A lonestar in california


Davis’ first career homer helps power Rangers past Phillies
June 28, 2008, 8:28 am
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: , ,

It’s been quite a week for debuts and milestones, hasn’t it? First it was Max Ramirez, making his Major League debut on Sunday, and tallying his first hit and home run Wednesday in Houston. Yesterday, it was Chris Davis cranking his first homer as part of a 5-run third inning that helped the Rangers to an 8-7 win over the Phillies.

The Rangers, who have scored 69 runs in the first inning this season, got on the scoreboard immediately when Ian Kinsler cranked his 13th home run of the season off Phillies starter Brett Myers second pitch pf the ballgame. But their lead would not last for long, as the control problems that lead to a trip to AAA Oklahoma just about a month ago returned to bite Kason Gabbard.

Gabbard, who managed two decent starts in his first two games up from AAA, started the game off well enough - he struck out 3 in the first two innings, although he did walk 2 in the second. That may have been a precursor to the wheels coming off in the third, when he all of a sudden couldn’t seem to find the strike zone at all. He walked Eric Bruntlett to lead off the inning, made a fielding error on a comebacker to the mound, and then walked Chase Utley to load the bases. Jimmy Rollins tied the game with an RBI groundout, and that’s when the Rangers then chose to intentionally walk Pat Burrell to load the bases for Ryan Howard.

Now, why you would choose to load the bases by intentionally walking a guy who is 2 for his last 21 with one out in the third inning is kind of beyond me (especially when your pitcher isn’t throwing strikes), but that’s what Ron Washington did, and it proved costly. It wasn’t Ryan Howard who did the damage though – he struck out swinging for the second out of the inning – it was Pedro Feliz, who stepped in and socked the second pitch he saw out to left for a grand slam.

Fortunately for Gabbard however, the Ranger offense had an answer for the Phillies “grand” accomplishment – an immediate one. Ian Kinsler (who went 3-4 with 2 doubles to go along with his leadoff homer) doubled to lead off the bottom of the third, and then Michael Young and Josh Hamilton (who was back in the lineup last night sore hand and all) beat out back-to-back infield singles to score Kinsler. From there, Brett Myers continued to degenerate, issuing walks of Milton Bradley and David Murphy that forced in another run and lead to his removal from the game.

With nobody out and the bases loaded, the Philles brought on right-hander Clay Condrey from their bullpen. First thing he did was get Marlon Byrd to ground into his obligatory bases-loaded double play - if you’re counting, that Marlon’s third in 6 bases-loaded AB’s this year. It did plate a run to make it 5-3 though, and the next batter was Chris Davis - who Condrey apparently didn’t know had hit 23 home runs in 297 AB’s in the minors this year. If he had, he might have made it a point not to serve up the first pitch meatball that got hammered the other way for Davis’ first career home run. 

You couldn’t have picked a better spot for your first career homer if you tried – that one swing completed the 180-degree turnaround of the the 3rd inning, completely negating the Phillies 5-run outburst. Even though the rookie would strike out in each of his other 3 at-bats, that home run was more than enough to impress his teammates – as Milton Bradley put it “He’s got stupid pop”. CJ Wilson alluded to a more memorable comparison:

“He’s got just monster power,” Wilson said. “He’s a big Texan who reminds me of another corner infielder we used to have.”

Perhaps some of that comparison also comes from the glove Davis flashed last night as well – he looked smooth and natural at first, and also made a couple nice defensive plays, including a diving stop the 5th inning that likely saved a run. A natural first baseman who had to covert to third base last year and then back to first this offseason, Davis seems to be much better suited to first base:

“Last year at third, it was error after error, and it was really just me not moving my feet. I think I’m a little bit lighter this year in my weight and lighter on my feet, and being able to move makes it easier.”

Although first impressions are not always everything, Davis’ initial impression last night was sure a good-looking one  – it even had a few fans (on Hank Blalock bobblehead night no less) holding up “Hank who?” signs. As I’ve said before, the strikeouts are kind of expected, but if he continues to show the raw power, he just might have a chance at claiming the first base positon for good.

Getting back to the game, that 6-5 lead did not last very long for the Rangers either, as Chris Coste took Kason Gabbard deep to lead off the 5th – and two singles after that Gabbard was out of the ballgame. Josh Rupe took over and bailed him out of the inning by inducing a double play, but that didn’t make Gabbard’s line look any better: 6 runs allowed (although only one earned, thanks to his own error) through 3.1 innings pitched, on 4 hits and 5 walks, including 2 home runs. He did strike out 4, but only 39 of his 84 pitches went for strikes – it was just a pretty sorry excuse for a start, any way you look at it.

And after such an ineffective start, you had to know the questions would once again start flying around about his rotation spot – he’s already finding himself under fire from the DMN’s Jean Jacques Taylor, who suggests that its time to move Gabbard out of the rotation, and insert Luis Mendoza back into it. I’d probably be on board with that move - even though I’m not really sure Mendoza will be any better than Kameron Loe in the rotation, now might be be the perfect time to find out.

As for the remainder of this game, the Rangers mid relief/setup corps put on quite a show last night, as Josh Rupe, Frankie Francisico and Eddie Guardado combined to toss 4.2 innings of hitless ball. Milton Bradley crunched a go-ahead homer in the 5th (his 16th of the season) that ricocheted off the RF foul pole, and Josh Hamilton tacked on a final peice of insurance with a sac fly in the 8th. That turned out to be huge, as closer CJ Wilson once again teetered along the edge of a blown save, but managed to keep from falling over it – just barely.

Jayson Werth hammered a home run off CJ to start the top of the 9th and cut the lead to one. CJ later allowed a 2-out double to Pat Burrell, and Michael Young mishandled what should have been the final out of the game, a grounder off the bat of Ryan Howard that went as an infield hit. It was only with the tying run at third, that CJ finally gritted down and got the final out, inducing pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs to ground one to short and preserving the 8-7 win by a margin of a bout… oh, 90 feet or so. No, it’s not like we have any better options for closer right now, but still… I think just about every Ranger fan out there is getting a little tired of these ulcer-inducing “saves”.

Quick hits: Hank Blalock has been shut down for a week after he told Dr. Keith Meister his hand was still sore after he did some light swinging Friday… this likely means Blalock will not be back by the All-Star break, which of course means more playing time for Chris Davis… Ron Washington does not want the Rangers to trade Vicente Padilla at the deadline this year, saying:

“Why do we want to move pitching again?” Washington said. “I hope all of that is just talk. If I get a vote, [it's] no. We need pitching.”

And finally, Rudy Jaramillo “blew out” his left knee working out in a pool yesterday – he needs knee replacement surgery, but will try to stick it out until the offseason so he can continue to coach.

Vicente Padilla will go against his former team today – he says it doesn’t matter to him that he’ll be playing against a team that tenured him for 5 years, but I’m not so sure I believe that. He’s probably gonna need some extra fire in him anyway – one of my favorite NL pitchers, lefty Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies, and he’s kind of good. 1.027 WHIP in 113 innings this year good. With the way the Rangers offense has been freezing up against lefties this year, I’m not too optimistic about this game – but you never know what could happen.

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Running on “Max” power: Ramirez’ first career homer carries Rangers past Astros
June 26, 2008, 9:06 am
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: , , ,

Wednesday was a dreaded day for Texas Ranger fans. For the first time this season, the Rangers found themselves without either of their 3-4 hitters, Milton Bradley or Josh Hamilton in the lineup, and as a result, the batting order almost looked like something out of a bad dream. Facing off against the Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, the Rangers needed some new heroes, fast - and they may have found them in Max Ramirez and Luis Mendoza, whose timely contributions would carry Texas to an improbable 3-2 victory.

Of course, you’ve got to give a some credit to Rangers starter Scott Feldman, too – Feldman may have had his shortest outing of the season last night, throwing 99 pitches in the span of just four innings, but he set the tone for the Ranger pitchers by keeping his head and working out of almost every jam he got into. Of the 8 baserunners allowed by Feldman(on 6 hits and 2 walks), only 2 scored, and they both came on a 2-run homer in the second by Michael Bourn. Other than that, Feldman fought hard to get the key outs he needed to, and that set the stage for the pitchers who followed him, and for Max Ramirez.

The 23-year old Ramirez was making just his second Major League start, and his first as a catcher last night but it sure didn’t seem to phase him any. He picked up his first Major League hit with a single in the top of the second and looked solid behind the plate as well, earning praise from manager Ron Washington for his handling of the pitchers:

“We certainly weren’t at full strength but that kid behind the plate did a great job,” Washington said. “Not only swinging the bat but handling our pitching staff. The kid knows how to swing the bat, but the thing I wanted to see was him handling the pitching staff and get them through nine innings. He did just that. That’s what matters most and he did an excellent job.”

The big moment for Ramirez however, came in the 4thinning. With the Rangers down 2-1, Frank Catalanotto rapped an innocent 2 out single to right to keep things going for Max. Roy Oswalt, who had struck out the first two batters of the inning, fell behind 3-1 to Max, and then tried to challenge “the new guy” with a fastball in the zone.

408 feet later, the score was 3-2 Rangers.

“I can’t believe it,” Ramirez said. “It was so exciting. My first home run, my first game behind the plate, a really good game. I felt good behind the plate. I tried to do my best job.”

Even though the Rangers would not score again for the rest of the game, neither would the Astros, as the Rangers managed to keep them in check from the second inning on.

Scott Feldman left after the 4th innning of course, meaning he would not be eligible for the win - but if he wasn’t eligible for it, the guy who replaced him most certainly would be. Four days after earning his first Major League save by tossing three scoreless innings against the Nationals, Luis Mendoza turned in some more superb relief, this time when it really counted. He went three sharp innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 2 – an absolutely huge, huge performance, as it allowed the Rangers to go straight to setup man Eddie Guardado, and skip their inconsistent and shaky middle relief corps altogether.

Guardado turned in a scoreless 8th, thanks to a little help from Frank Catalanotto, who turned a spectacular double play to help Eddie get around a leadoff double, and all that was left was for CJ Wilson to close it out in the 9th. Of course, that hasn’t been an easy proposition for CJ these days, and last night was really no exception. He allowed a leadoff double to Ty Wigginton, and then walked Michael Bourn with2 out (which may or may not have had more to do with the umpire than CJ’s pitches). Ramon Vazquez then bobbled a grounder at third which should have ended the game, but instead loaded the bases for Miguel Tejada. But Tejada grounded harmlessly to short, a perfect example of the Astrosfrusteration in this game – they went 0-9 with RISP, and left 10 men on base, a testament to how lucky and good the Rangers pitchers where last night.

This win all but nails down the Silver Boot Trophy for the Rangers - unless they lose by more than 11 runs tomorrow, the boot will be coming back to Arlington for another year. I think though the two most important things to take away from this game however, are the performances of MaxRam and Mendoza.

MaxRam’s defense last night looked pretty serviceable to me, quite contrary to his reputation as a poor defensive player. Of course this is only one game (hello sample size) but if Max can prove just adequate defensively while displaying the hitting prowess he did last night, he is going to assert himself as just as strong a candidate for the role of our future starting catcher as Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden, instead being limited to the duties of primary DH and backup catcher as many people (including myself) have projected him as due to his reputation. Of course, some might think it premature to say that after only one start, but after what he displayed last night in his game calling abilities, I am willing to believe it is at the very least a possibility.

As for Luis Mendoza, I’ve mentioned this before, but I really think he may have a great future in the bullpen. This latest performance should earn him a few more innings in some key middle-relief situations – and if he continues to excel, I could see him possibly becoming our 7th inning guy with that turbo-sinker of his. Once things for certain, he seems to have better stuff than just a long man – but the rotation seems to be full up right now, so the Rangers might not have much choice in the matter if they want to truly get the most out of his abilites.

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Stifled: Rangers offense lulled to sleep as they fall short of sweep
May 5, 2008, 4:53 am
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Well, I guess all good things must come to an end – which is what happened Sunday to the Texas Rangers four-game winning streak. But did it really have to come to an end the way that it did? I’m sure that’s a question that both Scott Feldman and his teammates where asking themselves after the end of this one.

Making his second spot-start of the season, Feldman delivered a beauty, firing scoreless ball over his first six frames, while locked in a pitchers duel with A’s rookie left-hander Greg Smith. Smith himself was brilliant, going six innings and giving up just three hits and two walks, while striking out ten Rangers. But he still left the game trailing 1-0, as one of those three hits he allowed was German Duran’s first major league home run in the third inning. But that was the only offense the Rangers could muster for the entire game, as he 3-4-5 hitters, Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, and David Murphy struck out a combined ten times. And as it turned out, that solo homer would not be enough to support Feldman’s outing, as he couldn’t keep the A’s off the scoreboard forever.

The 7th inning started with Feldman inducing a high pop fly from Frank Thomas, but Josh Hamilton, who may have had his worst game ever as a Rangers (0-4, 3 K’s) lost the ball in the sun, and Thomas wound up on second when the ball dropped. Thomas was credited with a double, and after the obligatory pinch-runner was brought in, Jack Cust stepped up, and promptly mashed the second pitch he saw from Feldman to left-center for a 2-run homer. The Rangers never recovered, as the A’s tacked on a third run when Frank Francisco came in after a Bobby Crosby double chased Feldman, and gave up an RBI single to Ryan Sweeny to make it 3-1 A’s.

Texas did have the tying run at the plate in the 9th against Oakland closer Huston Street, after Brandon Boggs doubled with 2 out, but Ron Washington let Gerald Laird bat instead of pinch hitting someone like Ian Kinsler or Jarrrod Saltalamacchia (who where both on the bench) and Laird grounded out weakly to second to end the game. Not that it’s that highly probable that the Rangers would have won if Kinsler or Salty would have hit, but it still kind of irks me that Ron Washington kind of mailed in the game by letting Laird bat. Your bench is there for a reason, and that’s to try for for those once-in-a-million pinch-hit home runs, just like a Hail Mary in football - it’s true, the chances of it actually working are microscopic, but ”Baseball Man” could have at least given it a shot.

But still, two out of three in Oakland isn’t bad – as Michael Young pointed out after the game, the team is still playing good baseball going into Seattle, and you can’t really ask for a whole lot more than that.

Perhaps the biggest downside of the game was the fact that Ian Kinsler was out of the linuep for a second straight game though, with continued hamstring soreness – the Rangers insist this is just precautionary, and Kinsler says he’ll be ready to go Monday though:

“It’s just that I need a couple of days,” Kinsler said. “My legs are pretty sore, pretty tender. I want to make sure I don’t end up like Hank. They have been bothering me for a while, and [Saturday] I woke up and they were pretty sore. I feel like I’ll be ready to go [Monday].”

I certainly hope so – with him unavaible, it sure throws a kink into infield and bench flexibility.

That reminds me though, now is a perfect time to elaborate on a couple things from my last entry that I promised to expand on.

First up: Josh Hamilton is your American League player of the month for April. In 28 games in March/April, Josh hit posted a .330/.379/.591 line in terms of average, OBP, and slugging %, and posted a 970 OPS. He had a major-league leading 32 RBI for the month, and slugged 6 HR, 10 2B’s and 1 3B – all that along with some excellent OF defense, whether he was playing in CF or RF, makes for one awesome month. And as a reward for that awesomeness, he becomes the first Ranger to be named AL player of the month since Mark Teixeira waay back in July ‘04 – and he also will be getting a 52-inch Sharp Aquos TV, although he says he’d accept a simple plaque. 

52 inch TV: about $4,000 with debit mastercard. Being named AL Player of the month: Priceless.

Another retread link from yesterday: Ron Washington has decided to platoon his catchers two days at a time now, supposedly to get them “back-to-back at-bats” – which makes a certain amount of sense untill you realize that now in between playing, each one gets to sit on the bench for two straight days - which actually might serve to screw them up even more than letting them alternate days. Or, if you want to put it another way, a dumb situation just got dumber.

That alternating could see some variation however, as Kevin Millwood apparently wants to have Laird as his personal catcher, and the Rangers want to keep pairing Salty with Sidney Ponson, so there could be adjustments to allow for that. The bottom line is though, that the catching situation is one screwed-up mess – the Rangers won’t commit to Salty because are still trying to generate trade interest for Superstar – who the Reds, Yankees and Brewers have apparently all passed on of late. Granted, Laird has been hitting well of late though, as he currently has an 8-game hitting streak, in which he is hitting .355 for those games, so I suppose you have to play him while he’s actually pumping up his trade value. But even I am starting to regret Salty’s callup – he still needs the consistent AB’s, and he’d at least still be getting that in AAA. Although, on the other hand it did seemingly take Salty’s presence to mysteriously start Laird’s hot streak, so…

Getting back to Sunday’s news, TR Sullivan notes that Kason Gabbard is about about ready to rejoin the rotation, and should start Thursday. He threw 65 pitches in a successful rehab start for Frisco on Saturday, and will throw a bullpen on Monday, after which the Rangers will decide whether or not they will officially clear him for Thursday’s start against the Mariners. If Gabbard does start, that will leave the organization the pleasant problem of having to decide between Scott Feldman or AJ Murray for Friday’s start. Both where excellent this weekend, and since it’s going to be the A’s left-handed lineup again, the Rangers might lean toward the lefty Murray.

Finally, TR Sullivan notes that Ramon Vazquez has taken rookie German Duran under his wing. It seems the Rangers are currently taking special care to publicly promote Vazquez as the gritty veteran, who literally wills his team to wins right now – Evan Grant recently got it started, and it looks like TR’s hopped on the bandwagon as well. Vazquez is a fairly average, versatile backup player, and a good commodidty to have, but the reality is, he’s no super-sub like Mark DeRosa. So I’m really not exactly sure why Vazquez is all of a sudden being hailed as the Rangers own version of Scott Brosius. And, apparently, neither is Scott Lucas.

Monday, it’s Kevin Millwood vs. Jarrod Washburn in Seattle – Millwood is trying to snap a 9 game losing streak on the road, and Washburn is 0-3 with a 5.91 ERA in his last 4 starts. But we’ll have to see if Ramon Vazquez can grit us to another win – he didn’t quite get it done on Sunday.

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Rangers hang on to one against KC, 11-9
May 1, 2008, 4:24 am
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: , , , ,

Welp, for the second consecutive night, the Rangers allowed 9 runs to the Kansas City Royals. That’s the bad news. The good news was, thanks to 5 home runs, Texas managed to pummel the KC pitching staff for a total of 11 runs, and hang on for their 10th victory of the season.

Milton Bradley got it started with 2 out in the first, when he got one up in the air to left field, and thanks to a 29 MPH wind blowing from right to left, managed to get it over the scoreboard for a 2-run homer – and the struggles of Royals starter Brian Bannister where just getting started.

The second inning was the big one for the Rangers, as Brandon Boggs continued checking “firsts” off his list. Making his first career major league start (in LF), he mashed his first career homer in only his third big-league AB, a solo shot out into the right field seats. Again, congrats to Brandon Boggs - it would seem by the early indications that we’ve got a player on our hands.

But that wasn’t the half of it. After Gerald Laird struck out, German Duran, getting the start at third base, and Ian Kinsler put together back-to-back singles, which Michael Young followed with a walk to load the bases for Josh Hamilton. So, can you gess what happened next? Yep, that’s right, Josh launched a shot up into the jetstream heading out to LF, and dropped a “Ham Salami” into the visitors bullpen. That capped the 5 run inning, and David Murphy would later poke a 2-run shot to RF in the 5th to make it 9-1.

Kevin Millwood, meanwhile, managed to pitch a strong ballgame through 6 innings, despite not having his best stuff or control – all he allowed was a single run in the third. But in the 7th, his pitch count caught up to him, as he allowed 4 runs, including a David DeJesus homer, and allowed the Royals to jump back into the ballgame. Frank Francisco, who came on to bail the Rangers out of the inning, just made things worse, giving up a run on two hits and a walk, recording just one out before Jamey Wright had to come on and finish the inning. That 5-run frame made it 9-6.

Fortunately, Gerald Laird, who had been 0-3 with 2 K’s coming to the plate, picked a great time to cork a 2-run homer to RF in the bottom of the 7th to make it 11-6 Texas – and that would turn out to be one important homer, as the Rangers weren’t done trying to give this game away yet.

The top of the 8th, which was pitched by Jamey Wright, featured not one, but two throwing errors by German Duran, that helped lead to a KC run (which was earned, however) as the Royals continued to chip away at the lead. Then in the 9th, CJ Wilson gave a leadoff double, and then a 2-run homer to John Buck, to pull the Royals within 2 runs before he finally recorded the final two outs of the ballgame.

That, of course, was some completely unecessary drama, but at least the Rangers managed to hang on – it doesn’t say a whole lot for our bullpen that we can’t securely lock down a game that we lead 11-6 after 7 innings, though. Not much you can say about it however, except that Kevin Millwood should have probably been pulled sooner than he was – I know Nolan Ryan has come out recently against watching pitch counts, but still, you have to know the difference between letting a guy who is pitching well go deep into a pitch count, and removing a guy who doesn’t have his best stuff before he tires and gets hammered, which is what happened with Millwood last night.

Other important news around the Rangers hemisphere last night: Jason Jennings has indeed gone on the 15-day DL, as Jennings injury has been revised from an irritated ulnar nerve to “forearm muscle soreness”. So since there appears to be no new injury to Jennings nerves or ligaments in his elbow, the Rangers say Jennings should be back in fairly short order, according to Jon Daniels, who is terming the recent injuries to Kason Gabbard, Luis Mendoza and now Jennings as “short term”. Gabbard, by the way, will make a rehab start on Saturday for Frisco, so he at least appears to be on the road back.

In the meantime, left-hander AJ “Pirate” Murray will now be called up to make the start on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, and Scott Feldman will make the start against them on Sunday. Also, it puts even more importance on Sidney Ponson, as he is indeed going become a mainstay in the rotation, at least for now. I have to say, a rotation filled out by Sidney Ponson and Scott Feldman really does not do very much to make me confident in the least, but as I mentioned yesterday, it’s not like Jennings was doing any better. Or Luis Mendoza, for that matter. I am interested to see what the Pirate can do, though – this may be the best shot Arlington John Murray is ever going to get at establishing himself as a Major-League starter.

In another interesting admission by the organization, Ken Daley’s recent piece on Joaquin Benoit reveals that the Rangers 8th inning man is still dealing with shoulder soreness that is likely a result of his 4-month period of inactivity in the offseason that resulted in him coming to spring training behind the curve physically, and struggling to get his velocity up to its needed level before the start of the year. Benoit’s velocity seems to finally be back to where it needs to be, but apparently, the shoulder soreness has forced Benoit to change his delivery to compensate, which has in turn, thown off his command.

“I’m trying to figure it out,” he said after being scored upon for the fourth time in his last six appearances. “I just need to keep pitching and go through my bad games. I didn’t pitch much in Spring Training, but I’ve got most of my strength back. But arm strength isn’t my problem; it’s where I’m throwing the ball.”

Command, of course, has been the main problem for Joaquin so far this season, as he has walked 12 in 10.1 innings. Hopefully Benoit will figure things out fairly quickly, but this appears to be the price the 2007 Rangers pitcher of the year is going to pay for not taking care of himself in the offseason – it also goes to show that perhaps Major League teams need to keep tabs on the workout programs of their star players in the offseason. Because problems like this are just frankly unaceptable.

Also worth noting is the hiring of former baseball Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey to take over the newly-created position of “executive vice president of marketing and community development” – or, in other words, PR guy. I admit, I’m not really sure exactly how much of an impact this will make on the organization and their PR campaign, since I don’t live in the Dallas/FW area, but Joey Matschulat, over at BTiA doesn’t seem to like it too much - and I can see why. Petroskey doesn’t seem to really seem to have any real knowledge of the Rangers fanbase or organization, and based on his recent resignation from the HOF due to “exercise proper fiduciary responsibility” he doesn’t exactly have a sterling job record. That makes him seem like a somewhat odd choice for the job of Rangers PR guy – although one might think that due to his political ties, he may be able to assist with the problems the Rangers have had trying to get pitching prospects Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando into the country. Not sure if that has anything to do with his hiring, but it is a possibility.

Today, Sidney Ponson takes on Zack Greinke in a day game to finish out this 3-game set with the Royals. As I mentioned yesterday, Greinke has been lights out to start the season for KC – he was 3-0 wiith a 1.25 ERA and a 1.111 WHIP for April. I can only hope that Ponson can be as effective as he was in his first start tomorrow.

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