A lonestar in california


Rangers fall to ‘Stro’s 4-3, Hamilton leaves early with knee inflammation
June 25, 2008, 7:59 am
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: , , , ,

Further proof that wins and losses are a relatively useless stat for pitchers: Eric Hurley took his first Major League loss Tuesday night by allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. So how did that happen? Well, in short, the Rangers offense was nowhere to be found for the first 8 innings, Joaquin Benoit continued to struggle, and a 11th-hour rally fell short as the Rangers lost 4-3.

The Rangers offense produced a quick run in the first inning, thanks to an Ian Kinsler leadoff double and a Michael Young RBI single. But they got shut down after that, as the 36-year old Brian Moehler proceeded to hold the Rangers to just one run on 5 hits and 2 walks in his 6.1 innings.

Of course Texas was once again missing Milton Bradley from the lineup, but this time their offense took an even bigger blow in the 5th inning, when Josh Hamilton was removed from the game with inflammation in his right knee. Apparently, Hamilton first aggravated the knee last week when he made a diving catch on a Chipper Jones fly ball in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Braves. Since then, it’s been an on-and-off condition, and he started to feel it again in the first inning last night when he came up for his first AB. He tried to grit it out, but apparently couldn’t continue after missing a diving catch in a Ty Wigginton floater in the 4th. Brandon Boggs replaced him at the start of the 5th, and proceeded to go 1-for-2.

This is the same knee that Hamilton underwent two arthroscopic surgeries on in 2006, so there is some history here – the early determination is that there is no structural damage to the knee, but Josh will be reevaluated today, and is currently listed as day-to-day. We reeeally better hope this isn’t serious folks – all I can say is, if we lose Hamilton for an extended period of time, our already-slumping run production is going to take an even bigger nosedive.

Getting back to the game, the Astros took the lead by scoring two in the second inning off Eric Hurley, who otherwise had a very economical and efficient outing. Although he still gave up his usual amount of fly balls (4-12 GB/FB ratio), walked 3 and only struck out one, he was only at 88 pitches when he was pulled after 6 innings with the score 2-1.

In fact, Hurley probably could have gone another inning, but Ron Washington decided to go to the bullpen a little early instead. Frank Francisco came in and tossed a scoreless 7th, but the Rangers also wasted a big chance in the top of the inning when they loaded the bases with 2 out, only to have Brandon Boggs hit a long flyout to center field. 

It was in the 8th when things melted down though – for some reason, Ron decided to bring on Joaquin Benoit, despite his well-documented struggles this season. Well, Benoit melted down again, issuing a walk to the first batter he faced, and then giving up a home run to Lance Berkman, making it 4-1 Houston. Carlos Lee followed with a double, and after a flyout by Hunter Pence, Benoit issued a second walk, prompting Washington to finally remove him and bring in Josh Rupe, who got out of the inning by inducing a lineout double play.

That homer really hurt though, because Ramon Vazquez blasted a 2-run shot of his own in the top of the 9th - a shot that would have put the Rangers ahead if not for the lack of ability on the part of Benoit, whose troubles, as Evan Grant noted, just seem to be compounding as the season rolls on.

After putting up a 2.20 ERA in May, the wheels have come off since the calendar turned to June for Benoit, as he’s given up 8 hits, 8 walks and 8 runs, including 3 homers in just 4.1 innings this month. According to Mark Connor, the main problem has been Benoit’s lack of control:

“It just looks like he’s pulling off of every fastball and trying to be a little too fine,” pitching coach Mark Connor said. “His stuff is good enough that even if it’s not 95 mph, he can get guys out at 92 or 93. He just needs to stay on line to the plate and trust it. His location has not been good. That’s it in a nutshell.”

What’s been causing the lack of command however, is still a mystery all unto itself - Benoit maintains his am is healthy enough to pitch, but it sure hasn’t seemed like it for awhile now. Who knows what it is that ails him, but one thing’s for certain: the Rangers screwed up when they didn’t take their chance to put him on the DL last week (in fact, in a interesting side-note, Robinson Tejeda, the guy who was DFA’d so Benoit could remain on the active roster was just claimed off waivers by the Royals yesterday). Benoit’s problem has gone beyond struggles, it’s bordering on outright ineffectiveness – he should be figuring things on a rehab assignment in the minors, not costing us games in the Majors.

Speaking of relief pitchers, congrats to Jamey Wright, whose wife gave birth to their second child on Monday. That does however have the Rangers playing a man short in the bullpen for at least one more day though, as Wright won’t return until Thursday – yet another reason why it’s not good to have a nearly handicapped reliever in your bullpen.

A quick update on Hank Blalock: Hank was again out of the lineup with his bruised hand yesterday in OKC, and could be out past Thursday. Since both OKC and AA Frisco are now off for their all-star breaks, Hank will join the team in Houston and go through some workouts, but the Rangers wanted him to play a 9 inning game at first base before they activated him.

“If he makes some remarkable improvement, things could change,” assistant general manager Thad Levine said. “But it was our desire for him to play [a full nine-inning game at first] when we sent him out, and it is still our desire.”

Oh well – more possible playing time for Max Ramirez, I guess…

And now, we interrupt this blog entry for a required reading alert: Joey Matschulat and Jason Parks have put together their top 25 Rangers prospect rankings over at Baseball Time in Arlington, and they have done a simply awesome job. I won’t spoil any of the list here, but let me just say that it’s stuff like this that illustrates the job Jon Daniels has done in rebuilding our farm system in this past year – we are going to have the makings of a very exciting young team in a season or two, provided everything goes right.

Evan Grant has another newsletter out, and says the Rangers might want to consider just holding onto their chips at the trade deadline this year. I’m sort of in agreeance with part of that, I suppose – we shouldn’t be trying to move our top trade chips like Vicente Padilla, Kevin Millwood and Milton Bradley, we should be letting the deals come to us - and if we don’t find a deal that suits our liking for any of those three, then yeah, you shouldn’t trade them just to be trading them.

However, there are some deals that need to be made – for example, the Rangers need to move Gerald Laird to make way for their young catchers in Saltalamacchia, MaxRam and Teagarden. They also need to move Hank Blalock out of the way of Chris Davis sooner rather than later, and if at all possible, Frank Catalanotto needs to be dumped on some National League team who needs a good pinch-hitter. Of course, there’s no guarantee that Laird will be back before the deadline, or that Blalock and Catalanotto actually have any value left on the trade market, but those are guys we need to be selling at the deadline just so we can clear some spots on the roster. Also, another thing to consider is the Rangers have some needs themselves – namely, a need for a quality, fairly young relief pitcher who still has some service time left and can shore up our beleagured bullpen. And that’s just the kind of return I think Balock or Laird might fetch – and if we play our cards right, I could even see Gerald getting us a decent young starting pitcher.

Quick hits: Max Ramirez is going to make his first Major League start at catcher tomorrow - it should be really interesting to actually get a firsthand look at his defense behind the plate… Brandon McCarthy has begun throwing off a mound again, but still won’t be back until April first at the soonest.

Today it’s Scott Feldman vs. Roy Oswalt – Feldman is coming off a start he should have won, but the Ranger bullpen blew it. Oswalt meanwhile, is just beginning to settle down this month after a very rough start to the season. This might be a pretty sorry offensive game for the Rangers though, considering they’ll be lacking both Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley – I dread to think what the lineup card is going to look like tomorrow.

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Another game, another bullpen meltdown
June 8, 2008, 5:02 am
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This is getting quite ridiculous. The Texas Ranger bullpen, that is.

In seven games so far in the month of June, the Rangers ‘pen has allowed 5 runs or more in 5 of those games. They currently rank dead last in the majors with a 5.44 ERA, and a .360 opponent OBP- this while throwing the most innings in the majors at 231.1. They also have 14 losses and 13 blows saves, the second most in the majors on both accounts. And they quite literally blew this latest contest at the Ballpark in Arlington, as Joaquin Benoit and Jamey Wright gave up 3 critical runs in the 8th and 9th innings that wound up sending the Rangers to a 5-4 loss.

This was actually a pretty good ballgame, throughout the first 7 innings. Feldman From Across the Hall was nothing less than brilliant for most of his 7 innings, save for the one mistake pitch he served up to Gabe Gross in the second that turned into a 2-run homer. Aside from that though, all Feldman did was allow a total of 5 hits through 7 innings along with 2 walks, and tie his season strikeout high at 5. In fact, aside from the home run, Feldman did not even allow a runner past second base.

For an effort like that, Feldman certainly deserved a win, but unfortunately, the Rangers offense couldn’t muster more than two runs itself against Tampa bay starter Andy Sonnastine. It’s not that they didn’t have their chances, though, as they left a runner on second base in each of the first four innings, as they would leave 9 overall. They only runs they did muster against Sonnastine came on an RBI double by Milton Bradley in the first, and an RBI single by Michael Young, who extended his hitting streak to 22 games, in the third.

And speaking of Milton Bradley, and speaking of streaks I should probably mention the insane streak he’s been on lately at the plate. In the last week, Milton is hitting .400 (10 for 25) with 2 doubles, 5 homers, 10 RBI and 6 walks. And that’s just over his last 7 games. Over his last 23 contests, Milton is 32 for 83 (.386) with 9 doubles, 9 homers, 25 RBI and 18 walks. That’s a 1.324 OPS for about the last month. And those stats (collected from Baseball Reference) don’t include last night’s performance. Which didn’t end with just the RBI double in the first, by the way.

Milton jacked a solo homer to left in the bottom of the 8th, his 6th homer of the month of June. That would have been the go-ahead homer too, if it weren’t for the fact that Joaquin Benoit had pre-spoiled it, along with Scott Feldman’s pretty outing, by giving up 2 runs in the top of the 8th.

Benoit, who had a 2.20 ERA for the month of May, has seemingly lost it again since the calendar has turned to June. His first outing this month against Cleveland saw him walk 3 and give up 4 runs. He actually pieced together a 1-2-3 inning on Thursday, but his deficient command showed up again last night, as he gave up 2 walks and a pair of doubles to allow the Rays to break a 2-2 tie coming into the 8th inning.

Benoit started things by walking the leadoff batter, and then got Carl Crawford to ground into a fielders choice. But then BJ Upton whacked a double to left, putting runners on second and third, with one out. Eric Hinske was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Benoit did manage to strike out Evan Longoria swinging somehow, on a pitch that some say probably would have been nailed by a more experienced hitter, but it was all for naught, as the next batter, Willy Aybar, hammered a 2 run double into the RF corner before Gabe Gross popped out to end the inning.

That inning, combined with what transpired in the top of the 9th spoiled a perfectly good chance to win for the Rangers. Jamey Wright’s inability to hold a baserunner in the 9th allowed Jason Bartlett to steal second and third, and then score on a wild pitch, and that turned out to be the difference in the ballgame. 

Texas didn’t go down easy at least, as there was some high drama in the bottom of the 9th - in fact they nearly pulled off the rally despite their bullpens shortcomings. The Rangers loaded the bases with one out for Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley. Hamilton hit into an RBI fielders choice to cut the Tampa Bay lead to one and leave runners on the corners for Bradley. And Milton almost came through – he hit a tapper back up the middle, but the Rays got lucky. Dan Wheeler deflected the ball with his glove, and it instead bounced straight to the second baseman. Game over.

Just another game the Rangers could have won if not for the bullpen. Which leads me to this point: I think it may be high time for the Rangers to rethink the back end of their bullpen right now. Benoit seems to have somehow lost his control and mechanics once again – I don’t think he should be pitching in the 8thinning again until he’s spent some time working with Mark Connor and Dom Chiti, and has shown he can get hitters out again like he was in May.

And the same thing goes for Jamey Wright, who has a 5.27 ERA over his last 13 appearances (not counting last night). His mechanics still seem out of whack as well, as he just did not make any efforts whatsoever to hold Jason Bartlett on either first or second base in the 9th inning last night while pitching from the stretch - and this is a pitcher who normally holds runners well. Say what you will about Saltalamacchia being a poor thrower, but between Robinson Tejeda on Friday, and Jamey Wright last night, the 4 stolen bases in the late innings the last two days have been on the pitching staff. Perhaps the entire bullpen could use a refresher course on holding runners.

Anyway, the point I’m getting at is, Wright and Benoit need to start being put into less-critical situations for a little while until they straighten their stuff out again. There’s just no way Eddie Guardado and Frankie Francisco could possibly do any worse in the 8th inning role right now, and I’m getting tired of seeing the Rangers get bombed every stinking time Wright or Benoit come in to try and protect a slim lead or a tie game these days. I understand these are two guys who are supposed to be late inning fixtures this year, but you shouldn’t be costing yourself ballgames like this by running them out there when they’re not effective. It’s counterproductive, both for him and the team – it can’t be good for your starting pitchers to see all their work get blown to pieces by the bullpen.

But enough ranting for now.

Other stuff: Michael Young is going to try to play through his fractured finger, but his cause didn’t get any help last night, as he injured his groin during a 7th inning at-bat. That forced Chris Shelton to play third base for an inning last night, before Gerald Laird pinch-hit for Frank Catalanotto and took over at third. Young won’t be in the lineup today thanks to this latest mini-injury, although he’ll get two days off to recover, as Monday is an off-day for the Rangers.

In the meantime The Rangers are “trying” to get German Duran back from AAA Oklahoma in time for today’s game, as Sunday is the first day he is eligible to be called back up after being sent down at the end of last month. Without him Laird would have to play third again, and that’s something I think we’ve seen quite enough of already.

Also, Josh Hamilton (who DH’d last night) has apparently been under the weather for the last few days, which probably explains his recent slump at the plate. He’ll be missing today’s game as well, as he said:

“Physically, I’ve got a viral infection,” Hamilton said. “I never need a day off, but I’ll probably take one. I think I’m going to try to take tomorrow.”

It’s gonna be a pretty weak lineup today with both Hamilton and Young out. I wonder who hits cleanup - David Murphy?

Now you knew we weren’t gonna get through this entry without some talk about who will replace Sidney Ponson in the rotation: TR Sullivan says Kason Gabbard is the favorite (just as I said last night) pending a start today against AAA New Orleans. according to TR, whether or not Gabbard struggles should indicate if he’ll be the one called up or not. He allowed 5 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in his first AAA start after being sent down, which isn’t exactly great, but he did at least reach the 7th inning in that game. According to Mark Connor though, his command has improved since he was sent down:

“His command has been a little bit better lately and he’s using his changeup more effectively,” Connor said. “He needs to do that. It’s difficult to come up here and start with just two pitches unless your command is way above average.”

It’s worth noting though that Eric Hurley went a strong 6.2 innings last night for OKC, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, K’ing 7. He has a 3.61 ERA in his last 5 outings, and appears to be what’s behind door #2 should Gabbard struggle today.

For the Rangers, Doug Mathis makes his fourth start today against Matt Garza for the Rays, who shut Texas down for 8 innings the last time he faced them in Tampa. I have to say, despite what I’ve said in the past about liking Doug Mathis, I am not at all confident with him out there today – in his three starts, he’s allowed an astonishing 37 baserunners in just 12 innings. Even in his one effective outing, he allowed 10 runners in 6 innings. You just cannot do that and be an effective starter in the majors – the more I see Mathis pitch, the more I’m convinced he’s destined for the bullpen. Who knows though, maybe he’ll show us something – but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve got a feeling the only way we’ll avoid the sweep is if we get Mathis some serious run support early and hang on. And with a lineup that’s missing Michael Young and Josh Hamilton… 

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Vazquez walks Rangers off in slugfest against Mariners
May 13, 2008, 5:20 am
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: , , , , , ,

Wow. That’s really about all my brain can register regarding last night’s series opener against the Mariners. Just… wow. They fell behind. They came back. They coughed up the lead. Took it back. Gave it up again. And then… Ramon Vazquez. And a 13-12 win.

There where no delusions about what this game was going to be from the very start. Vicente Padilla gave up 5 runs in an ugly first inning, that featured 2 errors and a balk, as well as a jet-stream assisted home run by Raul Ibanez. Before the Rangers even came to bat, the game appeared to be in the control of the Mariners and Erik Bedard.

But Bedard didn’t have his A-game last night anymore than Padilla did, as it would turn out. The Rangers started immediately chipping away, with Michael Young doubling in Ian Kinsler to make it 5-1. German Duran hit a sac fly in the second, and then in the bottom of the third, Texas exploded. Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley started the inning with back-to-back jacks, Hamilton’s being a a 447-foot monster shot to right center. After a walk by Brandon Boggs, and a double by Gerald Laird, Chris Shelton (who would have a breakout day at the plate, going 2-3 with 2 walks and a sacrifice) brought both home with a single to give Texas the lead. That was it for Bedard, but things where just getting started at the Ballpark in Arlington.

Vicente Padilla, who just like Sindey Ponson on Sunday, rebounded from a tough first inning to toss four shutout frames, got into trouble in the 6th when he allowed a leadoff double to Jeff Clement. That prompted his removal in favor of Frank Francisco, who allowed an infield single before giving up a game-tying double to Yuniesky Betancourt.

The game stayed tied at 6 until the bottom of the 7th, when Seattle reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith set up the rally for Texas. Gerald Laird reached on a bunt single to start the inning, and in a strange decision, was bunted over by Chris Shelton. Rowland-Smith then walked German Duran, and threw a wild pitch, but did strike out Ramon Vazquez for the second out of the inning. That was when Seattle Manager John Mclaren decided to bring in Mark Lowe, and not long after that move, all hell was loosed on the Mariners.

Lowe walked Ian Kinsler to load the bases, and that brought up Michael Young. Young swung at the first pitch, and grounded it to second – but Jose Lopez bobbled it, the go-ahead run scored, and the inning continued. The next batter was Josh Hamilton, and he whacked an 0-2 pitch past the shortstop Betancourt for a 2-run single, and Frank Catalanotto followed with an RBI single of his own. That made it 10-6 after 7.

In the top of the 8th, Joaquin Benoit gave up a 2-run homer to Wladimir Balentien, but the Rangers would tack on a couple more with bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the frame. Heading to the top of the 9th, Texas lead 12-8, with CJ Wilson coming on. That’s when disaster struck.

Wilson, who has really struggled of late to throw strikes and get consistent outs, proceeded to squander the entire 4-run lead, surrendering an RBI double to Ibanez, and then a 3-run homer to Kenji Johjima. Jamey Wright had to come in and finish the inning, and after the Rangers stuck out in order against Brandon Morrow in the bottom of the 9th, the game headed into extras.

Doug Mathis, just up from AAA was called upon to make his Major League debut in a helluva pressure spot, the top of the 10th inning, and he delivered. He got Yuniesky Betancourt to ground to second, retired Ichiro on a liner to second, and then got Jose Vidro to fly out – the first 1-2-3 inning for Ranger pitching since the top of the 7th, when Frank Francisco set down the side in order.

Then it was time for the bottom of the 10th. David Murphy struck out to start the frame, the fourth consecutive K for Brandon Morrow but then… on a 1-0 count… Ramon Vazquez got ahold of a 94 MPH Morrow fastball, and blasted it into the right field seats. Game. Over.

As Ramon would later explain, he was simply up there sitting dead red, and Morrow didn’t disappoint:

“He was coming right at people,” Vazquez said. “I got a good pitch to hit, the pitch I was looking for. I was looking for a fastball down. I was just hoping to lay off the breaking ball. He’s a guy you don’t want to hit his breaking ball. I wanted to get a fastball and get the head off the bat on it.”

…

“That’s a great feeling,” Vazquez said. “That’s all the power I had.”

Doug Mathis would wind up a winner after his very first inning in The Show, calling it ”the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced”,  and the Rangers now lead this three game vendetta series against Seattle 1-0. It may not have been a pretty win, but the momentum from this latest rollercoaster ride was much needed after the A’s let a little air out of the Rangers balloon on Sunday.

There was one small chink in the celebration of this one, though: Milton Bradley apparently hurt himself taking a practice swing in the 7th (which is why Frank Catalanotto hit for him instead). He is currently listed as day-to-day, and will not be in the lineup tomorrow. Sigh. MB = china doll.

Elsewhere, TR Sullivan has a piece up on Jamey Wright, and how important he has been to the bullpen this season – very true, you gotta love the job “The Electrician” has done in 2008. But more interesting to me is this line at the end on Frankie Francisco from Ron Washington:

“Frankie is starting to turn the corner as far as his fastball and he’s starting to get his secondary pitches over,” Washington said. “If he can continue to do that, you never know what will happen. He used to be a stud. His confidence is starting to go up.”

I still hesitate to say that the Frankie of old is back just yet, but he’s been back up to 96-97 on the gun on a regular basis lately, and has flashed some wicked stuff – if he keeps it up, I would say it won’t be long before Francisco starts to get some consideration to perhaps pitch a few times in the 8th, maybe even 9th innings, considering the recent struggles of Joaquin Benoit and CJ Wilson.

TR also has some notes on David Murphy’s recent slump, and Marlon Byrd’s status - Murphy, who got the night off Monday, was hitting just .167 in his last 13 games. Much of that slump can be attributed to his being only 1 for his last 20 against left-handed pitchers, a rash of which the Rangers have faced lately. With Marlon Byrd about ready to come back, the Rangers may soon be able to suppress that issue, but it’s also mentioned there that Byrd still might be left down in OKC for a couple more games. However, with Milton Bradley hurting himself last night, I’m betting Byrd is going to be up tomorrow – and I’m also betting that sooner or later, Byrd is going to platoon with Murphy against LHP, whether Washington calls it an official platoon or not.  

Today it’s Kason Gabbard making his first start since being attacked by Sexson- he will reprise his matchup with Felix Hernandez once again. This time Richie Sexson isn’t in the lineup to try and kill Gabbard, so hopefully we can get him though at least the the 6th inning. The less innings the bullpen has to pitch right now, the better.

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On Halladay in Toronto: Rangers roll to second straight win
April 18, 2008, 4:03 am
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: , , , , ,

Perhaps Wednesday’s 14 inning victory in Toronto really did energize the Rangers. Because on Thursday night, the Rangers turned in perhaps the most fundamentally well-played game they have had all season, as they beat Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay to sweep their two game set north of the border.

The star of the game for the Rangers was undoubtedly Vicente Padilla, who more than matched up with Halladay, going 7 innings of one run ball, giving up 7 hits and three walks, while striking out 2. The only run came with 2 out in the 7th, his last inning, when David Eckstein, with Greg Zaun at third, hit a ball deep to the hole to at SS that Ramon Vazquez could not gun over to first in time for the out. Despite the low strikeout total, Padilla was perhaps the most effective he has been all season, as he got 13 ground ball outs, and the Rangers turned two double plays behind him.

The Rangers offense also seemed to tackle Roy Halladay a lot better than when they faced him the first time this season, when he held them to just one run on 6 hits in a complete game win. Halladay went all 9 innings once again, to spare the Blue Jays overworked bullpen, but this time the Rangers tagged him for 11 hits and 4 runs. David Murphy got the scoring started in the second, when he doubled in Milton Bradley with one out. That would be the first of three doubles in the contest for Murphy, who now leads all AL rookies with six 2-baggers so far this year. Frank Catalanotto tacked on another run with an RBI single in the second, and the Rangers got another in the top of the 7th, when Gerald Laird had a shattered bat blooper fall to score Murphy. Laird later had a bona-fide RBI single in the top of the 9th, but got thrown out trying to go to second on the throw to home plate when he over-slid the second base bag.

Jamey Wright, who seems to be instituting himself further and further as a key member of the Rangers bullpen with his power-sinker, pitched a scoreless 8th inning to set it up for CJ Wilson, who set down the side on 18 pitches to pick up his 5th save of the season. After pitching on three straight days though, it should be a pretty good bet that he won’t be available in today’s contest against the Red Sox.

Another notable from todays game: German Duran made his Major League debut Thursday, playing third base in place of Hank Blalock, who was still on the bench with the back stiffness that sidelined him Wednesday. The 23-year old Duran went 0-3 with three strikeouts, but hey, there’s not really any shame in doing that when you’re facing Roy Halladay. Congrats to German on his debut - I can’t wait until he bags his first Major League hit - perhaps he can do it tomorrow, although if he’s in the lineup again, he’ll be facing Daisuke Matsuzaka, who’s almost as good as Halladay - but why not start off with the best?  

To make Duran’s callup possible, the Rangers had to place Marlon Byrd on the 15-day DL to clear a spot on the 25-man roster, and also had to recall Thomas Diamond and place him on the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster. This means that Diamond is technically on the Major League club, and will make a Major League salary, as well as burn Major League service time during his time on the DL. A small complication, relatively insignificant right now, and probably insignificant in the long run, but still worth taking note of for future reference concerning Diamond’s service time.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia watch: Jarrod was 1-3 with a 2-run double and 2 walks as the Redhawks absolutely destroyed Round Rock, 19-3. As they say on the internet, that is what is known as complete and total ”pwnage”. The real hitting stars for OKC included Joaquin Arias, who was 4-5 with 4 RBI, Nelson Cruz, who had a 3-run homer to help him to 4 RBI, and Jason Ellison, who hit a grand slam – every player in the Redhawks lineup also scored at least one run.

Randomness: Atlanta Braves fans are now looking for 20 million or more votes to persuade Mark Teixeira to stay in Atlanta. I feel sorry for the Braves fans, though I emphasize with their cause - but unless each voter is willing to actually help pay Mark’s salary, there’s no way he’s going to stay in Atlanta, because I seriously doubt the Braves can afford to pay Tex what Scott Boras is going to ask for him (the exact figures of which I’m not sure, but I know it’s gonna be a lot). I admit, I don’t know a lot about the Brave’s payroll, and how deep the pockets of their ownership is, but the Braves would be stupid to give Teixeira the kind of money he wants anyway – there’s really not much sense in tying up your payroll like that, even if it is Mark Teixeira. My bet is, Tex winds up a Yankee in 2009, as the Yankees have the pocketbook to afford him and Scott Boras, and just coincidentally, have an opening at first base.

Last up: so you thought that that 14 inning game on Wedensday was long? That ain’t nothin’. How about the Rockies/Padres last night, going 22 innings?? It took 6 hours, 16 minutes to complete, and both teams used a combined 15 pitchers to throw 658 pitches in the longest game since 1993. After that, both those teams should get a rescheduled off day. Seriously. 

Today, the Rangers are in Boston (as I may have mentioned) to take on Dice-K and the Red Sox. Luis Mendoza, who lost his first start to the Blue Jays, toes the rubber for the second time this season for Texas. Playing in Fenway park will be a sort of homecoming for not only Luis, but also Kason Gabbard (who starts on Monday) and David Murphy, as all are products of the Red Sox organization. Michael Young is expected to return to the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s game with a sore right calf muscle, and he’ll be needed, since the likelihood that Mendoza shuts off the heavy-hitting Red Sox offense is pretty low.  

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