Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Frank Francisco, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison
So… it’s been awhile. Far too long actually, since I sat down and attempted a post. I suppose some of you are wondering what happened to me – well, simply put the Rangers took an unexpected nosedive, and so did my inspiration and will to write. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been bandwagoning (I do take a sort of masochistic pride in the fact that I’ll sit through as much of every Ranger game as I can, no matter how bad it gets) I think I just honestly needed a break from blogging. Now the challenge will be getting myself back into the rhythm of writing and posting on a regular basis - I don’t know if I’ll be able to post after every gamelike I have earlier this season, but I’ll post as regularly as I possible.
Thanks of course are in order to any and all of my readers who haven’t given up on me during my absence - next time I take a “break” I’ll make sure to at least have the decency to inform ya’ll of it (hopefully though, I won’t be doing that until at least the offseason). But enough yakking – time to get down to business.
The Rangers, for all the tough times they havesuffered through over this past month have just slapped a nice little bow on their first sweep of the 2008 season in Kansas City last night. It’s been an important turnaround series for the pitching staff, which had come into Kansas City sporting a 6.45 ERA for their last 17 games (of which the Rangers had lost 14). But Scott Feldman put together a quality start on Monday, Kevin Millwood went the distance (for his second straight start) on Tuesday night and Matt Harrisoncompleted the sweep with 6.2 innings of 2-run ball last night as he outdueled Brian Bannister for a 3-2 win.
It’s worth noting of course that the anemic Kansas City offense that they faced is second to last in the AL in runs per game (4.07) but that doesn’t change the fact that this has to be a much-needed morale boost for this team after their 3-for-17 swoon:
“This is a great sign that even though we let ourselves fall out of the race and the wild card, we know we need to play with some pride and get back to where we were three weeks ago,” reliever Jamey Wright said. “Play well and have some fun and get back to what we were doing.”
Harrison wasn’t exactly lights out last night - giving up 7 hits and 2 walks over his 6.2 frames to the Royals isn’t exactly truly shutdown baseball, but what Harrison did do was a good job of wriggling out of jams. He stranded 4 runners in scoring position, including 2 in the 4thafter the Royals had put men on second and third with nobody out. When he left in the 7th, it was with property at second and third again, but Joaquin Benoit took over and struck out David DeJesus to end the threat and preserve Harrison’s line.
Offensively it was a big night for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and the Rangers young hitters, who picked up the rest of a largely quiet Ranger lineup. Brandon Boggs, who was inserted after Josh Hamilton was a late scratch with anabcessed tooth, hit his 8th home run in the 4th inning and Saltalamacchia unleashed 2 doubles on the night, the second of which came back-to-back with a Chris Davis double in the 7th to tie the game at two.
That’s when the lightning struck – for the second consecutive night, the Royals gave the game away via error, when Brian Bannister somehow managed to drop a 2-out infield popup off the bat of Joaquin Arias. An alert Salty came rumbling around third base and scored on a head-first dive – an almost inexplicable play since #1, infield popups are dropped about once every decade, and #2 Salty is of course a catcher.
“Didn’t think it was possible,” third base coach Matt Walbeck said. “If Salty hadn’t been running hard the whole way, it never would have happened.”
Salty did have a passed ball last night and somehow lost a laser beam throw from Brandon Boggs that should’ve cut down a run in the 5th inning, but he is now hitting .362 witha .944 OPS since the all star break in his limited playing time as the backup catcher. Gerald Laird on the other hand has regressed toward his mean, hitting .242 with an abysmal .670 OPS since he was handed the full-time starters job again (which might lend further credibility to the theory that Laird only seems to really play well when his playing time is on the line).
This little stint with Laird as the starting catcher has been fun (okay, not really) but I think it’s safe to say Salty has earned himself some more of that semi-regular (platoon) playing time again. Or, let me put it this way: it’s absolutely senseless for the Rangers not to give their 23 year-old catcher more playing time now that he’s started to hit again and now that their wildcard hopes are down the drain. Whether you see him as offseason trade bait or the catcher of the future, they need to allow Salty to salvage as much of his 2008 season as he can.
Getting back to the game, the Rangers also bore witness to a small milestone last night: Frankie Francisco’s first big league save. You probably already know Frankie moved into the closers role this week (something I believe I’ve suggested in the past) when the Rangers traded Eddie Guardado to the Twins for relief prospect Mark Hamburger, and last night was his debut in the role. And even though he was only facing the Royals 7-8-9 hitters you really couldn’t have asked for a better debut: he threw 9 pitches, struck out two and got a ground ball to close the game out. After the game, Frankie stated that he his new goal as closer will be to just go after them – exactly what he did his first time out:
“Since they told me, I’ve been thinking about it and I just wanted to go out there, take a breath, trust my stuff and go after the hitters,” Francisco said.
“I didn’t want to waste any pitches. The next time I want to go about it the same way. I don’t want to give them any chance to use strategy. I don’t want to joke around with the hitters
Well, he’s certainly got the right idea… let’s hope we continue to see him back it up. After CJ Wilson’s unhealthy debacles, it sure would be nice to see somebody talk about throwing strikes and then actually go out and do it in the closers role - and so far, so good for Frankie even if it was on;y the royals 7-7-9.
I’m afraid I’ve got to cut this short (my first entry back, and I’m already cutting it short) there was some stuff that I wanted to get to, but it’ll have to wait until this afternoon or tomorrow.
Today we’ve got a big game, in more ways that one – number one, it’s going to be Brandon McCarthy’s second big league start this year (after he went four effectively wild innings his first time) and it’s also going to be one of three pilot games for baseball’s new instant replay feature. I really don’t have much of an opinion on instant replay (just so long as they stick to HR and fair/foul calls I’m fine with it) and in all likelihood, all it will actually provide is a topic for the announcers to fill the air with, but games against the Angels are always exciting. Hopefully we’ll carry some of this pitching success from KC over to Anaheim as we’ll probably need it. Now if someone could just wake the offense…
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Ian Kinsler, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
Sorry I missed my usual game recap for Sunday’s game against the Nationals – I wasn’t able to catch the game thanks to some issues with MLB.com’s media player that I still haven’t been able to resolve (I don’t think my computer likes MLB.com very much). So as you might imagine, I really didn’t have a whole lot to say about that game anyway. But there where a few notable highlights that I’ll start you off with here, as we run down Sunday and Monday’s Ranger notes real quick:
The Rangers won 5-3, thanks to a Frank Catalanotto pinch-hit RBI single that broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th – as Evan Grant notes, Cat is now the best active pinch-hitter in Major League baseball, sporting a .292 average and a .382 OBP as a pinch-hitter in his career. Not sure if that actually means anything for his trade value, but I’d like to think it does.
Max Ramirez went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts in his Major League debut – in fact, he was the one Catalanotto pinch-hit for in the 8th. Ouch. I’m not worried though - he’s supposed to be a great natural hitter, so he should be able to adjust to the big leagues before too long.
I do wonder though, that if maybe the Rangers have called him up a little prematurely – with Milton Bradley’s health apparently limiting him to DH again (more on that later) I’m not sure that Max will be able to get enough consistent AB’s in the Majors to make a very seamless transition. Now that the initial euphoria of having Frisco’s resident Beasticon called up has passed, I really kinda wish the Rangers had just brought up Kevin Richardson (the backup at AAA Oklahoma) or signed a cheap veteran (a la Adam Melhuse) to be a scrub backup for awhile, instead of throwing Max into a role where his playing time might all of a sudden become a premium. After all, Ron Washington kinda has a history of not liking young “unproven” players, unless they’re providing some kind of immediate production. Of course, Max has played all of one game, but he apparently didn’t look to good, and it appears he’s going to have to compete with Milton Bradley and eventually Hank Blalock (two proven veterans) for most of his playing time. And that sounds like a losing battle to me, unless Max comes out tomorrow in Houston and goes 3-4 or something (which is of course, quite possible).
Another highlight of the game was Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s laser beam throw in the 6th inning to gun down Christian Guzman, the Nationals leadoff man, trying to steal second - according to Joey Matschulat, it was “one of the best pure throws by a Rangers catcher all season.”
Salty meanwhile, who is 2-3 in throwing out runners since Laird went on the DL, credited Vicente Padilla for getting the ball to the plate quickly, and allowing him to make a good strong throw:
“I knew I had enough time to step to the base and make a good throw,” Saltalamacchia said. “[Padilla] did a great job of getting the ball home quickly so I had a chance at the runner.”
Lets hope this continues.
As for Milton Bradley, he was out of the lineup for a 5th consecutive game on Sunday, and will now be limited to pinch-hitting for the remaining three interleague road games in Houston – although Ron Washington said he could play in a “tight situation”, whatever that means. Once the Rangers return home to face the Phillies, Bradley will once again be the primary DH, and will get infrequent starts in the outfield as he proves ready for them. As I said above, this, and the eventual return of Hank Blalock to play first base is going to be what puts a crimp in Max Ramirez’s playing time.
But when Hank will be getting back seems to be a pretty big question right now. Blalock has had – stop me if you’ve heard all this before – another setback in his recovery. Apparently, he bruised his right wrist diving for a ball in Sundays game in OKC, and was scratched from Monday’s start. Instead of being activated from the DL today, he will be reevaluated instead. Sigh.
One more injury note: Gerald Laird’s MRI results confirmed he is suffering a pulled hamstring – but not torn like Blalock’s was earlier this year. Dr. Keith Meister has given Laird’s recovery a window of 4-6 weeks, however – in other words he might not be back in time for the trade deadline after all. And that might not bode well if you’re like me, and really don’t want to see that stupid catching platoon start back up again anytime soon.
Now for something a little more on the bright side - Josh Hamilton has almost locked up the starting CF spot in the All-Star game. He’s remains second in the AL OF voting, with 1,791,623 votes. And that’s not all: Ian Kinsler has closed to within 166,523 votes of Boston’s Dustin Pedroia in the AL second baseman category, and could conceivably pass him – and of course, whoever’s #1 at the end of voting will get to start the All-Star game.
If you look at the numbers, it’s kind of amazing that Pedroia is in front period – his line of .282/.328/.408 just doesn’t compare to Kinsler’s line of .302/.362/.502. Kinsler also has clear edges in OPS (864 to 736) and OPS+ (131 to 94). Oh, and then there’s my favorite number, the VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) where Kinsler’s 31.1 VORP absolutely owns Pedroia’s 12.6 VORP.
So lets get it done folks: Ian Kinsler for AL starting second baseman 2008! The VORP pretty much tells the whole story.
I’m afraid I’ve got to hurry the rest of this along again, so it’s quick hits time: Evan Grant’s game story focuses on CJ Wilson and Vicente Padilla finding success with their fastballs… MLB.com’s Shawn Shroyer has had a couple nice pieces out on Rangers prospects Tommy Hunter and Elvis Andrus that are worth checking out… Richard Durrett has a piece up on Nolan Ryan and his ties to the Houston Astros… the Rangers have tossed their hat into the ring on the bidding for 16 year-old Dominican pitching prospect Michael Inoa, a 6′7″ 210 pound RHP who is considered to be the “crown jewel” of this years crop of Latin American players.
Today it’s Eric Hurley vs. Houston right-hander Brian Moehler. This will be yet another challenge for Hurley, having to pitch to the Astros high-powered lineup and do a little hitting as well – if he has to give up long fly balls, lets hope they head out into the cavernous center field that Minute Maid Park features, and not down the lines.
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.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Michael Young, Sidney Ponson
If Thursday was draft day, yesterday was bizzarro day for the Texas Rangers. Not only did they find themselves shut down by Scott Kazmir once again, as the Texas bullpen got hammered again in a 12-4 loss, they had a catcher playing third base, and they released their #3 starter due to a sudden off-field attitude problem.
The game wasn’t much to write home about – Vicente Padilla and Kazmir dueled for the first 5 innings, with the Rangers picking up a run in the second on a Marlon Byrd sac fly. They lead it 1-0 until Evan Longoria smashed a solo homer off Padilla in the 5th, and then BJ Upton jacked a solo shot of his own in the 6th to break the tie, and the Rays added another run on a wild pitch.
Then in the top of the 8th, things got ugly. Robinson Tejeda melted down with 2 out to give up 3 runs, including a 2 run homer by Dioner Navarro. Kameron Loe actually had to come on to get the final out. Ian Kinsler popped a solo homer in the bottom of the 8th for just the second Texas run of the game, but Kameron Loe took the hill for the top of the 9th and absolutely imploded, allowing 6 runs (although none earned, thanks to a pair of errors – but don’t let that fool you, he was horrible) including a triple and a 2-run homer. The Rangers tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to take the edge off of some of the embarrassment, but that didn’t change the fact that the bullpen once again got absolutely hammered.
In fact, I’d say it’s safe to assume that with their performances last night, Tejeda and Loe may have just earned themselves a pair of bus tickets to OKC (although Tejeda would have to pass through waivers again to get there).
The real news of the day though, was of course the DFA’ing of Sidney Ponson, due to a series of incidents in which Ponson disrespected the team. It apparently started on the last road trip, when Ponson was put on notice after creating a ”serious disturbance” at a hotel bar in St. Petersburg, FLA. Then this week, after being called upon to start on three days rest while Kevin Millwood attended to a personal matter, Ponson “showed up his teammates” by blowing up after he was taken out of the game on Wednensday after he gave up 6 runs (though partly due to 3 errors committed by his defense). Apparently the icing on the cake came Thursday, when he again blew up when Ron Washington informed him he would make his next start on 6 days rest. After that, the Rangers decided to cut him when Vicente Padilla came off the bereavement list yesterday.
As Evan Grant notes, Ponson has had similar incidents like this before in his career, so this is really nothing new - it appears Ponson was simply sliding back into the behavior that has gotten him released and bounced around by multiple clubs in the last 3 years. And that’s certainly not something you want on your team. In the words of Jon Daniels:
“He had disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations that were unbecoming of a teammate,” Daniels said. “We want guys who want to be here. We’re trying to put together a team here, and based on some comments and reactions, he didn’t want to be part of that. That’s not something we’re going to tolerate.”
Amen.
This does leave the Rangers without a 5th starter, something they can do without until next Saturday – but once that time rolls around, JD has apparently said someone from OKC will be called up. TR Sullivan dropped the names Kason Gabbard, Luis Mendoza, Matt Harrison, Eric Hurley, and oddly enough Dustin Nippert in his article, and Evan Grant did the same, although he highlighted Hurley and Harrison a little more.
Myself, I wouldn’t mind seeing Eric Hurley, I don’t think he’s got a whole lot left to prove in the minors – he just needs to learn to keep the ball down more, and he’ll get schooled on that pitching in Arlington anyway. But he’s missing enough bats, and has pitched well enough of late to warrant a callup in my opinion – I actually think the extra pressure of pitching in the bigs and pitching in a hitters park might help him focus on keeping the ball in the yard more. The only thing is, I kind of doubt the Rangers agree with me, so I’m going to predict it will probably be Kason Gabbard who gets recalled.
Also of note was Gerald Laird making an emergency start at third base, after Michael Young apparently fractured his finger in the weight room. It’s only a hairline fracture, and Young expects to start today and play through it, but this is just the Rangers reaping the rewards of sending down their only other infielder earlier this week. German Duran is eligible to be called up again on Sunday, so I image he’ll be back here by then, but they still have to go one more game with no backup infielder – hopefully MY’s finger holds up.
Today, it’s Scott Feldman vs. Andy Sonnastine. Needless to say, it would be nice to come back with a win after the bullpen implosion last night.
One last thing: maybe from now on, when I say I’m going to write a special piece here, we should just assume it’s going to come out a day later than I said it would. I’m still working on my draft recap, and I won’t have it published till later today – fortunately, it is Saturday though, so I should have the time to finish it for a change. In the meantime, here you can find EMC’shandy draft board, with all the Rangers day 1 and day 2 picks. And here you can read Jamey Newberg’s day 1 recap. Good stuff.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Hank Blalock, Ron Washington, Sidney Ponson, Vicente Padilla
If there was a tonic for the implosion on Saturday night, (which, if you read my previous entry, you already know really got under my skin) I think the Texas Rangers found it on Sunday. Vicente Padilla pitched arguably his best ballgame in over a year, tossing 9 scoreless innings for the first complete game shutout by a Rangers pitcher since Kenny Rogers on May 14th, ‘05 against – yep, the Minnesota Twins. Meanwhile the Rangers offense took some frustration out on the Twins pitching staff, namely Livan Hernandez, scoring 10 runs an launching three homers over the course of the game.
Milton Bradley got things started in the bottom of the first, as he teed up a Hernandez curveballfor a three-run bomb to right. RBI singles by Ian Kinsler and Michael Young, along with a sac fly by Josh Hamilton made it 6-0 in the second, and Jason Botts would swat a home run of his own in the third before Hernandez finally left the game. Overall, the Rangers tagged Livan for 7 runs on 9 hits (2 homers) and a walk in just 2.2 innings – nice to see the opposing pitcher the one getting abused for a change.
David Murphy ripped an RBI triple in the 4th off Minnesota reliever Brian Bass, and Gerald Laird knocked him in with a single, to make it 9-0, and Josh Hamilton would launch a homer off Twins closer Joe Nathan later in the 8th to put Texas in double digits – a very satisfying day for the offense without a doubt, as they collected a total of 15 hits and 5 walks on the day.
Meanwhile Vicente Padilla was busy mystifying the Twins, as he induced three double play balls, while holding the Twins to 7 hits and 2 walks over 9 frames. He only struck out two, and got 10 ground balls to 15 fly balls, but it didn’t seem to matter – Padilla was just having one of those days when you’re bulletproof. Even when he was well-past the 100 pitch mark in the 9th inning, Vinny was hitting a good 95-94 on the radar gun with his fastball, as he got the final out on a comebacker when he jammed Delmon Young, sealing the deal on his third career complete-game shutout.
So how does a win like that feel as a fan, after I was so distraught Saturday night? It feels GREAT.
What does this mean for the Rangers? Well, it was a well-played game, with no errors or blunders, no micromanagment of the offense in the early innings, and Ron Washington didn’t have a chance to implement any lousy bullpen management – it was almost like a different team took the field today than the one that melted down on Saturday night.
But the question still remains: will the team that showed up Sunday keep showing up on a consistent basis now? And, of course, what does this mean for Ron Washington’s job security?
As for the first question, I think if I learned one thing about this team this weekend it’s to not get your hopes up too high after one good game.
As for Ron Washington, based on my perusing the official Ranger blogs and postgame writeups tonight, all seems quiet tonight on that front - which, of course, could mean any number of things. For now, I think it means the Rangers will continue to sit on their hands - we’ll see, but my pessimistic side outweighs my hopeful side on this issue: the Rangers haven’t done it yet (fire Ron), so what makes you think they’ll do it now?
Other Ranger news quick hits:
Sidney Ponson is staying in the rotation for “a while,” according to TR Sullivan. Which, for now, is expected, considering his effectiveness on Saturday, but hopefully he won’t be someone the Rangers fall in love with long term. Don’t think that’s likely? Well, Ron Washington seems to like him already:
“Right now, he’s still here,” manager Ron Washington said before Sunday’s game with the Twins. “He was good last night. He proved he could pitch. He worked fast and got ground balls. And he’s pitched in the big leagues before. He’s got experience.”
He’s got “experience”, and “he’s pitched in the big leagues before”. Am I the only one going ”oh brother” right now? I know I advocated bringing Ponson up a while back, so Salty would get his callup, but I honestly thought Ponson would stink, and be gone as soon as Gabbard or Mendoza come off the DL… one good debut though, and Ponson already appears to have made Ron Washington’s list of “Chosen Ones”. Yikes.
Hank Blalock is still in doubt for Tuesday’s game against the Royals – no surprise, really, although Hank does say he’s “optimistic” that he won’t have to go on the DL. It appears Ramon Vazquez would play third base again if Hank can’t go – so much for seeing more of German Duran, I guess. Remind me why we called him up again, if all he’s gonna do is warm the bench?
Double link-back for ya here: Joey Matschulat notes in his “quote of the week” post that Adam J. Morris over at LSB observes that the New York Yankees Jorge Posada has been put on the DL with a torn rotator cuff, which could keep him out for an extended period - and as such, the Yankees might find Gerald Laird enticing. Joey provides Yankees prospects Dellin Betances and Jesus Montero as possible targets for a return in such a trade – interesting thoughts indeed.
And finally, if you like reading worthless articles that rehash a guys entire career while celebrating relatively meaningless milestones, Eddie Guardado has reached 800 career relief appearances. Yawn.
Off-day tomorrow… fortunately, both the Redhawks and the Frisco Roughriders will be in action, or I might not have anything to do tomorrow evening. Monday night network TV still sucks, even though FOX has moved “House” to Mondays.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rants, Ron Washington, Salty vs. Laird, Sidney Ponson
They did it again. The Rangers have managed to to mess with my head, and severely disappoint me- again. I know, I should be relatively immune to the disasters, errors, and gaffes of Texas Rangers “baseball” by now, but after Friday nights emotional win, I made the mistake of actually actually considering the possibility that maybe this team had turned over a new leaf, and getting emotionally involved. And when they staged an immediate comeback again in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead after falling behind early, I made another, far more gave mistake by becoming fairly certain they had turned over that new leaf, and feeling good about my team again.
But then I got splashed in the face with the baseball equivalent of a bucket of cold water, and I woke up from my short-lived fantasy.
Despite what I expected pre-game, Sidney Ponson was actually quite solid in his first start of the season. Working extremly quickly, he retired the first 6 batters he faced, before giving up back-to-back singles to start the third inning. Craig Monroe then hammered one to left-fielder Frank Catalanotto, who gave it his best effort, but saw the ball go off the tip of his glove for an RBI double to make it 1-0 Twins. The scoring on the play was a little fuzzy at first though, as it was scored as a double, then changed to an error, and finally changed back to a double – which according to Eric and Victor on KLRD, was the right call. after things finally got sorted out, Mike Lamb scored on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia passed ball to make it 2-0 Twins, but Ponson worked out of the inning with a strikeout and a lineout.
But the Rangers bounced back the very next half inning, as the third frame seems to have held some magic for the Rangers offense the last couple games. Ben Broussard lead off with a single, and then Ramon Vazquez perfectly executed on a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners. Next Ian Kinsler blooped a single to CF, but Broussard didn’t seem to be awake at third base, as he went back to tag up, and wound uo not scoring at all on the play. I don’t know what Matt Walbeck was telling him over at third, but Ben’s head has seemed in the clouds more often than not this season with his outright defensive blunders, and lousy at-bats - so who knows exactly what went on at third base on that play. Fortunately, it wouldn’t really matter in the long run.
Michael Young struck out next, but Josh Hamilton followed that with a 2-run double. Milton Bradley then struck out looking, but David Murphy, whose superhuman clutch abilites have been one of the highlights so far this weekend, cracked one back up the middle to score Kinsler and Hamilton, and give the Rangers the lead. Murphy would later drive in a run with a fielders choice in the 5th, to give Texas a 5-2 advantage – a 3 RBI night for the “Murphinator”.
But not long after that, in the top of the 6th, was when the balloon popped for Texas fans. Maybe “popped” isn’t a very good analogy. Imploded right in the collective faces of Ranger fans would be more like it. Yeah, I think that’s a little better.
The inning started with a Brendan Harris “double” that popped in and out of David Murphy’s glove in RF, a ball Murphy later said he should have had: ”[It was] very catchable. I’m not saying it’s an easy play, but I definitely should have had that.” Then Joe Mauer hit a comebacker to Sidney Ponson. Ponson lobbed the ball to third, right past poor Ramon Vazquez, who twisted his ankle trying to flag it down. This allowed Harris to score, and Mauer to wind up at second. Vazquez was left in the game, and he did play all 9 innings (props for the that, I suppose) but the immediate discomfort of the ankle may have contributed to him bobbling a Michael Cuddyer grounder, the innings second error, to put runners on the corners with one out.
Jason Kubel then grounded a ball to the right side, just beyond the grasp of Ian Kinsler to score Mauer, and that prompted a strange decision by Ron Washington. He came out and took the ball from Sidney Ponson, who was still getting the groundballs, and was still at a manageable 93 pitches. Jamey Wright was brought in from the bullpen, and proved to be an immediate downgrade. He walked Delmon Young (which is not an easy task) to load the bases, and then gave up the tying sac-fly to Mike Lamb, earning himself a blown save. He did escape the inning after that, but would give up a leadoff single to Brendan Harris in the 7th, which got him pulled, and evetually saddled him with the loss.
Eddie Guardado came on to face the lefties Mauer and Justin Morneau, but Mauer reached on the perfect bunt down the 3B line, and Morneau hit a broken-bat grounder back to the mound, which produced the same result as a sac bunt. Michael Cuddyer was then walked intentionally to set up the double play, and Guardado got Jason Kubel to pop up for out #2. Then Ron Washington made another bullpen mistake. He brought in the ever-unreliable Frankyln German to try and get Delmon Young, and right-handed batter. Which was fine, if not smart, from the percentage standpoint - but Franklyn German is the last guy you want in that spot, I don’t care if he can throw a 200 MPH fastball with his toes while standing on his head eating cheetos. He can’t hit the strike zone with it, both historically and recently.
German fell behind 2-0 on Delmon Young, and then served up a meaty get-me-over strike, which Young slammed into LF for a 2-run single. Mike Lamb tacked on another run for the Twins with an RBI single, as German allowed all three of the inherited baserunners to score before he finally did what he was called in to do: get one out.
The Rangers never recovered, as the Twins thumped Scott Feldman version 2.0 in the 7th for 4 runs, three coming via Michael Cuddyer longball, which made it 12-5, and offically buried the Rangers for the night. The Rangers did load the bases with nobody out against Twins rookie Bobby Korecky, who was making his Major League debut, but Ben Broussard swiftly killed any possible dreams of an impossible comeback by grounding into a double play, and Ramon Vazquez put the fans that where still in the ballpark out of their misery with a groundout to first, to end the disaster – er, I mean game, that is.
Perhaps the most laughable thing about this game was the fact that they actually had a fireworks display afterwords. Nothing like a good fireworks show to get you pumped after getting your ass kicked 12-6, right?
I know the Rangers put this stupid article up on their website during the game, I just don’t see how they can keep Ron Washington on as manager much longer. If they do, fans are liable to storm the dugout and haul Wash off to the ancient Mayan pyramids in South America to offer him as a sacrifice to the baseball gods. Please, Nolan, JD, Tom – just as a fan, I’m begging you guys – do something. Shake things up, make a change. Hey, it’s not like firing Wash could possibly make matters worse!!!
While I’m piling on the Rangers right now, I might as well add this: Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Gerald Laird are supposed to split time evenly behind the dish now. Excuse my french, but that’s bullshit. Another note to the Rangers: you called Salty up, you need to play him. He’s the future of this organization at catcher, Gerry Laird is the past. Capiche? As The Beast says in the Del Taco commercials: NO splitting NO sharing (and yes, I’m aware that’s a horrible analogy, but the point still applies). Salty needs to play full time, not catch two days, and then take two days off, as the Ron and the Rangers currently have it planned.
I really like what Gerald Laird had to say about his cut in playing time, though:
“Basically, I told them I’m an everyday player and I can be an impact player in this league,” Laird said. “I want to play every day, but I can’t control that. I just have to play hard and keep getting better.”
Ahhh, Gerry. No matter how bad things have gotten, at least we’ve still got our “Superstar” to entertain us. “Impact player”… good one buddy!
Other news: Kaz Fukumori was the one axed from the roster to make room for Sidney Ponson Saturday. I forgot to note this in a previous entry, but he’s the one who broke Adam Melhuse’s hand the other day in Detroit – on a warm-up toss. Ummm… can you say “control issues”?
There’s also news on Hank Blalock, whom the Rangers are holding off on putting on the DL for now. They’re hoping that if they hold him out this weekend, with the off-day on Monday he might be able to play on Tuesday. I really hope that will be the case… but at the same time I sort of doubt it. In any case, heal fast Hank, heal fast – we need ya man.
Welp, that’s about all I can think of for tonight. I apologize if this entry is a bit over the top, but I’m afraid I’m really ticked off right now at the way this team is being managed – and that’s not just a shot at Ron, I mean JD and Nolan, too. They need to wake up, and set a few things right. It’s already too late to salvage our season - not that we really expected to contend anyway. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – it’s time to clean house in Arlington. Hopefully, all that will take place on the off-day Monday – even if it is the day before Wash’s birthday. It does appear though, that Tom Hicks was almost as disgusted as me last night, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll get my wish.
Today, it’s Vicente Padilla vs. Livan Hernandez – I sure hope Vinny can bounce back from what the Tigers did to him the other day. Laird is supposed to start behind the plate unfortunately - I already told you how I feel about that. Hoepfully, his ”impact” upon the bottom of the order won’t be too negative, eh?
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Eddie Guardado, First Major League hit, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, German Duran, Jason Jennings, Joaquin Benoit, Left on Base, Salty vs. Laird, Why I hate knuckleballers
You had to know it was going to be a tough series for the Rangers in Boston, taking on the defending World Series champs. But it’s always exceedingly frustrating to see your team blow a late lead, even if it is against the Red Sox.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night, as setup man Joaquin Benoit had his second consecutive rough outing to blow a 3-2 Ranger lead in the 8th inning.
Jason Jennings, who got rocked in his first three starts of the season, managed to battle to his first quality start of the season, despite possessing sub-par control against the loaded Boston lineup. Jennings threw 100 pitches over 6 innings of work, but only 57 went for strikes, and he was 9-9 in groundball/fly ball outs, but he managed to shut the Sox out for 5 innings after giving up 2 runs in the first.
According to TR Sullivan’s post game write up, Jennings relied on a cut fastball to keep the Sox from pulling the ball over to the green monster.
“It was good I finally gave us a quality start and give us an opportunity to win the game,” Jennings said. “From that aspect, I was pleased. But coming away with a loss is a little frustrating.
“I felt like I was able to get the ball down in the zone and hit my spots more consistently. But I have to build on it. One game is not going to get it. I have to repeat it.”
Even so, Jennings seemed to go deep into the count on almost every batter, and sure didn’t pitch with the efficiency of someone who was having his best start of the season so far. But perhaps last night, that worked to his advantage, as there’s no denying the results.
The Rangers lead 3-2 after scoring a single run in each of the first three frames. Josh Hamilton launched his fourth homer of the season, a green monster shot of lefty Jon Lester in the top of the first to get the scoring started. After the Red Sox answered in the bottom of the first, Adam Melhuse tied it up with an RBI single to plate David Murphy. German Duran, making his first ever start in LF, bagged his first career hit, a single to right center that put runners on the corners for Ian Kinsler, but Kinsler flew out to CF. That was the first of three consecutive innings the Rangers would leave a man standing on third base.
Jason Botts doubled in Josh Hamilton to give Texas the lead with one out in the top of the 3rd, but the Rangers would leave Hank Blalock stranded at third base when David Murphy and an Gerald Laird struck out to end the frame. They did it again in the 4th, when Michael Young’s 2 out single got Ian Kinsler to third, but Josh Hamilton grounded out to end that scoring chance for the Rangers as well. The inability to come through in those situations would later come back to haunt the Rangers, as their slim one-run lead would not hold up in the 8th inning.
After Jamey Wright got through a scoreless 7th, Joaquin Benoit came in for the 8th inning. Benoit, who struggled his last outing in Toronto, getting charged with three runs on a hit and three walks, started the inning by getting Jacoby Ellsbury to pop out. But then Dustin Pedroia doubled off the monster, and the rally was on for the Red Sox. David Ortiz was up next, prompting the Rangers to swing the infield around to the right, the standard defensive book against Big Papi. Ortiz smashed a ball right into the shift, to the right of Ian Kinsler, who was playing on the RF grass. Kinsler dove, and managed to get his glove on it, but could not stop the hot smash. It skipped into right field, and Pedroia motored home with the tying run. With Ortiz on first, Manny Ramirez was next, and the result was almost predictable. On an 0-1 count, Benoit threw a fastball at the knees, but Ramirez crushed it over the moster for the go-ahead 2-run homer, making it 5-3 Sox. Benoit retired the next two in order, but it was too little, too late.
After that, Jonathan Papelbon came on in the 9th to close the game out with a few 96 mph heaters, and the Sox comeback win was complete. To add to the deflating feeling at the end of this one, Milton Bradley even saw his 13 game hitting streak snapped, as he flew out to deep center in a lone at-bat as a pinch hitter for Gerald Laird, making the final out of the ballgame. Pretty lousy way to see a hitting streak like that come to an end.
There’s not too much you can say when your best setup guy gets clobbered by one of the best offenses in the game, but the real dissapointment of the night was the lack of offensive support. Including the aforementioned three consecutive innings in which the Rangers left a man at third, the Rangers left 13 men on base overall. Josh Hamilton and David Murphy left four men apeice, and Michael Young and Ian Kinsler three. But the biggest dissapointment of the night offensively was Gerald Laird.
In perhaps the joke of the season, Laird started the game at DH (for the first time in his career), and proceeded to go 0-4 with three strikeuts and 6 LOB, lowering his season average to .218. Never mind what horrible decision it is for a manager to have his offensively-challenged catcher DHing, but this, people, is why this offense needs Jarrod Saltalamacchia in it. Aside from striking out with a runner on second and one out in the 2nd inning, Gerald’s other three outs where all inning-enders, in the 3rd, the 5th, and perhaps most critically in the 8th, when he blew the Rangers last chance to score before Benoits meltdown, and struck out with runners on first and second. There’s no denying that this game might have been a lot different if you had had Salty up at the plate instead of Laird, but it’s not about just this one game. This is just a fine example of how bad Laird has been at the plate so far this year.
How bad has Laird been? Well, in 55 AB’s this year, he has 12 hits, which as I mentioned above, is a .218 average. That’s bad enough. But if you take out his mirage performance on April 6th against the Angels, when he went 4-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI, he has 8 hits in 50 AB’s, which is a .160 average, and only 2 RBI. In fact, out of all AL starting catchers, only Kenji Johjima of Seattle has a worse average (.212).
With numbers that bad, it really makes you wonder exactly how much longer the Rangers can let Saltalamacchia sit in AAA. Laird’s throwing may be an asset, but his overall defensive game, such as his wandering glove, and average range at the catchers position, is really nothing that can make up for an almost total lack of offensive value. According to Jon Daniels preseason plan, Laird was supposed to be building up his trade value by playing full-time, while Salty honed his defensive skills, at OKC. Well, thanks to his crappy play, Laird’s trade value is going in the wrong direction right now, as he’s picked up right where he left off offensively last season. And Salty is tearing it up in AAA, impressing those who actually watch him play every day.
So how long is it gonna be before Daniels wakes up, and realizes this little love affair with Gerald Laird is getting the Rangers nowhere? When you’re rebuilding, the idea is supposed to be remaining ready to play your young, promising players when they are ready - and Salty looks to be Major-League ready, both offensively, and now defensively. I don’t think it can be denied much longer: Gerald Laird’s time as the Rangers starting catcher is coming to a close. The only question before the Rangers is whether to drag it out, and subject us to more craptastic displays of offensive inability, or get started with the future. What’s it gonna be, JD?
In other Ranger notes, Eddie Guardado is not coming off the DL on Sunday, as I reported yesterday, after all. Guardado says his sore shoulder is still “weak” and he doesn’t want to rush himself back into action. He” throw a bullpen session on Monday, and the Rangers will go from there. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer till Guadardo is back - right now, with the way Joaquin Benoit has performed his last two times out, it certainly would be nice to have that extra late-inning option in the bullpen.
Tomorrow, Kevin Millwood goes for the Rangers against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. I’m dreading this game, because I really hate it whenever I have to watch/listen to a game in which Wakefield is on the mound – wild pitches, passed balls, 3-2 counts – watching him pitch always seems to be a real drag. He makes a 2 1/2 hour game seem like a 4 1/2 hour game even more efficently than anyone else in baseball. Hopefully the Rangers can square up a few of those knuckleballs, and at least provide us with some moonshot home runs for entertainment, eh? We’ll see.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: David Murphy, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Vicente Padilla
One of the great things about baseball is how fast things change. Case in point: I spent my last post complaining about how innefective the Ranger offense was in game 2 of the Angels series, and in this one, I’m going to get to praise the offense for it’s Sunday performance.
After having to listen to the first two games of the series on MLB gameday audio thanks to the fact that Friday and Saturdays games where on FSN (no, I don’t have cable – which sucks, I know) I finally got to watch Sunday’s game on TV. The Angels actually got on the scoreboard first, when Vicente Padilla gave up a solo bomb to Garret Anderson in the second inning. But that didn’t last long. The bottom of the oder, which wound up going 6-13 on the day, ignited things in the top of the third against Angel starter John Garland. After Gerald Laird singled, Ramon Vazquez blasted a triple off the center field fence to tie the game, and Ian Kinsler followed with a sac fly to give Texas a 2-1 lead. But things where just getting started for the Rangers.
It would be catcher Gerald Laird who wound up the unlikely star of the game. Gerald of course, is from Garden Grove, CA, and he sure put on a show for his hometown crowd – though I doubt the majority of them enjoyed it too much. He came in with a .091 batting average through his first four games, but would wind up going 4-5 on the day with two home runs and a career-high 6 RBI. He blasted a three-run homer of Garland in the fourth, and would later have an RBI single in the 7th, and a 2-run homer in the 9th.
Certainly a stunning performance by a guy who is normally an offensive vacume in the lineup – hopefully, Gerald can build on today’s performance, and prove me and the statistics very, very wrong in my past statements that he’s offensively worthless. That way, we might actually be able to get a starting catchers value out of him come the trade deadline in July.
Other offensive highlights included Ben Broussard, who blasted a 2-run homer, his second of the series, in the 5th, and Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and the red-hot David Murphy (who I’ll touch on a little more later) all registered multi-hit games, to contribute to the Rangers 14-hit attack.
An offensive miss of the game, however, was suprisingly Josh Hamilton, who was 1-5 and left 5 on base, his only hit being a infield single in the first inning. Now, I’m not Rudy Jaramillo or anything, but I’m going to excercise some sports fans perrogative here, and give Josh some advice from afar: stop swinging at stuff up and out of the strike zone. He popped up three times to the left side of the diamond in the game on pitches up and away - twice on the first pitch. I know he likes to go the other way, and can go the other way with a lot of power, but he failed to make any adjustmentments as the game went on, and wound up with some wasted at-bats by swinging at what I thought where some bad pitches.
Pitching wise, the Rangers got yet another quality start from Vicente Padilla. Padilla netted his first win of the season by going 7 innings and giving up 4 runs (3 earned). He did have his struggles in the middle innings, giving up 9 hits overall, but he did en excellent job of working out of trouble, and settled down by the 6th and 7th. The way he handled Vlad Guerrero was also impressive – instead of buzzing Vlad, as he has done a few times in the past, Padilla kept his cool the entire game, and held Vlad 0-3, including getting him to ground into a double play with runners on the corners and no one out in the 5th. Vlad, who of course has a reputation as a Ranger-killer, didn’t get a ball out of the infield the entire game, and whiffed against Joaquin Benoit (who struck out the Angels 3-4-5 hitters in order in the 8th with some filthy stuff) in his final at-bat to wind up an uninspiring 0-4 on the day.
Despite a score of 10-4, closer CJ Wilson pitched the 9th inning to get some work in, and set down the side in order, sending Texas to it’s 7th win in it’s last 9 games against the Angels, who all of a sudden don’t seem to be mowing down the Rangers like they have in years past. Now, if only we can get a handle on the New York Yankees this season…
Some random stuff: TR Sullivan has a nice peice up on David Murphy on the Rangers site, talking about how Murph’s early season streak here (which is a carry-over from a red-hot spring training) has made him more than just a fourth outfielder for the Rangers. Of course, it’s still early in the season, but going back to last year, I don’t think there’s much doubt about it anymore: David Murphy can hit Major League pitching, despite the fact that his minor league numbers from when he was with the Red Sox organization aren’t exactly elite. Of course, one of Murphy’s best attributes is also his versatility, which makes him a perfect 4th OF, but when your competition is Marlon Byrd and Frank Catalanotto, you’re going to get plenty of AB’s in that role – something Murphy seems to be taking full advantage of, as he continues for force his way into the lineup on a daily basis.
It is noted, though, that Ron Washington will start Marlon Byrd in LF in Tuesday’s home opener in Arlington, while Murphy will DH. It tells you what the Rangers think of Murphy’s bat, but it also shows Ron hasn’t given up on his favorite from last season, Byrd (who, by the way, has yet to register his first hit of the season, after an ice-cold spring training):
“Marlon will figure it out,” Washington said. “He’s strong mentally. We trust him. I have five outfielders, and I’m going to do my best to get him at-bats. I haven’t given up on him. I’m going to get him out there as much as I can.”
I sure hope he figures it out if you’re going to keep running him out there like that, Ron.
Speaking of Tuesday, it’s going to be Jason Jennings, who was hit with the loss in his first start in Seattle, against Brian Burres of the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles, however, have started the season on a hot streak (they’re 4-1) so it should make for a pretty good game. Hopefully Jennings can keep the ball in the park, and we can bag a win for the home crowd. I’d hate to see the O’s do to us what we did to the Angels.
But first, of course, we have to get through Monday.
