A lonestar in california

Every once in awhile, you just have a game where you really get your ass kicked. This isn’t the first time it has happened to the Rangers this year (far from it) but there really isn’t much more to say about Friday night’s 7-1 loss to the Mets.

Scott Feldman got lit up for the first time this season, allowing 7 runs over 5+ innings of work, and the Ranger offense just could not solve Oliver Perez, who held them to just 3 hits in 7 innings and striking out 8. Two of those hits where by Josh Hamilton, who went 2-3 with a home run in the first, and the other was by Feldman himself – the rest off the offense though, got utterly owned.

Despite this, the Rangers did manage to bunch together a couple hits and a walk in the 6th to give them a shot at turning the game in their favor, but they failed to get the job done. Feldmanlead the inning off with his first career hit, after which Ian Kinslerand Michael Young each flew out. But Josh Hamilton kept the inning alive with a single, and Milton Bradley drew a walk to load the bases. That brought up #5 hitter David Murphy, who struck out on 3 pitches to end the inning.

After the game, Lone Star Ball’s Adam J. Morris pointed out the folly of Murphy even being in that situation. Murphy has scuffled badly against left-handers this year, and is now hitting .233/.255/.344 after going 0-3 with 2 K’s last night before he was removed in a double switch in the 6th. Despite those numbers though, Ron Washington keeps running him out there against left-handed pitching – and batting him 5th, no less.

It made no sense last night with Oliver Perez, a lefty who had allowed just 8 hits all year against lefties coming into the game (a line of .123/.284/.231) on the mound, and it has not really made any sense at any point this year when you’ve got Brandon Boggs, a switch hitter who has put up a .995 OPS against left-handers this year (and has killed lefties in the minors), and Marlon Byrd who has a .282 career average against lefties on the bench. When you look at this situation, and when you remember how Ron Washington threw Ben Broussard, a career platoon player with a .225 career average against LHP’sout there against both lefties and righties earlier this season, it really makes you wonder: does Ron not know what split stats mean? Or does he just not care? Either way, the man seems quite ignorant when it comes how he utilizes the players his roster, and this is another fine example of it.

But enough about that crappy game, we’ve got better things to discuss.

Something I mentioned in my last entry, but didn’t get the chance to revisit yesterday was the Milton Bradley/Royals announcer story. Since the story first broke, Bradley has come out with his side of things, and video has surfaced with what the KC announcers really said.

Despite what was claimed initially, Ryan Lefebvre and his partner Frank White did indeed have themselves a Milton Bradley “rip session” – starting when White questioned if ”with all the things [Josh Hamilton] does right, does he balance the scale with Milton Bradley on the ballclub”. Lefebvre agreed, and went on to say Hamilton would make a good role model for Bradley “who clearly has no control over himself”. Lefebvre also said that Bradley had refused to allow himself to be liked by fans or rooted for by fans, and White piled on by calling Bradley an “unpredictable teammate” and suggesting he makes it hard for players and coaches to work with him. There probably would have been more, too, had a base hit up the middle not halted their joint rant.

Bradley, for his part, caught the comments while he was in the clubhouse going over video of an AB. He said he became concerned because he new his mother was watching the game, and he felt he had to set the record straight. So after the game, he headed up to the KC broadcasters booth, but it wasn’t to cause a problem.

“He never met me, so, when the game was over, I wanted to introduce myself to him,” Bradley said. “Because it’s amazing when you actually meet somebody how different they become.”

I have to admit, at first I myself doubted Milton’s intentions due to his reputation. But after actually seeing the comments the KC announcers made, I’d say Bradley was 100% justified in what he did - and that the KC announcers seriously need to learn to keep themselves in check when it comes to personally degrading players. They should know better than that, if not only for the sake of common sense, but because they’re the ones with they Jose Guillen, and his reputation for HGH use and ego problems on their team.

In other news, Hank Blalock now has a timetable for his return – he expects to be back in action by next Friday against the Nationals. The incision on his hand from his Carpal Tunnel syndrome surgery has healed and he is now taking batting practice again – once he gets back, Ron Washington has said he’ll slide him right back into the #5 hole in the lineup. Which, should he hit David Murphy 6th, won’t be the most ideal lineup – that’ll give the Rangers 3 left-handed batters in their 3-4-5-6 combo, meaning opposing teams with a left-hander in their bullpen would have the perfect spot to use their LOOGY’s in. So hopefully, Ron will grow a brain and bat Murphy 7th instead when Hank gets back… but I wouldn’t count on it.

Now if you want a reminder as to why it was stupid to move Blalock to first base, here you go: Chris Davis is tearing AAA apart, and at the rate he’s going should be ready for a callup long before September. In fact, MLB.com’s Shawn Shroyer even suggests in that peice that Davis’ play of late might have the Rangers “rethinking” the move of Blalock to first. Interesting.

With Kason Gabbard due to be activated for tonight’s start, the Rangers are going to have to make a roster move today – the two obvious options are to send down Josh Rupe or drop Robinson Tejeda. Both pitched last night, Rupe going an inning and Tejeda going two – Rupe allowed 2 inherited runners to score, while Tejeda didn’t give up a hit and struck out 2.

There could be another option for getting Gabbard on the roster though: putting Joaquin Benoit on the DL. Apparently Benoit has complained of shoulder pain of late, and said he was “not ready to pitch in a Major League game” before yesterday. Obviously, this would explain his recent ineffectiveness, but apparently this is also the same shoulder soreness that has plagued him since he came to spring training not having thrown in three months this year. Which is kinda concerning to me, at least – I mean this is June, I’d think his arm should be back in shape by now - hopefully we won’t be finding out there’s a deeper problem there anytime soon. Whether he goes on the DL or not, it’s been quite a fall from glory this year for the Rangers 2007 pitcher of the year – I guess he’s paying the price for not taking care of his arm this winter.

Kason Gabbard vs. Pedro Martinez tonight. Pedro’s coming off the DL (where he has spent most of his time since the Mets signed him) and Gabbard’s coming back up from AAA, so this game will likely either be very well pitched, or be a slugfest. According to Mark Connor, Gabbard was able to regain his fastball command in Oklahoma – I sure hope that’s true as he’s gonna need it tonight.