Filed under: Ranger Losses
I don’t have the time (or the mentality) right now to do a whole long post about everything that transpired last night, but I would just like to extend a quick middle finger at last night’s home plate umpire Dale Scott. I don’t know how an umpire can call a guy safe when he doesn’t even come within three inches of touching home plate, but Scott, the intrepid pioneer that he is, found a way to justify it last night in the 5th inning. Joey Matschulat has the goods - though I wouldn’t advise any Ranger fans go watching that play over and over again, lest their blood pressure become unmanageable.
Needless to say, it’s stuff like this that is the reason nobody respects umpires – and it’s stuff like this that will also be to blame if instant replay is expanded beyond home run calls as it’s detractors fear. Just pure, sheer incompetency:
“It was more than a tough call,” [manager Ron] Washington said. “Dale Scott can’t miss those types of calls. He said that Torii Hunter got a finger on home plate as he slid past the first time. A finger. That’s what made me just walk away.”
I’m not sure I would have just simply walked away if I where in Ron’s shoes (my reaction probably would have been something more akin to this guy’s) because according to Evan Grant he’s still likely to be slapped with a fine just for saying that – but then again, we probably wouldn’t have wanted Arte Howe managing the rest of the game for us.
About all you can hope for is that getting shafted like that last night can turn into some sort of rallying point for the Rangers – they certainly need one right now.
I’ll have a more in-depth entry up regarding some of the other current Ranger news later – in the meantime, I just hope we can avert the sweep today at Angel Stadium.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, CJ Wilson, Kevin Millwood, Ron Washington
Author’s note: This piece was supposed to be out Thursday morning, but for some reason it didn’t publish correctly and the site sat un-updated through the entire off day, for which you have my apologies. I hope you don’t mind reading my now-redundant post for time being - later today or tonight I hope to dig into some of the trade rumors that have been flying around lately and give you some fresher thoughts.
Going into yesterday’s game, all that was missing from the Rangers post all-star break slump was a bullpen meltdown. After already getting shutout once and blown out twice, it almost seemed as if you could hear the distant scream of the incoming trifecta that hit the Rangers like a mortar round shortly after Ron Washington called CJ Wilson out of the bullpen in the 8th inning yesterday.
Up until that inning, the Rangers had been enjoying a pretty good day at the ballpark. After being down 3-1 early, they had rallied to chase White Sox rookie Clayton Richard after just 4 innings, scoring 5 runs off of him on 7 hits. The Rangers 1-2 hitters provided most of the punch, as Ian Kinsler broke out of his post-ASB slump by going 2-5 with a 2 run double in the second, while Michael Young homered and racked up 2 RBI in the first 4 innings. They also got 4.1 innings of superb one-hit relief from Josh Rupe and Warner Madrigal after Kevin Millwood left with a reaggravated groin in the second inning. Madrigal, despite giving up a solo homer to Carlos Quentin, was especially spectacular, throwing 23 of 34 pitches for strikes and K’ing 5 in his 2 innings of work. When the Rangers headed into the bottom of the 7th, the score was 8-4 and they seemed to have the game well in hand. That of course, was when the trouble started.
Ron Washington brought in Jamey Wright, whom he recently identified as his designated 7th inning man (despite the fact that he had given up a run in 3 of his last 4 appearances), but the electrician couldn’t duplicate the success of Rupe and Madrigal, giving up a run on 2 hits and a walk before escaping the inning. With it now a 3-run ballgame, Ron Washington went to normally reliable setup man Eddie Guardado.
Guardado didn’t seem to be himself however, allowing a leadoff double and an RBI single to the first two batters.After a popup, that was followed by another double and a walk, cutting the Texas lead to 8-7. That’s when Ron Washington brought in closer CJ Wilson in an attempt to get out of the jam – and that’s when Carlos Quentin jacked Wilson’s first pitch out to left-center for a three-run homer and a 10-8 White Sox lead. I can’t even begin to tell you how deflating that moment was. According to CJ himself, the pitch (a 94 MPH fastball right down broadway) was simply a meatball:
“It was a meatball,” Wilson said. “Call it a meatball. … We have a big series against Oakland. We have to regroup and get everybody focused and get set up for that.
“I don’t make excuses. It had nothing to do with warmups. Me throwing a meatball and he hits a home run, that has to do with me throwing a meatball and a guy hitting a home run.”
Well, at least CJ wasn’t afraid to admit his mistakes this time – but personally, I have to say I’m more irritated and puzzled at why Ron didn’t bring in Frankie Francisco to get out of that inning than I am mad at CJ for making that pitch. The opposition is hitting a miniscule .129/.270/.226 (695 OPS) against Frankie with RISP and 2 out and as a result, he has bailed us out of many a jam this year, stranding 79% of baserunners. By contrast, the opposition is hitting .240 against CJ with 2 out and RISP - but with a .424 OBP and a .520 SLG% (a .944 OPS). Also, Frankie has held right-handers to a .222 average this year, almost 40 points lower than CJ (.260). It should be noted that Quentin does have a reverse split in that he’s only hitting .207 against lefties this year, but he’s still slugging .500 with an 836 OPS against them - and CJ has really struggled of late, opposing batters having lit him up to the tune of .321/.457/.536 (993 OPS) so far in July.
So regardless of that reverse split, I just don’t know why you’d bring your struggling closer into the middle of a jam when you’ve got your best “clutch” pitcher fully available on one days rest in the bullpen – yeah, from a fundamental standpoint your closer is supposed to be your best reliever and therefore capable of handling that situation, but nothing about CJ is fundamental. He’s been far from the most effective pitcher in the bullpen this year, and when you start exposing him in the wrong situation at the wrong time like that you’re just begging for matters to get worse.
As for Kevin Millwood, his next start on Monday is now “up in the air” after the recurrence of his groin issue in the second inning:
“It got sore to where I couldn’t push off and I couldn’t throw any strikes when that happened,” Millwood said. “I felt it at the beginning of the second inning.”
“It’s annoying; it’s frustrating,” Millwood said.”I just want to get it taken care of and be able to pitch without worrying about it.”
“It just seems like little things all over the place. I don’t know what to do or what to say … just try to get through it.”
If Millwood can’t make his next start, Scott Feldman will likely get the call in his place – and considering Millwood’s current 5.40 ERA and 1.735 WHIP, I’ve got to admit I don’t think I would mind that at all.
Quick hits: Gerald Laird is expected back on Saturday once he finishes his rehab assignment with AAA Oklahoma - he has played 3 of the 4 games so far and is 0-9 at the plate… Brandon McCarthy made his first rehab start with Oklahoma on Tuesday and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and a walk in 3.2 innings, but hey – at least he pitching in real games again… Eric Hurley is on trackto make his start on Sunday against the A’s, saying his arm feels better after throwing off flat ground… Milton Bradley is listed as day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the 7th inning Wednesday… the Rangers have signed 5th round and 7th round draft picks Clark Murphy (OF) and Matt Thompson (RHP).
The Rangers head into Oakland now to take on the second-place A’s – we’re only a half-game out of behind them in the standings, so if we take 2 out of 3 we’ll also take second place in the standings. Not that it matters, mind you – both the A’s and us are 10 games behind the Angels, so moving into second shouldn’t delude the Rangers into making any rash trades to try and jump back into the race. First up is Vicente Padilla vs. Sean Gallagher – Vinny of course went 7 scoreless last time, so here’s hoping for a duplicate performance.
Well, to state the obvious, this is not the start to the second half the Rangers where looking for. After beginning their second half by getting shut out 6-0 Friday, things got even uglier last night as Matt Harrison and the Texas bullpen got lit up for 14 runs on 16 hits, including 4 home runs. It would seem that we’re witnessing a little reminder of our beloved team’s current mediocrity here this weekend – even the highest-scoring offense in the Majors can’t get by without a pitching staff that can compete and keep you in close games, and that’s exactly where Kevin Millwood and Matt Harrison have failed in the last two days.
Harrison actually got off to a pretty decent start last night, allowing just one hit through the first three innings (a solo home run in the first by Joe Mauer). Chris Davis even jacked a 2 run homer in the top of the second to put the Rangers on top 2-1.
But things started to come unraveled in the 4th, when Harrison lost command of the strike zone and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk to put the Twins up 3-2. Harrison’s troubles continued into the 5th, when he gave up back-to-back 1 out doubles to Denard Span and Carlos Gomez to put runners on second and third. With 2 out, the decision was made to walk Joe Mauer intentionally and face Justin Morneau (who is only hitting .258 against left-handed pitching this year) with the bases loaded. Harrison quickly put Morneau in a 1-2 hole, but he couldn’t put him away – instead he hung a 1-2 curveball that was supposed to be in the dirt, and the big leftly slugger ripped it into the left-center gap to clear the bases.
“I didn’t get that curveball in the dirt, like I should have,” Harrison said. “It was a game-changer, definitely.”
“Bothguys can definitely hit. I figured if I missed with [Mauer], I still had an opportunity because I had the base open. But things didn’t work out the way I planned.”
After that the rout was on as the Twins scored 6 more runs off Harrison and Nippert in the 6th inning (including homers by Delmon Young and Morneau) and tagged Josh Rupe for two in the 7th on a Brian Buschner homer.
The Rangers offense for their part mustered just three hits after Davis’ 2-run bomb in the second, as Livan Hernandez wound up going 7 innings and Texas has yet to even get a baserunner against the Twins bullpen in this series. As Ian Kinsler pointed out after the game, nobody in the Ranger clubhouse is panicking over this, but I’m sure they will still be very happy to get out of Minnesota – this has just been one of those horrendous series.
However, when the Rangers leave Minnesota and head to Chicago to take on the White Sox on Monday, they may only be heading into a different kind of frying pan: it would seem that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has singled out CJ Wilson for his latest feud, due to actions that Ozzie perceived as “disrespectful” during CJ’s near-meltdown on July 13th.
As you might recall, CJ said at the timethat Guillen’s rants where what inspired him to come back and strike out Jim Thome and Paul Konerko after giving up 5 hits and 3 runs to start the 9th inning:
“I didn’t have good stuff, and then I got angry when Ozzie Guillen started yelling at me, and I just took it to another level.”
Apparently Ozzie initially got ticked off when CJ reacted animatedly to inducing a popup from the bat of Carlos Quentin (who happens to be second in the AL in RBI’s) for the first out that inning. Now he’s continuing to press the issue, calling CJ unprofessional and overtly cocky:
“I like people when they are good. I don’t like people when they are [bad] and they are cocky,” said Guillen to MLB.com. “When you are good and cocky, that’s fine with me. But when you aren’t that good and you try to pretend like you are that good …
“He showed a couple of my players up, and I don’t like that. He showed my dugout up in that inning and that’s why I screamed at him. The only reason I was screaming is because he was not professional.”
“As a player or a manager, I never scream to anyone for no reason,” Guillen said. “I don’t mind you being cocky or have your emotions on the field. That’s fine. That’s part of the game. But when you show up a professional player, you better do something before that happens.”
CJ, meanwhile admitted that while he’s not the most professional ballplayer he considers himself emotional, not cocky and insists that he was just out there doing his job:
“I have a Mohawk, how am I supposed to say that I am professional? Just look at me: baggy uniform, I shave once a week, I have a Mohawk. I’m here to compete and play baseball. I’m not worried about whatever else is going on.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m cocky, but I’m definitely emotional.”
”If guys take strikes and complain about it, then they are showing up the umpire. That’s what happened,” Wilson said. “I don’t care who is on the other team, I am going to try to get them out. I don’t care how good he is, or how big a fan of this guy I was growing up, which was the case with Thome. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care how nice he is, I’m trying to get him out. He’s not going to help me out. He’s not going to send me money for Christmas.”
Ozzie is famous for being a loudmouth of course - and that’s all this really is, just Ozzie being Ozzie – but I have to admit, he does have a point here. CJ getting worked up and channeling his anger into his pitching is fine and dandy, but I’ve always hated showboat closers (like the Angels K-Rod and the Astros Jose Valverde) who over-dramatize every single out and performance. I don’t think I’d put CJ on the showboat level yet, but I do think he can be overtly cocky for a guy who’s rocking an ERA of 5.01 on the season – I don’t want to say I agree completely with Ozzie’s ranting, but I sure would be quite content to see less flashiness and more efficiency from Wilson in the second half.
Quick hits: The Rangers have made Scott Feldman’s conversion to the bullpen an official thing now, with Ron Washington saying he will be limited to two innings at most in the rest of his outings this year… the Rangers also expect Jarrod Saltalamacchia back on Monday from his flu bug and groin injury, which would allow them to send Taylor Teagarden back to the minors in time for the Olympics. German Duran is also expected to be sent down as Scott Feldman and Eric Hurley are due back that same day.
Today Vicente Padilla will be activated from the DL to try and help the Rangers avoid the sweep in Minnesota – Scott Baker, who has not allowed more than 4 runs in any of his last 10 starts will oppose for the Twins. After the last two games, I don’t really have a good feeling about today – the Rangers offense could really use to wake up again before they roll into Chicago, but Baker looks like he’s going to be tough.
It seems the Texas Rangers are never completely out of a ballgame these days. Held to 2 runs over the first 7 innings by former prospect John Danks, they again came roaring back out of nowhere in the late innings to take a shot at the ballgame. And despite the fact that they ultimately couldn’t climb out of the hole that Kevin Millwood and the Ranger bullpen had dug, losing a game like this 9-7 instead of 8-2 is a direct reflection of the swagger this increasingly-younger team is sporting heading into the All-Star break – not only do they have the highest scoring offense in the Majors (averaging 5.54 RPG) but they seem to know it, too.
That’s the positive spin on last night’s contest – the negative is of course that the Rangers pitching staff still cannot find even a smattering of consistency as they let their offense down again. If the Rangers offense is swaggering into the All-Star break, then their pitchers are staggering. Kevin Millwood, who hasn’t gone beyond 6 innings in his last 4 starts now, gave up 5 runs on a whopping 10 hits and 4 walks in 5.1 IP. And the damage actually could have actually been worse had the White Sox not stranded 14 runners on the night - although as Ron Washington pointed out, Millwood is dealing with a nagging groin problem that might have had something to do with his weak performance:
“People out there don’t realize he’s fighting injuries and fighting the hurt,” Texas skipper Ron Washington said. “But he’s a professional and won’t use anything as an excuse. He wasn’t as sharp as we’d like to have him, but he hung in there and was able to fight his way into the sixth. When he left the game, we still had a chance. He fought like the warrior he is.”
Only thing is though, that last statement isn’t really true – when Millwood left the game, he was in the midst of a meltdown. Tied at 2 going into the 6th inning, Alexi Ramirez layed down a perfect bunt single, which was followed by a walk to Orlando Cabrera and a sac bunt by Tobey Hall. Frank Francisco was warming and nearly ready in the bullpen, but Ron Washington chose to let Millwood pitch to Carlos Quentin, who is tied for second in the AL in RBI’s. The result was a 2-run single, and another single by Jermaine Dye before Millwood was finally given the hook.
But the Rangers bullpen couldn’t hold the Sox in check either - Francisco allowed an RBI double and loaded the bases before getting out of the 6th, and Kameron Loe, in his second inning of work in the 8th, gave up back-to-back bombs to Jim Thome and Paul Konerko to make it 8-2 Sox.
The Rangers rally started in the bottom of the 8th, with Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton chasing John Danks from the game - with an RBI double, Kinsler extended his hitting streak to 24 games - just 4 behind Gabe Kapler’s all-time Rangers record of 28. After Joselo Diaz gave up an unearned run in the top of the 9th, the Rangers took one last shot at it with a last minute parade of extra-base hits against Chicago lefties Boone Logan and Matt Thornton.
Brandon Boggs lead off with a double, and Chris Davis knocked him in by smoking his first career triple into the gap in right. That prompted Ozzie Guillen to bring in Thornton, who was promptly greeted with a jam-shot double down the right-field line by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, his second of the game. But then German Duran struck out looking, and after an RBI single by Ian Kinsler, Michael Young flew out to center.
The Rangers last hope was Josh Hamilton, who could tie things with a homer – but he swung at the first pitch (as he so often does) from Thornton and grounded one up the middle instead. Unfortunately for Hamilton and the Rangers, Alexi Ramirez was there to rob him with a webgem backhand and throw him out (just barely) at first to end the game. Kind of a deflating end to the rally for the Rangers, but you can’t fault the offense – they did everything they could against what has been one of the best bullpens in baseball this year, they just couldn’t overcome the grave that Millwood and Kameron Loe had dug them. In other words: this game was Rangers baseball in a microcosm, folks.
Today it’s Matt Harrison vs. Jose Conteras – a 22 year-old vs. a 36 year old in the last game before the All-Star break. This is a huge start for Harrison because he can lock down a spot in the Rangers second half rotation with a good outing today. But he’ll have a true challenge facing the high-powered White Sox offense - this should be a pretty good litmus test as to whether or not Harrison is the real deal.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Chris Davis vs. Hank Blalock, Ian Kinsler, Luis Mendoza
Ahh baseball. One night you’re on top of the world, and the next you’re watching one bloop single turn another epic comeback into an 11-10 loss. That’s just the way it goes I guess – but it’s still pretty tough to see your team hammer out 20 hits off some of the league’s elite pitchers and loose like that.
Of course, the real reason for last night’s loss wasn’t the bloop single, and it wasn’t really even a moronic bunt called by bench coach (and acting manager) Arte Howe in the 11th inning. No, much like Monday’s game, in which Luis Mendoza got lit up for 8 runs in 1.1 innings, the reason for this loss was a (hopefully) cameo appearance by the 2007 version of Scott Feldman.
He may have lasted a bit longer than Luis Mendoza did (3.2 innings) the amount of damage he allowed was the same – 8 Angel runs, 5 of which came in the 4th inning. The most staggering thing about Feldman’s line however, was the walks – 5 of them, issued to an Angels team that is second-to-last in the AL in BB’s with258 (only the Kansas City Royals, with 227 have fewer). Only 40 of Feldman’s 86 pitches where strikes - and when he wasn’t walking people, he was busy giving up 6 hits, including 2 doubles a triple (albeit a cheap one) and a home run. Simply unacceptable, especially a day after the Rangers had to pitch a 9 inning game out of the bullpen.
Given the fact that this is only the second start this season in which he has given up more than 5 runs, Scotty gets some leeway here – everyone has their bad days, after all. But when you have a day this bad you’ve got to take the heat for it, and there’s really no excuse for the fact that Feldman’s 8-run implosion (which negated 2-0 and a 5-4 Ranger leads in the early innings) proved too much for the Rangers to overcome, even on one of their best offensive nights of the season.
The Rangers currently lead the American League with 5.51 runs scored per game, and even if they didn’t win, they certainly showed why last night. Down 10-4 after Wes Littleton surrendered a home run to Howie Kendrick, the Rangers (who hammered 15 hits off Angels ace John Lackey – a career high for him) chipped away with a home run by Marlon Byrd and an RBI single by Michael Young (who went 4-7 on the night) in the 5th and 6th. Then in the bottom of the 7th, the Ranger offense – namely a trio of the Rangers young rookies - exploded against the veteran relievers Darren Oliver and Scot Shields.
It started when Chris Davis (who went 3-6 with two doubles) poked a 1-out line drive shot out to right center that apparently hit off the top of the wall for an RBI double. Ron Washington, who rarely meets an umpire he doesn’t like, got himself ejected arguing that Davis’ ball had in fact cleared the wall – but as it turned out it didn’t matter. Once play resumed, the Angels inserted Scot Shields in place of Oliver, turning Brandon Boggs around to bat from his weaker side (left-handed). But Boggs(who went 2-5 witha BB) singled Davis home after an 8-pitch battle with Shields, bringing Max Ramirez to the plate as the tying run. Ramirez didn’t have to wait as long as Boggs for a pitch he could hit – he just stepped up a clubbed the first 93 MPH Shields offering over the left-field wall, much to the amazement of Josh Lewin, and the chagrin of Mike Scoscia. All of a sudden, the game had gone from an Angel blowout to a 10-10 tie.
Things would stay knotted at 10 all the way until the 11th inning, but not for a lack of chances for either club - CJ Wilson nearly gave it away in the top of the 9th. After two consecutive one-out walks, Juan Rivera singled to left, bringing Torri Hunter chugging around from second. But Brandon Boggs made one of the best defensive plays you’ll see this year in LF, charging the ball and firing a beautiful one hop strike to Max Ramirez, who survived his second bone-jarring collision at home plate in four days to record the out.
The Rangers didn’t exactly do any better though. They put a man on second in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings, but failed to score each time – and in the 11th, the Angels where the ones that broke through when pinch-hitter Maicer Izturis floated a 2-out blooper into center field that scored Garret Anderson from second base, and gave them the lead.
Francisco Rodriguez came on to try and shake off the effects of the previous night’s blown save, but he sure didn’t look like he had shaken it off – in fact, to be fair, he didn’t look very good in any of his three appearances in the series. He walked Brandon Boggs to lead off the inning, and then committed an error when Max Ramirez popped a bunt attempt straight up in front of the plate. First he missed the catch, and once he picked the ball up, he threw it wildy into center field, giving the Rangers another shot with a man on second.
That’s when Arte Howe, managing the game in the abscence of the ejected Ron Washington, blew it.
At the plate was Ian Kinsler, who over the last 28 days (25 games) is hitting .394/.479/.692. That’s a 1.172 OPS. So what does Howe do? He rips the bat out of Kinsler hands, and has him attempt to bunt the runners over. Kinsler, trying to accomplish his bidding, bunts a bad pitch, and pops it up. This time K-Rod didn’t drop it, and an all-important out was completely wasted.
Yes, I know what the intent was… the intent was to move the runners 90 feet, put the tying run a sac fly away, and the winning run a single away. But when you’ve got one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball at the plate, it is not time to play smallball. That’s like buying a Lamborghini, and never taking it out of first gear – you’re just not utilizing the situation to it’s full potential. I don’t know whether Arte Howe was taking his cue from Ron Washington last night, or if perhaps maybe it’s the other way around – but as a manager, you should never, ever be willing to give away outs, not against a teams closer. After all… even if Kinsler had gotten the bunt down, the punchout and groundout that Ramon Vazquez and Michael Young followed with would not have gotten the run home.
Even with such a frustrating conclusion to the series, I’ve still gotta say I’m really proud of the way the Rangers played this four game set with the Angels. This team is playing much harder, much better than it has in a couple seasons – and I think you can accredit most of it to the youth of this team. For the first time in a long time, the Texas Rangers really have something to prove – and I’ve got a feeling that the more quality young talent is infused over the next year or so, the stronger and hungrier they’re going to get.
Of course, it would help if those young players actually got to play… and the latest things coming out of Ron Washington’s mouth regarding that aren’t exactly encouraging. Apparently, Hank Blalock is actually getting close to a return - he’s scheduled to go on a rehab assignment over the All-Star break, and join the team in Minnesota next Friday. And Ron Washington says he wants Hank to play over Chris Davis:
“If Hank is ready, I want Hank,” Washington said. “When the time is right, we will sit down and make a decision and see where we go.”
Ugh. Ron Washington needs to get himself a shirt that says “I (heart) players who mean nothing to this team in the longrun”. Let’s just hope he doesn’t speak for JD here regarding Davis’ fate.
Gerald Laird meanwhile, has headed out to Arizona to continue his rehab, and expects to be ready to come back by July 25th - whereupon Grant says he “might get the lion’s share of playing time” behind the plate. Hopefully, this is all just a part of a plan to get the trade value of those two ramped up for the deadline - but if that’s actually the way the Rangers intend to play out the rest of the season at first base and catcher, all that has happened with Davis, Ramirez, and Salty in the past couple weeks will have been nothing but one step forward, two steps back for the youth movement.
Tonight, Luis Mendoza will start on short rest for the Rangers – considering of course he only threw 50-some pitches his last time out however, it should be no big deal. No, the big deal is going to be how Mendoza performs after Monday’s debacle.
There should at least be some concern mounting about whether or not Luis Mendoza can cut it as a Major League starter – because in 8 big-league starts so far, Mendoza has a 7.24 ERA, and has given up 41 hits and 33 runs in 27 innings. He also has yet to go past 5 innings in any of his big-league starts, and has walked 15 batters opposed to 8 K’s. In a sharp contrast, over 6 career appearances as a reliever, Mendoza has a 0.79 ERA, has allowed just 7 hits in 11 innings, and has 9 strikeouts to zero walks. That may be a pretty small sample size, but I think there’s enough to say that’s pretty solid trend already formed there – that trend being that Mendoza seems much better suited for bullpen work than a starters spot. This will be a huge start for him if he’s to refute that trend at all.
It’s also going to be a huge start for him, because the Rangers bullpen is basically shot – he needs to provide the Rangers with 6 innings if for no other reason than there is no one to pick up the slack if he implodes again. Dustin Nippert might be available, but he likely would not be ready for use in more than one or two innings – but ideally, everyone in the Rangers bullpen could use a day of rest today. Obviously, that’s not likely to happen, but it makes me wonder if the Rangers might be forced to make another roster move, and bring up someone like Kazuo Fukumori, who can be knocked off the roster once his services are no longer required.
Opposing the Rangers tonight will be Gavin Floyd and the White Sox. This could be an ever tougher series than the one with the Angels, because not only are the White Sox second in the AL in runs allowed per game at 3.87 (only Oakland is allowing fewer runs) but they are also 4th in the AL with 4.82 runs scored per game. In other words, they pretty much have the whole gambit going for them this year – their starting pitching and bullpen has been great in the first half, and the offense has been good too – this should be a real challenge to end our first half with.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Dustin Nippert, Luis Mendoza, Matt Harrison, Max Ramirez, Neftali Feliz
Well, you can say one thing about the 2008 Texas Rangers, they don’t give up. Put into an impossible situation by the early implosion of starter Luis Mendoza, the fact that the Texas offense even came back and made last nights contest a ballgame was pretty impressive. Of course, while that may have been one of the biggest positives to take away from last nights 9-6 loss to the Angels, it may have also been the biggest frustrations for Rangers fans who have to be wondering how games like this one might turn out different if the Rangers actually had some starting pitching.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem was for Mendoza last night - command, stuff, confidence, you name it, he didn’t have it. If one didn’t know any better, you might have wondered if perhaps you’d arrived at the ballpark early and the Angels where taking batting practice as they blasted Mendoza for 8 runs on 9 hits (three of them being home runs) and 3 walks in just 1.1 innings.
Dustin Nippert took over after Mendoza allowed back-to-back homers to Vlad Guerrero and Torri Hunter to finally spell his demise in the second. Nippert, who spun a 7-inning no-hitter for AAA Oklahoma back on June 29th, would proceed to turn in a gargantuan effort for the Rangers in relief, throwing 103 pitches over 7 innings, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 4.
Enough really cannot be said about the importance of that performance by Dustin Nippert - not only did he veritably shut the Angels down and give the Rangers that shot to climb back into the game, but he also saved the rest of the Texas bullpen from having to work - which could be a godsend considering how the health issues of Vicente Padilla and Eric Hurley currently have the rotation in a disarray. And of course this probably grantees that Nippert will be sticking around in the bullpen, at least for awhile – who knows, given the duration of that performance, he might even get consideration for a start sometime.
The Rangers did make the Angels sweat for this one – the return of the Murphinator continued in the 5thinning, as David Murphy socked his second 3-run bomb in 2 days, and just minutes later Chris Davis closed the gap to 2 runs with a monsterous 2-run blast of his own.
The real drama however came in the top of the 8th, when things got a little down and dirty. The Angels had runners on the corners with one out when Maicer Izturisgrounded one to first. Chris Davis came home with the throw, and Angels catcher Jeff Mathis, barrelling down the third base line decided to try and steamroll Max Ramirez. Max got bowled over by Mathis, who seemed to jam his hands up toward Max’s face as they collided, lay on his back momentarily, and then popped back up and gunned a throw to third base to double off Kasey Kotchman. I don’t think I’ve seen a play as singularly awesome as that yet this year – or maybe ever, for that matter. Max Ramirez is one tough hombre.
I can’t help but kind of feel what Mathis did was a little dirty though - first of all, if he had just tried to slide into home, there’s a very good chance he would have been safe, because Chris Davis double-clutched the throw from first. Second, Mathis hit Max in a pretty awkward way, shoving his hands up into Max’s chin to bowl him over – that’s the type of thing that can flip a guys head into the deck and seriously injure him. Of course, to give Mathis the benefit of the doubt, that last part about the collision may or may not have been intentional – but in my opinion, the collision was not a necessary one in the first place, and therefore a pretty bush-league move by Mathis.
With three games left to play in the series, this incedent may wind up rekindling the old Rangers vs. Angels hatred that always seems to lie beneath the surface when these two teams play – Milton Bradley got riled about the whole thing, and was yelling something accross to the Angel dugout in the aftermath, while David Murphy said the play got the Rangers “fired up”:
”The way was going, against a division rival, it got us fired up a little bit,” Murphy said. “Baseball’s a crazy game.”
Sounds like If nothing else, you should fully expect Mathis to take one high and tight tomorrow – and maybe even get run over himself should the chance present itself.
Fired up or not though, the Rangers last-ditch rally in the 9th would fall short - they put runners on second and third and got the tying the tying run to the plate in the personage of David Murphy, but he was robbed by Kasey Kotchman on a liner toward the right field line to end the game.
In another important game last night, Neftali Feliz make his AA debut in Frisco - and looked pretty good, too. His fastball was hovering around 97, and even hit 100 and 101 MPH a couple times absolutely electric, although the Travelers started catching up with it a little by the end of the outing. Overall, Feliz went 5 innings, gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and one walk, while striking out 6 - 53 of his 80 pitches went for strikes. The three runs all came with 2 out in the 5th, his last inning, but Feliz kept his cool and still escaped the inning with the lead. He didn’t get credit for the win as the Frisco bullpen later imploded, but that’s still a pretty nice AA debut for a guy who’s skipping high-A altogether. Feliz is a guy who really has a chance to be special – it’s going to be exciting to watch him continue to take on AA this year.
Some important rotation stuff: Vicente Padilla has been scratched from his start on Wednesday, and the Rangers now aren’t sure whether he’ll pitch again before the all-star break. To take his place, the Rangers have announced Matt Harrison is going to be called up to make a spot start today, while Eric Hurley’s start will be pushed back at least one more day, if not more. According to the Rangers, Hurley’s hamstring is feeling better, and they don’t want to put him on the DL, but they also don’t want to push him in his recovery. If Hurley can’t pitch on Wednesday though, I’m not sure who will – the Rangers are really out of starting pitchers after Harrison, because there’s really nobody else in Oklahoma who is either rested or ready for a callup to the bigs right now. If Josh Rupe doesn’t pitch today, he’ll have 2 days rest since he last threw, so he might be able to make a 4 inning start or something… or you could always start Kevin Millwood on short rest… this is just getting to be an ugly situation.
Quick hits: Hank Blalock is actually making progress in his recovery in Arizona, taking some swings in the batting cage without hinderance. If he doesn’t have another setback, he’ll go on a rehab assignment over the all-star break with Frisco… Jarrod Saltalalmacchia’s groin kept him out of a second straight game yesterday, but he should be back today… Gerald Laird also swung the bat yesterday, and apparently could return by July 21st – just in the nick of time to prove he’s healthy before the trade deadline.
Matt Harrison makes his Major League debut tonight against the Angels – Harrison was 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 6 starts for OKC this year – he’s coming off a good outing down there in which he allowed one run in 6 innings. Harrison is a guy without amazing stuff, but he’s got good control and he gets a lot of ground balls – which of course means he’ll have to rely on our iffy infield defense. That, plus the fact that lefty Joe Saunders will oppose for the Angels might not bode well for the Rangers. Pressure on the infield defense and LHP have been the Rangers kryptonite this year.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Chris Davis vs. Hank Blalock, CJ Wilson, Eric Hurley, Kevin Millwood, Max Ramirez, Neftali Feliz, Vicente Padilla
It was not a very good 4th of July for the Texas Rangers. First of all, they wound up on the wrong end of the fireworks show for the second consecutive game, as Vicente Padilla got lit up in a 10-4 loss to Baltimore - the second time in two games the Rangers have given up double digits in runs. As if that wasn’t bad enough Padilla and Eric Hurley have both come up with some minor strains, all of a sudden creating some turmoil in the starting rotation.
There’s not a whole lot to say about yesterday’s game – I frankly don’t see the need to go dwelling upon it too much this morning. Padilla lasted just 2.2 innings, and gave up 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, which doomed the game early. The Rangers did manage to rally to within 4 by scoring 3 runs in the 7th but the O’s put it away with 2 runs in the 8th, allowing them to cruise to a series-opening victory. There where however, some positives among the carnage you can take away from this one – so why don’t we focus on those real quick:
- Warner Madgrigal tossed 2.1 perfect innings after relieving Padilla in the third, retiring all 7 batters he faced rather handily. That’ll go a long ways toward offsetting his disastrous ML debut – very encouraging to see.
- Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley and Jarrod Saltalamacchia all had 2-hit games – Kinsler is maintaining a 16-game hitting streak, Bradley knocked in 3 of the 4 Texas runs, while Saltalamacchia had his first 2 hit game in nearly a month, and is now hitting .300 for his last 5 games.
- Frank Francisco (I’m not really sure why he was used in a spot where it was an 8-1 ballgame, but this is still pretty good) tossed another perfect inning, and has now not allowed a hit or a walk in his last 5 appearances (5.2 innings). New setup man, anyone?
The big news of the day however, was the condition of Eric Hurley and Vicente Padilla. Padilla took a liner off his thumb in the third inning, was pulled and sent for x-rays on the thumb. Fortunately, the thumb is fine, but Ron Washington said Padilla came out for a different reason: a neck strain. Apparently, his neck is something that was bothering him his last start against Philadelphia, when he gave up 7 runs in 6 innings. It isn’t clear yet whether he will make his next start Wednesday against the Angels – irregardless however, Padilla’s not blaming his poor performance on his neck:
“I’m not sure how [the neck] will be for the next time; we’ll have to see,” Padilla said through a translator. “But the neck is no excuse. I left everything over the middle of the plate.”
Hurley meanwhile has been scratched from his next start after his left hamstring “tightened up” while he was doing windsprints:
“I was doing some sprints in the outfield and had to pull up,” Hurley said. “The leg has been tight but on the off-day yesterday, it felt good, and today it felt good. I’m not sure why it tightened up but I don’t want to take any chances.”
Add that to Kevin Millwood, who got smacked in the shin by a liner and had to leave early in his last start, and the Rangers now have 3/5 of their rotation nursing minor injuries. Millwood at least expects to make his next start on Sunday however - but right now the Rangers aren’t completely sure about Hurley and Padilla. Hurley should be back by Tuesday, while Scott Feldman, who was supposed to get some extra rest by having his start pushed back a few days, will just swap starts with Hurley, and go on normal rest today. But there appears to be a little more doubt about Padilla’s condition:
“This thing is bothering me,” Padilla said, pointing to his neck. “So I’m not sure if I will be done with that and be able to pitch on five days’ rest. I have to wait. I have to see.”
If you’re wondering who would get that start if Padilla is unable to go, Dustin Nippert was pulled from AAA Oklahoma’s game today, and would seem to be the likely callup should anything go wrong.
Meanwhile, Ron Washington reiterated yesterday that Hank Blalock would play first base when he came back from the DL:
“Once Hank made the decision to move to first, he said he didn’t want to be yo-yoed back and forth,” Washington said. “I want to do my best to respect that. Let’s just let this play out. I don’t want to speculate. Let’s wait until Hank is ready. Chris is playing well so I don’t want to create any problems.”
Doesn’t sound too good for Chris Davis, even though Ron does a nice job of backpedaling there at the end. The mighty CD went 0-4 yesterday, if you’re wondering - but I guess it doesn’t matter. Either way it seems that the Rangers are indeed that stupid, to let a guy who has absolutely no chance to stick around here next year as a first baseman upstage their #1 positional prospect. Ugh.
Speaking of shorting the younger players playing time, it appears that getting Max Ramirez at-bats isn’t very high on Baseball Man’s priority list either – he’s decided he wants to play Catalanotto as much as possible now:
“Cat’s swinging the bat well,” Washington said. “It looked like [Wednesday] he was swinging with determination. He was aggressive and we want to see if we can keep him going. I want to find ways to play him. Every opportunity I get, I’m going to get him in there.”
If this is gonna be the way it is, I would like to see Max sent down to AAA, where he can play DH/1B and catch a couple times a week. It might not be the consistent time behind the plate which he could probably use to work on his defense further, but Max at least needs consistent at-bats – it really doesn’t sit well with me that he’s spending so much time riding the pine. Either play him or send him to AAA and bring up Kevin Richardson to back up Salty, or go get a cheap veteran like Damian Miller for the job. But he’s too good a natural hitter to be fermenting on the bench.
CJ Wilson apparently had some pretty interesting stuff to say yesterday during an interview with Bob Sturm of the sports radio station KTCK- much of it having to do with how he feels that the subtraction of certain players from the Ranger clubhouse has really improved the atmosphere this season.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much better it is now than it was two years ago,” Wilson told KTCK’s Bob Sturm. “And the most obvious thing I can say is, you look at the roster, the guys that we have now versus the guys that we had then.”
CJ had some praise for Milton Bradley and Eddie Guardado, and their clubhouse presences this year, while saying that a “dark cloud” was lifted from the clubhouse last July, obviously referring to the Mark Teixeira trade.
He also made reference to a ”big” and a “medium sized” cloud disappearing from the clubhouse after the 2006 season – and apparently intimated that one of those “clouds” had been Gary Matthews Jr. If I had to guess, I’d bet the other one was probably Buck Showalter.
“They weren’t interested in being part of a team,” Wilson said of the unnamed players. “They were just interested in bank accounts.”
Very interesting indeed.
Big minor league promotion being announced this morning: Evan Grant has just confirmed the speculation that the Rangers #1 pitching prospect Neftali Feliz has finally been promoted from low-A Clinton, where he has been dominating this year – the 20 year-old righty had been 6-3 with a 2.52 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP in 17 starts. The surprise, however was that he has not been promoted to high-A Bakersfield, the traditional next stop in the minor league chain – he’s being sent straight to AA Frisco, and will make his first start on Monday. Pretty aggressive promotion, but I guess they figure Feliz, who had 106 strikeouts to 28 walks in 82 innings in Clinton this year can handle it. Feliz is still working on building his secondary arsenal around a pure heater that sits in the upper 90’s (usually around 97) - but he’s made strides on his changeup and curveball this year in Clinton and apparently, the Rangers see fit to challenge him here. Needless to say, I’m really excited about this promotion – Feliz is a guy I really think could be #1 starter material, and I’ve been waiting for them to promote him from Clinton for awhile now. The thing is, I thought he’d spend some time in Bakersfield, where I might be able to actually go see him pitch – but promoting him straight to Frisco is way more exciting to ponder. It seems like the Rangers are promoting with daring right now – we’ll see how it goes with Neftali Monday, but I think a challenge could be good for some of these young guys. After all, learning how to make adjustments and compete at a higher level it what it’s all about.
Quick hits: Joey Matschulat has an article you should check out up on BTiA breaking down Ian Kinsler’s defense – very informative and eye-opening… Brandon McCarthy threw a 55 pitch bullpen yesterday, and will throw a simulated game on Tuesday, as he seems to be edging closer to a comeback… Chris Shelton has accepted his assignment to AAA Oklahoma… and Michael Young was back in the lineup yesterday, his groin apparently fully recovered, and Eddie Guardado’s shoulder has apparently recovered as well.
Scott Feldman vs. Brian Burres tonight – Burres is a lefty, but he’s got reverse splits, with LHB’s hitting .349 against him and RHB’s .277, so maybe he won’t hinder the Rangers as much as other lefties have this season. One things for sure, I’d be happy to see our pitchers hold the opposition to 5 runs or less after the last 2 games. Go Rangers.
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.
