inning of yesterdays game (of which he was removed once the news of the callup came).
In promoting Ramirez, the Rangers did pass up their other top catching prospect Taylor Teagarden who many initially expected would get the promotion because of his superior defensive ability. But Teagarden has been dealing with a sore shoulder, is not yet on the 40 man roster, and is only currently hitting .246/.372/.447 in AAA Oklahoma. Also, unlike Max Ramirez (who can also play first base), Teagarden is strictly a catcher, meaning it would have been impossible to get him any kind of consistent at-bats, even if he was platooned with Saltalamacchia. And with the way Teagarden has struggled offensively this year, it’s probably pretty important that he continue to get consistent AB’s – so perhaps passing over him for now was the best call.
One thing to keep in mid about this callup though is his defense is even less impressive than Salty’s has been this year - he’s only thrown out 16 of 66 baserunners in AA, and Frisco manager Scott Little said awhile back that Max still needs to improve in ”receiving, throwing, blocking and game-calling” – basically everything. So if anyone out there is expecting Max to come up and somehow knock Salty out of the catchers role, don’t. Max will get his AB’s, make no mistake about it – as Ron Washington said:
”Ramirez is going to play. We’ll just wait and see when he gets here how much he’s going to play.”
But I’m willing to bet the vast majority of those at-bats will come at first base and DH – they should at least, because considering his defensive defences, it really doesn’t make any sense to play Max at catcher when you’ve got a golden chance to give Saltalamacchia the opportunity to snap out of his funk with some everyday playing time.
Of course, Salty’s gonna have some serious work to do – offensively he’s in the midst of 2-for-30 slump that has plummeted his numbers from a season-high .279/.417/.471 back on June 3rd down to an ugly .219/.342/.354 again. He did finally snap his streak of allowing 23 consecutive stolen bases last night after he replaced Laird however - and while he only threw out Nats catcher Jesus Flores on a botched hit-and-run, the throw he made was about as strong and on target as you can get, reinforcing the assessment that there is ability there which consistent playing time should help bring out.
This is it, folks – this wasn’t the way I wanted to see Salty get his shot at every day playing time, but it’s here, and the Rangers better let him try and make the most of it. If for some reason however, all they do is start another platoon with two below-average defensive catchers, it’s going to be beyond stupid and moronic - it’s going to be a travesty.
Anyway, moving on to some other stuff, TR Sullivan has a piece up on the struggles of the Rangers bullpen as a whole, noting that Doug Mathis was put on the DL yesterday, and Luis Mendoza was called up from AAA to take his place in the bullpen. Apparently, Mathis felt some stiffness in his shoulder during two bullpen sessions Thursday and Friday, prompting the Rangers to make the move. Also noted is that Ron Washington reaffirms that CJ Wilson is his closer for now, and the Rangers plan to try and ride this rough patch out:
“Right now, C.J. is still the closer,” Washington said. “If there needs to be a change, there will be some conversations first, but there hasn’t been any yet. He came into the season as our closer and we’re going to give him the opportunity to work through these rough times.”
Speaking of the closing situation, Evan Grant also gave us his take on the subject, basically saying that what the Rangers do with CJ Wilson should depend upon what direction they want to take the team, which is pretty much true.
Milton Bradley was held out from the lineup last night for the third game in a row - he did pinch-hit for the pitcher’s spot in the 10th inning (grounding out on one pitch), so apparently he can swing the bat, he just wasn’t ready to play right field yet. It was reported that Ron Washington expects him to play by the end of this series with the Nats, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether its today or tomorrow.
One thing’s for certain, the Rangers are sure missing his bat in the lineup – without him they’ve scored only 12 runs in the 39 innings since he was removed from the game on Tuesday. Furthermore, a couple key guys in the middle of the order are mired in slumps right now – after going 0-6 Friday, Michael Young is 2 for his last 38, and David Murphy is just 7 for his last 45. If the Rangers complete inability to score last night after the second inning was any evidence, Milton needs to come back soon.
Another missing bat, Hank Blalock starts his rehab assignment in AAA today, and will play three games with the Redhawks at first base before being reevaluated. As a result, everybody’s favorite beasticon Chris Davis (who just went 2-3 with another home run last night) will have to move to DH for 3 games. Now, that’s something that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me – why send Blalock to Oklahoma and displace Davis, who is tearing PCL pitchers a new ass right now and playing a great first base (from what I understand anyway), when you could have sent him to AA Frisco where they don’t have one of our “prospects” playing first base? Not that it probably matters much of course, Davis still gets to hit, but that’s just something that bugs me a little for some reason.
Quick hits time: several Rangers players including CJ Wilson visited the Walter Reed hospital Friday morning, and apparently it helped bring things into perspective for CJ, who said ”I blew a save, they were wounded in battle. Blowing one save is not as catastrophic. … I hate to break it to Rangers fans, but that’s the way it is.”… Kevin Sherrington has a feel-good, Jim Morris kind of collumn up on Oklahoma reliever Brian Gordon, who apparently has gotten some help from Nolan Ryan in his late-career conversion from outfielder pitcher.
Kason Gabbard goes for the Rangers today against Nats rookie RHP Garrett Mock, who will be making just his second career start. Gabbard is coming off a solid (but not spectacular) start against the Mets last time out. The Rangers could really use some innings from Gabbard today, because after the dragout last night, the only pitchers that are fresh in the bullpen are Luis Mendoza, CJ Wilson and Eddie Guardado – and both Wilson and Guardado could probably stand to go another day without pitching, too.
Boy, what a difference one at-bat can make in your standing as a “clutch hitter” or a “run producer”. Michael Young entered the bottom of the 9th yesterday in the midst of a 1-32 funk, the longest cold streak at the plate in his entire career. But he left the 9th inning a hero, after he punched a walk-off single past a diving Mark Teixeira to give the Rangers a hard fought 5-4 victory.
Things started off pretty slow for both teams offensively, as Scott Feldman and Braves rookie Charlie Morton faced off in a pitchers duel for the first 5 innings. The Braves managed to squeeze out a couple runs in the 3rd and 4th innings thanks to a leadoff walk/single combo and a leadoff double that put runners in scoring position with no outs each inning. In those same two innings, the Rangers managed to leave a man at third, as Michael Young and Brandon Boggs each missed a golden 2-out RBI opportunity while the Braves lead 2-0.
But Feldman would shut the Braves down for the next three innings, allowing just one hit after the 4th inning, and the Rangers offense would manage a comeback against Morton, who held them in check for the first 4 frames. And coincidentally, it would be the two guys who had failed with runners on third in the 3rd and 4th innings making good on their second chances to rally the Rangers from behind. Michael Young hit a sac fly in the bottom of the 5th to make it 2-1, but it was Brandon Boggs who struck the big blow in the bottom of the 6th.
With runners on first and second and nobody out in the 6th, Boggs stepped to the plate against lefty reliever Jeff Ridgway with the apparent intention to play a little small ball – he missed two bunt attempts to quickly fall to 0-2. And thank god he missed those bunts, because the 0-2 pitch turned out to be a curveball that tailed too far over the inner half of the plate. Boggs swung and drilled it down the left field line, fair and gone for a 3-run homer. Just like that, it was 4-2 Rangers, and when he left the mound after the 7th inning, Scott Feldman was in position to win his first ballgame since May 9th. But unfortunately for Feldman, who has seen literally just about every one of his strong efforts ruined by bad defense, poor bullpen work, or a lack of offense this year (he has made “quality” starts in 6 out of his 10 outings, but has just one win) something in the bullpen was about to go haywire again.
Eddie Guardado, working for a third consecutive day, battled around a 15-pitch at-bat by Gregor Blanco to toss a perfect frame, K’ing 2. But for the 9th inning, Ron Washington chose to bring on CJ Wilson, who had worked 3 of the previous 4 days and had just thrown 28 pitches and taken the loss just the night before. The results where almost predictable.
CJ walked Mark Teixeira to lead off the inning, struck out Kelly Johnson, and then gave up a double to Greg Norton. Runners where on second and third with one out for Jeff Francouer, who had reached on CJ’s fielding error Wednesday night to spark the Atlanta rally. This time he hit a little roller past the right of the mound… which CJ reached out his glove for and tipped it, stopping it before it could roll to the shortstop Young. Francouer reached on what went as a single and a run scored to make it 4-3 and CJ was in hot water again. This time though, Ron Washington came out to get him before things went any further, presumably because of his pitch count, which was already up 21 - just 7 shy of what he’d thrown the previous night.
Jamey Wright came in to finish the inning, but immediately gave up a sac fly to tie it a 4 before he got a groundout to end things in the top of the 9th. Fortunately for the Rangers and their bullpen, the game would not go to extra innings however, as Ian Kinsler doubled to lead off the bottom of the 9th against the Braves Blaine Boyer. Will Ohman was brought in to replace Boyer, and got pinch-hitter Chris Shelton to pop out bunting. That made it Michael Young’s turn, and the rest, as they say, is history. Young snapped his 1-32 streak with a base hit into right field that scored Kinsler, and the Rangers sent the crowd home happy with some walkoff drama.
Still, all the drama wouldn’t have been necessary had CJ Wilson been able to lock down that save – and his inability to do so has the debate over whether or not he should continue as the closer raging anew. After the game, some of the Rangers officials finally weighed in on situation – although Ron Washington was pretty non-committal in his comments:
“I haven’t thought about that yet,” said Washington, who wants to talk to pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti about it. “We’ll get together and if there needs to be something done about it, we will. If not, you’ll see C.J. take the ball the next time a closing situation comes up.”
Nolan Ryan on the other hand made an excellent point:
“I think if you look at our organization, he’s our closer,” Ryan said. “I think you have to continue to run him out there. C.J. is the one most suited to be our closer at this point in time.”
I myself suggested yesterday that perhaps it was time to look into putting Eddie Guardado at closer if CJ doesn’t improve sooner rather than later. And who knows, at some point, we may still have to wind up doing that. But right now, Nolan’s assessment of the situation is correct - we don’t have any better options. And furthermore, as Adam J. Morris pointed out yesterday over at Lone Star Ball, pulling him from the closers role now would do nothing for his confidence and mentality. Whether CJ is a closer going forward or not (and that seams to be a decreasing likelihood) he is going to likely be a valuable piece of either the rotation or the bullpen’s late relief corps sometime in the future – and as such, it’s important to let him try to work through this just as you would with any other promising, still relatively young player.
So to conclude - I don’t think they need to promote Guardado into CJ’srole, not yet. If we get to the end of the month, and things haven’t improved, then it’ll be time to revisit this – but for now, CJ deserves a few more save opportunities to get his stuff together, even if it does cause ulcers among Ranger fans. That’s my opinion at least… for now.
Quick hits: Milton Bradley was out of the lineup after all yesterday, due to his his injured quad, and he may be out of the lineup today as well… with the Rangers heading to Washington, where the roots of the Ranger franchise began, Richard Durrett has an interesting organizational timeline up… the incomparable Joey Matschulat has an awesome piece up on Elvis Andrus… and finally, CJ Wilson got a haircut.
Kevin Millwood vs. Tim Redding tonight in Washington, folks – we’ll see if the Rangers can pull more than one game above .500 this weekend against the Nats- so far this year they are 2-15 in games after they pull even with .500, though.
