Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, CJ Wilson, Kevin Millwood, Ron Washington
Author’s note: This piece was supposed to be out Thursday morning, but for some reason it didn’t publish correctly and the site sat un-updated through the entire off day, for which you have my apologies. I hope you don’t mind reading my now-redundant post for time being - later today or tonight I hope to dig into some of the trade rumors that have been flying around lately and give you some fresher thoughts.
Going into yesterday’s game, all that was missing from the Rangers post all-star break slump was a bullpen meltdown. After already getting shutout once and blown out twice, it almost seemed as if you could hear the distant scream of the incoming trifecta that hit the Rangers like a mortar round shortly after Ron Washington called CJ Wilson out of the bullpen in the 8th inning yesterday.
Up until that inning, the Rangers had been enjoying a pretty good day at the ballpark. After being down 3-1 early, they had rallied to chase White Sox rookie Clayton Richard after just 4 innings, scoring 5 runs off of him on 7 hits. The Rangers 1-2 hitters provided most of the punch, as Ian Kinsler broke out of his post-ASB slump by going 2-5 with a 2 run double in the second, while Michael Young homered and racked up 2 RBI in the first 4 innings. They also got 4.1 innings of superb one-hit relief from Josh Rupe and Warner Madrigal after Kevin Millwood left with a reaggravated groin in the second inning. Madrigal, despite giving up a solo homer to Carlos Quentin, was especially spectacular, throwing 23 of 34 pitches for strikes and K’ing 5 in his 2 innings of work. When the Rangers headed into the bottom of the 7th, the score was 8-4 and they seemed to have the game well in hand. That of course, was when the trouble started.
Ron Washington brought in Jamey Wright, whom he recently identified as his designated 7th inning man (despite the fact that he had given up a run in 3 of his last 4 appearances), but the electrician couldn’t duplicate the success of Rupe and Madrigal, giving up a run on 2 hits and a walk before escaping the inning. With it now a 3-run ballgame, Ron Washington went to normally reliable setup man Eddie Guardado.
Guardado didn’t seem to be himself however, allowing a leadoff double and an RBI single to the first two batters.After a popup, that was followed by another double and a walk, cutting the Texas lead to 8-7. That’s when Ron Washington brought in closer CJ Wilson in an attempt to get out of the jam – and that’s when Carlos Quentin jacked Wilson’s first pitch out to left-center for a three-run homer and a 10-8 White Sox lead. I can’t even begin to tell you how deflating that moment was. According to CJ himself, the pitch (a 94 MPH fastball right down broadway) was simply a meatball:
“It was a meatball,” Wilson said. “Call it a meatball. … We have a big series against Oakland. We have to regroup and get everybody focused and get set up for that.
“I don’t make excuses. It had nothing to do with warmups. Me throwing a meatball and he hits a home run, that has to do with me throwing a meatball and a guy hitting a home run.”
Well, at least CJ wasn’t afraid to admit his mistakes this time – but personally, I have to say I’m more irritated and puzzled at why Ron didn’t bring in Frankie Francisco to get out of that inning than I am mad at CJ for making that pitch. The opposition is hitting a miniscule .129/.270/.226 (695 OPS) against Frankie with RISP and 2 out and as a result, he has bailed us out of many a jam this year, stranding 79% of baserunners. By contrast, the opposition is hitting .240 against CJ with 2 out and RISP - but with a .424 OBP and a .520 SLG% (a .944 OPS). Also, Frankie has held right-handers to a .222 average this year, almost 40 points lower than CJ (.260). It should be noted that Quentin does have a reverse split in that he’s only hitting .207 against lefties this year, but he’s still slugging .500 with an 836 OPS against them - and CJ has really struggled of late, opposing batters having lit him up to the tune of .321/.457/.536 (993 OPS) so far in July.
So regardless of that reverse split, I just don’t know why you’d bring your struggling closer into the middle of a jam when you’ve got your best “clutch” pitcher fully available on one days rest in the bullpen – yeah, from a fundamental standpoint your closer is supposed to be your best reliever and therefore capable of handling that situation, but nothing about CJ is fundamental. He’s been far from the most effective pitcher in the bullpen this year, and when you start exposing him in the wrong situation at the wrong time like that you’re just begging for matters to get worse.
As for Kevin Millwood, his next start on Monday is now “up in the air” after the recurrence of his groin issue in the second inning:
“It got sore to where I couldn’t push off and I couldn’t throw any strikes when that happened,” Millwood said. “I felt it at the beginning of the second inning.”
“It’s annoying; it’s frustrating,” Millwood said.”I just want to get it taken care of and be able to pitch without worrying about it.”
“It just seems like little things all over the place. I don’t know what to do or what to say … just try to get through it.”
If Millwood can’t make his next start, Scott Feldman will likely get the call in his place – and considering Millwood’s current 5.40 ERA and 1.735 WHIP, I’ve got to admit I don’t think I would mind that at all.
Quick hits: Gerald Laird is expected back on Saturday once he finishes his rehab assignment with AAA Oklahoma - he has played 3 of the 4 games so far and is 0-9 at the plate… Brandon McCarthy made his first rehab start with Oklahoma on Tuesday and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits and a walk in 3.2 innings, but hey – at least he pitching in real games again… Eric Hurley is on trackto make his start on Sunday against the A’s, saying his arm feels better after throwing off flat ground… Milton Bradley is listed as day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the 7th inning Wednesday… the Rangers have signed 5th round and 7th round draft picks Clark Murphy (OF) and Matt Thompson (RHP).
The Rangers head into Oakland now to take on the second-place A’s – we’re only a half-game out of behind them in the standings, so if we take 2 out of 3 we’ll also take second place in the standings. Not that it matters, mind you – both the A’s and us are 10 games behind the Angels, so moving into second shouldn’t delude the Rangers into making any rash trades to try and jump back into the race. First up is Vicente Padilla vs. Sean Gallagher – Vinny of course went 7 scoreless last time, so here’s hoping for a duplicate performance.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, David Murphy, Michael Young, Ron Washington, Warner Madrigal
Well, at least they didn’t lose to Sidney Ponson. That’s the bright spot I’m taking from the Rangers blowout loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday. What they did suffer however, was a bullpen implosion the likes of which is rarely ever seen, as Ron Washington’s ill-timed choice of debuting Warner Madrigal against the heart of the Yankees order turned a 7-6 comeback into an 18-7 embarrassment.
Looking for their first sweep of the season, the Rangers found themselves leading 7-6 in the 7th inning, thanks in part to the awesomeness of Chris Davis, who had made a diving stop at first base that saved 3 runs in the 5th, and then hammered a 2-run jack to dead center in the 6th to cap a 4 run rally.
The only problem was that the Rangers bullpen, which had been so brilliant in the first two games of the series, was suffering from overwork and an injury - Frankie Francisco, Josh Rupe and Eddie Guardado where all unavailable, leaving the struggling Joaquin Benoit, the rookie Warner Madrigal, and the AL leader in appearances, Jamey Wright as the only middle-relievers available. And with Joaquin Benoit spent after throwing 31 pitches (and only 14 strikes) over 1.1 innings, the choices for the bottom of the 7th inning where narrowed down to Wright and Madrigal.
With the heart of the Yankees order coming up in the 7th (Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi) you would have thought Washington would have gone to Jamey Wright, and either tried to get him through both the 7th and the 8th innings, or at least let Madrigal face the bottom of the Yankee order in the 8th. Nope. That would have made sense, and making sense is not something Ron Washington does. Instead, he brought in the rookie to make his Major League debut in a one run game in Yankee Stadium, against Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi. You had to feel sorry for Madrigal – he just wasn’t ready for the situation he was thrown into.
The inning started with Abreu blooping a double into left field that Brandon Boggs slid for, but came up short. Madrigal, who quite obviously could not find the location on his breaking ball last night, then walked A-Rod and went 3-2 on Giambi, who smashed a 2 run double to give the Yankees the lead back. From there, the 24 year-old just clearly lost whatever confidence and control he had left, and would wind up being charged with 6 runs as the Yankees went on to score 9 times in the inning. Jamey Wright, who came in to play mopup also got hit for 6 runs between the 7th and the 8th, as the Rangers endured their worst pitching meltdown since April 23rd against Detroit.
Just a really frustrating game - I realize Ron Washington was pinched regarding his bullpen last night, but that can’t possibly excuse him sending a rookie out against the heart of one of baseballs best orders in a one run game like that. You might as well have tossed him out of a plane without a parachute – I didn’t have a problem with the idea of bringing him into that game, but that was just the wrong spot to do it. When is Wash going to learn how to manage a bullpen?
In other news, Michael Young left last nights game after 3 innings with a mildy strained left groin muscle. Young seems to have had quite a few different strains and pains this year, and it looks like this is just another one of them at this point – no word yet on whether he’ll start today or not though.
Ron Washington decided to sit David Murphy yesterday, as he’s only hitting .143/.194/.232 in his last 17 games. It appears Ron might be coming around to the fact that Murphy is just no good against left-handed pitching (.222/.243/.343 against LHP this year):
“He might be a little fatigued right now, but he’ll catch his second wind,” Washington said. “He’ll still get some lefties, but if I think our best lineup is all right-handed hitters, then I’m going to go with right-handed hitters.”
That sounds like an important realization by Wash (although the sad part is, it’s taken him this long to arrive at this conclusion) because it should help boost both Murphy’s overall numbers, as well as the rest of the offense quite a bit if he’s not in there creating a vacume against those lefties. Don’t get me wrong, I like Murphy a lot, but his future kind of looks more like a platoon player/4th OF again now that his early-season hot streak is over.
Quick hits: Chris Davis and Nelson Cruz have been named co-minor league players of the month for June, Derek Holland won minor league pitcher of the month… Ian Kinsler and Josh Rupewhere the Rangers player/pitcher of the month, respectively… Chris Shelton has cleared waivers and been assigned to AAA Oklahoma – he has 3 days to accept the assignment or opt for free agency… according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox sports.com, the Rangers are getting inquiries on Vicente Padilla from the “Mets, Yankees and Brewers, among other clubs”. Sounds like trade talk here in Texas could be starting to pick up.
The Rangers have Thursday off before the head into Baltimore for a 3 game set – Vicente Padilla will take on Jeremy Guthrie in a July 4th matchup – the perfect time for Padilla to do a little trade value pumping.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: Eddie Guardado, Ian Kinsler, Ron Washington, Scott Feldman, Tom Hicks
After hovering around .500 for the better part of a month, it looks like the Rangers may have finally hit that hot streak they’ve been waiting for – the one that would push them over the .500 mark, and maybe keep them there for awhile. Since Eric Hurley secured his first Major League win on Sunday, the Rangers have blown into Yankee stadium, taking the first two of three games behind some exceptional pitching from their starters and bullpen to go. Last night it was Kevin Millwood turning in the strong mound performance while Ian Kinsler beat them on the basepaths, as the Rangers rose to three games over .500 with a 3-2 victory.
Once again, just as in the previous two games, it would be the Rangers young players that played a big part in the victory - first and foremost of which would be Ian Kinsler. Kinsler- who is hitting .552 with a 1.537 OPS in his last 7 games - went 2-3 with 2 walks last night, and also stole a season high 3 bases as he eventually wound up scoring the winning run. His season line is now .324/.380/.536, and his 42.1 VORP now leads all American League position players (Milton Bradley is second at 38.5).
As much as Kinsler got on base (and got into scoring position) though, he only scored that one all-important run – the Ranger offense didn’t exactly take full advantage of their 9 hits and 7 walks, stranding 12 men overall, and leaving 6 of them in scoring positon. The only runs they scored in the first 8 innings came in the second on back-to-back RBI singles by Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia that gave them the early lead.
Kevin Millwood rebounded nicely from his disastrous start in Houston a week ago by allowing just 1 run in 5 innings, while striking out 6 – and his outing was cut short thanks to a bruised shin he sustained in the second inning on a Robinson Cano comebacker.
“It’s frustrating,” Millwood said. “I felt like I was actually pitching. I felt like I had good stuff. My leg just got stiff and sore. I didn’t feel I could give us a real good chance, so I let them know it was bothering me.”
Josh Rupe came on for the 6th inning, and proceeded to give up the tying run on 3 consecutive 2-out singles – but he settled down to pitch a scoreless 7th, and Frank Francisco tossed a shutdown 8th.
With the game tied 2-2 going into the top of the 9thinning, the Yankees went to closer Mariano Rivera, who sported a 0.74 ERA coming into the night. Facing Rivera was the top of the Rangers order starting with the red-hot Kinsler, who drew upon the memory of some previous at-bats against Rivera.
“In my mind, I know he remembered how he got me last year,” Kinsler said. “That’s part of what makes him so good. So, I think he figured I’d made an adjustment on his cutter, and he was going to come in with the sinker. I was looking in the right place when he threw it.”
Kinsler turned on Rivera’s third offering and blasted it into the LF corner for a leadoff double, with the 2, 3 and 4 hitters coming up next for the Rangers. But Kinsler wasn’t planning to sit out there and wait to be driven in, he wanted to make things happen. Having already stolen 2 bags in the game, Kinsler made up his mind to steal third when first base coach Gary Pettis informed him of Rivera’s slow (1.6 second) delivery to home plate.
“[1.6 seconds is] more than enough time for me to steal the base, and I didn’t want to lose this game,” Kinsler said. “So I was going.”
Kinsler went on Rivera’s 1-1 delivery to Michael Young, and the throw to third from Jorge Posada(who has been nursing a sore shoulder all season) was on the outside of the bag. Withnobody out, the Yankees had to bring their infield up to try and cut off the run, but instead it played right into the hands of Michael Young, who chopped one up the middle for the go-ahead single. The Rangers did proceed to put runners on first and third with one out, but Rivera retired David Murphy and Brandon Boggs to end the threat and leave CJWilson with a 1-run lead to protect in the bottom of the 9th.
Wilson, who has looked like a whole new pitcher his last two times out, started the bottom of the 9th by walking Wilson Betimit on 4 pitches. But he quickly bore down and fired 6 consective strikes to induce a double play ball from MelkyCabrera, and a Johnny Damon chopper to end the game.
At 3 games over .500 now, with another well-played baseball game in the books, things certainly seem to be looking up for the Texas Rangers and their young players – even Tom Hicks says he’s excited about the Rangers young players. But I’m also starting to wonder that if this sudden pre-trade deadline winning streak continues, might actually turn out to be a bad thing. Why? Because Hicks also offered this fairly disturbing quote about the Rangers chances to contend this year:
“Who’s to say?” Hicks said. “[Manager] Ron Washington thinks so, and I’m not going to argue with Ron. It’s all about pitching. We’ve got to get good starting pitching and good bullpen pitching. We’ve had both, but we’ve got to make sure we have them at the same time.”
That is the absolute last thing we need, our overzealous owner deferring to our moron manager about our playoff chances and then possibly shifting this teams focus at the deadline this year from selling to buying.
That would be the classic cycle the Rangers organization has kept going though (especially since Hicks has taken over as owner): develop just enough of the young talent to start seeing some marginal success, and then go dealing half of it away to acquire one or two players to try make a premature push for the playoffs that we’re not ready for. No, we need to deal the guys like Vicente Padilla and Milton Bradley for some key pieces who can also be a part of the long term picture, and we need to let the various positional battles, such as the one at catcher sort itself out among the young talent we have there. We also need to let our premiere prospects in the lower levels of the minors, like Neftali Feliz and Michael Main continue to develop, and see where they are in a year or two. I think Jon Daniels at least understands that, and hopefully so does Nolan Ryan – but Hicks is the exact kind of owner who could get worked up about a 7 game winning streak or something right before the trade deadline here, and instruct his GM to make some more potentially disastrous shortsighted moves. But we’ll see what happens - I can only hope the Rangers keep their senses here at the deadline.
In other news, Eddie Guardado’s shoulder tweak isn’t serious, and he should be back by Friday in Baltimore. Also, Scott Feldman’s next start is being pushed back a day, just to make sure he’s handling the rigors of his first full season as a starting pitcher.
“We just want to give him a break,” pitching coach Mark Connor said. “He’s pitching more innings than he ever has in his career. We’ve talked about this off and on. He still gets two more starts before the All-Star break.”
Quick hits: Brandon McCarthy threw a 45 pitch bullpen session yesterday, and looks good – his next challenge will be to face live hitters again… Ron Washington says Frank Catalanotto will start at DH today, while Max Ramirez will start at catcher… Mike Hindman (who recently moved his excellent minor league ruminations over to the DMN Rangers blog) reports that Tommy Hunter, the Rangers 5th round pick from last years draft, has been promoted to AAA Oklahoma… Josh Hamilton will be awarded the Best Comeback Award at the 2008 ESPY’s.
Luis Mendoza will take on disgraced Ranger Sidney Ponson tonight in New York – for me, this is a must win game, because I do not want to lose to Ponson. Only problem is, Ponson tossed 6 scoreless in his Yankee debut, and the Rangers offense has scored just 5 runs in the first two games of the series… but we’ll see.
Last call: today, not yesterday is the last day of all-star voting. Yeah, I know it’s likely a futile cause, but go vote for Ian Kinsler some more anyway.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: all-star voting, Bad Umpires, CJ Wilson, Eddie Guardado, Frank Francisco, Ron Washington, Scott Feldman
Maybe the pitching staff is finally starting to shape up for the Rangers. Scott Feldman, the rotation’s hard-luck pitcher has watched more than one win slip away in the hands of the Texas bullpen this year. But that all changed, at least for one night at Yankee Stadium, as not only did the bullpen bail Feldman out of a jam, it also completely shut down the mighty Yankee offense over the last 3 innings, allowing the Rangers pull off a narrow 2-1 victory.
Engineering his best start since going 6 scoreless innings against Oakland on May 9th, Feldman battled around some early control problems (he walked 3 in the first two innings) to shut down the Yankees, allowing one run on 4 hits in 5.2 innings. The only run he allowed came when he hung a curveball to Alex Rodriguez in the 4th inning.
The Rangers offense meanwhile, had to deal with the “strike zone” home plate umpire Dan Iassogona was calling for Mike Mussina and the Yankees all night. Of course, it’s really nothing new or even surprising to see and umpire favoring the home team at Yankee Stadium – but Iassogona wasn’t calling a strike zone for the Yanks, he was calling a drop zone that you could have landed the entire 101st Airborne division inside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an umpire so blatantly favor one team, at least not in recent memory - we’ve had some umps put the screws to us a couple times this year, but this was by far and away the worst occasion so far.
Edit: I’d like to apologize for mistakenly referring to Dan Iassogona as Dan Lassogona in this post (I misread the name in the MLB boxscore). I’ll freely admit I’m not much of a grammatical/spelling whiz, but I do pride myself on at least getting the names of the people I write about correct. Not sure if anybody noticed this error, but I still wanted to clear things up just in case.
The Iassogona-aided Mussina would strike out 8 Rangers – 5 looking – but the Rangers made what hits they where able to get off of him count. Of the 5 hits Mussina surrendered, 3 where doubles – two of which lead directly to the 2 runs the Rangers put on the board. First Ian Kinsler knocked a 1-out double in the third, andwas subsequently singled home by Josh Hamilton to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Then, with David Murphy on second after a walk and a groundout in the fourth, Chris Davis smashed an RBI double up the alley in right-center. Those would be the only runs the Rangers got (they couldn’t cash in on a runner-at-third, 0 out situation in the 8th) but thanks to the Ranger pitchers those where the only runs they would need.
The Yankees did come close to tying the game with 2 out in the 6th – Jason Giambi smoked one out to the wall in right center, and turned it into his first triple since 2002 (no joke!) when Josh Hamilton couldn’t make a running shoestring grab, and saw it go off his glove instead. With the tying run 90 feet away, Ron Washington decided to go to Frankie Francisco, who seems to thrive in tight situations (his 6.8 percentage of inherited runners scored last year was the lowest in the Majors).
“When I get in those situations, I just turn it on,” Francisco said. “I like being in those situations. It lets me pitch to my strength, the fastball.”
Indeed it does, because Francisco came in and struck out Jorge Posada on six pitches, throwing him a high 96 MPH heater to finish him off. Then he proceeded to pitch the bottom of the 7th, retiring the side with 2 groundouts and another K. All total, Francisco threw 18 pitches over an inning and a third last night – 11 of them for strikes. Francisco has now allowed just one hit and zero runs in his last 6.1 innings, while striking out 8 and walking one. If he can keep this up, we may have ourselves a new 8th inning man.
We might need one too, because of what happened to Eddie Guardado last night – while making his final warmup pitches as he prepared to pitch the 8th inning, Eddie apparently felt a “twinge” in his shoulder:
“He felt a twinge in his shoulder and didn’t want to take any chances,” manager Ron Washington said. “He’s day-to-day, and we’ll see how it goes. We don’t think it’s too bad. He’s had this before. Sometimes it’s one day, sometimes it’s a couple of days. We’ll see tomorrow.”
For the sake of the bullpen, as well as any trade value Guardado might possess, lets hope this isn’t serious – his ERA+ of 128 currently leads all our regular relievers.
Jamey Wright – who actually has a 0.93 ERA in his last 10 appearances – pitched the 8th inning for the Rangers instead, and he retired the side in order, leaving it in the hands of CJ Wilson for the 9th inning. I don’t think anyone needs reminding of CJ’s struggles this year - suffice it to say that up until the last two days, he just has not looked like the 2007 version of CJ Wilson that posted a 3.03 season ERA. When he worked the 9th on Sunday however, he turned in his first 1-2-3 inning since June 2nd, while also striking out 2 – arguably the best inning of work he has turned in all season. He built on that last night, as he set down the heart of the Yankees order - A-Rod, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada – to pick up his 18th save of the season. Of course, two sterling outings does not make a recovery from his struggles – but for the first time this season, CJ appears like he might be headed toward the right path.
This victory puts the Rangers 2 games over .500 for the first time since 2006 – and it took them until they’re 6th attempt this year to win consecutive games after reaching the .500 mark. As I’m sure you already know, Eric Hurley bagged his first Major League win against the Phillies to help us along on Sunday (a belated big congrats to Hurley on that by the way – and my apologies for not making the time to properly blog it), in a game that Max Ramirez caught, and Chris Davis homered in - the young rookies have really played a huge part in this drive to 2 games over, and there’s nothing more exciting to see than the young players who have a chance to be part of this teams future out there contributing and growing. It’s a great time to be a Ranger fan.
Speaking of those young guys, TR Sullivan had a piece up yesterday about the way the Rangers have been doling out playing time to the youngsters… Ron of course, still thinks the Rangers can contend, and says he’s focused on putting his best lineup out there:
“I’ve got to put the best lineup out there,” Washington said. “We’re only 7 1/2 games out. We’ve still got a chance.”
That, right there, is one of my biggest gripes with Wash: even if we have a chance at somehow backing our way into the playoffs this year (which, realistically, we really don’t) it shouldn’t matter, because we should still be focused on putting the building blocks of a future dominant team together. He shouldn’t be worried about putting his “best” lineup together, he should be focused on getting the youngsters like Max Ramirez and Brandon Boggs their share of AB’s out of reserve roles, instead of handing them to the spares on the bench like Marlon Byrd and Frank Catalanotto. Hopefully, this is a problem that will be fixed at the trade deadline, if we can find takers for Byrd and Catalanotto – but the point is, I still don’t think Ron Washington is on the same page that this organization needs him to be on at this juncture.
Guess what today is, folks? It’s the last day second to last day of All-Star voting. Now, Josh Hamilton is safely second in the OF voting, as is Michael Young at SS – but according to the latest stats, Ian Kinsler(who has moved up to second in the entire American League in VORP recently) is still 183,686 votes behind Dustin Pedroia. One last day Ranger fans - you all can do it, you just need to get cracking. Here is the ballot, and if you’re out of e-mail addresses, you can use dodgit.com to create disposable e-mails - for example, just type in something like lonestarincalifornia@dodgit.com in the e-mail box on the ballot, and you’re good to go – and you can create as many variations as you need/want. So lets give it one last push, folks - Kinsler deserves to start that game waaay more than Pedroia does.
Quick hits: Dustin Nippert tossed a 7-inning no-hitter for Oklahoma Sunday… Kason Gabbard had an MRI today on his inflamed elbow, which revealed that there was no structural damage… Gabbard was given a cortisone shot to treat it… and Josh Hamilton is really excited to be playing in Yankee Stadium.
Today it’s Kevin Millwood vs. the Yankees top young pitcher Joba Chaimberlain. Unlike Mike Mussina, Joba isn’t going to need an overly-biased strike zone to hold the Rangers to 2 runs – considering Millwood got lit up his last start, this might be a pretty tough game. Joba has been known to be wild at times though, so if we can stay patient, maybe we’ll get to him.
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.
As everybody knows Ron Washington is probably my favorite punching bag on this blog. I have many reasons for this, the simple, all encompassing awnser being that intellectually speaking, I think Ron is among the worst managers in the Major Leagues (probably behind only Dusty Baker and Ozzie Guillen in the “lack of common sense” category). Well folks, I’m sorry to report that Sunday afternoon, Ron gave everyone a golden demonstration of a more specific reason of why I hate him so: horrible, horrible bullpen management, that when combined with a bullpen meltdown, resulted in one depressing 13-8 loss to the Oakland A’s.
Things got off to a good enough start on a sunny afternoon in Arlington, withMilton Bradley socking a 2-run homer off Greg Smith with2 out in the bottom of the first. From there, Smith and Scott Feldman held kept each other’s teams off the board until he 4th inning, when Feldman gave up and RBI groundout to Bobby Crosby. Travis Buck then homered to start the 5th for Oakland, and Feldman gave up 2 more runs on a hit, a walk, an RBI single and fielding error by David Murphy that lead to a sac fly.
That made it 4-2 A’s for a short while, but the Rangers rallied in the 6th, as Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley and David Murphy hit three straight RBI singles to regain the lead. Chad Gaudincame on to take over for Greg Smith, and promptly allowed a single to Gerald Laird, threw a wild pitch to plate another run, and got Frank Catalanotto to hit into an RBI fielder’s choice to give the Rangers a 7-4 lead by the time the inning ended.
After that was when the wheels came off.
Top of the 7th: decision time for Ron Washington. He can either leave in starter Scott Feldman, who is only at 85 pitches, and has been fairly effective so far. Normally, even Wash would have left Feldman in to at least start the inning, but for some reason, he decided to go to the bullpen a little early. We can mark this as bad decision #1.
Ron brought on the Electrican, Jamey Wright. Not a bad choice, Wright has been pretty good this year, and he pitched a scoreless inning last night. Only problem was, the Electrician had a short somewhere in his game, as he quickly loaded the bases on 2 hits and a walk, and then walked in a run to make it 7-5.
Okay, so: bases loaded, nobody out. Biggest situation of the game, pitching wise. Available in the bullpen you have the following: #1 Frank Francisco, who was excellent at stranding inherited runners last season, he’s on three days rest. #2 Joaquin Benoit, you’re 8th inning man who made just 7 pitches the previous night. #3 Robinson Tejeda, just got called up from AAA, has documented control problems, hasn’t thrown a pitch in the big leagues yet this year. So, who do you put in? Well, you answer that question in your head, and lets see what Ron does.
Ron comes out for Wright, and calls for… Robinson Tejeda!!! Yes, this makes perfect sense: the one guy in the bullpen who has not thrown a pitch yet in the bigs this year is on in the game-making-or-breaking situation. So what happened next? Well, from the Yahoo p-b-p:
- K. Suzuki walked, T. Buck scored, C. Gonzalez to third, D. Barton to second- J. Hannahan doubled to deep right, D. Barton and C. Gonzalez scored, K. Suzuki to third- B. Crosby singled to center, J. Hannahan and K. Suzuki scored
At this point, it’s 10-7 Oakland, and I am beating my head on my desk. Robinson Tejeda’s ERA is now infinity (no joke, it really is) and the entire offensive comeback we had made in the 6th is not only negated, but ground up and turned into coleslaw.
Now finally, AFTER the big meltdown is complete, Ron decides it’s time for Frankie Francisco. Unfortunatley for Frankie, he doesn’t have it either, and he serves up homers to Jack Cust and Mark Ellis to make it 13-7. By this time, I have transformed into the Incredible Hulk, and hurled my computer all the way to Hawaii, but I have since been informed that the inning did in fact end, after a total of 9 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks.
It is absoultey incomprehensible to me why Robinson Tejeda entered that game when he did. Incomprehensible. Anyone in that bullpen, even Josh Rupe would have probably been a better option than the wild fireballer just up from AAA. And now I point to all this and ask: is there really any further evidence needed to prove that Ron Washington is not a Major League manager? Come on JD and Nolan, wake up: the guy who should be managing this team is standing on the third base line. And the guy who is managing the team should be standing on the third base line.
Arrrgh. Sorry if all that seems like a rant (it really is of course, but I’m leaving it all in, because I think this is a good time to illustrate the teeth grinding frustration I feel over Ron Washington), but incompetence like this just really ticks me off. And I’m not really alone in my bewilderment over this, either: even Adam J. Morris is beginning to admit that Ron just might be in over his head as a manager after this one.
And now for the other news, condensed to quick hits due to time constraints: Hank Blalock is hoping that he might be able to return from his carpal tunnel surgery in 2 weeks… Vicente Padilla has left for Nicaragua to tend to a “family issue”, and will skip his scheduled start today, and possibly tomorrow’s rescheduled start as well… Josh Hamilton gavea testimonial about his life after yesterdays game… Shawn Shroyer has a piece up on Thomas Diamond, who wants to make it to the Majors by the end of this season. Says Diamond:
“I’d like to get there by the end of this year,” Diamond said. “It seems like a pretty lofty goal, but if I’m throwing good and I have low enough innings, I think they’ll give me a chance.”
I don’t think that’s really an unrealistic goal at all for Diamond, although it seems more likely to me that he’d debut as a reliever than as a starter if he indeed does make it up by September – Eric Hurley and Matt Harrison should also be up by then, and pitching in the rotation. And finally, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will catch again for the first time in four days after not seeing any action whatsoever this weekend against Oakland. Sigh. I hate this stupid catching platoon.
With Padilla absent, Doug Mathis goes against the young Cleveland lefty Aarron Laffey today. Doug pitched a gem his last time out against the Indians – he dueled CC Sabathia to a draw, giving up just one run over 6 innings. Still gonna be interesting to see how Mathis does today though, as two starts hasn’t really been enough to truly gauge him. Hopefully Ron Washington won’t make any more stupid decisions for awhile - I know it must seem like I enjoy bashing him, but the reality is, I really wish I didn’t have any reason to do so. Unfortunately though, I think the only time I’ll be able to stop bitching about him is when he gets fired. Let’s hope thats sooner than later.
PS – Almost forgot: on a lighter note, Micah was out at a Clinton Lumberking’s game recently, and came back with photos, and even a video of Rangers 2007 #1 draft pick Blake Beavan juggling. Trust me, the video is a must see, if for no other reason that you finally get to realize just how big Blake Beavan is.
Filed under: Ranger Wins | Tags: CJ Wilson, Josh Hamilton, Hank Blalock, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ron Washington, Doug Mathis, Bad Umpires
“Doug Mathis goes today against CC Sabathia – I hate to be negative, but all I really have to say is, it will be a small miracle if we win this game.”
As you may recall, that was my prediction regarding yesterday’s pitching matchup of the rookie Doug Mathis (who gave up 9 runs in his first major league start just last Tuesday) against the 2007 Cy Young award winner CC Sabathia. I don’t know that I’ve been this happy to be wrong in awhile.
In a way, I guess you could say winning this game was a small miracle for the Rangers, as they took an advantage of a Ben Francisco error in the 10th inning to scratch out a 2-1 win. But what wasn’t a miracle was the pitching of Doug Mathis – his 6-inning line of 1 run allowed on 108 pitches, 7 hits and 3 walks was just a combination of gutsy perseverance and ground balls.
Of course, the timely ground balls (of which Mathis induced 11) and 3 double plays turned by the Ranger defense where what really saved Doug, who only struck out one batter. But on a certain level, you’ve also got to give it up for how the 24-year old Mathis conducted himself on the mound, keeping his cool, and making his pitches – a stark contrast to the horrible command that beleaguered him in his first start. As Mathis himself put it:
“I was a lot more under control today,” Mathis said. “Even early in those jams, I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I slowed myself down and made quality pitches rather than being too anxious and rushing the ball.”
Granted, the early innings where far from a cakewalk for Mathis, as the Indians scored a run in the first on a Victor Martinez RBI single to put themselves up 1-0. They then loaded the bases with one out in the second after a leadoff walk, a single, a sacrifice and an intentional walk to Grady Sizemore. That brought Ben Francisco (who had 5 RBI and 6 runs scored in the series), but Mathis got him to hit a nubber back toward the mound that he barehanded and tossed home for the force out – after which he got Travis Hafner to fly out and end the frame.
After that, Mathis settled down, allowing just 3 hits and one walk the rest of the way, with the three aforementioned double play balls he induced squelching any possible Indian rallys. That proved to be enough to match up with CC Sabathia, who held Texas scoreless on just four hits throughout the first 5 innings. But in the 6th, Ian Kinsler teed off on a 1-0 fastball for a leadoff home run to tie the game at 1 apeice.
Coincidentally, that would be the last hit Sabathia would surrender, and the Rangers would not have another till the 9th inning. But thanks to some effective bullpen work by Frank Francisco and Jamey Wright, the Indians where held in check over the 7th, 8th and 9th innings as well, and the game went into extras still tied at one.
Masa Kobayashi, who had pitched a scoreless 9th for Cleveland, went back out for the 10th inning, and he quickly struck out Chris Shelton and got Marlon Byrd to ground out to start the frame. That brought up Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was 0-3 on the day. Salty, who crushed his first career grand slam on Friday, has only been hitting .216 since being called up and platooning with Gerald Laird, but he has shown tremendous patience at the plate despite his low average. His 14 walks in just 65 PA’s ties him for 9th among all major league catchers in that category, and have helped him maintain a healthy .385 OBP.
That patience and batting eye was about to come into play again, as Salty battled back from an 0-2 count to work a 10-pitch, 2-out walk from Kobayashi. After the game, Salty said he was trying to find a pitch to drive, and did not intend to get cheated up there:
“I was looking for a sinker that was up to drive because we needed somebody in scoring position,” Saltalamacchia said. “I fouled one off early, and then he kept going to sliders. I wasn’t going to strike out looking in that at-bat. If I was going to go down, it was going to be swinging. He either threw sliders that I fouled off or stuff that was out of the zone.”
With Saltalamacchia aboard, Ramon Vazquez, who had struck out as a pinch hitter in the 8th, came to the plate. Kobayashi fell behind in the count at 2-0, and then delivered a fastball which Ramon lined into RF. And then that happened. Indian’s RF Ben Francisco tried to go down on one knee as he played the ball on a hop, and it squirted between his legs and too the wall. Salty motored all the way home from first, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead, and Vazquez wound up at third on the error.
Ian Kinsler grounded out to end the inning, but the damage was done for Cleveland. CJ Wilson came out of the bullpen, and executed a shutdown inning, working around a 2 out walk of pinch hitter Ryan Garko to record his 10th save of the season. CJ even struck out 2 batters, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralata, which is extremely good to see for a guy who hasn’t missed many bats so far this season. He seems to have greatly improved in his last two outings, which is apparently due to spending some time with Mark Connor and Dom Chiti:
“I did have to make a mechanical adjustment,” Wilson said. “Like I was saying a couple of weeks ago, there was a solution and I was looking for it. The coaches helped me out, and it has worked out.”
There’s some good news if I’ve ever heard it – although I’m still not sure he’s going to be our long-term closer.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing in Cleveland yesterday though, at least not for Josh Hamilton, who got ejected from the game by an outright overreaction by home plate umpire Bill Hohn, who Joey Matschulat has some scathing words for over at Baseball Time in Arlington. Hohm tossed Hamilton when he made a slight wave of his hand toward the third base umpire Dale Scott after he was rung up on a check swing (which turned out to be bogus anyway, according to TV replays). Having the third base umpire ring you up on a bad call is bad enough, but getting tossed for waiving your hand in disgust is another matter entirely. After the extreme hometown bias Ranger pitcher had to deal with up in Minnesota this past week, I’m starting to wonder if perhaps there is an ongoing conspiracy among Major League umps to consistently put the screws to the Texas Rangers.
Of course, there’s a chance that could be taken care of if Ron Washington would be a little more vocal in his complaints, instead of rolling over like a pansy (which he did once again after Hamilton’s ejection, by the way). Like the old saying goes: the squeaky wheel gets the grease… I know I probably sound like a broken record when I say this, but perhaps Ron needs to squeak a little more.
From the “injury setbacks” files: Hank Blaock’s carpal tunnel syndrome is not getting any better. Apparently, the medication they’ve given him is not relieving the pain, and it has ruled out his activation during the Tampa Bay series:
“He’s still not any better,” manager Ron Washington said. “I don’t anticipate him being activated [against] Tampa Bay. He came in today, and there was not a whole lot of change. The medicine isn’t working as quickly as we expected.”
Sigh. I’m starting to wonder who will play more innings for the Rangers this year: Hank or Brandon McCarthy?
The Rangers now head for the most craptastic stadium in the Major Leagues (in my opinion, anyway), The Trop in St. Petersburgh, FLA, to take on the Rays. As a result, TR Sullivan has a nice piece out on Josh Hamilton’s first return to the place where it all started (it was Tampa Bay that origionally drafted him #1 overall back in 1999).
“I’ll get to see a lot of people who were instrumental in getting me back into the game, and I’m grateful to them,” Hamilton said Sunday before the Rangers’ game with the Indians. “I’ll see a lot of players who I played with in the Minor Leagues. It will be good to see them, too. I’m glad I played with them. But now I play for a different team and we’re going in there with the attitude that we need to win.”
Today, it’s Sidney Ponson vs. Scott Kazmir – this will be the third left-handed starter in a row the Rangers face, and the second lefty in three days who sports a sub-2.00 ERA coming into the game. In all likelihood, it’ll be yet another battle for the Ranger offense which has scored just three total runs off Cliff Lee and Sabathia the last two days.
One last item, sort of Ranger related: former Ranger Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres blasted a walkoff homer off former Ranger Edinson Volquez (of the Reds, of course) in the bottom of the 18th inning last night in PETCO park. Volquez, who had just started on Friday, had been brought into the game as the Reds had where running out of pitchers. Insanity.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Salty vs. Laird, CJ Wilson, Marlon Byrd, Michael Young, Hank Blalock, Bad Managing, Ron Washington, Elvis Andrus
Last night, Josh Hamilton made an amazing play at the wall in CF to save the game for the Rangers. Today, he committed one of a pair of defensive gaffes in the 7th inning that wound up costing the Rangers a 2-0 lead, as they would later fall in extra innings, 4-3.
Another tight pitchers duel was the mantra for the second time in 2 days in Arlington, as Carlos Silva and Scott Feldman went head to head in a battle of sinkerballs for the first 6 innings.
The Rangers got on the board first, scoring twice on 3 doubles (by Frank Catalanotto, Michael Young and David Murphy) in the bottom of the first off Silva, but that was all they where able to muster against the veteran right-hander, who proceeded to toss 5.1 more innings of scoreless ball. Meanwhile, the M’s chipped away with a Jose Lopez RBI double in the 4th off Feldman, and then took advantage of the poor defense in the 7th to take the lead.
Ramon Vazquez started the inning by throwing away a Jose Lopez grounder to third, putting Lopez on second with nobody out. The very next batter, Jeff Clement, hammered one into CF where Josh Hamilton misjudged the ball and started to charge in – only to realize that the line drive was over his head, and bounding to the wall. Clement’s liner was scored as a triple (the first of his career), although I’m sure Hamilton would tell you that he probably should have had a play on that ball.
Yuniesky Betancourt would double in Clement later in the inning to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead, and things continued to go downhill for Texas after that. They escaped the inning, and where presented witha huge opportunity when they loaded the bases withoneout after a David Murphy double and a pair of walks. The red-hot Ramon Vazquez (who is 15 for his last 34 – a .441 average over the last two weeks) was due up next, but the Mariners brought in lefty Aurthur Rhodes from the bullpen to face him. Apparently not wanting to go with a lefty-lefty matchup, even with the sizzling hot Vazquez, Ron Washington decided to pinch hit Marlon Byrd, who was just hours up from AAA, and had not seen ML pitching in nearly a month, in what was arguably the biggest spot in the game.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Byrd grounded into an inning-ending double play on a 3-1 pitch. Note to Ron Washington: just because you like a guy, and you want to get him into a game his first day back from the DL does not make him a good choice for a pinch hitter in a huge situation. In fact, it makes him an extraordinarily BAD choice for a pinch hitter. Seriously, if Ron really wanted a righty hitting in that situation (instead of the uber-hot Vazquez), he should have pinch-hit Gerald Laird, who historically mashes lefties, and has been on a gigantic hot streak lately (in some supreme irony, Laird would pinch-hit the very next inning for Frank Catalanotto, and tally a base knock).
The Rangers tied it in the 8th on a Josh Hamilton sac fly, but in the bottom of the 9th, Ron Washington’s “strategics” failed once again. After Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a leadoff walk, Ron decided to have Chris Shelton, who up until the last two days, had not had a sacrifice bunt in his entire Major League career, bunt again. Guess what the Mariners infield was looking for? First baseman Miguel Cairo charged the bunt, which wasn’t a very good one, and turned it into a double play.
Note to Ron Washington part II: sacrificing with the same player (who does not bunt that well, BTW), late in the game three days in a row is not a good idea. You might as well call the Mariners dugout and give them a heads up on what your next move is. Dumbass.
Throughout all of this offensive mismanagement, the Rangers bullpen (namely Doug Mathis, CJ Wilson, Jamey Wright and Eddie Guardado) managed to hold the M’s scoreless until the top of the 12th (despite another scary inning from Wilson), when Franklyn German allowed a leadoff single to Wladimir Balentien. The M’s sacrificed him to second, and then Ichiro Suzuki got him to third in a deep fly ball to center. With 2 out, Miguel Cairo then popped one up the middle, past Mr. no-range (Michael Young) to score Balentien from third. Starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn came on for the Mariners in the 12th (they had completely depleted their bullpen by this time) and worked around a 2-out walk of Gerald Laird to record the save, and spare the Mariners the sweep.
This may have been a close game, but I think it’s more than fair to say that this loss is squarely on the shoulders of Ron Washington and Josh Hamilton – without the gaffes made by those two, this is a game we should have won. Ham still seems to have trouble judging some fly balls at the Ballpark in Arlington, but there is no excuse for the micromanaging perpetuated by Washington late in the game. I know his intent was to try to spark a rally, but he went about it completely wrong. The man is quite obviously in love with both Marlon Byrd and the bunt, and both backfired on him bigtime today.
Sigh.
Moving on to the notes and more interesting stuff now: while the Byrdman of Arlington is back, he is going to be limited to the 4th OF/reserve role. His presence should allow Brandon Boggsand David Murphy to get a little more time off without sacrificing the OF defense, so as long as Ron doesn’t overdo the pinch-hitting bit with him, he should be a welcome addition to the bench. To make room on the roster, Travis Metcalf was sent to OKC, as expected.
Ron Washington wants to make it clear that CJ Wilson is still the closer right now, even though Eddie Guardadoclosedout Tuesday night’s game with 9 consecutive strikes, although Guardado has now moved ahead of Joaquin Benoit in the pecking order for save opportunities when CJ is not available. In any case, it’s still advisable to keep your Tums and your pepto-bismol handy when you’re watching close games in the late innings, folks.
Hank Blalock’s return from the DL appears imminent, as he cleared his final test on Wednesday, and was supposed to report to AA Frisco for a rehab game today. However, Hank was spotted in the dugout in Arlington during today’s contest, so it sounds like to me that his activation from the DL on Friday is all but decided. That probably means German Duran will be sent back down to OKC – considering Duran is only hitting .182/.260/.273, it’s probably best that he head back down and see some regular playing time again.
Now for something I mentioned in my last entry: Ken Rosenthal’s latest column has some notes on Michael Young, his declining range at short, and how Elvis Andrus fits into the equation. Rosenthal suggests that Elvis Andrus’s rise though the farm system could result in Young’s removal from shortstop as soon as next season, and includes a quote from an unnamed scout, who suggests that Andrus could come faster than currently expected:
“Nothing will intimidate him,” the scout says. “He has a great amount of confidence. He would approach it the same way at the big-league level as he would at Double A or Triple A.
“Of course, you’ll see better arms and better stuff in the big leagues. But he has always had good strike-zone command and good pitch recognition. It will serve him well, probably even better at the major-league level. The strike zone is tighter. And the pitchers, to some degree, are more predictable than they are at Double A.”
Probably true, but Andrus is currently only hitting .271/.329/.307 for AA Frisco, and still appears a little raw offensively. He only has 9 walks to 27 K’s, and just three extra-base hits in 140 AB’s - things that will all need to improve drastically before he can be considered Major-League ready, IMO. There’s still plenty of time for an offensive breakout, but at this point, I’m not sure that Andrus will ever get on base enough to be the spectacular leadoff/top of the order hitter that he is hyped as. However, with the defensive ability he displays at shortstop, and his overall athletic prowess, average offensive production and the ability to contribute in the bottom of the order should be enough to take him places in the majors. And if what that scout says is true, he does seem like a player that will only improve with experience.
As for Michael Young, I agree, he needs to be moved from short, and by the end of this season, although I’m not really a fan of some of Rosenthal’s suggestions – he says that the best options would be to move Young to third base, and deal or convert Hank Blalock to first, or move Ian Kinsler to LF, and Young back to second base.
The second of those proposals is outright preposterous, as it’s a huge waste of Kinsler’s ability to stick him in LF, not to mention the fact that his bat would no longer be that much of an asset there. I don’t see the Rangers converting Blalocktofirst either, not with Chris Davis lying in the minors. I suppose Michael could also be converted to LF, but given the fact that he has never professionally played OF, and his declining mobility, the only reasonable solution would appear to be dealing Young or Blalock and moving Young to 3B.
As I’ve stated in the past, I would much rather see at least part of Young’s massive contract disappearfromthe payroll, along with his defensive inability (which is going to come into play no matter where you move him) than Blalock’s bat, which at this point has a lot more miles left on it that Young’s – but the no-trade clause in MY’scontractmakes trading him a very complicated proposition. Perhaps we could get Michael to waive it once Andrus begins to pressure him for the job, however – I’m fairly sure that if we could trade him to a contender next year or in 2010, and get a fair amount of value back, it would be a win-win for both Michael and the Rangers. But that day seems a ways off – until then, I’ll just have to keep on cringing every time an opposing batter smacks ball Young’s way.
Finally, Anthony Andro of the FW Star-Telegram had a peice up on the catching situation yesterday, noting that neither Laird nor Saltalamacchia are happy with this infernal platoon. That makes three of us.
I found it interesting that Laird’s quote from the article is practically a request for a trade (of some kind, anyway):
“We both deserve to play somewhere every day,” said Laird, who beat out Saltalamacchia in spring training. “It’s definitely frustrating. I don’t like having to come in and look at the lineup to see if I’m playing. It’s working for the team, but it’s not an ideal situation.”
Laird has been on a hot streak of late, witha.290 average over his last 8 games, along with 4 XB hits – very good numbers for a guy like Gerald, so his trade value should be about maxed out right now. Now the Rangers just need to find themselves a trading partner. I wonder if the Washington Nationals (whose primary catcher, Paul Lo Duca is out till midseason) might be interested?
It’s an off-day tomorrow, as the Rangers gear up for the first three games of the “Lone Star Series” against the Astros on Friday. It’s scheduled to be Sidney Ponson vs. Shawn Chacon. If the Rangers can take the first two games, against the “Stro’s, as they have in their last two series, they will be back to that magic .500. Hard to believe, no?
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.
