One Ranger lefty dominated last night. And one imploded horribly, for what may be the last time in 2008. Such has been the fortunes of the Rangers feast-or-famine pitching staff all year - even in such an exhilarating win they couldn’t manage to escape without some kind of debacle to debate afterwards.
The good fortunes of the night belonged to Matt Harrison, whose defense turned 3 double plays behind him as he worked into the 7th inning, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. Travis Metcalf (who started at third base with Andy Pettitte on the hill for the Yanks) turned all three double plays, which all bailed Harrison out of possible trouble in the second, third and fourth innings. He certainly looked like a completely different pitcher than his last time out – the control was much better, and he wasn’t leaving the ball over the middle to get pounded. Maybe a new pitching coach does make all the difference, eh?
The Rangers offense, for their part actually didn’t seem too fazed by the left-hander Pettitte for a change – in fact, left-handed hitters Josh Hamilton (who crushed a 2-run homer in the first) David Murphy (RBI single in the 6th) and Chris Davis (sac fly and a 3-run double) accounted for 7 of the 8 Texas RBI. The Rangers appeared to be on cruise control headed into the 8thinning – with a comfortable 8-2 lead, Ron Washington decided to give struggling closer CJ Wilson a chance to try out a new mechanical apprach in the top of the 8th.
Unfortunately, nobody could have possibly predicted just how wrong the experiment was about to go. Wilson, who had two separate side sessions before the game with new pitching coach Andy Hawkins entered the game and immediately looked disastrously bad, issuing a walk, a HBP, a strikeout and the another walk to the first four batters. That brought up Richie Sexson, who promptly jacked the second pitch he saw from Wilson out to left center for a grand slam.
Matters just got worse when Ron Washington came out to take the ball from Wilson, who nonchalantly flipped the ball at his manager and started to saunter off the mound. But Wash pulled him back, returned the ball and told Wilson to hand it to him before he left. It almost looked like a scene out of “Supernanny” or somesuch, and it didn’t sit too well with his teammates or the management:
“I didn’t like it one bit,” said outfielder Marlon Byrd, who followed up his game-winning grand slam, with three hits and a two-out, rally-starting walk in the seventh. “Everybody hits rough patches, but when the manager comes out to get you, you hand him the ball and show him the respect he deserves. I don’t know how it looks to fans, but I know how it looks to 24 other guys. It doesn’t look good.”
Said general manager Jon Daniels: “Guys are going to struggle. That is part of the game. That’s not the issue. There is a way to act and carry yourself. The way he left was unacceptable and disrespectful. He’s somebody we need and somebody we have to get right. The physical issue becomes the No. 1 priority for right now, but that doesn’t excuse what happened on the mound.”
“The physical issue” was announced as a case of bone spurs in Wilson’s elbow, something the club has apparently known about for at least a little while now, since it only took the Rangers 30 minutes of “unpleasant” discussion with Wilson after the game to make the decision to put him on the disabled list.
“I’ve been trying to pitch through it for a while,” Wilson said. “I can’t do the team much good if I’m not healthy. There are plenty of guys who can get the job done in the bullpen.”
That certainly would provide an explanation of CJ’s erratic performance this year, and his rapid deterioration since mid-July - but my question is this: how long has this been an issue for CJ, and just how long have CJ’s coaches and managers known about this? I can’t help but notice that the bullpen side sessions and admission of an injury are something that came only after Andy Hawkins installation as pitching coach – could it be this is something that his predecessor Mark Connor perhaps overlooked? Or even worse, did the management and coaching staff know about CJ’s condition all along, and allow him to pitch through it despite his increasingly poor performances?
We might not ever get an answer to those questions, but it’s certainly something to ponder, given how the Rangers have allowed pitchers to take the mound in questionable health before - both Brandon McCarthy being allowed to pitch for over two months with a stress fracture in his shoulder blade and Vicente Padilla pitching through a sore elbow for much of the first half last season leap to mind. I certainly hope the CJ doesn’t wind up being Connor’s last victim – he’s currently headed out to LA to consult with specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum to decide whether or not he will need surgery, so hopefully it’s not too late for CJ to get himself right, and get back on track for next year.
CJ will be replaced on the roster by Joaquin Benoit, who will be activated from his DL stint for a sore shoulder – he probably won’t be slotted right back into the late innings though as for now, Eddie Guardado will take over as closer, with Frank Francisco presumably moving to the setup role. For tonight’s game though, it’s very likely that Frank Francisco might get the save opportunity should one arise – Eddie has worked 3 nights in a row, and if I had to guess, I’d say the Rangers will probably give him the night off.
I had more to write on CJ and on some other notes regarding the rotation, but that’ll have to wait for now. Perhaps I can add them later, but for now I’ve got to go. Tonight’s pitching matchup:
Tonight we have a scale-tipping pitching matchup – big Tommy Hunter vs. the equally big Sidney Ponson in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPN. Much like the first time we faced Ponson this year, I really hope we can kick his ass again today – and if we do, maybe we’ll actually hold on to win the ballgame this time.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: CJ Wilson, Ian Kinsler, Luis Mendoza, Tommy Hunter
I’m afraid all I have time for this morning is a quick post here this morning – hopefully, I’ll be able to resume regular posting sometime sooner rather than later. But for now, I have for you a few observations from last night’s game and this weekend:
- Luis Mendoza was impressive yesterday. Yes, he gave up 3 runs in the first inning, and appeared to be off to another rough start – but he turned it around and fired 6 innings of one-run, 3-hit ball as he pitched into the 7th inning for the first time in his major league career. I still think Mendoza is destined for the bullpen, where he’ll be able to rely on his superb 2-seam fastball more than his somewhat erratic breaking pitches, but that shouldn’t take away from what turned out to be a huge start for Mendoza.
- Ian Kinsler however, has really cooled off of late. The Rangers leadoff man is hitting just .222 with a 561 OPS since the all-star break, and after enjoying a stretch where he had 5 consecutive 2-hit games (July 23-28th) he’s hitting just .130 in his last 5.
- From what I saw, CJ Wilson was not the one warming up in the bullpen to come in for the top of the 9th last night, even before Texas scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to blow the game open. Nope, it was Eddie Guardado who was up and chucking during that half inning, and still came in to finish the game off – could it be that CJ’s abhorrent statistics (5.28 ERA, 1.587 WHIP for the season, 9.35 ERA over his last 10 outings) are finally beginning to pry the closers role from his grip?
- Tommy Hunter looked solid in his debut the Friday night, despite giving up 6 runs. Save for a a couple gopherballs that wound up in the seats, Hunter kept his composure, and didn’t seem overmatched at all, getting most of the outs he needed. Always love to see that from a young starter, even if the line wasn’t very pretty.
- Over the three game series, the Rangers managed to come back from a 6-0 deficit and a 4-0 deficit to come away with victories on Friday and Sunday. Of course, when your offense is scoring 5.61 RPG (best in the majors) and hitting .282 as a team (also best in the majors) that’s really not such a novelty. Of course, when you consider that we’ve got guys like Marlon Byrd and Ramon Vazquez in the lineup day in and day out, I have to admit, it does seem a tad bit hard to believe that we’re actually this good. I keep waiting for the overacheivers such as Vazquez and last night’s hero, Gerald Laird to fall back to earth at some point – if they don’t this season, it’ll be a safe bet they do next year.
Hopefully the Rangers Rangers won’t fall back to earth just yet however: the New York Yankees are coming to Arlington for 4 games and that always promises to be a tough series. The Yankees historically always seem to crush the Rangers when they’re in Arlington, and considering the sad state of our pitching, this could very well be a 4-game slugout. Let’s just hope we can get through the Yankee starters, which are supposed to include Joba Chamberlain today, and then Andy Pettitte, Sidney Ponson and Mike Mussina. Yeah… this could be the series that shuts everyone up about the wildcard for once and for all this year.
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.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: CJ Wilson, Frank Francisco, Gerald Laird, Marlon Byrd, Nelson Cruz, Scott Feldman, Taylor Teagarden
With 100 down and 62 to go in the Rangers 2008 season, I think I can say I’m very pleasantly surprised at the fact that this team sits at 52-48, four games above the .500 mark. They’ve certainly come a long way from their 7-16 start to April – not that they haven’t had their struggles along the way, but the key to the Rangers slow climb back among the ranks of the respectable teams in the AL has been an avoidance of ruts. While they have yet to sweep a series in 2008, and have only won three straight games twice since their season high 5 game winning streak on May 6-10, they also have not lost three consecutive games more than once since their 7 game-losing streak on April 18-24.
Case in point are the first four games back from the all-star break. After a horrible start to the series in Minnesota, featuring a stone-cold offense and poor pitching from Kevin Millwood and Matt Harrison, we’ve seen the Rangers pitching rebound to allow just one run in the last 2 games. Sunday it was Vicente Padilla coming off the DL to contribute 7 scoreless innings, making Taylor Tegarden’s first homer (and first career hit) enough for the Rangers first 1-0 win since September 19th, 2004. Yesterday is was Scott Feldman tossing 6 innings of 1-run ball in an emergency start to help the Rangers to a 6-1 victory.
Feldman, recalled from AA Frisco yesterday (where he had technically spent the all-star break as part of a deft roster move by the Rangers to add bullpen arms before the break) was making the start in place of Eric Hurley, who was scratched from his scheduled activation from the DL due to arm soreness and a stiff shoulder. The Rangers don’t think Hurley’s problem is serious though (despite how ominous a ”sore arm” sounds) and expect him to make his next start in Oakland, so this shouldn’t affect the plan to put Feldman in the bullpen for the remainder of the season. It did at least give him a chance to make what should be his last start of 2008 an impressive one.
Although he gave up 4 hits and 3 walks, the Rangers turned 3 double plays behind Feldman, whose only blemish came when he surrendered a solo home run to Carlos Quentin leading off the 4th inning. Otherwise, Feldmanwas able to hit his spots withhis sinker, throwing 51 of his 85 pitches for strikes as he matched up with counterpart Javier Vazquez.
Vazquez, like Feldman, only made one real mistake on the night – he steamed through the still-lukewarm Texas offense for most of his 7 innings, striking out 10 Rangers along the way. The difference was, his mistake pitch would be far more costly than Feldman’s. With after giving up a 1-out single and a 2-out walk to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Michael Young in the top of the third, Vazquez hung a 2-0 slider to Josh Hamilton – who jacked it all the way out to the moss-covered wall behind the fence in dead center. That gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead, and they never looked back.
Frank Francisco pitched another brilliant 7th inning, throwing 10 of only 13 pitches for strikes and racking up 2 K’s. Frankie now has a 1.29 ERA, a .160 BAA and 16 strikeouts to 4 walks in his last 14 outings. Say what you will about his inconsistency earlier this year - but in my humble opinion, he’s the guy who should be at least sharing the closer duties right now with stats like those. By comparison, CJ Wilson has a 6.08 ERA, a .316 BAA and 10 walks to 16 K’s in his last 14 games – and on the season, Frankie also has big edges statistically over CJ in categories such as ERA (3.40 for Frankie to 4.89 for CJ) WHIP (1.387 to 1.559) and ERA+ (122 to 85).
That’s one thing we mercifully didn’t get to see last night – a reprisal of the CJ Wilson/Ozzie Guillen feud. Hank Blalock jacked a 2-run homer to right in the 8th, and Ian Kinsler (who is 0-15 with just a walk since the all-star break) added a sac fly in the top of the 9th, making it 6-1 before CJ ever got a chance to warm up. Jamey Wright pitched the bottom of the 9th instead, and sent the White Sox to the clubhouse on just 13 pitches – a good inning for him, considering he sports an 8.10 ERA for July.
Overall, that was a pretty good game for the Rangers – 2 homers and 4 doubles out of 8 hits and 3 walks last night will do something to quiet any concerns about the offense after the Minnesota series. But it should be noted that the Rangers still struck out 13 times in that game, and Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Milton Bradley are now a collective 3 for 45 since the break. Right now the Rangers are getting by on the legs of some timely homers, but they’re going to need those aforementioned three (especially Kinsler and Bradley) to pick it up again soon.
In other news, Taylor Teagarden was sent back to AAA as planned yesterday to keep his Olympic eligibility intact. Teagaren struck out 4 times in 6 at-bats in his two starts this weekend despite crushing the game-winning homer on Sunday, but he’s still understandably a little dissapointed at being sent back down:
“Anytime you get sent down you’re disappointed,” Teagarden said. “[Manager Ron] Washington talked about how I have a win-win situation. I get to stay here for the rest of the year or just get a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the Olympics. I think that’s the best way to look at it. Obviously, I’d like to stay here a little longer, but I’ll go back to Triple-A for about a week or so, and go from there.”
Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Max Ramirez will continue to perform the catchers duties for now, but Gerald Laird’s rehab assignment starts today for AAA Oklahoma. Once he comes back, the Rangers will have to send either Salty or Max down – Max had been heating up going into the all-star break, but he was 0-3 in his start in Minnesota on Saturday and Salty went 2-3 with a double last night. I imagine it’ll be Max sent down when Laird rejoins the team (which is tentatively supposed to be this weekend in Oakland) so he can get full-time AB’s in OKC - he’s just not getting enough playing time in the Majors right now, even getting snubbed of a big chance in Minnesota so the Rangers could get a look at Teagarden.
If Laird returns in Oakland, he’ll have 6 games before the deadline to show everyone he’s healthy – I’m still clinging to some hope that the Rangers will trade him at the deadline so they can move forward with their young catchers, but the fact that Teagarden is likely headed to China tells me that’s unlikely.
Speaking of trade possibilities, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports says that the Rangers are getting calls about both Marlon Byrd and Nelson Cruz. Because of Brandon Boggs’ emergence, Byrd is of no real use to us and would make a pretty decent 4thOF for a contender with his defensive abilities – teams like the Cubs and the Rays have had intrest in him in the past, so he could possibly bring back some sort of a sleeper prospect. Cruz, despite being 28 and having a career line of .231/.282/.385 in only 442 Major League at bats is drawing intrest due to his monstrous 31-home run, 82 RBI AAA campaign this year. He’s probably not even worth as much as Byrd given his age and history of failure, but he’s a minor league free agent at the end of the season so getting anything you can for him would be very advantageous.
Quick hits: Nolan Ryan says he is happy with the way the team is progressing, although he admits that he has had “very little impact on baseball operations”… Brandon McCarthy will make a rehab start tonight for AAA Oklahoma.
Tonight, Luis Mendoza takes on Mark Buehrle in Chicago. Mendoza was brilliant his last start before the break, striking out 8 in 6 innings of 1 run ball against the White Sox - but he was horrible in his two starts previous to that, so I really have no idea what to expect from him. You’d probably best keep your flack jacket and steel pot handy when you sit down to watch this one just in case. Also, Buerhle is a lefty (the one who no-hit us last year at US Cellular, no less) so be advised of the possibility of a cold front moving in over the offense again.
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.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: CJ Wilson, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Matt Harrison, Max Ramirez
Back on April 24th, when this Texas Rangers ballclubwas sitting at 7-16 in the standings if somebody would have told me we’d finish the first half with 50 wins by the All-Star break I probably would have told them they where insane. And really, it is insane. It’s insane how this team turned itself around on a dime, and gone from one of the worst Aprils in team history to 4 games over .500 at the break. It’s insane the contributions the Rangers have gotten from core players like Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley - and from the rookies like David Murphy, Eric Hurley, Chris Davis and Brandon Boggs. Yep – it’s absolutely, beautifully insane.
Some of that beautiful insanity was demonstrated yesterday against the White Sox, in another weird, wacky contest in which pitchers (bothstarter and reliever) where treated as rudely as doormats. Though I regretfully don’t have time this morning to run through all the craziness at great depth like I normally would (I also need to do a roundup of all the latest Rangers news and notes I haven’t been able to get to) I’ll just give you some of the noteable highlights of yesterday’s 12-11 slugout:
- Matt Harrison, trying to make his case for a spot in the second half rotation gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 2.2 innings. Not a very good performance for Harrison – but considering how everybody else that pitched in that game pretty much got hammered as well, I’m not super concerned over this hiccough. Matty should start the second half in the rotation irregardless in my opinion.
- Ian Kinsler3-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI – he ends the first half leading the AL with a .337 average in a league-leading 452 PA’s. He also leads in hits (134), total bases (218), runs scored (84), doubles (34), extra base hits (52) and runs created (92). All that, plus some other cool stuff like being 5th in OBP and 7th in SLB% adds up to a .945 OPS and an AL-leading 52.4 VORP. That’s your first half MVP, not only for the Rangers but for the American League. And maybe even for all of baseball.
- Oh yeah, almost forgot: Kinsler extended his hitting streak to 25 games. This may be the one reason I am sorry the ASB is here – he doesn’t have a chance to go for 26 until Friday.
- Maximiliano Ramirez: 3-5 with 1 double and 3 RBI. He’s been getting some additional playing time since Salty tweaked his groin July 5th. The result? He’s gone 7-for-20 with a homer, 6 RBI and a .959 OPS. Overall his line has jumped from .182/.280/.318 to .250/.333/.425. Sounds like Salty better get his groin healed and show us something immediately after the ASB, or he could wind up being the one sent down when Laird comes off the DL (which is tentatively targeted to be July 25th).
- Milton Bradley: 2-5 with his 19th homer of the season yesterday. Not only does it tie his personal best in HR’s for a single season, but it was the 100th of his career.
- CJWilson: gave up 3 runs on 5 hits after being brought into the game with a 12-8 lead in the top of the 9th inning. That’s bad. Again. He also said that he didn’t get pumped up enough to start getting outs until he heard Ozzie Guillen taunting him from the White Sox dugout, and that…
“I don’t really worry about my ERA too much,” Wilson said. “I just worry if I get my saves, because that’s the only thing I can control.”
Forgive me if the next few sentences sound like a rant, but… that’s just a horrible attitude for a closer to have. Maybe I’m reading to far into this, but if taken literally, he’s basically saying he doesn’t care how many runs or baserunners he allows just so long as he doesn’t give up that tying run. Being an adrenaline junky is one thing, but as a closer, your job is to go out there and get outs as quickly and efficiently as possible. You have to go out there and want mow down every single batter with your very best stuff, and from the sound of it, CJ doesn’t seem to have the drive to do that unless the tying run is actually standing at third. And when you’ve got a 5.01 ERA, a 1.573 WHIP, and 23 BB’s already, the law of averages would seem to dictate that sooner or later, that guy on third is gonna start scoring.
We don’t have too many options to replace CJ in the 9th inning with at this point – but I’ve had enough of the antics of watching our 3-4 run leads evaporate to one in a matter of minutes after CJ takes the mound. Not to repeat what I’ve said before, but I really think it would be a good thing if the Rangers told CJ he was splitting time in the 9thinning with Frankie Francisco, who has at leas the pure stuff to pitch there (though he too could use a lesson in being more aggressive with it at times). Under that scenario, we’d get a look at what Frankie can do, see if he can handle the role and at the same time hopefully light a fire under CJ’s ass to get some 1-2-3 innings as well.
Anyway… this kind of turned out to be an impromptu rant about CJ Wilson, so my apologies for that. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a more proper post, and round up all the latest Ranger news later.
Tonight… tonight is gonna be special. We have Josh Hamilton in the home run derby (which is on at 7:00 central on ESPN if you’re wondering). In a really cool gesture, Hamilton has chosen to bring his high school coach, 71 year-old Clay Council to the derby to throw him the cheese. I’ve been a little concerned that the derby will mess up Josh’s swing for the second half, but at this point there’s really nothing to do but shut up and cheer him on – and based on what we hear about his BP sessions, this should be a piece of cake for Josh as far as launching balls goes… if you’re a betting man… he’s even the odds-on favorite. Who can argue with that?
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Chris Davis, CJ Wilson, Eric Hurley, Kevin Millwood, Matt Harrison, Michael Ballard, Vicente Padilla
You know something? Matt Harrison is pretty good.
Called upon to help fill in for a Rangers starting rotation currently ravaged by injuries and bad performances, the 22 year-old lefty from Durham, SC didn’t seem fazed at all by the spotlight or any of the circumstances surrounding his Major League debut last night. He just went out there and hit his spots, providing the Rangers seven strong innings of work – and making every one of the three runs the Rangers offense squeezed out of all-star pitcher Joe Saunders count as they picked him up for his first Major League win in a 3-2 Rangers triumph.
The game got off to a late start thanks to 56 minutes of rain, but neither Harrison nor his opponent Saunders would seem fazed by it, although Harrison had to overcome an initial hiccough in the first inning when the leadoff batter Chone Figgins grounded one to Michael Young, who saw it go off his glove for an error. Not exactly the way you want to start a ballgame with a rookie on the mound, but what followed may have been the key play to the entire ballgame.
When Harrison ran the count to 3-2 on Gary Matthews Jr. (the Angels #2 hitter), Mike Scoscia decided to put on the hit-and-run with the speedy Figgins at first. But Harrison struck out Matthews with a high fastball, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia gunned down Figgins at second – a textbook strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play. As Harrison later said, that seemed to set the tone for the rest of his outing:
“That really helped a lot. That gave me a boost of confidence to go after guys and be aggressive and get the nervousness out of my system.”
And that’s exactly what he did, running in and out with a sinking fastball that topped out at about 92 MPH, and a high 70’s change that kept the Angels guessing the entire night. The only inning he had any real trouble in was the 5th, when he surrendered the only walk and extra-base of the outing and Garret Anderson blooped a seeing-eye single back up the middle to score 2 runs.
That gave the Angels a very short-lived 2-1 edge, but Chris Davis responded for Texas by jacking a no-doubt homer to right in the bottom of the frame, his 5th in just 37 at-bats since being called up from the minors, and his fourth in 4 starts at the RBiA this year. While his average may be dipping right now (.111 through his last 5 games) you can’t say the raw tower-to-tower power has gone anyplace.
The Rangers took the lead back for good in the bottom of the 6th when Ian Kinsler led off with his 31st double of the season (extending his hitting streak to 20 games) and Josh Hamilton singled him home for his 87th RBI. Matt Harrison breezed through the 6th and 7th innings, getting up to 97 pitches before ending his night with a line of 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB and 1 K. I don’t think you’ll find very many Major League debuts with lines like that one – as Ron Washington put it, that’s just an outstanding debut.
“It’s everything I ever worked for in my life and coming up through the Minor Leagues,” Harrison said. “I can’t explain how happy I am to be here. I talked to a few of the pitchers before the game and they just said, ‘Be aggressive and throw strikes.’
And that’s exactly what he did – he kept his cool, threw strikes and stuck to his gameplan. Which is a lot more than can be said for quite a few other Rangers pitchers this season (that’s right, I’m looking at you, Luis Mendoza). If that performance doesn’t warrant at least one more start this weekend, I don’t know what does.
The game wasn’t over of course – the Rangers still had to survive another CJ Wilson near-meltdown en route to the save. Just when we thought CJ was getting his act together after ticking off four consecutive perfect outings between June 29th to July 5th, CJ allowed 2 home runs in Baltimore on Sunday. And last night, after Eddie Guardado tossed yet another seemingly effortless 1-2-3 8th inning, it was time to break out the Tums and charge up the defibrillators again for the 9th inning.
After an easy groundout to start the inning, Vlad Guerrero smashed a ball through the overshift and into LF for a single. Then CJ walked Torri Hunter in 5 pitches, before getting a comebacker to the mound off the bat of Howie Kendrick that should have been a game-ending double play. But not only did CJ double-clutch before throwing to second, he made a girly throw too – it was low, and nearly had to be dug out of the dirt by Ian Kinsler. Kendrick reached at first, and the game continued. After Kendrick took second base on what was ruled defensive indifference, the decision was made to walk Garrett Anderson and face pinch-hitter Juan Rivera with the bases loaded. Fortunately, CJ was able to get Rivera to ground one sharply to Ian Kinsler to end the ballgame, and escape the abyss of the blown save once again – but I must admit, I’m tiring of CJ’s little routine of putting the tying run in scoring position every time before he closes out a ballgame. I know, I know – I should probably just be happy he’s not blowing saves, but… this isn’t the way a closer pitches. Considering Frank Francisco has been pitching like his old 2004 self lately I think it may be high time to tell CJ that he’s going to start splitting save opportunities with Frankie, at least for a little while. If nothing else, it might motivate CJ to just go out and mow people down instead of trying to be Jamie Moyer in the 9th inning.
In other news, it has been announced that the merry-go-round that has become the Rangers starting rotation will make another turn tomorrow, as Frisco left-hander Michael Ballard will be called up to take Vicente Padilla’s place in the rotation. Padilla is still nursing a sore seck that has apparently hampered him his last two starts, and Eric Hurley was already placed on the DL yesterday to make room for Harrison, so the Rangers didn’t have any other choice than to bring up a green arm from the minors – and with all the options in OKC tapped out, they apparently felt Ballard, their former 14th round pick in the 2006 draft was the best option, likely because he is 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA his last 7 starts (although he is 8-3 with a 3.97 ERA overall).
If you’re wondering exactly what Ballard’s repertoire is, Mike Hindman has an excellent scouting report up on him over at the DMN blog, from which the following is an excerpt:
Ballard is a soft-tosser, who often pitches backwards, and his stuff is by no means overwhelming. He keeps hitters off-balance with his assortment of a high-80’s fastball, a mid-70’s change and high-60’s 12-6 yakker
When he’s going good, he works with quickly and with confidence, throwing any pitch in any count for strikes. He’s shown an ability to miss bats (6.52 K/9), but he’s by no means a strikeout pitcher.
Ballard is an extremely intelligent pitcher who has proven that he does a better job of adjusting to a league’s hitters than they do adjusting to him, but realize this …
Don’t expect too much out of him tomorrow. Ballard’s pattern suggests that he may eventually carve out a niche for himself as a crafty, soft-tossing lefty in the mold of Jamey Moyer.
How the Rangers will get Ballard on the 25-man roster is currently still a mystery – he easy option would be to just send Harrison back down - but with Hurley on the DL you’ll need another starter this weekend, so that might be pretty stupid considering the game Harrison just threw. I think myself that Warner Madrigal or Luis Mendoza are more likely candidates to go down – or perhaps the Rangers could put Vicente Padilla on the DL, since he just doesn’t seem to be getting over this neck thing, and according to TR Sullivan “nobody is sure” when he’ll pitch again.
We’ll see what happens, but the Rangers definitely need Ballard to make this start, because there’s still more uncertainty with Kevin Millwood, who is currently dealing with a mildy strained groin (which landed him on he DL earlier this year, BTW). While he says he feels confident he’ll still make his next start, it may have to be pushed back until Saturday, which would necessitate the use of a bullpen arm like Josh Rupe in a spot start on Friday. As Millwood himself put it:
“I don’t think we have a rotation, it’s more a smorgasbord of pitchers,” Millwood said. “We throw someone out there where we can and get to the All-Star break.”
Truer words have never been said.
Quick hits: Brandon McCarthy is scheduled to throw a simulated game today in Suprise… Thomas Diamond is not going to undergo surgery on his foot after all - he’s had a cortisone shot in his ankle, and will attempt to finish the season after resting for 2-3 weeks.
Michael Ballard and the Rangers will take on Jered Weaver tonight in Arlington – and I hate to say this, but if I had a hundred bucks to blow, I’d go bet it on the Angels for this game. Weaver is 2-1 with a 2.36 ERA in his career against the Rangers, and he has a 1.89 ERA at the RBiA – oh, and there’s probably a 90% chance that Michael Ballard is going to get hit pretty hard, seeing as how he’s never pitched above AA and his stuff really isn’t all that great. So… yeah. My advice is to brace for the worst, or go see a movie or something (hey, somebody had to say it).
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 Wins | Tags: all-star voting, Bad Umpires, CJ Wilson, Eddie Guardado, Frank Francisco, Ron Washington, Scott Feldman
Maybe the pitching staff is finally starting to shape up for the Rangers. Scott Feldman, the rotation’s hard-luck pitcher has watched more than one win slip away in the hands of the Texas bullpen this year. But that all changed, at least for one night at Yankee Stadium, as not only did the bullpen bail Feldman out of a jam, it also completely shut down the mighty Yankee offense over the last 3 innings, allowing the Rangers pull off a narrow 2-1 victory.
Engineering his best start since going 6 scoreless innings against Oakland on May 9th, Feldman battled around some early control problems (he walked 3 in the first two innings) to shut down the Yankees, allowing one run on 4 hits in 5.2 innings. The only run he allowed came when he hung a curveball to Alex Rodriguez in the 4th inning.
The Rangers offense meanwhile, had to deal with the “strike zone” home plate umpire Dan Iassogona was calling for Mike Mussina and the Yankees all night. Of course, it’s really nothing new or even surprising to see and umpire favoring the home team at Yankee Stadium – but Iassogona wasn’t calling a strike zone for the Yanks, he was calling a drop zone that you could have landed the entire 101st Airborne division inside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an umpire so blatantly favor one team, at least not in recent memory - we’ve had some umps put the screws to us a couple times this year, but this was by far and away the worst occasion so far.
Edit: I’d like to apologize for mistakenly referring to Dan Iassogona as Dan Lassogona in this post (I misread the name in the MLB boxscore). I’ll freely admit I’m not much of a grammatical/spelling whiz, but I do pride myself on at least getting the names of the people I write about correct. Not sure if anybody noticed this error, but I still wanted to clear things up just in case.
The Iassogona-aided Mussina would strike out 8 Rangers – 5 looking – but the Rangers made what hits they where able to get off of him count. Of the 5 hits Mussina surrendered, 3 where doubles – two of which lead directly to the 2 runs the Rangers put on the board. First Ian Kinsler knocked a 1-out double in the third, andwas subsequently singled home by Josh Hamilton to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Then, with David Murphy on second after a walk and a groundout in the fourth, Chris Davis smashed an RBI double up the alley in right-center. Those would be the only runs the Rangers got (they couldn’t cash in on a runner-at-third, 0 out situation in the 8th) but thanks to the Ranger pitchers those where the only runs they would need.
The Yankees did come close to tying the game with 2 out in the 6th – Jason Giambi smoked one out to the wall in right center, and turned it into his first triple since 2002 (no joke!) when Josh Hamilton couldn’t make a running shoestring grab, and saw it go off his glove instead. With the tying run 90 feet away, Ron Washington decided to go to Frankie Francisco, who seems to thrive in tight situations (his 6.8 percentage of inherited runners scored last year was the lowest in the Majors).
“When I get in those situations, I just turn it on,” Francisco said. “I like being in those situations. It lets me pitch to my strength, the fastball.”
Indeed it does, because Francisco came in and struck out Jorge Posada on six pitches, throwing him a high 96 MPH heater to finish him off. Then he proceeded to pitch the bottom of the 7th, retiring the side with 2 groundouts and another K. All total, Francisco threw 18 pitches over an inning and a third last night – 11 of them for strikes. Francisco has now allowed just one hit and zero runs in his last 6.1 innings, while striking out 8 and walking one. If he can keep this up, we may have ourselves a new 8th inning man.
We might need one too, because of what happened to Eddie Guardado last night – while making his final warmup pitches as he prepared to pitch the 8th inning, Eddie apparently felt a “twinge” in his shoulder:
“He felt a twinge in his shoulder and didn’t want to take any chances,” manager Ron Washington said. “He’s day-to-day, and we’ll see how it goes. We don’t think it’s too bad. He’s had this before. Sometimes it’s one day, sometimes it’s a couple of days. We’ll see tomorrow.”
For the sake of the bullpen, as well as any trade value Guardado might possess, lets hope this isn’t serious – his ERA+ of 128 currently leads all our regular relievers.
Jamey Wright – who actually has a 0.93 ERA in his last 10 appearances – pitched the 8th inning for the Rangers instead, and he retired the side in order, leaving it in the hands of CJ Wilson for the 9th inning. I don’t think anyone needs reminding of CJ’s struggles this year - suffice it to say that up until the last two days, he just has not looked like the 2007 version of CJ Wilson that posted a 3.03 season ERA. When he worked the 9th on Sunday however, he turned in his first 1-2-3 inning since June 2nd, while also striking out 2 – arguably the best inning of work he has turned in all season. He built on that last night, as he set down the heart of the Yankees order - A-Rod, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada – to pick up his 18th save of the season. Of course, two sterling outings does not make a recovery from his struggles – but for the first time this season, CJ appears like he might be headed toward the right path.
This victory puts the Rangers 2 games over .500 for the first time since 2006 – and it took them until they’re 6th attempt this year to win consecutive games after reaching the .500 mark. As I’m sure you already know, Eric Hurley bagged his first Major League win against the Phillies to help us along on Sunday (a belated big congrats to Hurley on that by the way – and my apologies for not making the time to properly blog it), in a game that Max Ramirez caught, and Chris Davis homered in - the young rookies have really played a huge part in this drive to 2 games over, and there’s nothing more exciting to see than the young players who have a chance to be part of this teams future out there contributing and growing. It’s a great time to be a Ranger fan.
Speaking of those young guys, TR Sullivan had a piece up yesterday about the way the Rangers have been doling out playing time to the youngsters… Ron of course, still thinks the Rangers can contend, and says he’s focused on putting his best lineup out there:
“I’ve got to put the best lineup out there,” Washington said. “We’re only 7 1/2 games out. We’ve still got a chance.”
That, right there, is one of my biggest gripes with Wash: even if we have a chance at somehow backing our way into the playoffs this year (which, realistically, we really don’t) it shouldn’t matter, because we should still be focused on putting the building blocks of a future dominant team together. He shouldn’t be worried about putting his “best” lineup together, he should be focused on getting the youngsters like Max Ramirez and Brandon Boggs their share of AB’s out of reserve roles, instead of handing them to the spares on the bench like Marlon Byrd and Frank Catalanotto. Hopefully, this is a problem that will be fixed at the trade deadline, if we can find takers for Byrd and Catalanotto – but the point is, I still don’t think Ron Washington is on the same page that this organization needs him to be on at this juncture.
Guess what today is, folks? It’s the last day second to last day of All-Star voting. Now, Josh Hamilton is safely second in the OF voting, as is Michael Young at SS – but according to the latest stats, Ian Kinsler(who has moved up to second in the entire American League in VORP recently) is still 183,686 votes behind Dustin Pedroia. One last day Ranger fans - you all can do it, you just need to get cracking. Here is the ballot, and if you’re out of e-mail addresses, you can use dodgit.com to create disposable e-mails - for example, just type in something like lonestarincalifornia@dodgit.com in the e-mail box on the ballot, and you’re good to go – and you can create as many variations as you need/want. So lets give it one last push, folks - Kinsler deserves to start that game waaay more than Pedroia does.
Quick hits: Dustin Nippert tossed a 7-inning no-hitter for Oklahoma Sunday… Kason Gabbard had an MRI today on his inflamed elbow, which revealed that there was no structural damage… Gabbard was given a cortisone shot to treat it… and Josh Hamilton is really excited to be playing in Yankee Stadium.
Today it’s Kevin Millwood vs. the Yankees top young pitcher Joba Chaimberlain. Unlike Mike Mussina, Joba isn’t going to need an overly-biased strike zone to hold the Rangers to 2 runs – considering Millwood got lit up his last start, this might be a pretty tough game. Joba has been known to be wild at times though, so if we can stay patient, maybe we’ll get to him.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: CJ Wilson, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
It was not a very good homecoming for the Texas Rangers in Washington Friday night. Returning to the spot from which their franchise had morphed 37 years ago, they not only saw their offense shut down and their bullpen futilely spent in the 14-inning 4-3 loss, they lost the veteran half of their catching platoon.
The Rangers pitchers at least did a pretty good job in this one – Kevin Millwood gave the Rangers 8 solid innings, allowing a total 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. Through 7 innings the Rangers lead 3-2, and it seemed Millwood might very well be on his way to a win, and a very important bullpen-saving performance. The only problem was he gave up a solo homer to Elijah Dukes to lead off the top of the 8th inning, which knotted the game at 3 for the next 6 innings.
The Rangers offense, for their part, did practically nothing after Ian Kinsler hit a base-clearing 3 run double in the top of the second. Without Milton Bradley in the lineup for a third consecutive day, they had just two hits and four baserunners from the third inning on, and completely failed to take advantage of a rare solid performance by their bullpen, which matched up with the Washington Nationals’ bullpen until Jamey Wright’s lack of control finally lead to the Rangers succumbing in the bottom of the 14th. After a HBP and 2 walks, Wright struck out 2, and appeared on the verge of getting out of the inning when the red-hot Dukes (who went 5-6 with 2 RBI, stole 2 bases, and fell a triple short of the cycle) grounded the first pitch he saw to the hole and past Michael Young to put a blessed end to one of the most boring and frustrating games the Rangers have had in 2008.
Of course, the real story wasn’t the lack of offense, or losing the game – the real story came in the 4th inning, when Gerald Laird pulled his right hamstring while beating out a bunt single. As he tore down the line, Gerald apparently felt his hamstring tighten just a few steps from the bag, and then give out just as he reached it. He immediately collapsed on the ground in pain, and had to be helped off the field by Milton Bradley and Ron Washington.
“It’s disappointing,” Laird said. “It’s tough to swallow. I want to be out there with my teammates. I felt I had made some adjustments from last year, and I felt I was playing pretty good. Lying on the grass I was saying to myself, ‘This is not happening … this is not happening.’ It’s tough to swallow.”
It is indeed a tough break for Laird who was putting up career-high numbers while platooning with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, hitting .306/.360/.437 in 183 at-bats - 50 points or more higher in all categories than his career line of .257/.308/.387.
Initially it was reported during the game that the strain was “mild” but I think everyone who saw Laird go down at first base had to know that that assessment was extremely optimistic. Later, Ron Washington confirmed that the situation was indeed as serious as it looked, saying
“He pulled it pretty bad. It’s certainly not going to be a day-to-day thing.”
Gerald says he wants to be back by the All-Star break, but the Rangers aren’t going to give a timeline for his return until the MRI results confirm whether or not his hamstring is indeed fully intact (there’s still a worst-case scenario it could be partially torn, like Hank Blalock’s was earlier this year). In any case, him returning by July 14th (the start of the break) seems like an awfully optimistic goal, although it would really be advantageous if he could get back sometime before the trade deadline on July 31st.
In his stead, the Rangers are going to call up Max Ramirez (who was acquired from Cleveland last year in the Kenny Lofton trade) from AA Frisco to serve as the backup catcher, while Jarrod Saltalamacchia should get his shot in the full-time role. Going into yesterday, Max’s line in Frisco was an otherworldly .362/.457/.651 in 235 AB’s with 16 home runs – 17 once you count the one he bashed in the first inning of yesterdays game (of which he was removed once the news of the callup came).
In promoting Ramirez, the Rangers did pass up their other top catching prospect Taylor Teagarden who many initially expected would get the promotion because of his superior defensive ability. But Teagarden has been dealing with a sore shoulder, is not yet on the 40 man roster, and is only currently hitting .246/.372/.447 in AAA Oklahoma. Also, unlike Max Ramirez (who can also play first base), Teagarden is strictly a catcher, meaning it would have been impossible to get him any kind of consistent at-bats, even if he was platooned with Saltalamacchia. And with the way Teagarden has struggled offensively this year, it’s probably pretty important that he continue to get consistent AB’s – so perhaps passing over him for now was the best call.
One thing to keep in mid about this callup though is his defense is even less impressive than Salty’s has been this year - he’s only thrown out 16 of 66 baserunners in AA, and Frisco manager Scott Little said awhile back that Max still needs to improve in ”receiving, throwing, blocking and game-calling” – basically everything. So if anyone out there is expecting Max to come up and somehow knock Salty out of the catchers role, don’t. Max will get his AB’s, make no mistake about it – as Ron Washington said:
”Ramirez is going to play. We’ll just wait and see when he gets here how much he’s going to play.”
But I’m willing to bet the vast majority of those at-bats will come at first base and DH – they should at least, because considering his defensive defences, it really doesn’t make any sense to play Max at catcher when you’ve got a golden chance to give Saltalamacchia the opportunity to snap out of his funk with some everyday playing time.
Of course, Salty’s gonna have some serious work to do – offensively he’s in the midst of 2-for-30 slump that has plummeted his numbers from a season-high .279/.417/.471 back on June 3rd down to an ugly .219/.342/.354 again. He did finally snap his streak of allowing 23 consecutive stolen bases last night after he replaced Laird however - and while he only threw out Nats catcher Jesus Flores on a botched hit-and-run, the throw he made was about as strong and on target as you can get, reinforcing the assessment that there is ability there which consistent playing time should help bring out.
This is it, folks – this wasn’t the way I wanted to see Salty get his shot at every day playing time, but it’s here, and the Rangers better let him try and make the most of it. If for some reason however, all they do is start another platoon with two below-average defensive catchers, it’s going to be beyond stupid and moronic - it’s going to be a travesty.
Anyway, moving on to some other stuff, TR Sullivan has a piece up on the struggles of the Rangers bullpen as a whole, noting that Doug Mathis was put on the DL yesterday, and Luis Mendoza was called up from AAA to take his place in the bullpen. Apparently, Mathis felt some stiffness in his shoulder during two bullpen sessions Thursday and Friday, prompting the Rangers to make the move. Also noted is that Ron Washington reaffirms that CJ Wilson is his closer for now, and the Rangers plan to try and ride this rough patch out:
“Right now, C.J. is still the closer,” Washington said. “If there needs to be a change, there will be some conversations first, but there hasn’t been any yet. He came into the season as our closer and we’re going to give him the opportunity to work through these rough times.”
Speaking of the closing situation, Evan Grant also gave us his take on the subject, basically saying that what the Rangers do with CJ Wilson should depend upon what direction they want to take the team, which is pretty much true.
Milton Bradley was held out from the lineup last night for the third game in a row - he did pinch-hit for the pitcher’s spot in the 10th inning (grounding out on one pitch), so apparently he can swing the bat, he just wasn’t ready to play right field yet. It was reported that Ron Washington expects him to play by the end of this series with the Nats, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether its today or tomorrow.
One thing’s for certain, the Rangers are sure missing his bat in the lineup – without him they’ve scored only 12 runs in the 39 innings since he was removed from the game on Tuesday. Furthermore, a couple key guys in the middle of the order are mired in slumps right now – after going 0-6 Friday, Michael Young is 2 for his last 38, and David Murphy is just 7 for his last 45. If the Rangers complete inability to score last night after the second inning was any evidence, Milton needs to come back soon.
Another missing bat, Hank Blalock starts his rehab assignment in AAA today, and will play three games with the Redhawks at first base before being reevaluated. As a result, everybody’s favorite beasticon Chris Davis (who just went 2-3 with another home run last night) will have to move to DH for 3 games. Now, that’s something that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me – why send Blalock to Oklahoma and displace Davis, who is tearing PCL pitchers a new ass right now and playing a great first base (from what I understand anyway), when you could have sent him to AA Frisco where they don’t have one of our “prospects” playing first base? Not that it probably matters much of course, Davis still gets to hit, but that’s just something that bugs me a little for some reason.
Quick hits time: several Rangers players including CJ Wilson visited the Walter Reed hospital Friday morning, and apparently it helped bring things into perspective for CJ, who said ”I blew a save, they were wounded in battle. Blowing one save is not as catastrophic. … I hate to break it to Rangers fans, but that’s the way it is.”… Kevin Sherrington has a feel-good, Jim Morris kind of collumn up on Oklahoma reliever Brian Gordon, who apparently has gotten some help from Nolan Ryan in his late-career conversion from outfielder pitcher.
Kason Gabbard goes for the Rangers today against Nats rookie RHP Garrett Mock, who will be making just his second career start. Gabbard is coming off a solid (but not spectacular) start against the Mets last time out. The Rangers could really use some innings from Gabbard today, because after the dragout last night, the only pitchers that are fresh in the bullpen are Luis Mendoza, CJ Wilson and Eddie Guardado – and both Wilson and Guardado could probably stand to go another day without pitching, too.
