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: AJ Murray, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Salty vs. Laird
First off, I just wanted to say I’m pretty strapped for time right now, so this will be an abbreviated entry for the time being… I will go back and fill in things when I get a chance sometime in the afternoon today. Now, to business:
Four straight wins. That’s what the Rangers now have after another nice win Saturday night in Oakland - and they also have a tie for third place in the AL West, at 13-18 with the Seattle Mariners, 5.5 games back of the division lead. I have to say, it’s nice to at least be peeping out of the cellar door once again, even if that 13-18 record is still tied for worst in the AL. If nothing else, at least the Rangers seem to have finally discovered some momentum, something that was sorely lacking in this team during the disastrous couple weeks between April 11th and 24th.
AJ Murray, making a spot start in the place of the injured Jason Jennings, just the third of his Major League career, pitched 5.1 quality innings, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 3. Although he got into a bit of trouble late in his outing, he still did an a pretty good job of making the early lead the Ranger offense handed him stand up.
That early lead came from the bat of David Murphy, who socked a three-run homer with 2 on and 2 out in the top of the first off Oakland starter Chad Gaudin, who has a history of struggles against the Rangers. Texas tacked on two more in the 5th on an RBI double by Michael Young, and an RBI single by Josh Hamilton, the American League leader in RBI’s, to make it 5-0 – but the A’s would make a rally.
Mike Sweeny hit a 2-run double off Murray in the bottom of the 5th, and Bobby Crosby singled in Emil Brown (who had reached on an error by Brandon Boggs) in the 6th, to cut the lead to 5-3, but the Rangers bullpen, which had a somewhat shaky April, swooped in and shut down the A’s for the rest of the ballagame. Frank Francisco came on to bail Murray out of the 6th, and did so by getting a dramatic strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out double play when he struck out pinch-hitter Jack Hannahan, and Jarrod Saltalamcchia gunned down Bobby Crosby by a country mile at second to end the inning.
Fransisco walked the first batter in the 7th, but retired the next three batters, and wound up being credited with 1.2 innings of scoreless work. Jamey Wright pitched a scoreless 8th, and that left the game to Joaquin Benoit, who took over the closers duties for the night since CJ Wilson was unavailable after pitching for three straight days previous.
First though, Chris Shelton would jack a solo home run to right-center in the top of the 9th to make it 6-3 Texas, and give Benoit, whose April struggles have been documented here previously, a bit of a cushion. As it turned out, Jack Benny didn’t need it, as he sent the A’s packing 1-2-3 for his first save of the season.
And now, due to time constraints, here’s some quick hits on what I’ll be covering more extensively later: Ian Kinsler was scratched from the lineup last night with a sore hamstring, but should be back in the lineup today…
Josh Hamilton was named AL player of the Month for April – huge achievement for Josh. He hit .330, with 6 HR, 10 2B’s, a Major League leading 32 RBI’s, and a .591 SLG%. Beastly.
Ron Washington has a new plan on how to divvy up the playing time between Salty and Superstar Laird: 2 days on, 2 days off for each one. I would be a little happier if it was Salty for two days, then Laird for one, but…
Today, Scott Feldman takes on A’s rookie left-hander Greg Smith, as the Rangers go for the sweep in Oakland. Feldman, who is from the bay area, is excited to be making the start, but Smith has been absolutely phenomonal this year for the A’s so far – he’s 2-1 with a 3.73 ERA, and a .209 opponent average. Looks like the Rangers will have their work cut out for them.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Bad Managing, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rants, Ron Washington, Salty vs. Laird, Sidney Ponson
They did it again. The Rangers have managed to to mess with my head, and severely disappoint me- again. I know, I should be relatively immune to the disasters, errors, and gaffes of Texas Rangers “baseball” by now, but after Friday nights emotional win, I made the mistake of actually actually considering the possibility that maybe this team had turned over a new leaf, and getting emotionally involved. And when they staged an immediate comeback again in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead after falling behind early, I made another, far more gave mistake by becoming fairly certain they had turned over that new leaf, and feeling good about my team again.
But then I got splashed in the face with the baseball equivalent of a bucket of cold water, and I woke up from my short-lived fantasy.
Despite what I expected pre-game, Sidney Ponson was actually quite solid in his first start of the season. Working extremly quickly, he retired the first 6 batters he faced, before giving up back-to-back singles to start the third inning. Craig Monroe then hammered one to left-fielder Frank Catalanotto, who gave it his best effort, but saw the ball go off the tip of his glove for an RBI double to make it 1-0 Twins. The scoring on the play was a little fuzzy at first though, as it was scored as a double, then changed to an error, and finally changed back to a double – which according to Eric and Victor on KLRD, was the right call. after things finally got sorted out, Mike Lamb scored on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia passed ball to make it 2-0 Twins, but Ponson worked out of the inning with a strikeout and a lineout.
But the Rangers bounced back the very next half inning, as the third frame seems to have held some magic for the Rangers offense the last couple games. Ben Broussard lead off with a single, and then Ramon Vazquez perfectly executed on a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners. Next Ian Kinsler blooped a single to CF, but Broussard didn’t seem to be awake at third base, as he went back to tag up, and wound uo not scoring at all on the play. I don’t know what Matt Walbeck was telling him over at third, but Ben’s head has seemed in the clouds more often than not this season with his outright defensive blunders, and lousy at-bats - so who knows exactly what went on at third base on that play. Fortunately, it wouldn’t really matter in the long run.
Michael Young struck out next, but Josh Hamilton followed that with a 2-run double. Milton Bradley then struck out looking, but David Murphy, whose superhuman clutch abilites have been one of the highlights so far this weekend, cracked one back up the middle to score Kinsler and Hamilton, and give the Rangers the lead. Murphy would later drive in a run with a fielders choice in the 5th, to give Texas a 5-2 advantage – a 3 RBI night for the “Murphinator”.
But not long after that, in the top of the 6th, was when the balloon popped for Texas fans. Maybe “popped” isn’t a very good analogy. Imploded right in the collective faces of Ranger fans would be more like it. Yeah, I think that’s a little better.
The inning started with a Brendan Harris “double” that popped in and out of David Murphy’s glove in RF, a ball Murphy later said he should have had: ”[It was] very catchable. I’m not saying it’s an easy play, but I definitely should have had that.” Then Joe Mauer hit a comebacker to Sidney Ponson. Ponson lobbed the ball to third, right past poor Ramon Vazquez, who twisted his ankle trying to flag it down. This allowed Harris to score, and Mauer to wind up at second. Vazquez was left in the game, and he did play all 9 innings (props for the that, I suppose) but the immediate discomfort of the ankle may have contributed to him bobbling a Michael Cuddyer grounder, the innings second error, to put runners on the corners with one out.
Jason Kubel then grounded a ball to the right side, just beyond the grasp of Ian Kinsler to score Mauer, and that prompted a strange decision by Ron Washington. He came out and took the ball from Sidney Ponson, who was still getting the groundballs, and was still at a manageable 93 pitches. Jamey Wright was brought in from the bullpen, and proved to be an immediate downgrade. He walked Delmon Young (which is not an easy task) to load the bases, and then gave up the tying sac-fly to Mike Lamb, earning himself a blown save. He did escape the inning after that, but would give up a leadoff single to Brendan Harris in the 7th, which got him pulled, and evetually saddled him with the loss.
Eddie Guardado came on to face the lefties Mauer and Justin Morneau, but Mauer reached on the perfect bunt down the 3B line, and Morneau hit a broken-bat grounder back to the mound, which produced the same result as a sac bunt. Michael Cuddyer was then walked intentionally to set up the double play, and Guardado got Jason Kubel to pop up for out #2. Then Ron Washington made another bullpen mistake. He brought in the ever-unreliable Frankyln German to try and get Delmon Young, and right-handed batter. Which was fine, if not smart, from the percentage standpoint - but Franklyn German is the last guy you want in that spot, I don’t care if he can throw a 200 MPH fastball with his toes while standing on his head eating cheetos. He can’t hit the strike zone with it, both historically and recently.
German fell behind 2-0 on Delmon Young, and then served up a meaty get-me-over strike, which Young slammed into LF for a 2-run single. Mike Lamb tacked on another run for the Twins with an RBI single, as German allowed all three of the inherited baserunners to score before he finally did what he was called in to do: get one out.
The Rangers never recovered, as the Twins thumped Scott Feldman version 2.0 in the 7th for 4 runs, three coming via Michael Cuddyer longball, which made it 12-5, and offically buried the Rangers for the night. The Rangers did load the bases with nobody out against Twins rookie Bobby Korecky, who was making his Major League debut, but Ben Broussard swiftly killed any possible dreams of an impossible comeback by grounding into a double play, and Ramon Vazquez put the fans that where still in the ballpark out of their misery with a groundout to first, to end the disaster – er, I mean game, that is.
Perhaps the most laughable thing about this game was the fact that they actually had a fireworks display afterwords. Nothing like a good fireworks show to get you pumped after getting your ass kicked 12-6, right?
I know the Rangers put this stupid article up on their website during the game, I just don’t see how they can keep Ron Washington on as manager much longer. If they do, fans are liable to storm the dugout and haul Wash off to the ancient Mayan pyramids in South America to offer him as a sacrifice to the baseball gods. Please, Nolan, JD, Tom – just as a fan, I’m begging you guys – do something. Shake things up, make a change. Hey, it’s not like firing Wash could possibly make matters worse!!!
While I’m piling on the Rangers right now, I might as well add this: Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Gerald Laird are supposed to split time evenly behind the dish now. Excuse my french, but that’s bullshit. Another note to the Rangers: you called Salty up, you need to play him. He’s the future of this organization at catcher, Gerry Laird is the past. Capiche? As The Beast says in the Del Taco commercials: NO splitting NO sharing (and yes, I’m aware that’s a horrible analogy, but the point still applies). Salty needs to play full time, not catch two days, and then take two days off, as the Ron and the Rangers currently have it planned.
I really like what Gerald Laird had to say about his cut in playing time, though:
“Basically, I told them I’m an everyday player and I can be an impact player in this league,” Laird said. “I want to play every day, but I can’t control that. I just have to play hard and keep getting better.”
Ahhh, Gerry. No matter how bad things have gotten, at least we’ve still got our “Superstar” to entertain us. “Impact player”… good one buddy!
Other news: Kaz Fukumori was the one axed from the roster to make room for Sidney Ponson Saturday. I forgot to note this in a previous entry, but he’s the one who broke Adam Melhuse’s hand the other day in Detroit – on a warm-up toss. Ummm… can you say “control issues”?
There’s also news on Hank Blalock, whom the Rangers are holding off on putting on the DL for now. They’re hoping that if they hold him out this weekend, with the off-day on Monday he might be able to play on Tuesday. I really hope that will be the case… but at the same time I sort of doubt it. In any case, heal fast Hank, heal fast – we need ya man.
Welp, that’s about all I can think of for tonight. I apologize if this entry is a bit over the top, but I’m afraid I’m really ticked off right now at the way this team is being managed – and that’s not just a shot at Ron, I mean JD and Nolan, too. They need to wake up, and set a few things right. It’s already too late to salvage our season - not that we really expected to contend anyway. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – it’s time to clean house in Arlington. Hopefully, all that will take place on the off-day Monday – even if it is the day before Wash’s birthday. It does appear though, that Tom Hicks was almost as disgusted as me last night, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll get my wish.
Today, it’s Vicente Padilla vs. Livan Hernandez – I sure hope Vinny can bounce back from what the Tigers did to him the other day. Laird is supposed to start behind the plate unfortunately - I already told you how I feel about that. Hoepfully, his ”impact” upon the bottom of the order won’t be too negative, eh?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Adam Melhuse, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Salty vs. Laird, Salty watch
Stop the presses. Hold on to your socks, folks. This might be the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Jarrod Saltalamacchia may be on his way back to Arlington.
Adam Melhuse has come up with a bruised right hand after getting hit by a pitch in the dirt today in Detroit, and if it proves serious, it could mean Salty will be called up to replace him. He’ll be evaluated Friday, after having X-rays today.
It’s not set in stone yet, but JD terms it as a “Distinct possibility” and says “We’ll know more [Friday]“. So I can’t start the celebratory parade just yet, but I can start planning the route, it seems.
The article also notes that the Rangers are trying to decide between Scott Feldman (who did not start today after all) and Sidney Ponson to make Saturday’s start against the Twins, which tells me that if Salty is called up, it’ll be a permanent move, with Melhuse being dropped from the 40-man roster for Ponson.
Again, nothing here is set in stone, but this is the first peice of news regarding this team worth getting excited over in quite awhile – this could be the beginning of the huge changes I’ve been advocating. Time will tell, but for now, Ron Washington better damn well play Salty over Gerald Laird. Jarrod is no backup catcher.
In the meanwhile, cross your fingers, and hope Adam Melhuse has a broken hand. Yes, I know that sounds cruel, but if it gets me my Salt fix, it’ll be worth it – I’ll even be willing to pay for Melhuse’s medical bills.
PS: Oh, yeah, the Rangers lost again today to the Detroit Tigers, 8-2. Jason Jennings made the start as origionally scheduled, instead of Scott Feldman, and he got hammered. I’ll have more on the depressing stuff later.
Update, 8:04 PM: Commenter “525DP” (who is Jarrod’s father) is reporting that Salty will be leaving for Arlington in the morning over on Lone Star Ball. I’ll have the update once things become official.
Filed under: Ranger Losses | Tags: Eddie Guardado, First Major League hit, Gerald "Superstar" Laird, German Duran, Jason Jennings, Joaquin Benoit, Left on Base, Salty vs. Laird, Why I hate knuckleballers
You had to know it was going to be a tough series for the Rangers in Boston, taking on the defending World Series champs. But it’s always exceedingly frustrating to see your team blow a late lead, even if it is against the Red Sox.
That’s exactly what happened on Saturday night, as setup man Joaquin Benoit had his second consecutive rough outing to blow a 3-2 Ranger lead in the 8th inning.
Jason Jennings, who got rocked in his first three starts of the season, managed to battle to his first quality start of the season, despite possessing sub-par control against the loaded Boston lineup. Jennings threw 100 pitches over 6 innings of work, but only 57 went for strikes, and he was 9-9 in groundball/fly ball outs, but he managed to shut the Sox out for 5 innings after giving up 2 runs in the first.
According to TR Sullivan’s post game write up, Jennings relied on a cut fastball to keep the Sox from pulling the ball over to the green monster.
“It was good I finally gave us a quality start and give us an opportunity to win the game,” Jennings said. “From that aspect, I was pleased. But coming away with a loss is a little frustrating.
“I felt like I was able to get the ball down in the zone and hit my spots more consistently. But I have to build on it. One game is not going to get it. I have to repeat it.”
Even so, Jennings seemed to go deep into the count on almost every batter, and sure didn’t pitch with the efficiency of someone who was having his best start of the season so far. But perhaps last night, that worked to his advantage, as there’s no denying the results.
The Rangers lead 3-2 after scoring a single run in each of the first three frames. Josh Hamilton launched his fourth homer of the season, a green monster shot of lefty Jon Lester in the top of the first to get the scoring started. After the Red Sox answered in the bottom of the first, Adam Melhuse tied it up with an RBI single to plate David Murphy. German Duran, making his first ever start in LF, bagged his first career hit, a single to right center that put runners on the corners for Ian Kinsler, but Kinsler flew out to CF. That was the first of three consecutive innings the Rangers would leave a man standing on third base.
Jason Botts doubled in Josh Hamilton to give Texas the lead with one out in the top of the 3rd, but the Rangers would leave Hank Blalock stranded at third base when David Murphy and an Gerald Laird struck out to end the frame. They did it again in the 4th, when Michael Young’s 2 out single got Ian Kinsler to third, but Josh Hamilton grounded out to end that scoring chance for the Rangers as well. The inability to come through in those situations would later come back to haunt the Rangers, as their slim one-run lead would not hold up in the 8th inning.
After Jamey Wright got through a scoreless 7th, Joaquin Benoit came in for the 8th inning. Benoit, who struggled his last outing in Toronto, getting charged with three runs on a hit and three walks, started the inning by getting Jacoby Ellsbury to pop out. But then Dustin Pedroia doubled off the monster, and the rally was on for the Red Sox. David Ortiz was up next, prompting the Rangers to swing the infield around to the right, the standard defensive book against Big Papi. Ortiz smashed a ball right into the shift, to the right of Ian Kinsler, who was playing on the RF grass. Kinsler dove, and managed to get his glove on it, but could not stop the hot smash. It skipped into right field, and Pedroia motored home with the tying run. With Ortiz on first, Manny Ramirez was next, and the result was almost predictable. On an 0-1 count, Benoit threw a fastball at the knees, but Ramirez crushed it over the moster for the go-ahead 2-run homer, making it 5-3 Sox. Benoit retired the next two in order, but it was too little, too late.
After that, Jonathan Papelbon came on in the 9th to close the game out with a few 96 mph heaters, and the Sox comeback win was complete. To add to the deflating feeling at the end of this one, Milton Bradley even saw his 13 game hitting streak snapped, as he flew out to deep center in a lone at-bat as a pinch hitter for Gerald Laird, making the final out of the ballgame. Pretty lousy way to see a hitting streak like that come to an end.
There’s not too much you can say when your best setup guy gets clobbered by one of the best offenses in the game, but the real dissapointment of the night was the lack of offensive support. Including the aforementioned three consecutive innings in which the Rangers left a man at third, the Rangers left 13 men on base overall. Josh Hamilton and David Murphy left four men apeice, and Michael Young and Ian Kinsler three. But the biggest dissapointment of the night offensively was Gerald Laird.
In perhaps the joke of the season, Laird started the game at DH (for the first time in his career), and proceeded to go 0-4 with three strikeuts and 6 LOB, lowering his season average to .218. Never mind what horrible decision it is for a manager to have his offensively-challenged catcher DHing, but this, people, is why this offense needs Jarrod Saltalamacchia in it. Aside from striking out with a runner on second and one out in the 2nd inning, Gerald’s other three outs where all inning-enders, in the 3rd, the 5th, and perhaps most critically in the 8th, when he blew the Rangers last chance to score before Benoits meltdown, and struck out with runners on first and second. There’s no denying that this game might have been a lot different if you had had Salty up at the plate instead of Laird, but it’s not about just this one game. This is just a fine example of how bad Laird has been at the plate so far this year.
How bad has Laird been? Well, in 55 AB’s this year, he has 12 hits, which as I mentioned above, is a .218 average. That’s bad enough. But if you take out his mirage performance on April 6th against the Angels, when he went 4-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI, he has 8 hits in 50 AB’s, which is a .160 average, and only 2 RBI. In fact, out of all AL starting catchers, only Kenji Johjima of Seattle has a worse average (.212).
With numbers that bad, it really makes you wonder exactly how much longer the Rangers can let Saltalamacchia sit in AAA. Laird’s throwing may be an asset, but his overall defensive game, such as his wandering glove, and average range at the catchers position, is really nothing that can make up for an almost total lack of offensive value. According to Jon Daniels preseason plan, Laird was supposed to be building up his trade value by playing full-time, while Salty honed his defensive skills, at OKC. Well, thanks to his crappy play, Laird’s trade value is going in the wrong direction right now, as he’s picked up right where he left off offensively last season. And Salty is tearing it up in AAA, impressing those who actually watch him play every day.
So how long is it gonna be before Daniels wakes up, and realizes this little love affair with Gerald Laird is getting the Rangers nowhere? When you’re rebuilding, the idea is supposed to be remaining ready to play your young, promising players when they are ready - and Salty looks to be Major-League ready, both offensively, and now defensively. I don’t think it can be denied much longer: Gerald Laird’s time as the Rangers starting catcher is coming to a close. The only question before the Rangers is whether to drag it out, and subject us to more craptastic displays of offensive inability, or get started with the future. What’s it gonna be, JD?
In other Ranger notes, Eddie Guardado is not coming off the DL on Sunday, as I reported yesterday, after all. Guardado says his sore shoulder is still “weak” and he doesn’t want to rush himself back into action. He” throw a bullpen session on Monday, and the Rangers will go from there. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer till Guadardo is back - right now, with the way Joaquin Benoit has performed his last two times out, it certainly would be nice to have that extra late-inning option in the bullpen.
Tomorrow, Kevin Millwood goes for the Rangers against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. I’m dreading this game, because I really hate it whenever I have to watch/listen to a game in which Wakefield is on the mound – wild pitches, passed balls, 3-2 counts – watching him pitch always seems to be a real drag. He makes a 2 1/2 hour game seem like a 4 1/2 hour game even more efficently than anyone else in baseball. Hopefully the Rangers can square up a few of those knuckleballs, and at least provide us with some moonshot home runs for entertainment, eh? We’ll see.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Favorite players, Miranda Lambert is the hottest woman alive, Salty vs. Laird
Welcome to the new home of A lonestar in California. I’m moving here from my old site on MLBlogs, because I’ve been having problems accessing and using the new MLBlogs “movable type” format, and I’ve had enough already.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jon, and I’m a diehard Texas Rangers fan living in Southern California. Here I will post my rants, opinions, and observations on the 2008 Texas Rangers squad, as they meander their way through the schedule.
A few things you should know about me:
- I think Gerald Laird sucks. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is the future of the Rangers at catcher, and he should be playing there right now, not the 28 year-old guy with a 616 career OPS against right-handed pitching.
- Favorite players are Josh Hamilton, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Hank Blalock, in that order.
- I think Ron Washington may be the worst manager in the history of the ballclub.
Non baseball related stuff:
I listen to country music, with a little rock mixed in… favorite move is “Independence Day” with Will Smith… I think Miranda Lambert is the hottest woman alive (and the best female singer in country music) - period.
Tomorrow, or perhaps later tonight, I’ll make my first real post, and we can get into the swing of the Texas Rangers baseball season. I’ll also be building up the new site here, and adding more cool links and stuff as I go along, so keep an eye out for that.
In the meantime, I’m off to catch the Rangers vs. the Seattle Mariners game tonight. It’s our own Vicente Padilla taking on young Felix Hernandez… go Rangers!
