Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, David Murphy, Michael Young, Ron Washington, Warner Madrigal
Well, at least they didn’t lose to Sidney Ponson. That’s the bright spot I’m taking from the Rangers blowout loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday. What they did suffer however, was a bullpen implosion the likes of which is rarely ever seen, as Ron Washington’s ill-timed choice of debuting Warner Madrigal against the heart of the Yankees order turned a 7-6 comeback into an 18-7 embarrassment.
Looking for their first sweep of the season, the Rangers found themselves leading 7-6 in the 7th inning, thanks in part to the awesomeness of Chris Davis, who had made a diving stop at first base that saved 3 runs in the 5th, and then hammered a 2-run jack to dead center in the 6th to cap a 4 run rally.
The only problem was that the Rangers bullpen, which had been so brilliant in the first two games of the series, was suffering from overwork and an injury - Frankie Francisco, Josh Rupe and Eddie Guardado where all unavailable, leaving the struggling Joaquin Benoit, the rookie Warner Madrigal, and the AL leader in appearances, Jamey Wright as the only middle-relievers available. And with Joaquin Benoit spent after throwing 31 pitches (and only 14 strikes) over 1.1 innings, the choices for the bottom of the 7th inning where narrowed down to Wright and Madrigal.
With the heart of the Yankees order coming up in the 7th (Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi) you would have thought Washington would have gone to Jamey Wright, and either tried to get him through both the 7th and the 8th innings, or at least let Madrigal face the bottom of the Yankee order in the 8th. Nope. That would have made sense, and making sense is not something Ron Washington does. Instead, he brought in the rookie to make his Major League debut in a one run game in Yankee Stadium, against Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi. You had to feel sorry for Madrigal – he just wasn’t ready for the situation he was thrown into.
The inning started with Abreu blooping a double into left field that Brandon Boggs slid for, but came up short. Madrigal, who quite obviously could not find the location on his breaking ball last night, then walked A-Rod and went 3-2 on Giambi, who smashed a 2 run double to give the Yankees the lead back. From there, the 24 year-old just clearly lost whatever confidence and control he had left, and would wind up being charged with 6 runs as the Yankees went on to score 9 times in the inning. Jamey Wright, who came in to play mopup also got hit for 6 runs between the 7th and the 8th, as the Rangers endured their worst pitching meltdown since April 23rd against Detroit.
Just a really frustrating game - I realize Ron Washington was pinched regarding his bullpen last night, but that can’t possibly excuse him sending a rookie out against the heart of one of baseballs best orders in a one run game like that. You might as well have tossed him out of a plane without a parachute – I didn’t have a problem with the idea of bringing him into that game, but that was just the wrong spot to do it. When is Wash going to learn how to manage a bullpen?
In other news, Michael Young left last nights game after 3 innings with a mildy strained left groin muscle. Young seems to have had quite a few different strains and pains this year, and it looks like this is just another one of them at this point – no word yet on whether he’ll start today or not though.
Ron Washington decided to sit David Murphy yesterday, as he’s only hitting .143/.194/.232 in his last 17 games. It appears Ron might be coming around to the fact that Murphy is just no good against left-handed pitching (.222/.243/.343 against LHP this year):
“He might be a little fatigued right now, but he’ll catch his second wind,” Washington said. “He’ll still get some lefties, but if I think our best lineup is all right-handed hitters, then I’m going to go with right-handed hitters.”
That sounds like an important realization by Wash (although the sad part is, it’s taken him this long to arrive at this conclusion) because it should help boost both Murphy’s overall numbers, as well as the rest of the offense quite a bit if he’s not in there creating a vacume against those lefties. Don’t get me wrong, I like Murphy a lot, but his future kind of looks more like a platoon player/4th OF again now that his early-season hot streak is over.
Quick hits: Chris Davis and Nelson Cruz have been named co-minor league players of the month for June, Derek Holland won minor league pitcher of the month… Ian Kinsler and Josh Rupewhere the Rangers player/pitcher of the month, respectively… Chris Shelton has cleared waivers and been assigned to AAA Oklahoma – he has 3 days to accept the assignment or opt for free agency… according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox sports.com, the Rangers are getting inquiries on Vicente Padilla from the “Mets, Yankees and Brewers, among other clubs”. Sounds like trade talk here in Texas could be starting to pick up.
The Rangers have Thursday off before the head into Baltimore for a 3 game set – Vicente Padilla will take on Jeremy Guthrie in a July 4th matchup – the perfect time for Padilla to do a little trade value pumping.
