Month: May 2012

A Night to Forget

When I committed to doing this blog, the last thing I thought about was having to blog after seeing half our pitching staff disemboweled.  Letting the lowly Mariners hang 21 runs on us.  Especially on the heels of what had been our worst loss of the year the previous night.  How in the world could I even make sense of this?

The answer happened just a couple of hours later. In the Rangers next destination, Anaheim. The Angels dropped the final game of their three game set with the Yankees. What does that mean? It means tonight didn’t happen in the GB column. It keeps last night as the worst loss to date, if for no other reason than the Angels picked up a game to move within 5 1/2 of the Rangers. So that sets up the weekend series to be about as big as a series can be in late may. We will either be 2 1/2 up, 8 1/2 up, or somewhere in between.

Colby Lewis Vs. Jerome Williams

Yu Darvish Vs. C.J. Wilson

Matt Harrison Vs Undecided

Thank God for the day off. Our bullpen needs the rest. Not sure if we will make any moves but Tateyama actually had a line worse than Derek Holland. Wonder if he might be headed to Round Rock. I have no idea who they would call up. But as I said to start things off. Except for some bruised egos and a couple of tired arms, tonight didn’t really matter. Because that’s how baseball go.

That Sinking Feeling When….

When your team totally falls apart in one game. You can’t get a clutch hit. You can’t make the play you need to make in the field. Your bullpen walks too many. You can’t get that last out. You walk the leadoff guy. Worst of all, it’s against a team you KNOW you are better than. Then as I write this, the team that was in the cellar two weeks ago is in the process of moving to within 5 1/2 games with a huge series this weekend.  And they are doing it against a good team. On what should have been a night that was a bit festive, instead it was a disaster.

Yes I know the game goes in cycles. I get that. But we had a four game win streak that we blew up all by ourselves.

I knew the Angels wouldn’t stink all season. The same goes for Albert Pujols. But I didn’t expect them to close this fast and this soon. Who knows, maybe we were caught off-guard. I doubt that though. These guys seem to be all about the business at hand. Knowing that should make me feel better about tonight. But when every facet of your game (sans base running) is blown up like it was tonight, against a team you are so much better than, it’s more than disheartening.

When it came to the Angels today, I truly believe we got a win with Roy Oswalt. I have no idea how well he will do.  But I know I do not want the Angels to have him. After Jered Weaver went out with a back injury last night, I have nothing buzz wise to back this up, but I think that injury drove us to get this deal done.

Derek Holland on the mound tomorrow against Blake Beavan from beautiful Irving, TX. Beavan is, of course,  a former Ranger prospect.  Pitching close to home, he’ll have something to prove.  Let’s kick some butt, take the series and take that into Anaheim Friday night.

A Tale of Two Streaks

How would you like to win seven games in a row, including number 7, a walk-off win over the Yankees and still be 6 1/2 games out of first place? Yeah, that would be the Angels. Because the Rangers have a little streak of their own going on. It’s a modest four games, but included a solid 4-2 win over the Mariners tonight. The best news about that win was 8 solid innings from one Matt Harrison. But, as noted here earlier today, Harrison seems to won the Mariners. That matters little for someone who had lost their way a bit in their previous few starts.

Another encouraging sign tonight would be Mike Napoli going yard for the second day in a row. The best part of his 3-run shot in the 7th was it was clutch. It gave us the win. Bringing us full circle would be the fact that Mike Napoli also made a stellar play at the plate (the end of two ridiculous throws from Cruz and Kinsler) by blocking the plate from the speedy Brendon Ryan, who was trying to finish an inside-the-park home run. That would be the Mike Napoli deemed not a good enough catcher by Mike Scioscia of the Angels. For the record, Napoli said he is starting to feel good at the plate.

Tomorrow Scooter Feldman is back on the mound. The Mariners will run out a lefty, Jason Vargas.  Vargas has been good this season, but we put up four runs on him back in April. Feldman will be trying to make Roy Oswalt a non-issue.

Seattle Comes to Town

Some notes heading into the game tonight, courtesy of texasrangers.com.

We know when he’s healthy he’s dangerous, but did you know Adrian Beltre has 22 HR since Sept. 1, 2011, 2nd-most in the majors in that span behind only Hamilton (26)? The Rangers have the second best home record in the AL behind the Tampa Bay Rays….We are 4-3 against Seattle so far this season….they are coming off being swept in a four game series vs. the Angels. We beat them more than any other opponent last season (15-4). Om 2011 we were 11-2 against the Mariners in Arlington however and took 3 out of 4 in April this season. A stat that needs to get better: We are 7-5 vs. the AL West. 6-3 at home. We don’t want that to come back and bite us in the ass. Congrats to Nolan and crew for already having the second most sellouts in club history. We also have hit the million mark in attendance earlier than we ever have…Matt Harrison has won 7 in a row vs. the Mariners, tied for the 2nd longest streak in club history…Lifetime he is 7-1 with a 2.54 ERA….one last pitching note. Our starters have gone less than 6 innings in 7 out of the last 10 games and our ERA in the last 6 is 4.02. We still have the best team ERA in the AL and 4th best in all of baseball.

Josh is out tonight with an upper respiratory thing.  Here’s the lineup…

Gameday Lineups
Seattle                                       Texas
1. J. Jaso, DH                          I. Kinsler, 2B
2. C. Figgins, LF                     E. Andrus, SS
3. I. Suzuki, RF                      M. Young, DH
4. J. Montero, C                    A. Beltre, 3B
5. J. Smoak, 1B                      D. Murphy, LF
6. K. Seager, 2B                     N. Cruz, RF
7. A. Liddi, 3B                       M. Napoli, C
8. M. Saunders, CF              M. Moreland, 1B
9. B. Ryan, SS                        C. Gentry, CF

We’ve hit the ball the last 3 games. Let’s see if we can get a little better on the mound.

By the way, I have linked to this page before, but these game notes from the front office are one of the coolest things if you are a fan. They release them a couple of hours before the game starts and all members of the media can get a hard copy in the press box.

Rangers Play After Beating Jays

Yeah, they played a great game today. They play again tomorrow night against the Mariners. But this team is tight and it makes me smile. I know that through thick or thin, they are all in it together. Living in California it is impossible for me to attend games, much less events like this. I am grateful that MLB.com makes video available.

Is Elvis the King of Shortstops?

I have mentioned Elvis Andrus a few times here. There have been plenty more that I wanted to. He has just been incredible this season and with Jurickson Profar tearing it up in Frisco, I am excited and nervous to see what we end up doing.  Especially since our 23-year-old current shortstop is becoming superstar caliber.

Matt Mosley wrote a great piece about where Elvis started and how he got to where he is now.

Is Elvis the king of shortstops?.

The Education of Yu Darvish Continues

I think the Yu Darvish story will be the three act variety. Act One was his introduction. It included him being the unknown commodity as hitters faced him for the first time. We are beginning Act Two. He has faced to foes he has faced before. I think a lot of things are going on here. I honestly think he is thinking too much. Falling prey to that is his breaking pitch. But watching him on the mound today, you could see the wheels turning. So for the entirety of Act Two we will watch Yu figure it out. He hasn’t gotten to where he is by not being smart. In a sense he is going throw a slo-mo version of what got him in his very first start. He said his mind and body were not connected. Only Yu can determine the length of Act Two. I feel pretty certain that Act Three will be a good one.

Otherwise today, it appears whatever funk we were in at the plate is gone. Our situational hitting, after being horrible yesterday, worked pretty good today.  Michael Young put together a nice game today at the plate and in the field. It was as good for him, I’m sure, as it was for us to see. A lot of talk on message boards about dropping him in the lineup. We know from past experiences that Mike is fiercely proud. I honestly see him asking Wash to be dropped in the order before Wash would actually do it.

One other thing crossed my mind today.  I have been checking Twitter and various message boards. A lot of chatter second guessing Ron Washington. First, I might point out back-to-back AL titles. Secondly and most importantly, Wash has access to way more info than we have. He gets to talk to the players every day. We don’t. I know all about being an armchair QB, but you should always remember that. Wash is there. We are not.

Nice win and series sweep. The Angels remain hot and are now in second place. We have the Mariners who more than handled us in Seattle.  Matt Harrison faces Kevin Millwood and Millwood was very good against us. Better than Millwood is. The Angels swept the Mariners. Let’s do the same thing.

The Rangers Have a Song- Is it too Early?

In a lot of ways, I’m old school baseball. I learned the game in the 60’s. Sure I have adapted but there are plenty of things that just won’t change. Then on top of that are fan superstitions. The Sports Illustrated cover is bad news, like in football, the Madden football cover. I don’t like to say a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. All those baseball and softball games I played, I never stepped on a foul line. Mike Adams got together some of his music friends, INK, featuring rappers Illicit, Zica, and Pain and they put together a tune. I do like it. But it begs the question, will it jinx us?
 

Happiness is a Long Game with a Happy Ending

With every passing game and more than a few opportunities, it was just a matter of time before we had a walk-off win. Today was the day. It was made even more perfect because the Jays had just taken a lead in the top of the 13th. Love our guys. They never quit. Another remarkable stat that caught me off guard. I knew we had played .500 ball in the previous twenty games before this home stand started, come to find out, no back to back wins since May 10th and 11th.

It was moments like today I couldn’t be a GM. I would have summoned Josh Hamilton to the carpeted office to sign his extension. OK, not really. But the moment wasn’t actually when the ball cleared the center field wall. It wasn’t when Josh touched home plate. It was Josh, after the mob scene broke up at home, taking time to celebrate separately with Alberto Gonzales. Our star. Jammin’ on it with a bench player. Nice.

Other notes from today….Note to Wash: The season is still relatively young. Why not take the suddenly red-hot Mitch Moreland for a spin against lefties?  Sitting him for the still ill and still slumping Mike Napoli was kind of a slap in the face. I know, you’re not platooning. But it sure looks like it….Question of the day: Can Colby seriously not make a start that doesn’t include giving up a homer? Hey home plate ump Marty Foster- you bouncing Henderson Alvarez was cool. Did you do it because there had been a touch of bad blood when we were up in Toronto? I LOVED our 7-8-9 hitters opening a can of whoop ass on the Blue Jay bullpen in the sixth inning. They might need a spotter when they come to Arlington…Mike Adams appears to be back and Joe Nathan appears to be pitching in 2009 again….Alexi Ogando is in a bit of a slump. He knows it and I’m not worried….Cool Fact of the Day- Robbie Ross was born when Jays infielder Omar Vizquel was a rookie…Yu Darvish on the bump tomorrow. You know he’ll be out to get back on track tomorrow and handled the Jays last time….Know how I know Wash is a good manager? Look at the pic.