Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: CJ Wilson, Ian Kinsler, Luis Mendoza, Tommy Hunter
I’m afraid all I have time for this morning is a quick post here this morning – hopefully, I’ll be able to resume regular posting sometime sooner rather than later. But for now, I have for you a few observations from last night’s game and this weekend:
- Luis Mendoza was impressive yesterday. Yes, he gave up 3 runs in the first inning, and appeared to be off to another rough start – but he turned it around and fired 6 innings of one-run, 3-hit ball as he pitched into the 7th inning for the first time in his major league career. I still think Mendoza is destined for the bullpen, where he’ll be able to rely on his superb 2-seam fastball more than his somewhat erratic breaking pitches, but that shouldn’t take away from what turned out to be a huge start for Mendoza.
- Ian Kinsler however, has really cooled off of late. The Rangers leadoff man is hitting just .222 with a 561 OPS since the all-star break, and after enjoying a stretch where he had 5 consecutive 2-hit games (July 23-28th) he’s hitting just .130 in his last 5.
- From what I saw, CJ Wilson was not the one warming up in the bullpen to come in for the top of the 9th last night, even before Texas scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to blow the game open. Nope, it was Eddie Guardado who was up and chucking during that half inning, and still came in to finish the game off – could it be that CJ’s abhorrent statistics (5.28 ERA, 1.587 WHIP for the season, 9.35 ERA over his last 10 outings) are finally beginning to pry the closers role from his grip?
- Tommy Hunter looked solid in his debut the Friday night, despite giving up 6 runs. Save for a a couple gopherballs that wound up in the seats, Hunter kept his composure, and didn’t seem overmatched at all, getting most of the outs he needed. Always love to see that from a young starter, even if the line wasn’t very pretty.
- Over the three game series, the Rangers managed to come back from a 6-0 deficit and a 4-0 deficit to come away with victories on Friday and Sunday. Of course, when your offense is scoring 5.61 RPG (best in the majors) and hitting .282 as a team (also best in the majors) that’s really not such a novelty. Of course, when you consider that we’ve got guys like Marlon Byrd and Ramon Vazquez in the lineup day in and day out, I have to admit, it does seem a tad bit hard to believe that we’re actually this good. I keep waiting for the overacheivers such as Vazquez and last night’s hero, Gerald Laird to fall back to earth at some point – if they don’t this season, it’ll be a safe bet they do next year.
Hopefully the Rangers Rangers won’t fall back to earth just yet however: the New York Yankees are coming to Arlington for 4 games and that always promises to be a tough series. The Yankees historically always seem to crush the Rangers when they’re in Arlington, and considering the sad state of our pitching, this could very well be a 4-game slugout. Let’s just hope we can get through the Yankee starters, which are supposed to include Joba Chamberlain today, and then Andy Pettitte, Sidney Ponson and Mike Mussina. Yeah… this could be the series that shuts everyone up about the wildcard for once and for all this year.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Brandon Boggs, Luis Mendoza, Milton Bradley, Scott Feldman
You know… as much fun as the last two games against the Angels where, I think both the Rangers and their fans needed something like last night’s 7-2 win to settle things down. Well pitched and well performed, the Rangers simply pulled away early and cruised to a less dramatic, but much crisper win – and and after the high drama of the last two games, that’s exactly what this ballclub needed.
After allowing 8 runs in 1.1 innings on Monday against the Angels, Luis Mendoza looked like a completely different pitcher last night, as he tripled his season strikeout total by racking up a spectacular 8 K’s in 6 innings. The difference? Well, much better command of his sinker and slider for one thing, and a much more aggressive approach:
“I was more aggressive this time and attacked hitters with first-pitch strikes,” Mendoza said. “All night long, I wanted to throw first-pitch strikes and stay ahead of hitters. After my last time, I had a little pressure, but I tried to let it go and learn from it.”
Aggressive is exactly what he was, attacking hitters with his low-90’s sinker and using his curve to generate swings and misses. Mendoza also cracked the 5 inning barrier for the first time in his career, even though the Rangers where trying to keep his pitch count low because he was pitching on 3 days rest. After throwing 51 pitches in his abbreviated start on Monday, Mendoza threw just 79 through 6 innings last night (47 strikes), allowing one run on just three hits and a walk. While I’m still of the opinion that Mendoza’s future ultimately will lie in the bullpen, there’s no denying that he came out last night and did exactly what he needed to do to stay in the rotation for now, and then some – hopefully he’ll be able to build upon this start in the second half.
The White Sox Gavin Floyd on the other hand, did not have a very good start at all – he walked 7 in just 2.2 innings, and the Rangers took advantage to light him up for 6 runs. Chris Davis had a solo shot in the second to give Texas a 1-0 lead, and then David Murphy hit a 2-run jack as part of a 5-run third. Josh Hamilton also had an RBI double (his 4th extra base hit in the last 3 games), and Ian Kinsler an infield single that inning, extending his hitting streak to 23 games (tied with Michael Young, who did it earlier this year, for the 4th longest such streak in Rangers history).
The highlight of the game however, came in the top of the 4thinning. With Carlos Quentin on third and one out, Jim Thome lined what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to left fielder Brandon Boggs. At least it did until Boggs gloved it, and threw a laser beam strike to the plate where Jarrod Saltalamacchia applied the tag. Second night in a row Boggs has thrown out a man at the plate – I’d like to see Boggs playing center at some point or another this season, and I definitely think he needs to be getting more playing time than Marlon Byrd.
Things did get a little tense in the top of the 9th inning, when Warner Madrigal allowed the White Sox to load the bases with 2 out for Paul Konerko. But Eddie Guardado came in and got Konerko to fly out to center, wrapping things up a mere 2 hours and 50 minutes after they had started. That should give you an idea of just how efficient Luis Mendoza was – a game under 3 hours long, in which one team scored 7 runs is a very rare thing indeed.
The Rangers did make a couple roster movesyesterday to provide their depleted bullpen with some fresh arms – they sent Wes Littleton (who pitched 3.1 innings Thursday night) back to AAA, and Scott Feldman to AA to make room for Kameron Loe and minor leaguer Joselo Diazon the roster. Loe is just came off the DLinOklahoma with a back problem, and Diaz is a minor league journeyman who has made a grand total of four Major League appearances with the Royals in 2006, so don’t expect either one to be here for too long – they’re just here in case there’s another starting pitcher implosion before the All-Star break starts on Monday, and will likely be sent down just as soon as Hurley, Padilla and Feldman can return. In fact, Diaz will probably be DFA’d or put on waivers right after this weekend.
When the aforementioned trio of starting pitchers return after the All-Star break however, one of them might have a different role – apparently the Rangers are considering putting Scott Feldman in the bullpen for the second half in an effort to conserve his innings and his arm. Apparently the Rangers wanted to keep the number of innings Feldman threw this year at about 135, but he’s been the workhorse of the Rangers rotation in the first half, throwing 92 innings between 2 AA starts and 16 the Majors. That’s about double the amount of innings he’s had at this point in the season anytime previously in his career, and although Feldman hasn’t complained at all, the Rangers are concerned that overusing him now will have a negative impact on him next season:
“He could probably finish this year if we gave him the same workload and had him make every start,” [Ron] Washington said. “He wouldn’t feel it this year, but he would feel it next year.”
The current plan is to let Feldman rest over the ASB, and reasess where he’s at afterwards, but considering Feldman’s likely replacement in the rotation would be Matt Harrison, I think a lot regarding their decision could be riding on Harrison’s start tomorrow – if he pitches well again, he might very well make their decision for them.
Also of note is the health of Milton Bradley – or lackthereof, as Bradley was out of the lineup for a third consecutive night with tendinitis in his left knee. According to Ron Washington, the Rangers aren’t worried about it and it shouldn’t keep Milton out of the lineup in the All-Star game - but it’s obviously been serious enough to keep him from DH’ing for 3 days straight, which leaves me slightly concerned. This is Milton Bradley after all – he’s almost as susceptible to injury as Hank Blalock, and every dent or ding he takes makes me nervous – especially as we edge toward the trade deadline.
Quick hits: Ron Washington says Chris Davis is “safe” in the Rangers organization, but did not actually state whether or not that means he’ll still be playing first base once Hank Blalock comes off the DL… ESPN’ s Jayson Stark has picked Ian Kinsler as his AL first half MVP… Eric Hurley will make a rehab start for AA Frisco on Monday as he recovers from his slightly strained hamstring… Jarrod Saltalamacchia, though he was in the lineup last night is apparently still not at 100% yet as he continues to deal with a groin injury.
Big game today for those that are sentimental about ex-Ranger pitchers – John Danks, whom we traded to the White Sox for Brandon McCarthy in the winter of 2006, will go up against Kevin Millwood tonight at the Ballpark. Dank’s 2.52 ERA is 4th overall in the AL, and he’s a lefty, so we should probably expect a bit of a dropoff in our offensive production tonight.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Chris Davis vs. Hank Blalock, Ian Kinsler, Luis Mendoza
Ahh baseball. One night you’re on top of the world, and the next you’re watching one bloop single turn another epic comeback into an 11-10 loss. That’s just the way it goes I guess – but it’s still pretty tough to see your team hammer out 20 hits off some of the league’s elite pitchers and loose like that.
Of course, the real reason for last night’s loss wasn’t the bloop single, and it wasn’t really even a moronic bunt called by bench coach (and acting manager) Arte Howe in the 11th inning. No, much like Monday’s game, in which Luis Mendoza got lit up for 8 runs in 1.1 innings, the reason for this loss was a (hopefully) cameo appearance by the 2007 version of Scott Feldman.
He may have lasted a bit longer than Luis Mendoza did (3.2 innings) the amount of damage he allowed was the same – 8 Angel runs, 5 of which came in the 4th inning. The most staggering thing about Feldman’s line however, was the walks – 5 of them, issued to an Angels team that is second-to-last in the AL in BB’s with258 (only the Kansas City Royals, with 227 have fewer). Only 40 of Feldman’s 86 pitches where strikes - and when he wasn’t walking people, he was busy giving up 6 hits, including 2 doubles a triple (albeit a cheap one) and a home run. Simply unacceptable, especially a day after the Rangers had to pitch a 9 inning game out of the bullpen.
Given the fact that this is only the second start this season in which he has given up more than 5 runs, Scotty gets some leeway here – everyone has their bad days, after all. But when you have a day this bad you’ve got to take the heat for it, and there’s really no excuse for the fact that Feldman’s 8-run implosion (which negated 2-0 and a 5-4 Ranger leads in the early innings) proved too much for the Rangers to overcome, even on one of their best offensive nights of the season.
The Rangers currently lead the American League with 5.51 runs scored per game, and even if they didn’t win, they certainly showed why last night. Down 10-4 after Wes Littleton surrendered a home run to Howie Kendrick, the Rangers (who hammered 15 hits off Angels ace John Lackey – a career high for him) chipped away with a home run by Marlon Byrd and an RBI single by Michael Young (who went 4-7 on the night) in the 5th and 6th. Then in the bottom of the 7th, the Ranger offense – namely a trio of the Rangers young rookies - exploded against the veteran relievers Darren Oliver and Scot Shields.
It started when Chris Davis (who went 3-6 with two doubles) poked a 1-out line drive shot out to right center that apparently hit off the top of the wall for an RBI double. Ron Washington, who rarely meets an umpire he doesn’t like, got himself ejected arguing that Davis’ ball had in fact cleared the wall – but as it turned out it didn’t matter. Once play resumed, the Angels inserted Scot Shields in place of Oliver, turning Brandon Boggs around to bat from his weaker side (left-handed). But Boggs(who went 2-5 witha BB) singled Davis home after an 8-pitch battle with Shields, bringing Max Ramirez to the plate as the tying run. Ramirez didn’t have to wait as long as Boggs for a pitch he could hit – he just stepped up a clubbed the first 93 MPH Shields offering over the left-field wall, much to the amazement of Josh Lewin, and the chagrin of Mike Scoscia. All of a sudden, the game had gone from an Angel blowout to a 10-10 tie.
Things would stay knotted at 10 all the way until the 11th inning, but not for a lack of chances for either club - CJ Wilson nearly gave it away in the top of the 9th. After two consecutive one-out walks, Juan Rivera singled to left, bringing Torri Hunter chugging around from second. But Brandon Boggs made one of the best defensive plays you’ll see this year in LF, charging the ball and firing a beautiful one hop strike to Max Ramirez, who survived his second bone-jarring collision at home plate in four days to record the out.
The Rangers didn’t exactly do any better though. They put a man on second in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings, but failed to score each time – and in the 11th, the Angels where the ones that broke through when pinch-hitter Maicer Izturis floated a 2-out blooper into center field that scored Garret Anderson from second base, and gave them the lead.
Francisco Rodriguez came on to try and shake off the effects of the previous night’s blown save, but he sure didn’t look like he had shaken it off – in fact, to be fair, he didn’t look very good in any of his three appearances in the series. He walked Brandon Boggs to lead off the inning, and then committed an error when Max Ramirez popped a bunt attempt straight up in front of the plate. First he missed the catch, and once he picked the ball up, he threw it wildy into center field, giving the Rangers another shot with a man on second.
That’s when Arte Howe, managing the game in the abscence of the ejected Ron Washington, blew it.
At the plate was Ian Kinsler, who over the last 28 days (25 games) is hitting .394/.479/.692. That’s a 1.172 OPS. So what does Howe do? He rips the bat out of Kinsler hands, and has him attempt to bunt the runners over. Kinsler, trying to accomplish his bidding, bunts a bad pitch, and pops it up. This time K-Rod didn’t drop it, and an all-important out was completely wasted.
Yes, I know what the intent was… the intent was to move the runners 90 feet, put the tying run a sac fly away, and the winning run a single away. But when you’ve got one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball at the plate, it is not time to play smallball. That’s like buying a Lamborghini, and never taking it out of first gear – you’re just not utilizing the situation to it’s full potential. I don’t know whether Arte Howe was taking his cue from Ron Washington last night, or if perhaps maybe it’s the other way around – but as a manager, you should never, ever be willing to give away outs, not against a teams closer. After all… even if Kinsler had gotten the bunt down, the punchout and groundout that Ramon Vazquez and Michael Young followed with would not have gotten the run home.
Even with such a frustrating conclusion to the series, I’ve still gotta say I’m really proud of the way the Rangers played this four game set with the Angels. This team is playing much harder, much better than it has in a couple seasons – and I think you can accredit most of it to the youth of this team. For the first time in a long time, the Texas Rangers really have something to prove – and I’ve got a feeling that the more quality young talent is infused over the next year or so, the stronger and hungrier they’re going to get.
Of course, it would help if those young players actually got to play… and the latest things coming out of Ron Washington’s mouth regarding that aren’t exactly encouraging. Apparently, Hank Blalock is actually getting close to a return - he’s scheduled to go on a rehab assignment over the All-Star break, and join the team in Minnesota next Friday. And Ron Washington says he wants Hank to play over Chris Davis:
“If Hank is ready, I want Hank,” Washington said. “When the time is right, we will sit down and make a decision and see where we go.”
Ugh. Ron Washington needs to get himself a shirt that says “I (heart) players who mean nothing to this team in the longrun”. Let’s just hope he doesn’t speak for JD here regarding Davis’ fate.
Gerald Laird meanwhile, has headed out to Arizona to continue his rehab, and expects to be ready to come back by July 25th - whereupon Grant says he “might get the lion’s share of playing time” behind the plate. Hopefully, this is all just a part of a plan to get the trade value of those two ramped up for the deadline - but if that’s actually the way the Rangers intend to play out the rest of the season at first base and catcher, all that has happened with Davis, Ramirez, and Salty in the past couple weeks will have been nothing but one step forward, two steps back for the youth movement.
Tonight, Luis Mendoza will start on short rest for the Rangers – considering of course he only threw 50-some pitches his last time out however, it should be no big deal. No, the big deal is going to be how Mendoza performs after Monday’s debacle.
There should at least be some concern mounting about whether or not Luis Mendoza can cut it as a Major League starter – because in 8 big-league starts so far, Mendoza has a 7.24 ERA, and has given up 41 hits and 33 runs in 27 innings. He also has yet to go past 5 innings in any of his big-league starts, and has walked 15 batters opposed to 8 K’s. In a sharp contrast, over 6 career appearances as a reliever, Mendoza has a 0.79 ERA, has allowed just 7 hits in 11 innings, and has 9 strikeouts to zero walks. That may be a pretty small sample size, but I think there’s enough to say that’s pretty solid trend already formed there – that trend being that Mendoza seems much better suited for bullpen work than a starters spot. This will be a huge start for him if he’s to refute that trend at all.
It’s also going to be a huge start for him, because the Rangers bullpen is basically shot – he needs to provide the Rangers with 6 innings if for no other reason than there is no one to pick up the slack if he implodes again. Dustin Nippert might be available, but he likely would not be ready for use in more than one or two innings – but ideally, everyone in the Rangers bullpen could use a day of rest today. Obviously, that’s not likely to happen, but it makes me wonder if the Rangers might be forced to make another roster move, and bring up someone like Kazuo Fukumori, who can be knocked off the roster once his services are no longer required.
Opposing the Rangers tonight will be Gavin Floyd and the White Sox. This could be an ever tougher series than the one with the Angels, because not only are the White Sox second in the AL in runs allowed per game at 3.87 (only Oakland is allowing fewer runs) but they are also 4th in the AL with 4.82 runs scored per game. In other words, they pretty much have the whole gambit going for them this year – their starting pitching and bullpen has been great in the first half, and the offense has been good too – this should be a real challenge to end our first half with.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Dustin Nippert, Luis Mendoza, Matt Harrison, Max Ramirez, Neftali Feliz
Well, you can say one thing about the 2008 Texas Rangers, they don’t give up. Put into an impossible situation by the early implosion of starter Luis Mendoza, the fact that the Texas offense even came back and made last nights contest a ballgame was pretty impressive. Of course, while that may have been one of the biggest positives to take away from last nights 9-6 loss to the Angels, it may have also been the biggest frustrations for Rangers fans who have to be wondering how games like this one might turn out different if the Rangers actually had some starting pitching.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem was for Mendoza last night - command, stuff, confidence, you name it, he didn’t have it. If one didn’t know any better, you might have wondered if perhaps you’d arrived at the ballpark early and the Angels where taking batting practice as they blasted Mendoza for 8 runs on 9 hits (three of them being home runs) and 3 walks in just 1.1 innings.
Dustin Nippert took over after Mendoza allowed back-to-back homers to Vlad Guerrero and Torri Hunter to finally spell his demise in the second. Nippert, who spun a 7-inning no-hitter for AAA Oklahoma back on June 29th, would proceed to turn in a gargantuan effort for the Rangers in relief, throwing 103 pitches over 7 innings, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 4.
Enough really cannot be said about the importance of that performance by Dustin Nippert - not only did he veritably shut the Angels down and give the Rangers that shot to climb back into the game, but he also saved the rest of the Texas bullpen from having to work - which could be a godsend considering how the health issues of Vicente Padilla and Eric Hurley currently have the rotation in a disarray. And of course this probably grantees that Nippert will be sticking around in the bullpen, at least for awhile – who knows, given the duration of that performance, he might even get consideration for a start sometime.
The Rangers did make the Angels sweat for this one – the return of the Murphinator continued in the 5thinning, as David Murphy socked his second 3-run bomb in 2 days, and just minutes later Chris Davis closed the gap to 2 runs with a monsterous 2-run blast of his own.
The real drama however came in the top of the 8th, when things got a little down and dirty. The Angels had runners on the corners with one out when Maicer Izturisgrounded one to first. Chris Davis came home with the throw, and Angels catcher Jeff Mathis, barrelling down the third base line decided to try and steamroll Max Ramirez. Max got bowled over by Mathis, who seemed to jam his hands up toward Max’s face as they collided, lay on his back momentarily, and then popped back up and gunned a throw to third base to double off Kasey Kotchman. I don’t think I’ve seen a play as singularly awesome as that yet this year – or maybe ever, for that matter. Max Ramirez is one tough hombre.
I can’t help but kind of feel what Mathis did was a little dirty though - first of all, if he had just tried to slide into home, there’s a very good chance he would have been safe, because Chris Davis double-clutched the throw from first. Second, Mathis hit Max in a pretty awkward way, shoving his hands up into Max’s chin to bowl him over – that’s the type of thing that can flip a guys head into the deck and seriously injure him. Of course, to give Mathis the benefit of the doubt, that last part about the collision may or may not have been intentional – but in my opinion, the collision was not a necessary one in the first place, and therefore a pretty bush-league move by Mathis.
With three games left to play in the series, this incedent may wind up rekindling the old Rangers vs. Angels hatred that always seems to lie beneath the surface when these two teams play – Milton Bradley got riled about the whole thing, and was yelling something accross to the Angel dugout in the aftermath, while David Murphy said the play got the Rangers “fired up”:
”The way was going, against a division rival, it got us fired up a little bit,” Murphy said. “Baseball’s a crazy game.”
Sounds like If nothing else, you should fully expect Mathis to take one high and tight tomorrow – and maybe even get run over himself should the chance present itself.
Fired up or not though, the Rangers last-ditch rally in the 9th would fall short - they put runners on second and third and got the tying the tying run to the plate in the personage of David Murphy, but he was robbed by Kasey Kotchman on a liner toward the right field line to end the game.
In another important game last night, Neftali Feliz make his AA debut in Frisco - and looked pretty good, too. His fastball was hovering around 97, and even hit 100 and 101 MPH a couple times absolutely electric, although the Travelers started catching up with it a little by the end of the outing. Overall, Feliz went 5 innings, gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and one walk, while striking out 6 - 53 of his 80 pitches went for strikes. The three runs all came with 2 out in the 5th, his last inning, but Feliz kept his cool and still escaped the inning with the lead. He didn’t get credit for the win as the Frisco bullpen later imploded, but that’s still a pretty nice AA debut for a guy who’s skipping high-A altogether. Feliz is a guy who really has a chance to be special – it’s going to be exciting to watch him continue to take on AA this year.
Some important rotation stuff: Vicente Padilla has been scratched from his start on Wednesday, and the Rangers now aren’t sure whether he’ll pitch again before the all-star break. To take his place, the Rangers have announced Matt Harrison is going to be called up to make a spot start today, while Eric Hurley’s start will be pushed back at least one more day, if not more. According to the Rangers, Hurley’s hamstring is feeling better, and they don’t want to put him on the DL, but they also don’t want to push him in his recovery. If Hurley can’t pitch on Wednesday though, I’m not sure who will – the Rangers are really out of starting pitchers after Harrison, because there’s really nobody else in Oklahoma who is either rested or ready for a callup to the bigs right now. If Josh Rupe doesn’t pitch today, he’ll have 2 days rest since he last threw, so he might be able to make a 4 inning start or something… or you could always start Kevin Millwood on short rest… this is just getting to be an ugly situation.
Quick hits: Hank Blalock is actually making progress in his recovery in Arizona, taking some swings in the batting cage without hinderance. If he doesn’t have another setback, he’ll go on a rehab assignment over the all-star break with Frisco… Jarrod Saltalalmacchia’s groin kept him out of a second straight game yesterday, but he should be back today… Gerald Laird also swung the bat yesterday, and apparently could return by July 21st – just in the nick of time to prove he’s healthy before the trade deadline.
Matt Harrison makes his Major League debut tonight against the Angels – Harrison was 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP in 6 starts for OKC this year – he’s coming off a good outing down there in which he allowed one run in 6 innings. Harrison is a guy without amazing stuff, but he’s got good control and he gets a lot of ground balls – which of course means he’ll have to rely on our iffy infield defense. That, plus the fact that lefty Joe Saunders will oppose for the Angels might not bode well for the Rangers. Pressure on the infield defense and LHP have been the Rangers kryptonite this year.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: First Major League hit, First Major League homer, Luis Mendoza, Max Ramirez
Wednesday was a dreaded day for Texas Ranger fans. For the first time this season, the Rangers found themselves without either of their 3-4 hitters, Milton Bradley or Josh Hamilton in the lineup, and as a result, the batting order almost looked like something out of a bad dream. Facing off against the Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt, the Rangers needed some new heroes, fast - and they may have found them in Max Ramirez and Luis Mendoza, whose timely contributions would carry Texas to an improbable 3-2 victory.
Of course, you’ve got to give a some credit to Rangers starter Scott Feldman, too – Feldman may have had his shortest outing of the season last night, throwing 99 pitches in the span of just four innings, but he set the tone for the Ranger pitchers by keeping his head and working out of almost every jam he got into. Of the 8 baserunners allowed by Feldman(on 6 hits and 2 walks), only 2 scored, and they both came on a 2-run homer in the second by Michael Bourn. Other than that, Feldman fought hard to get the key outs he needed to, and that set the stage for the pitchers who followed him, and for Max Ramirez.
The 23-year old Ramirez was making just his second Major League start, and his first as a catcher last night but it sure didn’t seem to phase him any. He picked up his first Major League hit with a single in the top of the second and looked solid behind the plate as well, earning praise from manager Ron Washington for his handling of the pitchers:
“We certainly weren’t at full strength but that kid behind the plate did a great job,” Washington said. “Not only swinging the bat but handling our pitching staff. The kid knows how to swing the bat, but the thing I wanted to see was him handling the pitching staff and get them through nine innings. He did just that. That’s what matters most and he did an excellent job.”
The big moment for Ramirez however, came in the 4thinning. With the Rangers down 2-1, Frank Catalanotto rapped an innocent 2 out single to right to keep things going for Max. Roy Oswalt, who had struck out the first two batters of the inning, fell behind 3-1 to Max, and then tried to challenge “the new guy” with a fastball in the zone.
408 feet later, the score was 3-2 Rangers.
“I can’t believe it,” Ramirez said. “It was so exciting. My first home run, my first game behind the plate, a really good game. I felt good behind the plate. I tried to do my best job.”
Even though the Rangers would not score again for the rest of the game, neither would the Astros, as the Rangers managed to keep them in check from the second inning on.
Scott Feldman left after the 4th innning of course, meaning he would not be eligible for the win - but if he wasn’t eligible for it, the guy who replaced him most certainly would be. Four days after earning his first Major League save by tossing three scoreless innings against the Nationals, Luis Mendoza turned in some more superb relief, this time when it really counted. He went three sharp innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 2 – an absolutely huge, huge performance, as it allowed the Rangers to go straight to setup man Eddie Guardado, and skip their inconsistent and shaky middle relief corps altogether.
Guardado turned in a scoreless 8th, thanks to a little help from Frank Catalanotto, who turned a spectacular double play to help Eddie get around a leadoff double, and all that was left was for CJ Wilson to close it out in the 9th. Of course, that hasn’t been an easy proposition for CJ these days, and last night was really no exception. He allowed a leadoff double to Ty Wigginton, and then walked Michael Bourn with2 out (which may or may not have had more to do with the umpire than CJ’s pitches). Ramon Vazquez then bobbled a grounder at third which should have ended the game, but instead loaded the bases for Miguel Tejada. But Tejada grounded harmlessly to short, a perfect example of the Astrosfrusteration in this game – they went 0-9 with RISP, and left 10 men on base, a testament to how lucky and good the Rangers pitchers where last night.
This win all but nails down the Silver Boot Trophy for the Rangers - unless they lose by more than 11 runs tomorrow, the boot will be coming back to Arlington for another year. I think though the two most important things to take away from this game however, are the performances of MaxRam and Mendoza.
MaxRam’s defense last night looked pretty serviceable to me, quite contrary to his reputation as a poor defensive player. Of course this is only one game (hello sample size) but if Max can prove just adequate defensively while displaying the hitting prowess he did last night, he is going to assert himself as just as strong a candidate for the role of our future starting catcher as Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden, instead being limited to the duties of primary DH and backup catcher as many people (including myself) have projected him as due to his reputation. Of course, some might think it premature to say that after only one start, but after what he displayed last night in his game calling abilities, I am willing to believe it is at the very least a possibility.
As for Luis Mendoza, I’ve mentioned this before, but I really think he may have a great future in the bullpen. This latest performance should earn him a few more innings in some key middle-relief situations – and if he continues to excel, I could see him possibly becoming our 7th inning guy with that turbo-sinker of his. Once things for certain, he seems to have better stuff than just a long man – but the rotation seems to be full up right now, so the Rangers might not have much choice in the matter if they want to truly get the most out of his abilites.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Ben Broussard, Jason Botts, John Patterson, Luis Mendoza, Michael Young, Ron Washington
So far, this series in Seattle has had a bit of everything for everybody. The first two games saw one club chase the opposing starter early, and effectively put the game away before the 5th inning. Last night’s contest, however, saw a classic low-scoring, nail-biting pitchers duel between Seattle’s ace lefty Erik Bedard, and the Rangers revitalized Vicente Padilla.
Bedard, who came into the game with a 4-1 career line, and a 2.42 ERA against the Rangers, pitched a pretty good game, but the story of the night was Vicente Padilla. Already the author of a complete game shutout this season (back on April 27th against the Twins) Padilla tossed another brilliant gem, putting goose eggs on the board for 7 innings, surrendering just two hits and two walks and striking out 8. At one point, he retired 12 Mariners in a row. To say he was brilliant might have been an understatement. Filthy is probably a better adjective.
The Rangers offense managed to get just two runs off Bedard, but the way Padilla was pitching, it turned out to be enough. Brandon Boggs ripped an RBI triple to plate Milton Bradley from first win 2 out in the 4th to break the scoreless tie. Bradley, who scored both the Ranger runs, later hammered a solo shot to left in the 6th, and that was all the Rangers needed.
Things did get a little hairy for Padilla in the 7th, when he walked Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre to lead off the inning. But thanks to some blazing upper 90’s fastballs, and some excellent framing by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Padilla rebounded to strike out the side, getting Jeff Clement and Yuniesky Betancourt looking, and Wladmir Balentien swinging to end the threat.
That was Padilla’s most brilliant inning, but also his last, as he was pulled by Ron Washington in the 8th, despite only being at 91 pitches. Joaquin Benoit took over, and worked though a nailbiter inning, walking the first batter he saw, and later giving everyone a scare by giving Jose Lopez a pitch that was jacked all the way back to the corner in deep LF, but hauled in by Brandon Boggs for the third out. Even though he got out of the inning unscathed, Benoit can just count himself lucky that it was Jose Lopez he served up that last pitch to, and not someone like Adrian Beltre, or he would have been looking at a blown save. But it wasn’t, and CJ Wilson came on for the 9th, and worked around a walk of his own to pick up his 8th save of the season, slamming the door on the shutout, and the Rangers 15th win of the season.
There was some bad news coming along with this one though, as shortstop Michael Young tweaked a flexor muscle in his left hip during his at-bat in the top of the first inning. Right now he’s listed as day-to-day, and there hasn’t been anything said about how serious his problem is, but from what I gather, flexorinjuries can keep a guy out anywhere from a few games to over a month. Needless to say, if Young is out for an extended period, it will be very bad, because the Rangers don’t have many options to replace him. German Duran and Ramon Vazquez are already splitting time filling in for Hank Blalock, and there’s no other infielder on the 40-man roster besides Joaquin Arias (who has so far been limited to playing second base in OKC, as he rebuilds arm strength from a shoulder surgery last year) who is eligible to be called up to the majors. Even if Young is only out for a few days, and the Rangers wait for him to recover, they’ll still be in a dangerous predicament, as they’ll have no backup infielder on the roster.
I’m afraid I have more discouraging news, too – John Patterson has suffered a setback in his recovery from his 2007 elbow surgery. He has been shut down after his second start in extended spring training, thanks to soreness in his right forearm.
“He was not happy with the way the ball was coming out of his hand, and he had some pain in his forearm again,” Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor said. “Everything was going well until that second start.”
I guess this means Sidney Ponson is now undoubtedly here to stay, be it for better or worse.
Luis Mendoza, who is on the DL with shoulder pain, is not close to returning to the rotation either. According to Mark Connor, he is making progress, but the Rangers still want to play it safe, and let him build up his endurance, as he’s scheduled to throw a simulated game Saturday, and then make 2 or 3 rehab starts in the minors.
For now, that leaves the Rangers with a rotation of Millwood, Padilla, Ponson, Kason Gabbard (who comes off the DL tommorrow) and Scott Feldman, with AJ Murray being the primary fallback option.
Another interesting note though, is that Doug Mathis has now “pushed ahead” of Eric Hurley, as far as consideration for a big league callup anytime soon goes. Mathis is 5-0 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP for OKCso far, whereas Hurley is 1-2 with a 7.32 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP, and has given up 8 HR – disappointing to say the least for the Rangers top pitching prospect.
A couple last notes, and I’ve got to wrap this up: Ben Broussard is a dead man walking. The Rangers have decided to platoon Frank Catalanotto and Chris Shelton at first base, pretty much making it a logical certainty that Broussard will be dropped when Marlon Byrd comes off the DL. There’s more, too: Evan Grant goes so far as to suggest that because Ron Washington was the one who lobbied for, and effectively got Broussard signed this offseason he could wind up being fired at the same time Broussard is DFA’d. While I would dearly love to see that (the very thought of seeing my two least favorite people associated with the Texas Rangers fired at the same time floods my brain with pleasure endorphins) something tells me that if Ron Washington was going to be fired, it would have been done by now. JD seems reluctant to admit he whiffed when he hired Washington in the first place, and that denial, combined with the Rangers better play of late, I think is going to save Washington’s job until the All-Star break, if not October.
Finally, Jason Botts has cleared waivers, and been outrighted to OKC, something Jason can’t be too happy about, if you remember what he had to say about his designation:
“I think I’ve been here for a pretty long time and I deserve a fresh start somewhere else. It’s not the most negative thing to me right now that this has happened. I’m excited about it.”
Unfortunately for Jason, he now must endure another season of slogging through the minors with OKC, splitting time at first base and DH. I really feel sorry for Bottsy – he may not have ever performed enough in any of his brief stints with the club to convince anyone he should stay, but he didn’t really get a fair shake at a long term chance – he got screwed out of that when the Rangers signed Sammy Sosa in 2007, and his career never recovered.
Kason Gabbard, who will be fresh off the DL, will take on Felix Hernandez today as the Rangers try to take 3 of 4 from the Mariners. Gabbard was 1-0 with a 2.18 ERA before his DLtrip – hopefully he comes back dealing, and hopefully we find out something positive about Michael Young’s hip.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bold predictions, FAIL, Luis Mendoza, Pitching moves
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… the Rangers got absolutely blasted tonight in Detroit. Again, I don’t really have much to say about this game, except that I think it’s a testament to my will and endurance that I sat through the entire 3 hour, 33 minute affair, listening to Eric and Victor an Gameday audio here at my computer. Seriously, I should get free tickets or something, as should any other Ranger fan who stuck out the entire “game” (and I use that term loosely – very loosely).
The Rangers did shell Kenny Rogers early, scoring 5 runs in the first two innings, but in the bottom of the second, Luis Mendoza staged an epic meltdown, and blew the entire lead. Apparently, Mendoza was trying to pitch through a sore shoulder (more on that later), but instead all he did was embarass himself and the team, and put an unnecessary load on the bullpen.
Frank Francisco took over for Mendoza in just the third inning, and allowed a go-ahead homer to Jacque Jones, making it 6-5 Detroit. The Rangers rallied in the 4th however, as a leadoff single by Gerald Laird (who has seemed to wake up offensively of late) and a walk to German Duran got things going. But the Ron Washington inexplicably decided to bunt with Ian Kinsler (only Ron Washington would bunt in the 4th inning with 2 on and nobody out, in a game that had slugfest written all over it). While the sacrifice worked, it may have cost the Rangers a big inning. Rogers, who would not make it out of the inning, then walked Michael Young (semi-unintentionally) to load the bases, and then walked Josh Hamilton to plate the tying run. Carlos Rapada then relieved the Gambler, however, and got Milton Bradley to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, and from there, well, I think this picture sums up the rest of the night for the Rangers:
Image credit goes to the FAIL blog, of course.
If you’re actually curious about the rest of the game and who got shelled and who didn’t, here is the box score, complete with play-by-play.
Now, as to Luis Mendoza’s aforementioned arm trouble: apparently, it started after last Friday’s disasterous start in Boston, in which he gave up 7 runs in three innings. According to Mendoza, his arm feels okay warming up, but weakens once he gets to the mound and starts to unleash his stuff:
“When I warm up, it’s good but when I’m out there it’s weak,” Mendoza said. “I’m worried about it. I’ve never had an injury before. I’m wondering what’s going on.”
Pitching coach Mark Connor meanwhile, was livid at the fact Mendoza kept his problem to himself.
“I had to drag it out of him,” Connor said. “I’ve been doing this 20 years and I can tell you I’m not seeing the guy that I saw last year or the guy I saw early in Spring Training. I’ve been asking him off and on the past couple of weeks if anything has been bothering him and he said, ‘No.’”
…
“He’s a good kid with a great future, but he’s got to protect his career and he’s got to protect the ballclub,” Connor said. “He put us in a bad position. He’s too valuable to the organization. He has to learn to be honest.”
I couldn’t agree more. After the way the bullpen got rocked in this game, the Rangers are in quite the predicament with Scott Feldman, a guy who will be making just his second big league start going tomorrow (more on that later). Frank Francisco threw 52 pitches, Jamey Wright 38, Wes Littleton 31, and Joaquin Benoit 35. More than likely none of them will be available in tomorrows day game, along with Josh Rupe, who threw 56 pitches Tuesday night. That leaves Franklyn German as the only fresh pitcher in the bullpen, and closer CJ Wilson, who threw 10 pitches tonight, as the only other available pitcher in the bullpen.
With basically 80 percent of the bullpen unavailable or questionable, the Rangers have to make a roster move here to get at least one, preferrably two fresh arms up from OKC. Let’s break down the possibilites, shall we?
Luis Mendoza is likely headed for the DL, and Rupe and Littleton both have options, so thats three possible spots. Eddie Guardado was supposed to come off the DL Friday (after his activation was delayed again today) when Scott Feldman was sent back down from his spot start, but Mendoza’s injury likely changes that. He’ll probably be activated tommorrow instead, and theres also three pitchers on the 40-man who could be recalled from the Redhawks (who just had an off-day wedensday) - Kaz Fukumori, Kameron Loe, and AJ Murray. Of those three, I’d say Kaz Fukumori is most likely to get the call, as by my count, his 10 days since being optioned to the minors have just passed, and he has not allowed a run in 5.1 innings in OKC.
Another note: with Mendoza on his way to DL-land, one would think that Scott Feldman just stays on the roster for and in the rotation for now. The Rangers can go with a 4-man rotation and an 8-man bullpen until May 3rd, when we’ll need another 5th starter again (Monday is an off-day for the Rangers).
If the Rangers put Mendoza on the DL retroactive to April 18th, when he supposedly first had his problems, he could be off in time to make that start on May 5th. But there’s no garuntee he’ll be ready (shoulder problems never seem to turn out well for pitchers), and if he’s not, things could get interesting. That of course leaves AJ Murray, Doug Mathis or Sidney Ponson as the guys available, and of those three, only Ponson would really be in line to make the start, if you go by the OKC schedule. He’s set to go on May 2nd (Murray and Mathis should go on the 30th and 1st, respectively) - all you have to do is call him up, and move him back one day.
You still have to make room on the 40-man roster for Ponson though, and as I mentioned yesterday, Adam Melhuse would be the most likely guy to get knocked off, which means… you know. Let me put it this way: I’m predicting that May 3rd, 2008 is your due date for Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s callup. Mark it down.
Speaking of predictions, it appears my prediction yesterday that Ron Washington would be gone by Friday if the team didn’t improve it’s play is already moot – JD and Nolan Ryan have announced their plan of action to improve the Rangers crappy play, and that is: sit back, do nothing, and see if the team improves. Great plan, guys. A+++ for creativity and daring. Seriously, take a few days off – your brains must be tired after all that planning. I’ll take over while you’re away, hows that sound???
Scott Feldman opposes Jeremy Bonderman tomorrow – tough pitching matchup for a team looking to stop a 6-game losing streak. Even if we loose, it will have to be considered a huge sucess if Feldman just makes it through 5-6 innings, and takes a load off the bullpen – it’s been three consecutive days now that out starting pitcher has not made it past the third inning. With the bullpen as gassed it is, we just cannot have another early inning meltdown – if we do, brace for the sweep. Oh wait, that’s right – with the way the last 6 games have gone, you’re already braced for the sweep. Never mind.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Eddie Guardado, Luis Mendoza, Marlon Byrd, Salty watch
There’s really not much to say about Friday nights game against the Red Sox in Fenway park. All you really need to do is take a look at the scoreboard, and you’ll get the drift: Red Sox 11, Rangers 3. Ouch.
The Rangers came into Fenway on a two game winning streak, having swept the two-game matinee in Toronto for a mini-sweep of sorts. That all came to a screeching halt today, as all it took was one swing by David Ortiz to get the Red Sox offense kick-started in the bottom of the third.
Luis Mendoza, pitching against his former organization, actually got off to a great start to the game retiring the first 8 Red Sox in order on 33 pitches. He was even staked to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, when Ian Kinsler doubled, stole third base, and was plated on a sac fly by Josh Hamilton (whose 16 RBI so far tie him for third most in the AL). But the wheels would come off for Mendoza with 2 out in the 3rd.
Mendoza started the inning by getting Jason Varitek to foul out, and Sean Casey to line out to short. But then rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie, making just his second start of the season for the Red Sox, doubled into the LF corner, and that sparked the rally. With a runner in scoring position, Mendoza all of a sudden started trying to be too fine, and would up walking Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedrioa, which brought up David Ortiz. Big Papi promplty hammered Mendoza’s first pitch, a fastball that was left out over the plate, over the green monster for an opposite field grand slam.
The Sox didn’t let up, as Mendoza got into more trouble in the 4th. He walked JD Drew to start the frame, and then gave up an RBI double to Jason Varitek. Sean Casey followed with a single to put runners on first and third, which finally chased Mendoza. Josh Rupe came jogging out of the bullpen, but he didn’t help matters much. After a sac fly by Jed Lowrie, Rupe gave up an RBI triple to Jacoby Ellsbury, and a 2 run homer to Dustin Pedrioa before getting out of the inning.
Rupe did settle down to toss three more innings of scoreless ball, but the nails where in the coffin, despite the brief excitement of Hank Blalock (who returned to the lineup a little earlier than expected yesterday) hammering a 2-run homer off Dice-K Matsuzaka in the 6th. The Red Sox tacked on two more runs, one earned, one unearned, against Dustin Nippert in the 8th, to make it 11-3, and the rest is history.
There wasn’t too much distraction to be found in Friday’s Ranger notes, as the only real notables where the fact that Eddie Guaradado is scheduled to come off the DL Sunday, and the leading candidate to be sent to AAA is of course Josh Rupe, the only pitcher in the Texas bullpen with a minor league option (besides closer CJ Wilson, that is), and that the Rangers are also still trying to figure out what’s wrong with Marlon Byrd’s sore knee. He is now scheduled to undergo an MRI Monday, as Byrd was quoted as saying “It’s just not getting any better. We want to know what this is and get treatment for it. I want to be back in 15 days.” It seems that Byrd may actually have a serious problem here - although his condition is apparently a fairly recent development, perhaps it provides some explanation for his lousy play of late. You can’t use it to explain away his cold bat, which goes all the way back to spring training, but it might provide a palpable excuse for his recent morbid defense and baserunning gaffes.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia watch: Salty was 0-4 with an RBI and a strikeout Friday, as Oklahoma beat Round Rock, 6-4. Eric Hurley turned in his first solid start of the season, and picked up the win, while Kaz Fukumori pitched 2.1 perfect innings of relief, striking out 2, and Frank Francisco picked up his 4th save, striking out both batters he faced.
Tomorrow, Jason Jennings takes on BoSox left-hander Jon Lester at Fenway. Jennings, of course, is 0-3 with a 8.79 ERA in his first three starts, and allowed a home run in all three, although Lester has had struggles of his own recently, allowing 8 runs in 9 2/3 innings in his last two starts, and has walked a total of 15 in 4 starts this season. Hopefully, Jennings will stop throwing belt-high 84 mph frisbees, keep the ball down, and prove me wrong, but I’m bracing for a wild one tonight.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Errors, Left on Base, Luis Mendoza, Salty watch
It’s hard to put into words exactly how bad the Rangers infield defense has been so far this season. Before the start of Saturday night’s game against the Blue Jays, the Rangers already lead the AL in errors and unearned runs, most of which sat on the shoulders of the infield (which has made 9 of the Rangers 13 total errors). And by the time the game came to a close, they’d added an E5 and 3 more unearned runs to their total, which turned out to be the difference in a 4-1 loss.
Luis Mendoza, making his first start of the season for the Rangers, started off a little shaky, walking the leadoff man and giving up an RBI double in the first inning to Aaron Hill (the first time this season an opponent has scored upon the Rangers in the first inning), but he managed to settle down and pitch as well as you can against Roy Halladay - save for the fact that the defense behind him fell apart with 2 out in the fourth.
With Matt Stairs at first, Greg Zaun hit a grounder over to third base that should have been the easy third out of the inning. Instead, Blalock froze, getting “caught between either a short hop, or catching it in the air.” The ball went right by Blalock into LF, and put runners on first and second, and things piled on from there. Joe Inglett then singled up the middle, to score Stairs from second, on a ball that arguably should have been knocked down by Michael Young, who seems to just continue losing range at shortstop every season. Next, Mendoza hit David Eckstein to load the bases, which braught up Aaron Hill, who had done the damage in the first. Hill hit a grounder deep in the hole, and Young was late in getting to the ball again, and it went off his glove for a 2-run single.
All those runs went as unearned, and it was all the Blue Jays would need, as Roy Halladay took a shutout into the 9th inning, which was only broken up by an RBI double by Marlon Byrd (who was 2-4 on the night, perhaps a sign he may finally be breaking out of his slump). All told, Halladay threw a 109-pitch, complete game 6-hitter, holding the Rangers, who continue to struggle with men on base, 0-8 with RISP on the day.
Even so, the Rangers pitching staff matched up with Halladay fairly well, as without those three unearned runs, it could have been a tie game after 9 – Luis Mendoza wasn’t all that efficent, giving up 8 hits and walking 3 on 92 pitches, getting pulled after 5 frames, but he kept the Blue Jays off the scoreboard for the most part. Josh Rupe followed with three brilliant innings of relief, holding the Jays in check while giving up 3 hits and a walk, strikeing out 2. That performance may have been on of the brighter highlights of the game for the Rangers – and it seems to have secured his spot in the bullpen for the time being (more on that later). Franklyn German also pitched a scoreless 9th, walking one.
It was still another dissapointing game however, which prompted Ron Washington to call a team meeting after the game to discuss the shoddy defense. A good idea to be sure, but some extra work with Blalock, and Kinsler (who have both committed 3 errors each) might be an even better one. As for Michael Young – there’s not much you can do about a guy who’s clearly just deteriorating range-wise (in a kind of Nomar Garciaparra-esque way). Hopefully the days of Elvis Andrus are not too far off for the Rangers – but if Young can’t seem to play the position, the Rangers could find themselves having to trade or move Young, and find a short-term fix at shortstop before the young phenom is ready.
In other news, Eddie Guardado was put on the 15-day DL to make room for Luis Mendoza Saturday. The move is retroactive to April 5th, but it will still leave the Rangers without a left-hander in the bullpen for the next week.
As for today’s roster move to bring up Scott Feldman for the start against AJ Burnett, the Rangers have now narrowed it down to either putting Jamey Wright on the DL (who has been having trouble with a strained oblique) or optioning Kazuo Fukumori to AAA. Apparently, with their brilliant outings in the last two games, Dustin Nippert and Josh Rupe seem to have played their way back into the Rangers good graces (for now at least) and since both of them have the capability to go multiple innings, I’m betting Wright will be sent to the DL.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia watch: Salty was 1-4 with a single Saturday for OKC. Not anything to write home about, but hey, how long did you think he was going to maintain the blistering pace of his last few games? Starter Elizardo Ramirez went 5 innings an earned the 5-4 win, as the Redhawks have now won 6 straight.
As I already mentioned, today it’s Feldman vs. Burnett – another pitching matchup that heavily favors the Blue Jays. The Jays have not swept a series in Arlington since 1985, but they are in just about the perfect position to do it this weekend. Hopefully Feldman will be a lot better than I think he’ll be, and the offense will wake up and start hitting with RISP – but I’m not exactly banking on it. Buckle up Ranger fans – it’s going to be quite the feat if we manage to avoid the broom here.
