Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Eddie Guardado, Eric Hurley, Gerald Laird, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Michael Young, Milton Bradley, Tommy Hunter, Vicente Padilla
Well, here it is on the eve (okay, early morning) of the trade deadline, and I’m finding myself apologizing again for not posting for several days in a row. A busy schedule, lack of sleep and just plain writers block have all found me unable to sit down and write at length this week (I haven’t even been to see the new X-files movie yet, that’s how busy I’ve been). There’s been plenty of happenings and trade rumors to write about lately though, meaning I’ve got some catching up to do – why don’t we dive in.
Last night’s 4-3 win over the Mariners was pretty nice, overall. Vicente Padilla drummed up whatever last minute trade value he could, with 7 strong innings – he gave up 10 hits, but held the Mariners to 3 runs and even escaped a monumental bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 7th (albeit with a little help from David Murphy, who threw out Willie Bloomquist at home plate that inning). While no Ranger had more than one hit on the night (they where out-hit 11 to 7) they managed to squeeze just enough out of the 7 they did have to make it count – Josh Hamilton and Brandon Boggs homered, and Michael Young drove in the winning run with a pinch-hit sac fly in the bottom of the 8th.
It was Young’s first pinch-hit appearance in 6 years, and it only came on account of his being out of the starting lineup with a broken finger. Young fractured his right ring finger diving back into first base on a pickoff throw in the first inning on Monday, and originally was supposed to be out 5-7 days – but in a tribute to his toughness, he was back in the starting lineup on Tuesday, going 0-5 with a walk. He was too sore to start last night however, leaving him available to pinch-hit and become the hero with a 1-0 fly ball to left-center that was just deep enough to score David Murphy from third – much reminiscent of his game-winning sac fly in the all-star game a couple weeks back.
CJ Wilson managed to nail down his first non-acidic save in recent memory in the 9th, retiring Kenji Johjima, Willie Bloomquist and Jose Vidro around an Ichiro infield single - much more like the type of outing he needs to have on a consistent basis. Before you go and get all encouraged that this was a big step forward for CJ though, remember who he was up against – with the exception of Ichiro (who reached base anyway) those where some pretty sorry hitters the M’s sent up there in the 9th.
The Rangers did get some bad news yesterday however, as it was announced that Eric Hurley will skip his next start - Hurley, who got lit up on Sunday his first start since his DL stint due to a strained hamstring (prolonged by a sore arm) apparently has biceps tendinitis, and will miss his next start on Friday. The Rangers plan on calling up Tommy Hunter from AAA Oklahoma to replace him and make his Major League debut. CJ Wilson had a case of biceps tendinitis in spring training this year that kept him sidelined for almost two weeks, but the Rangers seem to think that if Hurley’s arm “heals as anticipated” he’ll be able to make his next start and not require another trip to DL.
As for Hunter, he will become just the second player from the class of 2007 draft to make it to the Majors (the Washington Nationals Ross Deitwiler got a callup and pitched a single inning last September) after just 161 total minor league innings. Hunter, a 22-year old right-hander who is listed as 6′ 3″ 255 (although most personal accounts believe him to be heavier than that) throws an 89-94 MPH fastball along with a breaking ball that is supposedly his best pitch, and a changeup tossed in for good measure. None of his three pitches are really considered above-average, just solid - it’s probably due to this fact that he’s seen his strikeouts decline as he’s climbed the minor league ladder, which has in turn made his control an increasingly key part of his success.
Hunter started 2008 with high-A Bakersfield, where he logged 58 innings and went 5-4 with a 3.55 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and an excellent K/9 of 7.71. Promoted to AA Frisco in May, his numbers jumped to a 3.78 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP, as his K/9 was slashed to 4.82 and his BB/9 spiked from just 1.23 in Bakersfield to 2.92 in 52 innings. That’s a notable spike, but Hunter was quick to adjust, rediscovering his control after a promotion to AAA Oklahoma – he has put up a 1.08 BB/9 since the jump, and has subsiquently gone 2-2 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP in 33 innings despite his K/9 dropping slightly again to 4.59.
Hunter sounds to me like another Joe Blanton, only with better control - a guy who will probably give up his fair share of hits, but will also get enough outs with his stuff to be a solid starter. His swift rise through the system this year has so far concurred with what the Rangers projected him as - a quick-starting back of the rotation innings eater who might provide us with some stability in the 4th or 5th spot in the rotation by 2010 if not 2009. If he performs well, I could conceivably see him knocking Luis Mendoza (who is back to being horrible of late) or Scott Feldman (to limit his innings) to the bullpen for awhile, and sticking in the rotation until the Rangers decide to shut him down for the season – this should be a very interesting debut.
Now we turn our attention to the hotbutton subject of the day: the trade deadline. According to the latest from GM Jon Daniels, the Rangers (who have been featured prominently in rumors this past week, but have yet to even come close to making an actual deal) says the Rangers are looking for pitching, and will likely not be making a deal if they do not get any in return:
“It’s not a well-kept secret we place a priority on pitching, now and the future,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “It’s not the only singular factor or the only thing we’re looking for, but it is a priority going forward.”
“Things can change, but right now we’re prepared to go with the horses we came with,”
I really believe though, that it is necessary for the Rangers to trade either Gerald Laird or Jarrod Saltalamacchia – you cannot have Salty sitting on the bench for the second half and expect him to develop, and yet at the same time, Laird has performed well enough to start. I think Laird probably has just as much, if not more current value on the market than Salty (especially for teams looking for a more experienced catcher) and from a personal standpoint, I’d obviously rather see him dealt, seeing as how I consider him superfluous in the Rangers long-term plans – but at the same time, if the Rangers aren’t going to play Salty I would rather see him dealt to an organization that will.
According to ESPN on Monday, nearly eight teams have been looking at Laird and Salty – the Marlins and Reds have reportedly the most aggressive regarding Laird, but so far have not agreed to give up any pitching prospects for him. The Yankees traded for Pudge Rodriguez yesterday, putting them out of the discussion for now, but the Red Sox are currently interested in a catcher of the future, making them a possible destination for Salty.
Of the Rangers other valuable commodities, Hank Blalock is off the table, as he is on the DL again with a shoulder problem – something the Rangers tried to cover up initially, passing it off as a stomach illness on Monday when they thought it would be a one-day thing. But it wasn’t, and Blalock’s latest DL trip is rumored to have killed a deal involving him and the Twins for Boof Bonser. Which is probably good, because Boof Bonser is nothing more than a younger, fatter version of the pitcher Kevin Millwood currently is.
Milton Bradley was also out of the lineup last night with a strained left quad – the same thing that caused him to miss some extended time back in June. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup today, but this latest nick to Bradley’s health may have sapped some of his last-minute value here at the deadline – that is if the Rangers choose to deal him at all, and from the conservative approach Jon Daniels seems to say he wants to take, a deal involving Bradley or Vicente Padilla probably ins’t likely unless the Rangers get an offer they can’t refuse.
Eddie Guardado’s name has also come up in the rumors, including one about a week ago that had him being dealt to St. Lous for a pitcher Jess Todd. The Marlins have also reportedly had some interest, but so far nothing tangibly concrete has actually come up regarding Eddie – which is unfortunate in my opinion, because I don’t see us bringing him back (at age 38) in 2009.
Bottom line: it kind of sounds like Jon Daniels is planning on standing pat unless he finds a deal out there that blows him away. And in my opinion, that might be a mistake – we’ve got several guys having what will likely be career seasons right now, and even if we don’t get the next Mark Teixeira haul in return for one of them, they could still bring back a very solid and valuable bounty. I wish JD would go for broke on the rebuilding like Billy Beane has done in Oakland this year, but I’m preparing for a relatively quiet (and for me, consequently disappointing) deadline.
Tonight, Matt Harrison opposes former Ranger RA Dickey - if you’ll remember, he gave up many a homer in Texas trying to become Tim Wakefield. He appears to have finally figured out how to lob that knuckleball this year however, so this might be quite the experience for some of the Rangers young players (like Chris Davis) who I doubt have ever seen a knuckleballer. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to this game, because as I’ve mentioned before on here, I hate knuckleballers.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: 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: Uncategorized | Tags: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Milton Bradley
The results are in, and the aforementioned four have made it into the 2008 All-Star game. Hamilton will be our lone voted-in starter, but Milton Bradley has been chosento DH in the stead of an injured David Ortiz, so that’s actually two starters for us. As expected, Ian Kinsler got snubbed from getting the start by that little dwarf from Boston – Kinsler lost to him by 34,000 votes, which, in ASG voting terms, is pretty close. So at least we gave Boston a run for their money on that. Michael Young got in as well, as he and Kinsler are both on the bench.
Here are the All-Star rosters - I’ve got to run right now, but I’ll write some more on this later, I promise (really, I do). For now, I just wanted to convey a giant fistpump and a send congrats out to Josh, Milton, Ian and Mike – they all deserved to start, really.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: David Murphy, Joaquin Benoit, Matt Harrison, Milton Bradley, Vicente Padilla
Pretty nice bounceback this weekend for the Rangers against the Orioles. After getting blown out in the first game on the 4thof July, they came back and nabbed the next two for the series victory. Pretty sweet, and probably pretty important, considering they now must head back to Arlington for a 4 game set with the division leading Angels.
Saturday they came from behind to win 5-3, thanks in part to a 2-run homer by Ian Kinsler in the 6th inning that put them ahead just in time to get Scott Feldman his second consecutive win. Feldman did a pretty good job of battling his way to another quality start, despite dealing with a lack of command - he gave up 3 runs in the first, and walked 4 while striking out no one, but still kept the O’s off the scoreboard for the next 5 innings. The bullpen took it from there, with CJ Wilson striking out the side in the 9th for the save.
Yesterday’s game wasn’t quite the same cup of tea however – while the Rangers again came back from being down early, the Texas bullpen struggled to hold the lead late in the face of multiple Oriole rallies.
After taking a liner of his shin in his last start, Kevin Millwood wasn’t quite at the top of his game yesterday afternoon, allowing a run in each of the first 3 innings to give the O’s the early lead. But the Rangers battled back against Orioles starter Radhames Liz to tie the game at 3 in the 4th inning - whereupon with 2 out and a man on second came the turning point in the game.
The Orioles chose to walk Milton Bradley intentionally, and go after David Murphy instead – probably a wise strategic move, since Murphy came into the game hitting just .179 for his last 10 contests, and was 0-2 coming to the plate in the 4th. But what the Orioles didn’t know was that Murphy had als spent the weekend looking at tape of himself, trying to figure out what was wrong with his swing. And apparently he found it, because he was about to snap out of his slump with a bang. After talking a ball in the dirt, Murphy got a big juicy fastball out over the heart of the plate from Radhames Liz for the second pitch of the at bat, which quikcly wound up sailing over the high wall down the right field line for a 3-run homer. Murphy would proceed to collect two more hits, going 3-6 on the day and bumping his average up 5 points to .271 – looks like “The Murphinator” has finally returned.
The Orioles, however, just wouldn’t die yesterday. They scored 2 more in the 5th to make it a 6-5 game, and even after the Rangers seemingly blew it open with a 5-run 8th inning, mounted a comeback via longball. Nick Markakis blasted a 3-run homer off Josh Rupe in the 8th necessitating the use of Eddie Guardado to get out of the inning, and CJ Wilson to close it out in the bottom of the 9th. And even CJ, who had not allowed a hit his last 4 outings, got touched as Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora both jacked solo homers off of him, cutting the Ranger lead back down to one again. Fortunately, CJ struck out Brian Roberts to end it before things got any uglier, securing his 21st save of the season and sending the Rangers back to Arlington 3 games over .500.
While they may be 3 games above .500, the Rangers still aren’t coming home 100% intact, however. I think we’ve seen more minor injuries, strains and pains on this road trip than we have all season. In addition to the minor injuries Eddie Guardado, Kevin Millwood, Eric Hurley and Vicente Padilla all suffered last week, Milton Bradley came outof the game in the 6thinning yesterday with tendinitis in his left knee – which isn’t his surgically repaired one, fortunately, and the Rangers still expect him to be ok for tonight’s game against the Angels.
Also, both Michael Young and Jarrod Saltalamacchia both did not start yesterday as both are suffering from groin issues – Young was a precautionary late scratch on account of the Rangers not wanting him to play on a wet field, while Saltalamacchia was sitting one out after tweaking himself in the 6th inning on Saturday. Like Bradley, both are expected back tonight, but you get the feeling that the all-star break just can’t come soon enough for this team, which is looking increasingly battered every day right now.
Somebody who might not make his next stat however is Vicente Padilla – apparently, his neck still has him in question for his start on Wednesday against the Angels. He was supposed to throw a bullpen session Sunday, but that was pushed back – now he’ll throw today before the Rangers make their final decision, but if he can’t go, it’s been suggested that Matt Harrison will probably be the one called up to make his start, rather than giving it to someone like Dustin Nippert (who the Rangers did call up Saturday, but want to keep in the bullpen). Harrison’s schedule in Oklahoma would have him starting on Tuesday anyway, so he could either make Hurley’s start and give him an extra day off, or make Padilla’s start on an extra days rest – pretty much the perfect scenario, as he’s even on the 40 man roster already.
In other news, Joaquin Benoit was placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation Saturday to make room for Nippert on the 25 man roster. Benoit just has not looked right the entire season, as he sports a 5.60 ERA, a 1.726 WHIP, and has walked as many as he has struck out (28). He’s also allowed 5 home runs in just 35 innings, which is just one shy of the 6 he allowed in 82 innings last year.
“He couldn’t pitch [Friday] night and he’s pitched just one time in six days,” pitching coach Mark Connor said. “The shoulder is not responding, it’s just not coming around. We need to take the time, shut it down, get it right and salvage what we can for the second half.”
So Ranger fans: the Joaquin Benoit nightmare is over… hopefully for good, if they can get him right by the time he comes back.
Quick hits: The Rangers signed reliever Kiko Kalero to a minor league deal this weekend, and he has been assigned to AAA Oklahoma… AA Frisco starter Thomas Diamond was been placed on the DL with an ankle problem, and now TR Sullivan is reporting that he will be undergoing surgery to remove a bonespur from the ankle that will sideline him for 3 weeks… Michael Main, the second of the Rangers first round draft picks from 2007 has been promoted to low-A Clinton to take over Neftali Feliz’ vacated spot in the rotation.
The Rangers now headinto a 4 game series with the LAAAAA Angels, who have the beast road record in baseball this year at 27-15. If Padilla is unable to make his start, then the Rangers will likely have 4 rookie starters opposing the top 4 pitchers in a rotation that sports the best road ERA in baseball (3.16). First up it’s Luis Mendoza vs. ErvinSantana – Mendoza got lit up by the Yankees last time out, but only one run was earned due to a couple errors. Santana on the other hand, has a 8.10 career ERA at the Ballpark in Arlington, but he’s 903 this year, with a 3.28 ERA and 1.092 WHIP.
This is gonna be a tough series for the Rangers, as they’re gonna see some pitchers who are all either very good, or having very good seasons – this’ll be a big indicator of how good our offense really is. And hopefully it gives a pretty good account of itself - there’s nobody I hate losing to more than the Angels.
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 Wins | Tags: Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Max Ramirez, Milton Bradley
After the low-scoring 14-inning affair on Friday, the Rangers sure needed a game like this one. Unlike the way so many games have unfolded recently, Texas got everything they needed for a win, and then some - Kason Gabbard pitched well for the first 5 innings, Frankie Francisco bailed him out of a huge jam when he needed to, and the Ranger offense saw several guys snap some recent hitting slumps as they pummeled the Washington bullpen late for an impressive 13-3 victory.
Things started off on a high note last night, with Ian Kinsler nailing a leadoff homer out to left field on just the second pitcher from Nats rookie starter Garret Mock. Texas added two more in the first inning on a 2-run double by David Murphy, giving Kason Gabbard a nice cushion from the very start.
Gabbard, for his part, turned in his second solid start since being recalled from AAA Oklahoma last weekend, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 5.1 innings. The 2 walks where Gabbard’s fewest since May 13th when he only walked one batter in a start against Seattle, and his 5 strikeouts where a season high, as he picked up his second win of the year, and his first since April 4th.
Gabbard cruised through the first 3 innings, until he tweaked his ankle running out a run-scoring double play ball in the top of the fourth. Whether it had anything to do with the ankle or not, Gabbard allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth, and another in the 5thbefore he was pulled with runners on first and second and one out in the 6th. With the Rangers 4-3 lead in jeopardy, Frankie Francisco was brought in to get out of the inning – but the first thing he did was allow a single to Paul LoDuca to load the bases. With the drama climaxing, Frankie induced a pop fly to center from Wily Mo Pena. It wasn’t deep enough for the Nats to score the tying run though, because #1, Dimitri Young was the runner at third base, and #2 Josh Hamilton did a nice job of charging and catching the ball, and throwing a strike to home plate. That turned out to be the pivotal moment in the game, because after a 10-pitch battle with pinch-hitter Corey Casto, Frankie got him to line out to short to end what turned out to be the Nationals last chance at doing any damage, as the Rangers offense was about to blow things open.
With Garrett Mock (who had settled down after his rough first inning to pretty much keep the Rangers in check up till he was pinch hit for) out of the game, the Rangers where able to go to town on the Nats bullpen, as they batted around in the top of the 7th to plate 7 runs. Michael Young, who went 3-6 on the night to break out of his recent 2-38 slump, got it started with a 2-run single, and Josh Hamilton followed with his Major-League leading 75th RBI. David Murphy also rapped a 2-run single that inning, and Ramon Vazquez hammered a 2 run double as the Nats had to use three different pitchers just to get out of the inning.
It was pretty much over after that impressive outburst, as Luis Mendoza (called up just yesterday from AAA when Doug Mathis was placed on the DL) came in and pitched the last three innings to earn his first Major League save. He showed some pretty impressive stuff those last three innings too, flashing an absolutely filthy sinker and touching 95 MPH as he allowed just one hit and struck out 3. If he doesn’t find his way back into the starting rotation this season, I’ve got a feeling that Mendoza just might carve himself a niche in the bullpen if he can come in a mow people down in one turn through the lineup like that.
Most significant though where some of the slumps that got snapped by Rangers hitters last night – the most evident was of course Michael Young’s aforementioned effort, but also snapping a big cold streak was David Murphy, whose 2-5, 3 RBI night snapped a 2-27 stretch. Ramon Vazquez also snapped a slightly smaller 1-13 stretch by going 3-4 with 3 RBI, and even Josh Hamilton re-energized his bat, as he had been 0-for his last 10 with 3 strikeouts when the game started.
The only bad news was Milton Bradley was not in the lineup for the 4th straight game thanks to his strained quad, which is apparently still tender. He did pinch-hit again in the 7th, this time coming away with a base hit - but he was immediately pinch-run for by Chris Shelton, so apparently the leg’s not ready to run the bases yet. According to TR Sullivan’s tidbits, the Rangers still don’t think he’ll go on the DL, but they have now pushed back his return to Tuesday (which should be the same day that Hank Blalock comes off the DL, by the way). Sigh. I guess this is the argument against the idea of signing Milton to a contract extension.
In other important news, Ron Washington has answered the questions as to what the club will do with the catching situation now that Gerald Laird is sidelined – and as expected, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will now be the full-time catcher, while Max Ramirez (who is scheduled to make his Rangers debut today playing first base) will be the backup catcher while also seeing time at first and DH.
“[Salty will] get the bulk of the catching,” Washington said. “This is a great opportunity for him.”
Ron did say he wanted Salty to focus on working with the pitching staff and blocking, and suggested that the Rangers will live with the throwing as it improves. And it’s worth noting that last night, Salty pretty much did exactly that: he seemed to do an excellent job handling Gabbard, Francisco and Mendoza, and made a few pretty good stops on some breaking stuff in the dirt as well – so far so good.
Saltalamacchia meanwhile, has acknowledged the chance that he’s been handed and said he hopes that playing everyday will help him take his game to the next level.
“I hope being in there every single day will help me get in a rhythm and get into a rhythm working with the pitchers,” Saltalamacchia said. “I’ve been working on defense every day whether I play or not: calling pitches, throws to second, blocking balls, getting set, receiving, trying to stay in tune with all that so that I feel like I’m in there every day.
“I’ve got to take this as an opportunity, just like when I first got called up. Anytime you get into a game, you’ve got to seize the opportunity. I just need to play and help my team win.”
“Just because I’m the starter now doesn’t mean I’m going to be starting for the whole season,” Saltalamacchia said. “If I hit 1.000 while Gerald is out, I still think they are going to split our time when he comes back. What I can do right now is show them what I can do every day. I can show them I can be a better me.”
Lets hope he can do just that.
Quick hits: Hank Blalock started his rehab assignment in OKC last night, playing 5 innings at first base, and going 2-3 with 2 singles. Chris Davis also went 3-4 with a triple and an RBI in the game, and Matt Harrison pitched 8 strong innings to secure the win… the Rangers players and their families got to pay a visit to the White House yesterday, and meet with former Rangers owner President Bush.
Series finale in Washington today – Max Ramirez will be making his Major League debut, so that’s something to tune in for. The pitching matchup is Vicente Padilla against Nats lefty John Lannan – lets hope the offense doesn’t backslide against the lefty today. I’d really hate to lose a series to the Washington Nationals.
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: Bad Managing, Chris Davis, Hank Blalock, Joaquin Benoit, Milton Bradley, Ron Washington
Every once in awhile, you just have a game where you really get your ass kicked. This isn’t the first time it has happened to the Rangers this year (far from it) but there really isn’t much more to say about Friday night’s 7-1 loss to the Mets.
Scott Feldman got lit up for the first time this season, allowing 7 runs over 5+ innings of work, and the Ranger offense just could not solve Oliver Perez, who held them to just 3 hits in 7 innings and striking out 8. Two of those hits where by Josh Hamilton, who went 2-3 with a home run in the first, and the other was by Feldman himself – the rest off the offense though, got utterly owned.
Despite this, the Rangers did manage to bunch together a couple hits and a walk in the 6th to give them a shot at turning the game in their favor, but they failed to get the job done. Feldmanlead the inning off with his first career hit, after which Ian Kinslerand Michael Young each flew out. But Josh Hamilton kept the inning alive with a single, and Milton Bradley drew a walk to load the bases. That brought up #5 hitter David Murphy, who struck out on 3 pitches to end the inning.
After the game, Lone Star Ball’s Adam J. Morris pointed out the folly of Murphy even being in that situation. Murphy has scuffled badly against left-handers this year, and is now hitting .233/.255/.344 after going 0-3 with 2 K’s last night before he was removed in a double switch in the 6th. Despite those numbers though, Ron Washington keeps running him out there against left-handed pitching – and batting him 5th, no less.
It made no sense last night with Oliver Perez, a lefty who had allowed just 8 hits all year against lefties coming into the game (a line of .123/.284/.231) on the mound, and it has not really made any sense at any point this year when you’ve got Brandon Boggs, a switch hitter who has put up a .995 OPS against left-handers this year (and has killed lefties in the minors), and Marlon Byrd who has a .282 career average against lefties on the bench. When you look at this situation, and when you remember how Ron Washington threw Ben Broussard, a career platoon player with a .225 career average against LHP’sout there against both lefties and righties earlier this season, it really makes you wonder: does Ron not know what split stats mean? Or does he just not care? Either way, the man seems quite ignorant when it comes how he utilizes the players his roster, and this is another fine example of it.
But enough about that crappy game, we’ve got better things to discuss.
Something I mentioned in my last entry, but didn’t get the chance to revisit yesterday was the Milton Bradley/Royals announcer story. Since the story first broke, Bradley has come out with his side of things, and video has surfaced with what the KC announcers really said.
Despite what was claimed initially, Ryan Lefebvre and his partner Frank White did indeed have themselves a Milton Bradley “rip session” – starting when White questioned if ”with all the things [Josh Hamilton] does right, does he balance the scale with Milton Bradley on the ballclub”. Lefebvre agreed, and went on to say Hamilton would make a good role model for Bradley “who clearly has no control over himself”. Lefebvre also said that Bradley had refused to allow himself to be liked by fans or rooted for by fans, and White piled on by calling Bradley an “unpredictable teammate” and suggesting he makes it hard for players and coaches to work with him. There probably would have been more, too, had a base hit up the middle not halted their joint rant.
Bradley, for his part, caught the comments while he was in the clubhouse going over video of an AB. He said he became concerned because he new his mother was watching the game, and he felt he had to set the record straight. So after the game, he headed up to the KC broadcasters booth, but it wasn’t to cause a problem.
“He never met me, so, when the game was over, I wanted to introduce myself to him,” Bradley said. “Because it’s amazing when you actually meet somebody how different they become.”
I have to admit, at first I myself doubted Milton’s intentions due to his reputation. But after actually seeing the comments the KC announcers made, I’d say Bradley was 100% justified in what he did - and that the KC announcers seriously need to learn to keep themselves in check when it comes to personally degrading players. They should know better than that, if not only for the sake of common sense, but because they’re the ones with they Jose Guillen, and his reputation for HGH use and ego problems on their team.
In other news, Hank Blalock now has a timetable for his return – he expects to be back in action by next Friday against the Nationals. The incision on his hand from his Carpal Tunnel syndrome surgery has healed and he is now taking batting practice again – once he gets back, Ron Washington has said he’ll slide him right back into the #5 hole in the lineup. Which, should he hit David Murphy 6th, won’t be the most ideal lineup – that’ll give the Rangers 3 left-handed batters in their 3-4-5-6 combo, meaning opposing teams with a left-hander in their bullpen would have the perfect spot to use their LOOGY’s in. So hopefully, Ron will grow a brain and bat Murphy 7th instead when Hank gets back… but I wouldn’t count on it.
Now if you want a reminder as to why it was stupid to move Blalock to first base, here you go: Chris Davis is tearing AAA apart, and at the rate he’s going should be ready for a callup long before September. In fact, MLB.com’s Shawn Shroyer even suggests in that peice that Davis’ play of late might have the Rangers “rethinking” the move of Blalock to first. Interesting.
With Kason Gabbard due to be activated for tonight’s start, the Rangers are going to have to make a roster move today – the two obvious options are to send down Josh Rupe or drop Robinson Tejeda. Both pitched last night, Rupe going an inning and Tejeda going two – Rupe allowed 2 inherited runners to score, while Tejeda didn’t give up a hit and struck out 2.
There could be another option for getting Gabbard on the roster though: putting Joaquin Benoit on the DL. Apparently Benoit has complained of shoulder pain of late, and said he was “not ready to pitch in a Major League game” before yesterday. Obviously, this would explain his recent ineffectiveness, but apparently this is also the same shoulder soreness that has plagued him since he came to spring training not having thrown in three months this year. Which is kinda concerning to me, at least – I mean this is June, I’d think his arm should be back in shape by now - hopefully we won’t be finding out there’s a deeper problem there anytime soon. Whether he goes on the DL or not, it’s been quite a fall from glory this year for the Rangers 2007 pitcher of the year – I guess he’s paying the price for not taking care of his arm this winter.
Kason Gabbard vs. Pedro Martinez tonight. Pedro’s coming off the DL (where he has spent most of his time since the Mets signed him) and Gabbard’s coming back up from AAA, so this game will likely either be very well pitched, or be a slugfest. According to Mark Connor, Gabbard was able to regain his fastball command in Oklahoma – I sure hope that’s true as he’s gonna need it tonight.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: David Murphy, Eddie Guardado, Eric Hurley, Joaquin Benoit, Milton Bradley
All of a sudden, the Texas Rangers are the comeback kids. Make it two nights in a row now that they’ve come back from a 5-1 deficit, and this time they did it in thunderous fashion, with a 7 run 7th inning, highlighted by David Murphy’s first career grand slam, stunning the Royals and sending the Rangers to an 11-5 victory.
Early on, it things almost looked the same as Tuesday night’s game: Kansas City pulled ahead early in the game, taking advantage of a somewhat erratic Vicente Padilla, who allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits, 3 walks and two HBP’s in his 6 innings of work. For the second game in a row, KC”s starter, this time right-hander Kyle Davies, held the Rangers to just one run for the first 6 innings, although the Rangers helped him out a bit by hitting into 3 double plays in the first 5 innings.
Davies, who now has allowed just one run in all three of his starts this season for Kansas City, left at 109 pitches after 6 innings. That was when the Royals decided to bring in rookie Jeff Fulchino, for just his third big league appearance, and second this season. That was the beginning of their undoing.
Ramon Vazquez hammered a leadoff triple to greet Fulchino, and then Royals shortstop Mike Aviles made a throwing error on Ian Kinsler’s ground ball, throwing it in the dirt where it skipped by Mark Teahen and into the photo well. That scored Vazquez and sent Kinsler to second. Fulchino walked Michael Young to make it first and second before he was finally lifted for lefty Jimmy Gobble to pitch to Josh Hamilton. Unfortunately for the Royals, Gobble didn’t have it, either.
Hamilton, who went 3-6 to break out of his recent slump, knocked an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-3, and Gobble then walked Milton Bradley to load the bases with nobody out for David Murphy. Gobble missed with the first two pitches, and then tried to throw a get-me-over 89 MPH fastball to the Murph, who turned on it and jacked it to right for his first career grand salami. 7-5 Rangers. Later, Murphy would reveal exactly how bad a mistake Gobble’s pitch was:
“I was fortunate enough to get into a 2-0 count,” Murphy said, “and bases loaded 2-0, I’m pretty much looking dead-red fastball. That’s what I got right where I wanted it.”
The Rangers picked up another run off Gobble before Yasuhiko Yabuta was brought in to finally get three outs. Jamey Wright and Eddie Guaradado pitches scoreless 7th and 8th innings to keep the score at 8-5, and the Rangers tacked on 3 more in the top of the 9th off Brett Tomko, including a second home run by David Murphy that gave him a career-high 5 RBI. Frank Francisco pitched a sharp bottom of the 9th, throwing 14 of his 18 pitches for strikes to polish off the Royals, and the Rangers pulled back above .500 a 34-33.
About the only downside of this win was that Michael Young’s hitting streak was snapped at 23 games, as he went 0-5 with a walk – other than that, the Rangers pounded out 16 hits all total, and four guys (Kinsler, Hamilton, Murphy and Byrd) all registered 3 hit games in another excellent display of resiliency.
After the game though, where some some strange near fireworks involving Milton Bradley. Bradley apparently took exception to something he had heard Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre say on the clubhouse TV during the game, and afterwards, decided to head up 4 flights of stairs to the broadcast booth to confront him. Ron Washington and Jon Daniels set off in pursuit, and escorted him back down to the clubhouse after a security guard stopped Milton from entering the booth.
It was an emotional Bradley that re-entered the clubhouse, as he nearly broke down, saying “all I want to do is play baseball, and make a better living for my kid. I love you guys. I’m strong, but I’m not that strong.” Afterwards, he stood at his locker with his head down, where an undetermined number of his teammates tried to console him – according to Richard Durrett of the DMN, it was “many” while Mark Dent’s of MLB.com story strangely differs, saying “most stayed away”.
What evidently had offended Bradley was some comments Lefebvre had made while contrasting Bradley and Josh Hamilton:
“From what I remember, we were complimenting Josh Hamilton and how he’s turned his life around and been accountable for his mistakes,” Lefebvre said. “Frank [White] and I were just having a conversation that it’s a shame it doesn’t appear Milton Bradley is doing the same in his life.”
….
“This wasn’t a Milton Bradley rip session,” Lefebvre said. “It was just based on the pictures we’ve seen of him in the series walking from the dugout all the way to right field. Dropping his bat. Making gestures to the fans in right field and above the dugout, taunting them. He’s the only person in baseball I know who does that kind of stuff.”
Lefebvre also insisted he had complimented Bradley as well, but suggested Milton had not heard that part in the clubhouse.
While nobody seems to know exactly what Lefebvre really said, whatever it was apparently made Bradley feel deeply insulted - of course, considering how emotional Milton can be, that’s usually not too hard to do. It does seem though that the KC announcers are not fans of the way Bradley has been carrying himself throughout the series so far, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they where indeed holding a miniature rag session on Milton, who can be a popular target (although the reason for that is because of incidents just such as this).
I don’t know what to personally make of this incident one way or another, but this is the risk you run by having Bradley on your team - it seems we’ve just had our first “Milton Bradley moment” of the season. Fortunately, this was stemmed before it had a chance to get out of hand, although we don’t know for sure that it would have - but even so, this won’t be something that will be forgotten by the media anytime soon.
In other news, Eddie Guardado has officially been promoted to the 8thinning role, with Joaquin Benoit moving back to the 6th-7th inning. According to Ron Washington, Benoit is “still catching up” after coming to spring training out of shape, and needs to work on his command, but believes he’ll return to form. Hopefully that’s the case, and we’ll see a whole different Joaquin in the second half this year - but I’ve wondered if perhaps maybe the 2007 Joaquin Benoit was a mirage, and we’re back to the old wildy inconsistent Benoit again. Such can be the tendencies of a relief pitcher from year-to-year.
Quick hits: Josh Hamilton says he’s found his swing after a 2-28 start to May, and said the problem was overthinking his swing mechanics: “I don’t know why I started doing that all of a sudden, but that’s the frustrating and challenging part of this game. You should think about your swing in practice, but not in a game”… Jarrod Saltalamacchia apparently did not start Wedensday’s game because of a sore wrist, but is scheduled to be back out there to catch Eric Hurley’s Major League debut today. The two have worked as a battery previously this season in AAA.
That’s right, today’s the big day - you can catch Eric Hurley’s Major League debut at 1:10 PM central time. Brian Bannister, who the Rangers have previously knocked around this year will oppose as Texas goes for the sweep. I’m half expecting Hurley to get knocked around, but we’ll see what happens.
