Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Brandon Boggs, Luis Mendoza, Milton Bradley, Scott Feldman
You know… as much fun as the last two games against the Angels where, I think both the Rangers and their fans needed something like last night’s 7-2 win to settle things down. Well pitched and well performed, the Rangers simply pulled away early and cruised to a less dramatic, but much crisper win – and and after the high drama of the last two games, that’s exactly what this ballclub needed.
After allowing 8 runs in 1.1 innings on Monday against the Angels, Luis Mendoza looked like a completely different pitcher last night, as he tripled his season strikeout total by racking up a spectacular 8 K’s in 6 innings. The difference? Well, much better command of his sinker and slider for one thing, and a much more aggressive approach:
“I was more aggressive this time and attacked hitters with first-pitch strikes,” Mendoza said. “All night long, I wanted to throw first-pitch strikes and stay ahead of hitters. After my last time, I had a little pressure, but I tried to let it go and learn from it.”
Aggressive is exactly what he was, attacking hitters with his low-90’s sinker and using his curve to generate swings and misses. Mendoza also cracked the 5 inning barrier for the first time in his career, even though the Rangers where trying to keep his pitch count low because he was pitching on 3 days rest. After throwing 51 pitches in his abbreviated start on Monday, Mendoza threw just 79 through 6 innings last night (47 strikes), allowing one run on just three hits and a walk. While I’m still of the opinion that Mendoza’s future ultimately will lie in the bullpen, there’s no denying that he came out last night and did exactly what he needed to do to stay in the rotation for now, and then some – hopefully he’ll be able to build upon this start in the second half.
The White Sox Gavin Floyd on the other hand, did not have a very good start at all – he walked 7 in just 2.2 innings, and the Rangers took advantage to light him up for 6 runs. Chris Davis had a solo shot in the second to give Texas a 1-0 lead, and then David Murphy hit a 2-run jack as part of a 5-run third. Josh Hamilton also had an RBI double (his 4th extra base hit in the last 3 games), and Ian Kinsler an infield single that inning, extending his hitting streak to 23 games (tied with Michael Young, who did it earlier this year, for the 4th longest such streak in Rangers history).
The highlight of the game however, came in the top of the 4thinning. With Carlos Quentin on third and one out, Jim Thome lined what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to left fielder Brandon Boggs. At least it did until Boggs gloved it, and threw a laser beam strike to the plate where Jarrod Saltalamacchia applied the tag. Second night in a row Boggs has thrown out a man at the plate – I’d like to see Boggs playing center at some point or another this season, and I definitely think he needs to be getting more playing time than Marlon Byrd.
Things did get a little tense in the top of the 9th inning, when Warner Madrigal allowed the White Sox to load the bases with 2 out for Paul Konerko. But Eddie Guardado came in and got Konerko to fly out to center, wrapping things up a mere 2 hours and 50 minutes after they had started. That should give you an idea of just how efficient Luis Mendoza was – a game under 3 hours long, in which one team scored 7 runs is a very rare thing indeed.
The Rangers did make a couple roster movesyesterday to provide their depleted bullpen with some fresh arms – they sent Wes Littleton (who pitched 3.1 innings Thursday night) back to AAA, and Scott Feldman to AA to make room for Kameron Loe and minor leaguer Joselo Diazon the roster. Loe is just came off the DLinOklahoma with a back problem, and Diaz is a minor league journeyman who has made a grand total of four Major League appearances with the Royals in 2006, so don’t expect either one to be here for too long – they’re just here in case there’s another starting pitcher implosion before the All-Star break starts on Monday, and will likely be sent down just as soon as Hurley, Padilla and Feldman can return. In fact, Diaz will probably be DFA’d or put on waivers right after this weekend.
When the aforementioned trio of starting pitchers return after the All-Star break however, one of them might have a different role – apparently the Rangers are considering putting Scott Feldman in the bullpen for the second half in an effort to conserve his innings and his arm. Apparently the Rangers wanted to keep the number of innings Feldman threw this year at about 135, but he’s been the workhorse of the Rangers rotation in the first half, throwing 92 innings between 2 AA starts and 16 the Majors. That’s about double the amount of innings he’s had at this point in the season anytime previously in his career, and although Feldman hasn’t complained at all, the Rangers are concerned that overusing him now will have a negative impact on him next season:
“He could probably finish this year if we gave him the same workload and had him make every start,” [Ron] Washington said. “He wouldn’t feel it this year, but he would feel it next year.”
The current plan is to let Feldman rest over the ASB, and reasess where he’s at afterwards, but considering Feldman’s likely replacement in the rotation would be Matt Harrison, I think a lot regarding their decision could be riding on Harrison’s start tomorrow – if he pitches well again, he might very well make their decision for them.
Also of note is the health of Milton Bradley – or lackthereof, as Bradley was out of the lineup for a third consecutive night with tendinitis in his left knee. According to Ron Washington, the Rangers aren’t worried about it and it shouldn’t keep Milton out of the lineup in the All-Star game - but it’s obviously been serious enough to keep him from DH’ing for 3 days straight, which leaves me slightly concerned. This is Milton Bradley after all – he’s almost as susceptible to injury as Hank Blalock, and every dent or ding he takes makes me nervous – especially as we edge toward the trade deadline.
Quick hits: Ron Washington says Chris Davis is “safe” in the Rangers organization, but did not actually state whether or not that means he’ll still be playing first base once Hank Blalock comes off the DL… ESPN’ s Jayson Stark has picked Ian Kinsler as his AL first half MVP… Eric Hurley will make a rehab start for AA Frisco on Monday as he recovers from his slightly strained hamstring… Jarrod Saltalamacchia, though he was in the lineup last night is apparently still not at 100% yet as he continues to deal with a groin injury.
Big game today for those that are sentimental about ex-Ranger pitchers – John Danks, whom we traded to the White Sox for Brandon McCarthy in the winter of 2006, will go up against Kevin Millwood tonight at the Ballpark. Dank’s 2.52 ERA is 4th overall in the AL, and he’s a lefty, so we should probably expect a bit of a dropoff in our offensive production tonight.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Brandon Boggs, David Murphy, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Scott Feldman
As the Rangers and their fans try to put the Richie Sexson debacle behind them, Brandon Boggs is certainly doing his part to try help everyone forget. So is the Rangers pitching staff, namely Scott Feldman and the Rangers bullpen Friday night.
The game got off to a dubious start for Boggs he nearly injured himself going all-out after a foul ball in the top of the first inning, sliding into the concrete at the base of the LF wall knee-first. As Boggs put it after the game:
“That was probably one of the hardest crashes I’ve ever had,” Boggs said. “I’m not afraid of running into a wall. Luckily I wasn’t hurt. It’s a little sore, but I can run, and as long as I can run, I can play.”
I guess he could still play, because he proceeded to drive the Rangers offense, launching his second career home run in the second inning of lefty Greg Smith to put the Rangers up 2-0 (Josh Hamilton had previously plated Ian Kinsler with and RBI groundout in the bottom of the first to put the Rangers on the board). Later on, with 2 out in the 6th, he cracked a 2-run double to blow the game open at 4-0. Overall, he would finish the night 3-4 with 3 RBI, and come up a triple short of the cycle – and all this in front of his parents, who where in attendance.
Meanwhile, Scott Feldman turned in another gem, despite not having his best command early on in the game. He walked four batters in the first three innings, but he actually had a no-hitter going until Ryan Sweeny singled in the top of the 5th. Feldman wound up going six innings, giving up just two hits and 4 walks, while striking out one. He was pulled after that, despite having only thrown 87 pitches, and Jamey Wright took over for the 7th.
Wright set down the side in order, as did Joaquin Benoit in the 8th, but it was CJ Wilson who nearly blew the shutout in the 9th. He allowed back-to-back singles to Jack Cust and Frank Thomas to start the inning, but he got Emil Brown to ground into a double play, and struck out Bobby Crosby with Cust on third to close the book on the Rangers third consecutive shutout.
This gives the Rangers pitching staff a 31-inning streak of scoreless ball, and if you go back to Tuesday night, when the Rangers won 10-1, they have only allowed one run in their last 41 innings. The Rangers bullpen alone has a streak of 27 scoreless innings going. All this great pitching of late gives the Rangers a 1.71 team ERA so far in May - this after the team’s 5.60 ERA for April was dead last in the majors. as Jarrod Saltalamacchia put it:
“We’re good,” catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said after catching his second shutout in three nights. “We’ve got good pitching. Everyone is just in a groove right now.”
Indeed. The resurgence of the pitching staff makes the Rangers one fun team to watch right now – and it also has saved Ron Washington his job.
Speaking of Saltalamacchia, I guess I should probably mention something I’ve been putting off: Salty sucks lately. Really. As I’m sure all my readers know by now, I like him a lot - he’s one of my favorite players (up along with Josh Hamilton, and lately Brandon Boggs). But there is just no way to sugarcoat this stat line:
27 AB, 5 H, 1 R, 1 2B, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 5 BB, 10 K, .185/.313/.222
5 of those strikeouts have come in his last two games, and his lone XB hit came back on April 29th against KC, his second start after being called up. I know the thing that is probably hurting him is a lack of consistent, everyday playing time, but still… at this point, the only way to get that everyday playing time is to start hitting, and play your way into it. Unless Salty picks it up, and I mean seriously gets hot and shows he can be relied on as the everyday backstop, the Rangers are not going to trade Gerald Laird away. And until Gerald Laird is traded away, there will not be any everyday playing time for Salty.
I’m one of Salty’s biggest supporters, I think he’s got a lot of potential, and if it where up to me, I’d be allowing him to catch everyday right now and find his groove. But as the saying goes: hit or die. Salty just cannot afford to be in a slump like this while Gerald Laird is in the middle of a 10 game hitting streak. It may only be 27 AB’s, but the Texas Rangers are notorious for giving up on young players who don’t produce (see also: Botts, Jason), and Salty seems to be regressing right now. I don’t know whether he needs some quality time with Rudy Jaramillo or what, but he definitely needs to make some adjustments sooner rather than later. If he doesn’t, he may never escape this stupid platoon.
Since I’m running out of time for this entry, I’ll have to reduce the remaining items to some quick hits:
David Murphy has been named the AL rookie of the month for April – congrats to The Murphinator. Some might say Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox deserved it more, but that’s too bad. David Murphy rocks, so Ellsbury can just go get himself a taco or something. Kevin Mench has been traded to the Blue Jays for cash considerations… interestingly enough the Jay’s also signed former Ranger great Brad “whiffy” Wilkerson, and had both in the lineup against the Indians last night, along with former Ranger catcher Rod Barajas (and they lost 6-1, if anyone cares). Ladies and gentlemen: your 2008 Toronto Blue Jays, aka the class reunion of spares from the 2006 Texas Rangers. And finally, Kevin Millwood explains why he wants Gerald Laird to be his personal catcher.
Today, it’s Millwood vs. A’s lefty Dana Eveland. Millwood got shelled his last time out against the Mariners, lasting just 3 innings and giving up 7 runs – he needs a bounceback start here.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: AJ Murray, Brandon Boggs, Josh Hamilton, Marlon Byrd
The Rangers have given away more than their fair share of games so far this season. They do, after all, lead the majors in errors with 31. But on Saturday night, they got to take advantage of some huge errors for a change, as 4 errors by the Oakland Athletics helped the Rangers squeak out a 4-3 victory.
The very first play of the game was in fact an error, as A’s CF Ryan Sweeny dropped an Ian Kinsler fly ball, allowing Kinsler to scamper to third, where he promptly scored from on a Michael Young sac fly. It stayed 1-0 till the 4th, when Milton Bradley and David Murphy parlayed back-to-back 1 out singles into a Brandon Boggs sac fly to make it 2-0. But that lead, the biggest of the night for the Rangers, didn’t last for long, as the A’s rallied against Vicente Padilla in the 4th.
Padilla, who had steamed through the A’s order in the first three innings, struck out Jack Hannahan to start the frame, but then gave up a solo homer to the next batter, Jack Cust. Padilla then walked Frank Thomas, got Emil Brown to ground into a fielder’s choice, and then got a ground ball to Kinsler. Kinsler misplayed the ball however, allowing it to skip through into CF, and put runners on the corners. The play was initally ruled a single, much to the suprise of everone in the ballpark, but would later be changed to an error to spare Padilla of two earned runs, as he gave up a 2-run double to the next batter, Bobby Crosby. Crosby stung one high and deep to LF Brandon Boggs, who went back, leapt up, and almost made a highlight reel play, but the ball went over his glove, and rattled around against the fence, allowing both runners to score.
That gave the A’s a 3-2 lead, as Padilla finally worked out of the inning after walking Ryan Sweeny, but that lead would be short-lived, as the A’s where about to give it back again in the 5th.
Gerald Laird doubled down the LF line to start the inning, and then Ramon Vazquez reached on a bunt single that probably should have been scored as an error on A’s pitcher Joe Blanton (which would have given the A’s 5 errors on the night – Blanton would later make a throwing error in the 6th, but the Rangers failed to take advantage of it). Ian Kinsler then tapped one to short, scoring Laird to tie the game, and moving Vazquez to second - a swinging bunt, if you will. Michael Young was next and that’s when things got really wierd. Young grounded one to third, where Jack Hannahan whipped it over to Daric Barton at first for the out, but failed to look Ramon Vazquez back to second. Vazquez alertly decided to advance to third on the play, and seeing Vazquez on the move, Barton fired back over to third base, in a vain attempt to get him – and threw it away. Vazquez scored the go-ahead run, and for the Rangers, it was all a matter of hanging on from there.
It wouldn’t be easy. Padilla loaded the bases for the A’s with 2 out in the 6th, and Jamey Wright had to come in and bail him out, but he got Donnie Murphy to ground into a fielders choice to escape that jam. In the 7th though, Eddie Guardado took over and nearly lost the game with one mistake to Jack Cust.
Daric Barton lead off with a single, but pinch-hitter Mark Ellis popped up. Then up came Cust, who on a 1-2 changeup from Guardado, hammered a line drive deep into right-center field. As Cust later said after the game, ”I killed it. I thought it was a home run, then I thought it was a double, then …”
Then Josh Hamilton came flying back on a dead run, grabbed the liner on the backhand, and went crashing into the center field fence. Daric Barton, who had taken off from first thinking it was over Hamilton’s head, was all the way over at third base when Josh got back up and tossed the ball back in to Ian Kinsler, who relayed to Ben Broussard to complete the double play. I have to say, it was one of the best running catches in center I’ve seen in a long, long time – enough can’t be said about how amazing the capabilites of Josh Hamilton are. We already know his offense has lived up to its hype – well, so does his defense.
When Josh later explained exactly what happened, he even mentioned he’d been shading Cust the other way in CF:
“Cust had hit that [last] one to left-center, so we were shading him to left-center,” Hamilton said. “We were also playing ‘no doubles,’ so we were playing him deep. When he hit it, I just picked out a spot and ran there.”
What a beast. It sure didn’t look that simple, but I suppose when you’re as talented as Josh Hamilton, I guess picking a spot is all you have to do.
After that, Joaquin Benoit managed to get through a nailbiter 8th, stranding two runners after allowing a hit and a walk, and CJ Wilson’s shutdown 9th was every bit as dramatic, as Donnie Murphy and Daric Barton both hit balls to the warning track before Mark Ellis popped out to Hamilton to end the game. It may not have been the prettiest of wins, but it was certainly dramatic enough, and save for the Ian Kinsler error, the Rangers got the outs they needed to for a change. This makes three in a row now for the Rangers, who have now won 5 of their last 7, and seem to be shaking off their April slump.
Speaking Josh Hamilton, TR Sullivan has a highlight peice out on him right now, focusing on the fact that Josh has not missed a game yet this season. Hamilton played just 90 games for the Reds last year (after missing 3 1/2 seasons because of his well-documented struggles with addiction) taking 3 DL stints for a sprained wrist, gastrointestinitis, and a strained hamstring, so there is still a bit of a question about whether or not he can stay healthy for the full 162 game schedule. To date, Josh hasn’t slowed down or had any problems this season, and although although we’re only a month in, he seems to in fact be the most durable guy out there so far.
“I’m more prepared for the long haul this year,” Hamilton said. “I know what to do and what not to do, what works and what doesn’t and I was able to carry it into the season.”
Ron Washington has maintained his plan to shuffle Josh back and forth between CF and RF, although the majority of Hamilton’s playing time has still been in center. So far, it’s worked out well, despite my previous speculation to the contrary - which just goes to show you that even I, who consider Josh a real-life superhero, underestimate his talent and ability to adjust.
Another interesting note from the above article: Frank Catalanotto has been held out of the linuep for three straight days for Brandon Boggs, who of course had another hit tonight, and a sac fly – it appears Ron Washington has finally found a young player he likes:
“He’s certainly talked about as being a part of our future,” Washington said. “He’s doing well, and I don’t want to [take] him out of there.”
Those are the type of words I want to hear a lot more of from Ron. Now, if he would just stop bunting, figure out how to manage his pitching staff, and stick up for his players a little more…
Just how much longer Boggs will be in the Majors, however, might be in question, as it appears Marlon Byrd will rejoin the team on this road trip sometime, likely in Seattle. Which bums me out, of course, because Byrd was doing nothing but clogging up the the bottom of the order when he was put on the DL. I don’t see why Boggs should be sent back to AAA at all right now – I think he should be allowed to ride out his hot streak here, and see if he can stick. He’s improved his offense at every stop during his minor league career, and so far, he appears to be ready for the show… why drop him for Marlon freaking Byrd? That just makes no sense to me at all. The least the Rangers could do is prolong Byrd’s rehab assignment, and give Boggs a week or so to see if he can maintain his good AB’s. And if he does, then it should be bye bye Byrdie.
There where a couple other things mainly regarding the pitching staff I wanted to get to tonight, but I don’t have the time for it, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow/later today (I’m writing this in the wee hours of the morning again, can ya tell?). AJ Murray goes today against the A’s heavily left-handed lineup, and I’m interested to see how he does – he’s pitched well in OKC lately, so hopefully he’s got his stuff. I’d rather see him in the rotation than Ponson or Feldman, myself. Chad Gaudin opposes for the A’s, and although he has a 6.13 career ERA against Texas, he’s been on a hot streak lately, winning three straight starts. Hopefully we can get to him though – the hitting has been timely of late. Till tomorrow, GO RANGERS!
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Brandon Boggs, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, Ron Washington, Sidney Ponson
After a sloppy victory Wednesday night against the Kansas City Royals, in which the Rangers seemingly did their best to blow a 9-1 lead, this team needed a crisp, clean win. And on a 77-degree Texas afternoon, Sidney Ponson delivered just that, outdueling the young Zack Greinke with 8 superb innings of one run ball.
Ponson was of course a late addition to the Rangers in spring training, brought into camp on a minor league deal to provide depth in light of Brandon McCarthy’s problems with elbow inflammation. At the time, I was pretty strongly opposed to the signing, based on Ponson’s track record of weight, and shall we say, “other” problems. I’m still not exactly thrilled about the fact that he’s the pitcher we’re currently relying on to shore up our beleaguered rotation, but I have to admit, if he keeps pitching as well as he did today, we might have ourselves something of value here.
I’ve been predicting for the past couple days that the Rangers would be in for a hard go of it against Zack Greinke, and indeed they where. Greinke went 7 innings and allowed just 4 hits, walking no one and striking out 9 Rangers. The only problem for Greinke? Two of those hits where solo home runs, the first surrendered to leadoff man Ian Kinsler on the third pitch of the ballgame, and the second being a line shot into the right-field corner by Ramon Vazquez in the 6th. Vazquez’s shot broke a 1-1 tie, and would put the Rangers ahead for good, as “The Aruban Knight” was slaying the Royals order with his sinking fastball and changeup.
Ponson threw 108 pitches through 8 innings, 76 of which where strikes. He gave up 6 hits and walked two, but also struck out 5, and the Rangers turned two double plays behind him, both coming off the bat of the previously red-hot KC 3rd baseman Alex Gordon. The only run he allowed came on a broken-bat RBI single by Mark Grudzielanek in the third. By pitching into the 8th, Ponson allowed the Rangers to go stright to closer CJ Wilson in the late innings, and skip over their struggling setup corps – and CJ retired the side 1-2-3 with a 12-pitch 9th, striking out Mark Teahen on a 3-2 fastball to end the ballgame.
Overall, it was just a very crisp, well-played game by the Rangers, who managed to avoid making any errors or other gaffes – and considering how good Greinke was, it was also a pretty good day for the Rangers young players, as the amazing Brandon Boggs (who is getting some praise for his performance so far since his callup) registered yet another hit, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who also got some props for his handling of Ponson behind the plate) was 1-3.
Milton Bradley was held out of the lineup today with “muscle spasms in his hamstring” though, after being pulled a couple innings early from RF Wednesday for rest purposes. He should be back in the lineup tomorrow, but it’s clear he still needs to be used sparingly in the OF. Although he Rangers would no doubt like have him playing there a little more to free up the DH spot for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, it appears Bradley is still not to the point where he can consistently play the OF – and right now, I’m wondering if he’ll ever get back to that point this season. With his injury history, it might serve the Rangers better to just designate him as their primary DH, at least for now - with Hank Blalock out for the next month or so, they can ill-afford to lose Bradley for any extended period as well. That’ll mean Salty and Frank Catalanotto won’t be able to DH very much, but at this point the health of Bradley should come first, even if it means watching Catalanotto flop around in LF like a beached walrus.
A note on the Ron Washington front: Josh Hamilton has now come out in support of Ron, saying:
“It’s sad that the blame goes directly to the manager,” Hamilton said. “If we’re not getting the job done, who’s the first person that gets the blame? That’s the business and that’s the way it works. The players go through ups and downs, but the one guy there who can be blamed is the manager.”
I respect Josh’s opinion, and I know Ron’s a nice guy to work with and all that jazz, but the bottom line is, he’s still a below-average manager and a poor decision-maker – and he still needs to be fired for someone who is on board with the Rangers (alleged) rebuilding plan. And if Jon Daniels doesn’t find his gonads, stand up and make the decision to can Wash soon, I’m going to be reccomending that JD be fired too (not that my opinion means beans, of course, but I’m just telling ya how I feel). That’s the next step in the rebuilding, is getting ourselves a developmental manager, instead of the “mental” one we currently have.
Now, the Rangers will jet off to the Pacific Northwest to begin a 7 game road trip to take on the A’s and Mariners. Vicente Padilla will take on Joe Blanton Friday in Oakland, and then it’s supposed to be AJ Murray and Scott Feldman on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s hope Padilla can follow up his complete game shutout with a solid performance, eh?
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: AJ Murray, Brandon Boggs, First Major League homer, Jason Jennings, Joaquin Benoit
Welp, for the second consecutive night, the Rangers allowed 9 runs to the Kansas City Royals. That’s the bad news. The good news was, thanks to 5 home runs, Texas managed to pummel the KC pitching staff for a total of 11 runs, and hang on for their 10th victory of the season.
Milton Bradley got it started with 2 out in the first, when he got one up in the air to left field, and thanks to a 29 MPH wind blowing from right to left, managed to get it over the scoreboard for a 2-run homer – and the struggles of Royals starter Brian Bannister where just getting started.
The second inning was the big one for the Rangers, as Brandon Boggs continued checking “firsts” off his list. Making his first career major league start (in LF), he mashed his first career homer in only his third big-league AB, a solo shot out into the right field seats. Again, congrats to Brandon Boggs - it would seem by the early indications that we’ve got a player on our hands.
But that wasn’t the half of it. After Gerald Laird struck out, German Duran, getting the start at third base, and Ian Kinsler put together back-to-back singles, which Michael Young followed with a walk to load the bases for Josh Hamilton. So, can you gess what happened next? Yep, that’s right, Josh launched a shot up into the jetstream heading out to LF, and dropped a “Ham Salami” into the visitors bullpen. That capped the 5 run inning, and David Murphy would later poke a 2-run shot to RF in the 5th to make it 9-1.
Kevin Millwood, meanwhile, managed to pitch a strong ballgame through 6 innings, despite not having his best stuff or control – all he allowed was a single run in the third. But in the 7th, his pitch count caught up to him, as he allowed 4 runs, including a David DeJesus homer, and allowed the Royals to jump back into the ballgame. Frank Francisco, who came on to bail the Rangers out of the inning, just made things worse, giving up a run on two hits and a walk, recording just one out before Jamey Wright had to come on and finish the inning. That 5-run frame made it 9-6.
Fortunately, Gerald Laird, who had been 0-3 with 2 K’s coming to the plate, picked a great time to cork a 2-run homer to RF in the bottom of the 7th to make it 11-6 Texas – and that would turn out to be one important homer, as the Rangers weren’t done trying to give this game away yet.
The top of the 8th, which was pitched by Jamey Wright, featured not one, but two throwing errors by German Duran, that helped lead to a KC run (which was earned, however) as the Royals continued to chip away at the lead. Then in the 9th, CJ Wilson gave a leadoff double, and then a 2-run homer to John Buck, to pull the Royals within 2 runs before he finally recorded the final two outs of the ballgame.
That, of course, was some completely unecessary drama, but at least the Rangers managed to hang on – it doesn’t say a whole lot for our bullpen that we can’t securely lock down a game that we lead 11-6 after 7 innings, though. Not much you can say about it however, except that Kevin Millwood should have probably been pulled sooner than he was – I know Nolan Ryan has come out recently against watching pitch counts, but still, you have to know the difference between letting a guy who is pitching well go deep into a pitch count, and removing a guy who doesn’t have his best stuff before he tires and gets hammered, which is what happened with Millwood last night.
Other important news around the Rangers hemisphere last night: Jason Jennings has indeed gone on the 15-day DL, as Jennings injury has been revised from an irritated ulnar nerve to “forearm muscle soreness”. So since there appears to be no new injury to Jennings nerves or ligaments in his elbow, the Rangers say Jennings should be back in fairly short order, according to Jon Daniels, who is terming the recent injuries to Kason Gabbard, Luis Mendoza and now Jennings as “short term”. Gabbard, by the way, will make a rehab start on Saturday for Frisco, so he at least appears to be on the road back.
In the meantime, left-hander AJ “Pirate” Murray will now be called up to make the start on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, and Scott Feldman will make the start against them on Sunday. Also, it puts even more importance on Sidney Ponson, as he is indeed going become a mainstay in the rotation, at least for now. I have to say, a rotation filled out by Sidney Ponson and Scott Feldman really does not do very much to make me confident in the least, but as I mentioned yesterday, it’s not like Jennings was doing any better. Or Luis Mendoza, for that matter. I am interested to see what the Pirate can do, though – this may be the best shot Arlington John Murray is ever going to get at establishing himself as a Major-League starter.
In another interesting admission by the organization, Ken Daley’s recent piece on Joaquin Benoit reveals that the Rangers 8th inning man is still dealing with shoulder soreness that is likely a result of his 4-month period of inactivity in the offseason that resulted in him coming to spring training behind the curve physically, and struggling to get his velocity up to its needed level before the start of the year. Benoit’s velocity seems to finally be back to where it needs to be, but apparently, the shoulder soreness has forced Benoit to change his delivery to compensate, which has in turn, thown off his command.
“I’m trying to figure it out,” he said after being scored upon for the fourth time in his last six appearances. “I just need to keep pitching and go through my bad games. I didn’t pitch much in Spring Training, but I’ve got most of my strength back. But arm strength isn’t my problem; it’s where I’m throwing the ball.”
Command, of course, has been the main problem for Joaquin so far this season, as he has walked 12 in 10.1 innings. Hopefully Benoit will figure things out fairly quickly, but this appears to be the price the 2007 Rangers pitcher of the year is going to pay for not taking care of himself in the offseason – it also goes to show that perhaps Major League teams need to keep tabs on the workout programs of their star players in the offseason. Because problems like this are just frankly unaceptable.
Also worth noting is the hiring of former baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey to take over the newly-created position of “executive vice president of marketing and community development” – or, in other words, PR guy. I admit, I’m not really sure exactly how much of an impact this will make on the organization and their PR campaign, since I don’t live in the Dallas/FW area, but Joey Matschulat, over at BTiA doesn’t seem to like it too much - and I can see why. Petroskey doesn’t seem to really seem to have any real knowledge of the Rangers fanbase or organization, and based on his recent resignation from the HOF due to “exercise proper fiduciary responsibility” he doesn’t exactly have a sterling job record. That makes him seem like a somewhat odd choice for the job of Rangers PR guy – although one might think that due to his political ties, he may be able to assist with the problems the Rangers have had trying to get pitching prospects Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando into the country. Not sure if that has anything to do with his hiring, but it is a possibility.
Today, Sidney Ponson takes on Zack Greinke in a day game to finish out this 3-game set with the Royals. As I mentioned yesterday, Greinke has been lights out to start the season for KC – he was 3-0 wiith a 1.25 ERA and a 1.111 WHIP for April. I can only hope that Ponson can be as effective as he was in his first start tomorrow.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brandon Boggs, German Duran, Hank Blalock, Michael Young, Ramon Vazquez, Travis Metcalf
Apparently, the Rangers will indeed not have Hank Blalock in the lineup on Tuesday when they face the Kansas City Royals. That much I expected.
However, it appears Hank is now going to be out for 3-4 weeks as an MRI has revealed that Hank’s injured hamstring does indeed have a “small tear” in it, despite the initial diagnosis that it was only strained.
Hank had been hitting .299 with 2 HR and 7 RBI, but Ramon Vazquez and German Duran will have to now fill in for the next month or so. Travis Metcalf, who subbed along with Vazquez for Balock when he had Thoratic outlet surgery last season, is still rehabbing from spring surgery to repair a torn hamstring muscle of his own, and isn’t an option to fill in for Hank, at least not yet – so it appears that the power output from third base is about to drop to zero for the Rangers.
Brandon Boggs is tabbed as the likely get the call from AAA to take Blalock’s place on the 25-man roster for now, as he’s the only position player on the 40-man roster at this point eligible for a callup (Joaquin Arias, the only other possible option on the 40, is still recovering from arm surgery last year, and is not yet 100%).
Even though the Rangers probably won’t do this, in my opinion, now would be a fine time to let Michael Young try out third base – with his ever-decreasing range at shortstop, a move to third could be in his future (a position change of some sort most certainly is), so it might be interesting to try him there on a temporary basis now, and see how he handles it. It’s not like you can get any worse defensively at short with Vazquez or Duran, after all.
Tomorrow Jenny Jennings will take on Brett Tomko of Kansas City. I sure hope the Rangers can break out the bats again - if there was ever a game with the potential to be a slugfest, it’s tomorrows.
