Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Eddie Guardado, Eric Hurley, Gerald Laird, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Michael Young, Milton Bradley, Tommy Hunter, Vicente Padilla
Well, here it is on the eve (okay, early morning) of the trade deadline, and I’m finding myself apologizing again for not posting for several days in a row. A busy schedule, lack of sleep and just plain writers block have all found me unable to sit down and write at length this week (I haven’t even been to see the new X-files movie yet, that’s how busy I’ve been). There’s been plenty of happenings and trade rumors to write about lately though, meaning I’ve got some catching up to do – why don’t we dive in.
Last night’s 4-3 win over the Mariners was pretty nice, overall. Vicente Padilla drummed up whatever last minute trade value he could, with 7 strong innings – he gave up 10 hits, but held the Mariners to 3 runs and even escaped a monumental bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 7th (albeit with a little help from David Murphy, who threw out Willie Bloomquist at home plate that inning). While no Ranger had more than one hit on the night (they where out-hit 11 to 7) they managed to squeeze just enough out of the 7 they did have to make it count – Josh Hamilton and Brandon Boggs homered, and Michael Young drove in the winning run with a pinch-hit sac fly in the bottom of the 8th.
It was Young’s first pinch-hit appearance in 6 years, and it only came on account of his being out of the starting lineup with a broken finger. Young fractured his right ring finger diving back into first base on a pickoff throw in the first inning on Monday, and originally was supposed to be out 5-7 days – but in a tribute to his toughness, he was back in the starting lineup on Tuesday, going 0-5 with a walk. He was too sore to start last night however, leaving him available to pinch-hit and become the hero with a 1-0 fly ball to left-center that was just deep enough to score David Murphy from third – much reminiscent of his game-winning sac fly in the all-star game a couple weeks back.
CJ Wilson managed to nail down his first non-acidic save in recent memory in the 9th, retiring Kenji Johjima, Willie Bloomquist and Jose Vidro around an Ichiro infield single - much more like the type of outing he needs to have on a consistent basis. Before you go and get all encouraged that this was a big step forward for CJ though, remember who he was up against – with the exception of Ichiro (who reached base anyway) those where some pretty sorry hitters the M’s sent up there in the 9th.
The Rangers did get some bad news yesterday however, as it was announced that Eric Hurley will skip his next start - Hurley, who got lit up on Sunday his first start since his DL stint due to a strained hamstring (prolonged by a sore arm) apparently has biceps tendinitis, and will miss his next start on Friday. The Rangers plan on calling up Tommy Hunter from AAA Oklahoma to replace him and make his Major League debut. CJ Wilson had a case of biceps tendinitis in spring training this year that kept him sidelined for almost two weeks, but the Rangers seem to think that if Hurley’s arm “heals as anticipated” he’ll be able to make his next start and not require another trip to DL.
As for Hunter, he will become just the second player from the class of 2007 draft to make it to the Majors (the Washington Nationals Ross Deitwiler got a callup and pitched a single inning last September) after just 161 total minor league innings. Hunter, a 22-year old right-hander who is listed as 6′ 3″ 255 (although most personal accounts believe him to be heavier than that) throws an 89-94 MPH fastball along with a breaking ball that is supposedly his best pitch, and a changeup tossed in for good measure. None of his three pitches are really considered above-average, just solid - it’s probably due to this fact that he’s seen his strikeouts decline as he’s climbed the minor league ladder, which has in turn made his control an increasingly key part of his success.
Hunter started 2008 with high-A Bakersfield, where he logged 58 innings and went 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and an excellent K/9 of 7.71. Promoted to AA Frisco in May, his numbers jumped to a 3.78 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP, as his K/9 was slashed to 4.82 and his BB/9 spiked from just 1.23 in Bakersfield to 2.92 in 52 innings. That’s a notable spike, but Hunter was quick to adjust, rediscovering his control after a promotion to AAA Oklahoma – he has put up a 1.08 BB/9 since the jump, and has subsiquently gone 2-2 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 33 innings despite his K/9 dropping slightly again to 4.59.
Hunter sounds to me like another Joe Blanton, only with better control - a guy who will probably give up his fair share of hits, but will also get enough outs with his stuff to be a solid starter. His swift rise through the system this year has so far concurred with what the Rangers projected him as - a quick-starting back of the rotation innings eater who might provide us with some stability in the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation by 2010 if not 2009. If he performs well, I could conceivably see him knocking Luis Mendoza (who is back to being horrible of late) or Scott Feldman (to limit his innings) to the bullpen for awhile, and sticking in the rotation until the Rangers decide to shut him down for the season – this should be a very interesting debut.
Now we turn our attention to the hotbutton subject of the day: the trade deadline. According to the latest from GM Jon Daniels, the Rangers (who have been featured prominently in rumors this past week, but have yet to even come close to making an actual deal) says the Rangers are looking for pitching, and will likely not be making a deal if they do not get any in return:
“It’s not a well-kept secret we place a priority on pitching, now and the future,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “It’s not the only singular factor or the only thing we’re looking for, but it is a priority going forward.”
“Things can change, but right now we’re prepared to go with the horses we came with,”
I really believe though, that it is necessary for the Rangers to trade either Gerald Laird or Jarrod Saltalamacchia – you cannot have Salty sitting on the bench for the second half and expect him to develop, and yet at the same time, Laird has performed well enough to start. I think Laird probably has just as much, if not more current value on the market than Salty (especially for teams looking for a more experienced catcher) and from a personal standpoint, I’d obviously rather see him dealt, seeing as how I consider him superfluous in the Rangers long-term plans – but at the same time, if the Rangers aren’t going to play Salty I would rather see him dealt to an organization that will.
According to ESPN on Monday, nearly eight teams have been looking at Laird and Salty – the Marlins and Reds have reportedly the most aggressive regarding Laird, but so far have not agreed to give up any pitching prospects for him. The Yankees traded for Pudge Rodriguez yesterday, putting them out of the discussion for now, but the Red Sox are currently interested in a catcher of the future, making them a possible destination for Salty.
Of the Rangers other valuable commodities, Hank Blalock is off the table, as he is on the DL again with a shoulder problem – something the Rangers tried to cover up initially, passing it off as a stomach illness on Monday when they thought it would be a one-day thing. But it wasn’t, and Blalock’s latest DL trip is rumored to have killed a deal involving him and the Twins for Boof Bonser. Which is probably good, because Boof Bonser is nothing more than a younger, fatter version of the pitcher Kevin Millwood currently is.
Milton Bradley was also out of the lineup last night with a strained left quad – the same thing that caused him to miss some extended time back in June. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup today, but this latest nick to Bradley’s health may have sapped some of his last-minute value here at the deadline – that is if the Rangers choose to deal him at all, and from the conservative approach Jon Daniels seems to say he wants to take, a deal involving Bradley or Vicente Padilla probably ins’t likely unless the Rangers get an offer they can’t refuse.
Eddie Guardado’s name has also come up in the rumors, including one about a week ago that had him being dealt to St. Lous for a pitcher Jess Todd. The Marlins have also reportedly had some interest, but so far nothing tangibly concrete has actually come up regarding Eddie – which is unfortunate in my opinion, because I don’t see us bringing him back (at age 38) in 2009.
Bottom line: it kind of sounds like Jon Daniels is planning on standing pat unless he finds a deal out there that blows him away. And in my opinion, that might be a mistake – we’ve got several guys having what will likely be career seasons right now, and even if we don’t get the next Mark Teixeira haul in return for one of them, they could still bring back a very solid and valuable bounty. I wish JD would go for broke on the rebuilding like Billy Beane has done in Oakland this year, but I’m preparing for a relatively quiet (and for me, consequently disappointing) deadline.
Tonight, Matt Harrison opposes former Ranger RA Dickey - if you’ll remember, he gave up many a homer in Texas trying to become Tim Wakefield. He appears to have finally figured out how to lob that knuckleball this year however, so this might be quite the experience for some of the Rangers young players (like Chris Davis) who I doubt have ever seen a knuckleballer. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to this game, because as I’ve mentioned before on here, I hate knuckleballers.
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.
So far, Eric Hurley is off to a very nice start to his Major League career. After going 6 quality innings in his first start in Kansas City, he followed up with 5 more last night against the Braves. Unfortunately for the Rangers, Atlanta’s Jo-jo Reyes pitched even better than Hurley did, and closer CJ Wilson’s struggles continued as Texas dropped this one 5-2.
Hurley’s night didn’t get off to an ideal start, as he gave up a home run in the top of the first inning to Chipper Jones. That at-bat, Hurley almost struck Chipper out looking with his 2-2 pitch, a fastball that appeared to catch the outside corner to some. Unfortunately, “some” didn’t include home plate ump Ed Montague, and the next pitch Hurley threw on 3-2 got jacked out to deep center, where it just barely cleared the wall to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.
While Hurley didn’t quite have the control he displayed in Kansas City (he had eight different 3-2 counts on the night, and threw a mediocre 62 strikes out of 106 total pitches) he did strike out 5, and improved his FB/GB ratio to 4-6 (as opposed to 3-12 last time out). He particularly seemed to struggle with his location in the third inning, in which the Braves tattooed several balls all over the outfield, including a double by Gregor Blanco, and an RBI single off the RF wall by Kelly Johnson. But Hurley escaped the inning allowing just one run, and seemed to get stronger though the 4th and 5th innings, coaxing a double play from Brain McCann in the 4th, and setting down the side in order in the 5th.
Meanwhile though, the Texas offense was busy being stymied by Jo-jo Reyes. They did get a run in the third, when German Duran was hit by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored and Gerald Laird RBI single – but they couldn’t cash in on the big opportunities, like in the 4thwhen they loaded the bases with 2 out only to have Jarrod Saltalamacchia fly out to right.
Eric Hurley finally ran out of gas in the 6th, when he allowed a walk and a single to lead off the inning, and Frank Francisco had to come in and bail him out, which he did. Texas would then tie it in the bottom of the 6th on a Brandon Boggs RBI infield single, taking Hurley off the hook for his first loss, but they wasted their one chance to pull ahead in the 8th.
Ian Kinsler lead off the bottom of the 8th with a single, but instead of trying to run on Brian McCann (a poor-throwing catcher who had allowed 2 stolen bases in the game already) with the man who is 22-23 on the basepathsthis year, Ron Washington decided to bunt him to second with Gerald Laird (who by the way is 14 for his last 31, a .452 average). Stupid, stupid baseball to take the bat way from one of your hottest hitters and just give away an out like that – especially considering Michael Young, who is 1 for his last 28 was next. Young grounded out to second, which did put Kinsler on third with 2 out, but the Braves intentionally walked Josh Hamilton to face Marlon Byrd, who promptly swung at the first pitch of his AB and grounded out to the pitcher.
Can somebody please remind me why Ron Washington is a Major League manager again?
Of course, it may not have mattered if the Rangers had plated that run in the bottom of the 8th or not, because the struggles of everybody’s favorite blue gloved lefty CJ Wilson continued Tuesday night. CJ, who nearly blew a save in New York on Sunday (allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks that outing) this time made a fielding error to add to his woes, as his errant play on a Jeff Francoeur dribbler up the first base line sparked a 3-run rally in the top of the 9th for the Braves. On an 0-2 count Leading off the inning, Francouer reached out and basically tapped a swinging bunt over toward the first base line. Wilson, despite the calls of Gerald Laird, raced off the mound, picked it up, and lobbed it toward Chris Shelton – and down the RF line, as the low throw squirted past the unprepared first baseman, who it seemed never even knew where the throw was.
At the time, CJ threw his arms in the air as if it was Shelton’s fault the ball had zipped past him, but after the game, he was harder on himself than perhaps anyone else:
“I gave them the winning run on a platter,” Wilson said after allowing three runs in the top of the ninth. “I blew it.”
…
“[Laird] called me off, and I took it anyway. Apparently, if I would have hit him, he would have been out,” Wilson said. “If I would have made a good throw, he would have been out. If I would have let Gerald take it, he would have been out. I did pretty much everything wrong out there.”
With Francouer on second CJ did strike out Brandon Jones, but after that Omar Infante singled to give the Braves a 3-2 lead, and the Braves went triple-walk-fielders choice to score 2 more runs before Wilson, who threw 28 pitches, finally got out of the inning. Atlanta’s Mike Gonzalez set down the side in order the bottom of the 9th, and the Rangers went home frustrated yet again by the inability of a key bullpen member to get people out.
After this latest debacle I have to admit, I’m really questioning CJ’s ability to perform the closers duties, not just in the future but right now. As Joey Matschulat says in his latest piece over at Baseball Time in Arlington, CJ doesn’t really have the command, the stuff or the makeup of a true closer, and it’s been painfully obvious lately. The only thing is, the Rangers currently don’t really have a better option than Wilson on the roster for the 9th inning role – unless of course you want to send Eddie Guardado and his 86 MPH fastball out there for the 9th, anyway. But right now, the difference between CJ and Eddie is Gauardado’s getting the job done with his 86 MPH heater (that 3 run homer Tuesday night appears to just be a hiccough), while CJ really isn’t. Does that mean it’s time for Eddie to supplant CJ already? In my opinion, probably not quite yet (although immediately following last nights game I might have said otherwise), but it is time to seriously start thinking about it, and/or trying to acquire a relief pitcher at the trade deadline if CJ has another outing like this latest one.
Quick hits: Speaking of ineffective relief pitchers, Joaquin Benoit is still sidelined with shoulder inflammation, and won’t be available until Friday against the Nationals at the very earliest. If he’s not back this weekend it’ll be a pretty big deal that the Rangers have kept him on the active roster instead of putting him on the DL this past week… Milton Bradley was indeed out of the lineup yesterday thanks to his sore quad… Marlon Byrd is looking forward to playing against the Nationals… Chris Davis slugged two more homers last night for OKC, as he is now in the midst of a 14 game hitting streak, with an overall line of .356/.410/733 – a 1.143 OPS. I’m at the point where I’m ready to forget Hank Blalock, trade value and everything else – it’s Davis that needs to be taking over at first base next week, because if he’s not ready now he never will be. And finally, in a poetic joining of kindred souls, Sidney Ponson has been signed to a minor league deal by the New York Yankees. I guess the Yankees needed a worthy successor to Roger Clemens as the #1 douche of their pitching staff.
Today Scott Feldman takes the mound against Braves rookie Charlie Morton, who will be making only his second career start. Feldman has been sliding a bit lately, as he has a 5.35 ERA in his last 6 starts and has lost two straight. Last Friday against the Mets was the first time this year he failed to go 6 innings, so he could use a good bounce back start here. Maybe he can finally get some run support with Milton Bradley back in the lineup – Feldy’s 3.41 runs of support per game is the lowest of all regular Ranger starters this year.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: David Murphy, Eddie Guardado, Eric Hurley, Joaquin Benoit, Milton Bradley
All of a sudden, the Texas Rangers are the comeback kids. Make it two nights in a row now that they’ve come back from a 5-1 deficit, and this time they did it in thunderous fashion, with a 7 run 7th inning, highlighted by David Murphy’s first career grand slam, stunning the Royals and sending the Rangers to an 11-5 victory.
Early on, it things almost looked the same as Tuesday night’s game: Kansas City pulled ahead early in the game, taking advantage of a somewhat erratic Vicente Padilla, who allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits, 3 walks and two HBP’s in his 6 innings of work. For the second game in a row, KC”s starter, this time right-hander Kyle Davies, held the Rangers to just one run for the first 6 innings, although the Rangers helped him out a bit by hitting into 3 double plays in the first 5 innings.
Davies, who now has allowed just one run in all three of his starts this season for Kansas City, left at 109 pitches after 6 innings. That was when the Royals decided to bring in rookie Jeff Fulchino, for just his third big league appearance, and second this season. That was the beginning of their undoing.
Ramon Vazquez hammered a leadoff triple to greet Fulchino, and then Royals shortstop Mike Aviles made a throwing error on Ian Kinsler’s ground ball, throwing it in the dirt where it skipped by Mark Teahen and into the photo well. That scored Vazquez and sent Kinsler to second. Fulchino walked Michael Young to make it first and second before he was finally lifted for lefty Jimmy Gobble to pitch to Josh Hamilton. Unfortunately for the Royals, Gobble didn’t have it, either.
Hamilton, who went 3-6 to break out of his recent slump, knocked an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-3, and Gobble then walked Milton Bradley to load the bases with nobody out for David Murphy. Gobble missed with the first two pitches, and then tried to throw a get-me-over 89 MPH fastball to the Murph, who turned on it and jacked it to right for his first career grand salami. 7-5 Rangers. Later, Murphy would reveal exactly how bad a mistake Gobble’s pitch was:
“I was fortunate enough to get into a 2-0 count,” Murphy said, “and bases loaded 2-0, I’m pretty much looking dead-red fastball. That’s what I got right where I wanted it.”
The Rangers picked up another run off Gobble before Yasuhiko Yabuta was brought in to finally get three outs. Jamey Wright and Eddie Guaradado pitches scoreless 7th and 8th innings to keep the score at 8-5, and the Rangers tacked on 3 more in the top of the 9th off Brett Tomko, including a second home run by David Murphy that gave him a career-high 5 RBI. Frank Francisco pitched a sharp bottom of the 9th, throwing 14 of his 18 pitches for strikes to polish off the Royals, and the Rangers pulled back above .500 a 34-33.
About the only downside of this win was that Michael Young’s hitting streak was snapped at 23 games, as he went 0-5 with a walk – other than that, the Rangers pounded out 16 hits all total, and four guys (Kinsler, Hamilton, Murphy and Byrd) all registered 3 hit games in another excellent display of resiliency.
After the game though, where some some strange near fireworks involving Milton Bradley. Bradley apparently took exception to something he had heard Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre say on the clubhouse TV during the game, and afterwards, decided to head up 4 flights of stairs to the broadcast booth to confront him. Ron Washington and Jon Daniels set off in pursuit, and escorted him back down to the clubhouse after a security guard stopped Milton from entering the booth.
It was an emotional Bradley that re-entered the clubhouse, as he nearly broke down, saying “all I want to do is play baseball, and make a better living for my kid. I love you guys. I’m strong, but I’m not that strong.” Afterwards, he stood at his locker with his head down, where an undetermined number of his teammates tried to console him – according to Richard Durrett of the DMN, it was “many” while Mark Dent’s of MLB.com story strangely differs, saying “most stayed away”.
What evidently had offended Bradley was some comments Lefebvre had made while contrasting Bradley and Josh Hamilton:
“From what I remember, we were complimenting Josh Hamilton and how he’s turned his life around and been accountable for his mistakes,” Lefebvre said. “Frank [White] and I were just having a conversation that it’s a shame it doesn’t appear Milton Bradley is doing the same in his life.”
….
“This wasn’t a Milton Bradley rip session,” Lefebvre said. “It was just based on the pictures we’ve seen of him in the series walking from the dugout all the way to right field. Dropping his bat. Making gestures to the fans in right field and above the dugout, taunting them. He’s the only person in baseball I know who does that kind of stuff.”
Lefebvre also insisted he had complimented Bradley as well, but suggested Milton had not heard that part in the clubhouse.
While nobody seems to know exactly what Lefebvre really said, whatever it was apparently made Bradley feel deeply insulted - of course, considering how emotional Milton can be, that’s usually not too hard to do. It does seem though that the KC announcers are not fans of the way Bradley has been carrying himself throughout the series so far, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they where indeed holding a miniature rag session on Milton, who can be a popular target (although the reason for that is because of incidents just such as this).
I don’t know what to personally make of this incident one way or another, but this is the risk you run by having Bradley on your team - it seems we’ve just had our first “Milton Bradley moment” of the season. Fortunately, this was stemmed before it had a chance to get out of hand, although we don’t know for sure that it would have - but even so, this won’t be something that will be forgotten by the media anytime soon.
In other news, Eddie Guardado has officially been promoted to the 8thinning role, with Joaquin Benoit moving back to the 6th-7th inning. According to Ron Washington, Benoit is “still catching up” after coming to spring training out of shape, and needs to work on his command, but believes he’ll return to form. Hopefully that’s the case, and we’ll see a whole different Joaquin in the second half this year - but I’ve wondered if perhaps maybe the 2007 Joaquin Benoit was a mirage, and we’re back to the old wildy inconsistent Benoit again. Such can be the tendencies of a relief pitcher from year-to-year.
Quick hits: Josh Hamilton says he’s found his swing after a 2-28 start to May, and said the problem was overthinking his swing mechanics: “I don’t know why I started doing that all of a sudden, but that’s the frustrating and challenging part of this game. You should think about your swing in practice, but not in a game”… Jarrod Saltalamacchia apparently did not start Wedensday’s game because of a sore wrist, but is scheduled to be back out there to catch Eric Hurley’s Major League debut today. The two have worked as a battery previously this season in AAA.
That’s right, today’s the big day - you can catch Eric Hurley’s Major League debut at 1:10 PM central time. Brian Bannister, who the Rangers have previously knocked around this year will oppose as Texas goes for the sweep. I’m half expecting Hurley to get knocked around, but we’ll see what happens.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Draft picks, Eric Hurley, Josh Hamilton, Justin Smoak, Milton Bradley, Tom Grieve
This is not normally how the Texas Rangers win ballgames. In fact, this is how they usually lose them. But for one night at least, the Rangers got to be the beneficiaries rather than the recipients of a massive late-inning meltdown that allowed them to steal one out from underneath the Kansas City Royals, 6-5.
For most of the ballgame, nothing seemed to go right for Texas. #1 starter Kevin Millwood was lacking something from his game last night, as he surrendered 5 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings. Gerald Laird was the only one who could manage a hit off Gil Meche for the first 5 innings, and he committed a costly baserunning mistake and a throwing error. Milton Bradley even forgot how to play right field in the 6th inning.
The Rangers didn’t even score a run till the top of the 6th, when Josh Hamilton (who went 0-5 after starting the day hitting a mere .143 in his last 5 games) drove in a run with a fielder’s choice. To get the Rangers on the board. By the time the bottom of the 6th was over, and Milton Bradley had allowed Mike Aviles single to skip past him and bounce around in the RF corner, leading to 2 runs, the score was 5-1.
But the tables where about to turn, not long after Meche (who allowed just 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks in his 6 innings) left the game at the 100 pitch mark. Things where quiet for both sides in the 7th inning, former Ranger Ron Mahay tossed a scoreless top, and Josh Rupe (who the Rangers probably where going to let finish the game if they had not rallied) pitched a scoreless bottom, but it would be the top of the 8th when the lighting struck for Texas.
The inning started off innocently enough for Mahay, who went back out for a second inning, as he retired Ramon Vazquez on a groundout, and Ian Kinsler on a fly ball. But then Mahay missed on four straight pitches to Michael Young (who had earlier extended his hitting streak to 23 games) and that brought up Josh Hamilton. Hamilton hit a roller to short, which Mike Aviles picked and threw it low over to first – where it was dropped by Royals first baseman Mark Teahen. Teahen’s error can probably be attributed to inexperience, as he was only playing his 12th game at first base this year (he played only 9 there last season). As he later explained, he just couldn’t make the play:
“I dropped it cut and dry,” Teahen said. “It sunk on me, it handcuffed me and I dropped the ball. What can you do?”
That one error gave the Rangers new life. Spare extraordinare Brett Tomko was brought in to take over for Mahayafter the error, and he had absolutely nothing for reigning AL co-player of the week Milton Bradley, who came up and redeemed his earlier fielding gaffe with a 2 run double down the line in right-field line. Withthe score 5-3, David Murphy came up and whacked an RBI single to right after an 8-pitch battle with Tomko, making it 5-4.
By now, Royals manager Trey Hillman was getting desperate, so he called upon one of his setup men, Yasuhiko Yabuta to try and find the last out of the inning. It didn’t work, at least not in time. Gerald Laird blooped his third hit of the game to center, bringing up Chris Shelton, who just an inning previous had pinch hit for Frank Catalanotto. Hitting a mere .215 coming to the dish, Shelton saw two changeups to start his AB, one a called strike and one a ball low. The third pitch was a changeup as well, but this one stayed up about belt high, and Shelton socked it the other way into right, scoring Murphy from second and tying the game at 5. Just like that, the 5-1 KC lead had vaporized, much to the dismay of a stunned Kauffman Stadium crowd.
Eddie Guaradado, who Ron Washington announced on the Rangers pregame show is now going to be the 8th inning go-to guy rather than the struggling Joaquin Benoit, came in and pitched the shutdown inning. It got off to a rough start, as Guardado wound up making a headfirst belly flop to relay a toss to first base on a John Buck leadoff knubber, but it apparently didn’t affect his composure, as he retried the next two batters with no problem. The real highlight of the inning was when Trey Hillman got himself ejected arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Mike Everitt – whose strike zone was horrible all night long I might add.
With the game still tied in the top of the 9th, Ian Kinsler lead off the inning with a double to left, putting the Rangers in perfect position to get the go-ahead run home. Michael Young grounded out, moving Kinsler to third for Josh Hamilton. That was when the Royals decided to go to right handerRamon Ramirez, a guy apparently known for his power change-up. He came in and struck out Hamilton on three pitches – quite possibly the worst at-bat I have seen for Hamilton in a Ranger uniform so far - fortunately, it didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Milton Bradley was intentionally walked next, and David Murphy was the hitter with runners on the corners and one out.
Murphy would wind up striking out as well, but as it turned out, he all he needed to do to get the run home was take a sinker down and in that John Buck couldn’t get a handle on. The ball skittered to the backstop, took a favorable bounce straight back at Buck, who flipped back to Ramon Ramirez covering the plate – but Kinsler had started busting it down the line from third the second the ball got by, and his slide got his foot in just ahead of the tag, making it 6-5 Rangers.
That’s all closer CJ Wilson would need, although his defense came close to giving the game right back - after CJ the first two outs on a flyout and a K, he gave up an 0-2 base hit to Alex Gordon to keep the bottom of the 9th alive. That was when Jose Guillen grounded one over to first where Chris Shelton misplayed it, and it bounced out into right field. To complicate matters further, Milton Bradley apparently tweaked his quad when he came in to cut that ball off, and had to ”remove himself” from the game. Despite the momentary scare though, Bradley’s quad is apparently going to be okay, and he is “expected to play in some capacity” today. Marlon Byrd replaced him in right for the 3 or 4 minutes it took CJ to strike out Mark Teahen looking to end the game and record his 12th save, so the Rangers get to keep their happy ending to this one untainted.
In some other good news, Tom Grieve’s surgery Monday apparently went well, and he’s at home recovering. He’ll be out for 2-3 weeks – until then, the somewhat strange arrangement of having Victor Rojas and Josh Lewin doing the TV commentary, and Eric Nadel and Steve Busby doing the radio is going to be the norm. Hopefully, TAG will get back before this new arrangement drives me nuts – Busby sounds like Proffessor Finkel from the Simpsons, and from what I’ve been told, having Rojas and Lewin in the same booth is like having two PBP/straight commentary guys up there. Just my opinion, but as somebody who someday aspires to be a sports broadcaster, I think it would be a better deal to just send Busby up to sit with Josh Lewin, and not have broken up Nadel and Rojas at all, myself. Yes I know, I’m nit-picking at a pet peeve – I’ll stop now.
Moving on, the Rangers have announced that they’ve agreed to terms with 15 of their draft picks already, most notably 3rd round pick Timothy Murphy, 4th round pick Joe Wieland, and 6th round pick Richard Bleier. No real word yet on Justin Smoak, negotiations apparently haven’t started yet – Jason Cole at RangersScout.com is supposed to have an interview with Smoak out sometime today, which should have something on that, although it’ll most likely be behind a pay wall. This reminds me, I still have to get my 2008 draft retrospective completed and put up – that kinda got shifted to the back burner of late, but I do plan on getting it up sooner or later, hopefully this week.
Eric Hurley apparently credits the recent success in AAA that has gotten him to the big leagues to some mechanical adjustments, and is excited to be in the bigs. Apparently, the entire Hurley clan, including his wife and daughter are going to be in KC for his debut Thursday. I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of hard-core Ranger fans (like me) skipping work for that one – his is one of the most anticipated Ranger callups in a long time. Here’s hoping the pressure doesn’t get to him too much.
Josh Hamilton said before the game yesterday that he was at about 90%, so the viral infection really can’t be an excuse for his slump much longer… my advice to Josh right now (which, as you know, carries an absolutely huge amount of weight) would be to start taking a few pitches. I know when he’s locked in, he can swing at everything he sees and have huge success, but right now he seems to be just flailing uselessly. Hammy’s gotta start seeing some more pitches if he’s gonna break out of this slump anytime soon. Now, hopefully my typing that will grantee a 3-5 game tonight…
Quick hits: if you still care, Jim Reeves of the FWST has some more details on Sidney Ponson’s bar incident, and suggests Ponson may have challenged Ron Washington to a fight… I’ll say it again, good riddance to Sidney… and Evan Grant’s latest newsletter adresses the issue of horrible attendance at the Ballpark in Arlington this season.
Today, it’s Vicente Padilla vs. Kyle Davies. Davies is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 2 starts since he was recalled by the Royals from AAA recently, so he’s got some good stuff right now – this could be another tough game, even though Davies has an 8.03 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers.
Big news from the Rangers today.
The club has announced it’s plans to call up Eric Hurley and have him start on Thursday against the Royals - the same scenario which I had surmised about in this morning’s entry.
In AAA this season, Hurley has gone 2-5 in thirteen starts for the Oklahoma Redhawks, with a 5.30 ERA and a 1.54 WHIP in 74 innings pitched. He has already given up 15 home runs on the season (which has been his achilles heel thus far in his minor league career) but he did have 72 strikeouts to 29 walks already, a pretty impressive ratio. He has steadily improved after a rough April, as he apparently added a splitter to his arsenal sometime in May. He has posted a 3.46 ERA in his last 6 starts, and is now averaging 6 innings a start.
“Our people feel like he’s made steady progress, has been making adjustments, learning to pitch with his stuff,” said Rangers general manager Jon Daniels. “All young pitchers go through a period where they move from ‘good arm’ to ‘good pitcher’ and Eric’s in that transition. We think he’s deserving of an opportunity to help the club.”
Hurley will take Sidney Ponson’s place in the rotation, but he won’t officially be put on the roster until Thursday, although he will fly out to Kansas City tonight to join the club there.
This is a big moment for the guy who is technically considered the Rangers top pitching prospect (or at least the most advanced of the bunch). As a strikeout pitcher with heavy fly ball tendencies, and I fully expect there to be some bumps in the road with Hurley early on, most likely regarding keeping the ball down and in the yard. If he comes out and immediately puts up similar numbers to the ones he has posted of late in AAA, it will have to be considered a major success. This is what rebuilding is about though: giving the promising young guys their chances, and allowing them to make adjustments in the bigs. So even if Hurley struggles at first, keep in mind that this is going to be a completely different deal than throwing Doug Mathis or Kason Gabbard out there. Hurley isn’t just some marginal pitcher or rotation backmarker, he actually has the stuff to be a big part of this rotation in years to come. This is his chance to develop all that great potential into reality.
So congrats to Eric, and good luck – Ranger nation should be tuned in with great interest on Thursday. I know I will be.
