A lonestar in california

It’s been quite a week for debuts and milestones, hasn’t it? First it was Max Ramirez, making his Major League debut on Sunday, and tallying his first hit and home run Wednesday in Houston. Yesterday, it was Chris Davis cranking his first homer as part of a 5-run third inning that helped the Rangers to an 8-7 win over the Phillies.

The Rangers, who have scored 69 runs in the first inning this season, got on the scoreboard immediately when Ian Kinsler cranked his 13th home run of the season off Phillies starter Brett Myers second pitch pf the ballgame. But their lead would not last for long, as the control problems that lead to a trip to AAA Oklahoma just about a month ago returned to bite Kason Gabbard.

Gabbard, who managed two decent starts in his first two games up from AAA, started the game off well enough - he struck out 3 in the first two innings, although he did walk 2 in the second. That may have been a precursor to the wheels coming off in the third, when he all of a sudden couldn’t seem to find the strike zone at all. He walked Eric Bruntlett to lead off the inning, made a fielding error on a comebacker to the mound, and then walked Chase Utley to load the bases. Jimmy Rollins tied the game with an RBI groundout, and that’s when the Rangers then chose to intentionally walk Pat Burrell to load the bases for Ryan Howard.

Now, why you would choose to load the bases by intentionally walking a guy who is 2 for his last 21 with one out in the third inning is kind of beyond me (especially when your pitcher isn’t throwing strikes), but that’s what Ron Washington did, and it proved costly. It wasn’t Ryan Howard who did the damage though – he struck out swinging for the second out of the inning – it was Pedro Feliz, who stepped in and socked the second pitch he saw out to left for a grand slam.

Fortunately for Gabbard however, the Ranger offense had an answer for the Phillies “grand” accomplishment – an immediate one. Ian Kinsler (who went 3-4 with 2 doubles to go along with his leadoff homer) doubled to lead off the bottom of the third, and then Michael Young and Josh Hamilton (who was back in the lineup last night sore hand and all) beat out back-to-back infield singles to score Kinsler. From there, Brett Myers continued to degenerate, issuing walks of Milton Bradley and David Murphy that forced in another run and lead to his removal from the game.

With nobody out and the bases loaded, the Philles brought on right-hander Clay Condrey from their bullpen. First thing he did was get Marlon Byrd to ground into his obligatory bases-loaded double play - if you’re counting, that Marlon’s third in 6 bases-loaded AB’s this year. It did plate a run to make it 5-3 though, and the next batter was Chris Davis - who Condrey apparently didn’t know had hit 23 home runs in 297 AB’s in the minors this year. If he had, he might have made it a point not to serve up the first pitch meatball that got hammered the other way for Davis’ first career home run. 

You couldn’t have picked a better spot for your first career homer if you tried – that one swing completed the 180-degree turnaround of the the 3rd inning, completely negating the Phillies 5-run outburst. Even though the rookie would strike out in each of his other 3 at-bats, that home run was more than enough to impress his teammates – as Milton Bradley put it “He’s got stupid pop”. CJ Wilson alluded to a more memorable comparison:

“He’s got just monster power,” Wilson said. “He’s a big Texan who reminds me of another corner infielder we used to have.”

Perhaps some of that comparison also comes from the glove Davis flashed last night as well – he looked smooth and natural at first, and also made a couple nice defensive plays, including a diving stop the 5th inning that likely saved a run. A natural first baseman who had to covert to third base last year and then back to first this offseason, Davis seems to be much better suited to first base:

“Last year at third, it was error after error, and it was really just me not moving my feet. I think I’m a little bit lighter this year in my weight and lighter on my feet, and being able to move makes it easier.”

Although first impressions are not always everything, Davis’ initial impression last night was sure a good-looking one  – it even had a few fans (on Hank Blalock bobblehead night no less) holding up “Hank who?” signs. As I’ve said before, the strikeouts are kind of expected, but if he continues to show the raw power, he just might have a chance at claiming the first base positon for good.

Getting back to the game, that 6-5 lead did not last very long for the Rangers either, as Chris Coste took Kason Gabbard deep to lead off the 5th – and two singles after that Gabbard was out of the ballgame. Josh Rupe took over and bailed him out of the inning by inducing a double play, but that didn’t make Gabbard’s line look any better: 6 runs allowed (although only one earned, thanks to his own error) through 3.1 innings pitched, on 4 hits and 5 walks, including 2 home runs. He did strike out 4, but only 39 of his 84 pitches went for strikes – it was just a pretty sorry excuse for a start, any way you look at it.

And after such an ineffective start, you had to know the questions would once again start flying around about his rotation spot – he’s already finding himself under fire from the DMN’s Jean Jacques Taylor, who suggests that its time to move Gabbard out of the rotation, and insert Luis Mendoza back into it. I’d probably be on board with that move - even though I’m not really sure Mendoza will be any better than Kameron Loe in the rotation, now might be be the perfect time to find out.

As for the remainder of this game, the Rangers mid relief/setup corps put on quite a show last night, as Josh Rupe, Frankie Francisico and Eddie Guardado combined to toss 4.2 innings of hitless ball. Milton Bradley crunched a go-ahead homer in the 5th (his 16th of the season) that ricocheted off the RF foul pole, and Josh Hamilton tacked on a final peice of insurance with a sac fly in the 8th. That turned out to be huge, as closer CJ Wilson once again teetered along the edge of a blown save, but managed to keep from falling over it – just barely.

Jayson Werth hammered a home run off CJ to start the top of the 9th and cut the lead to one. CJ later allowed a 2-out double to Pat Burrell, and Michael Young mishandled what should have been the final out of the game, a grounder off the bat of Ryan Howard that went as an infield hit. It was only with the tying run at third, that CJ finally gritted down and got the final out, inducing pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to ground one to short and preserving the 8-7 win by a margin of a bout… oh, 90 feet or so. No, it’s not like we have any better options for closer right now, but still… I think just about every Ranger fan out there is getting a little tired of these ulcer-inducing “saves”.

Quick hits: Hank Blalock has been shut down for a week after he told Dr. Keith Meister his hand was still sore after he did some light swinging Friday… this likely means Blalock will not be back by the All-Star break, which of course means more playing time for Chris Davis… Ron Washington does not want the Rangers to trade Vicente Padilla at the deadline this year, saying:

“Why do we want to move pitching again?” Washington said. “I hope all of that is just talk. If I get a vote, [it's] no. We need pitching.”

And finally, Rudy Jaramillo “blew out” his left knee working out in a pool yesterday – he needs knee replacement surgery, but will try to stick it out until the offseason so he can continue to coach.

Vicente Padilla will go against his former team today – he says it doesn’t matter to him that he’ll be playing against a team that tenured him for 5 years, but I’m not so sure I believe that. He’s probably gonna need some extra fire in him anyway – one of my favorite NL pitchers, lefty Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies, and he’s kind of good. 1.027 WHIP in 113 innings this year good. With the way the Rangers offense has been freezing up against lefties this year, I’m not too optimistic about this game – but you never know what could happen.