Four and Counting

Actually today’s game could have been a bigger win. There was a base running debacle in the third inning. The story goes something like this: Josh Hamilton should have gotten to second on a missed cut-off man. Then after that, on a blown double play chance, Dave Anderson supposedly stopped Josh from scoring. But I was watching when this unfolded. Everybody is saying we were screwed by our aggressiveness. Josh seemed absent again. Completely while he was on in the third. More symptoms of something else. I know he is taking a beating from fans right now and while we don’t all agree on the extent of the problem and with some crackpot fans thrown into the mix, it can’t be lost on everyone that we all KNOW something ain’t right. Mike Olt had his first two major league RBI’s but had an error later in the game. Nothing hurt by that and just another part of Mike’s education at first base.

Scott Feldman has passed the fluke stage. He’s for real. Again. He battled. He never appeared to lose his composure even though he got into a couple of jams. He had his first walk in 24 innings today. I know there is a little extra pressure on him, as this appears to be an ongoing audition. Mike Adams got a key strikeout in the eighth. That was huge on a different level because Adams has been struggling of late. It wasn’t a chap K either. That was one of KC’s best hitters. Then Alexi Ogando came on for his second save chance and two days and except for a weak lead-off single, it was lights out.

I watched the last five innings of the Angels-White Sox game and Kevin Youklis is also a pain in the Angels ass. That was nice when he hit the two-run bomb to tie the game, but ultimately the White Sox couldn’t finish the job. The A’s played their second extra inning game in a row and came up on the short end of a 3-1 game and fell to 5.5 games back of the Rangers. They have closer problems right now. I was hoping the Angels had suffered the same fate but Fierri got it done for the Angels.

Tomorrow it’s Holland Vs Hochevar as we look for the sweep and fifth straight win before heading into Boston. No off-day in between but we will get one on Thursday before opening a weird three-game home stand against the Tigers.

Rangers Business-like in 5-3 Win Over Royals

It wasn’t pretty but it wasn’t ugly either. Matt Harrison had a hard time finding his spots in innings one through three but was fine after that, even being a bit miffed at being pulled in the seventh with two outs. He had three walks. Again. But, it does appear he figured some things out. In baseball you don’t have to figure things out until you are struggling it appears. He still picked up his 13th win and is tied for tops in the AL. The most encouraging part of his game was getting the double play ball. Last season he lived by those. Not so much this year. Last night he had two. Wash maybe had a bit of a quicker hook because Mitch Moreland hit on into the right center fountains with two aboard to give us a then 5-2 lead. Nothing spectacular but it was our first three-game win streak since early July. Something to keep our eyes on? Alexi Ogando, who closed in the resting Joe Nathan’s place. Joe has been a little inconsistent and with him being rested after prolonged outings (by his own hand), had the night off. Snoop, who I guess doesn’t normally get to do this, threw with wild-abandon. Except he wasn’t that wild. What he was, was powerful. Nipping 100 m.p.h. on the radar he disposed of the Royals in short order in the ninth for the save.

The Angels, in the meantime, played last night’s game against the White Sox under protest. I am guessing they are waiting on AL Veep Joe Torre to rule. Otherwise, newly acquired Zack Greinke got knocked around pretty good. The Angels lost on Alex Rios second homer of the night. A walk-off job in the 10th. Curious as to way their closer didn’t see action after not getting into the game Thursday night. The winning home came off of David Carpenter who we had success off of Thursday night. Oh woe to be in the Angels bullpen right now. The loss dropped the Angels six games behind the Rangers. The A’s won a 13 inning affair with the Blue Jays. The Athletics stay 4.5 games back and while the prognosticators all say not to worry about them, I am bothered to say the least.

Other notes on last night’s Rangers-Royals tilt…Adrian Beltre hasn’t had an RBI in eleven games. I wonder if his trip to the three spot messed with his head…Josh Hamilton is having a different kind of year with all of the talk of his meltdown being about God punishing him for not quitting the dip….seemingly every day he does something to either lower his value or make us (and other teams) wonder about signing him next season… Is it just me or when you see the opposing starter is having a horrible year, they always handle us pretty well. Such was the case with last night’s Royal starter Jeremy Guthrie.

Scooter Feldman is on the bump today. If he continues getting out of his own head, he will have success. We need that. I wonder if today is the day we have a bit of a travel hangover. It always seems to be the day after travel that we have a hard time.

Did We Turn a Corner?

If we go into the post-season in a good place, you have to wonder if we look back on last night as the turning point. The Dallas Morning News Kevin Sherington, holding court in a chat room this week, said that the Rangers needed their swagger back and that they way to get it was to be more aggressive at the plate. He thinks (and I concur) that the Rangers were getting a couple of guys on and then waiting on a three-run homer. Last night was not like that. Every at-bat seemed to be about working the pitcher and getting on. In other words, fighting. Somewhere in the middle of the game last night the Rangers did just that. They took what the pitcher gave them. But they also continually worked themselves into favorable counts. Just like they did in April and May. It was only the second time in their history that the Rangers came back from a three-run deficit in extra innings to win a game. The other time? In 1975 against the Tigers. The man providing the winning hit was in the booth last night. Tom Grieve.

Elvis Andrus, who has been the most consistent hitter in this Rangers lineup, provided the winning hit. After getting a head in the count 3-0, he took two straight strikes and based on recent history, you could just see it not happening. But Elvis turned on a fastball and fired a shot down the third base line leaving no question that the tying and winning runs were coming home. But one of the other key hits of the night belonged to Nelson Cruz. He hit one of the longest homers I have seen at the Ballpark. It cleared the bullpen and landed on the walkway above. Like every other team, Ernesto Frieri seemingly owned the Rangers. It was so unfathomable to Mike Scioscia that he would fail, he sent Frieri back out for the 10th inning. Cruz took him deep. It shows that while Joe Nathan has been unreliable of late (including last night), maybe Angels GM Jerry DiPoto shouldn’t have stopped at Greinke. They’re bullpen has been one of the few things wrong with their team the last month and a half.

A couple of other notes from last night. I Tweeted that because Darvish is pretty strong in the first two innings, maybe we should consider moving him to the bullpen and putting Alexi Ogando in the rotation. I am pretty sure we are holding Ogando in the bullpen to possibly replace Scott Feldman, but maybe starter #5 could be Martin Perez. We have watched Darvish take nothing but steps backwards since June. Seemingly over-matched by MLB hitters. Josh Hamilton failed last night back in the #3 spot in the batting order. Maybe some more time in the five-spot would do the trick, but he looked like the struggling Josh as opposed to the getting back on track Josh from the previous two nights. The other thing of note is the call-up of Mike Olt. Everyone is guessing that he will take playing time from Michael Young. It’s a good guess.

Think We Can Split?

No I don’t mean bail. I mean split this series.  Here’s the box tonight. I would say it shouldn’t count because Weaver pitched, but we killed him in Arlington last time. And the numbers for Weaver aren’t his normal at the BPIA. Tonight was really like so many other games in July. Only problem being, we didn’t have as many guys to strand in scoring position. There are good signs here and bad signs. Ian Kinsler is in a slump. Look at the number of pitches he saw tonight.  As a leadoff hitter he should see way more than that and with his on base percentage he usually does. Not tonight. Elvis is in a slump, not even hitting .200 for the last week. But, Elvis is still up there battling. Beltre. Really? Nine pitches? Nellie is on the verge of busting out. We have seen it this week. So close. Josh got another hit tonight. Last night he was going the opposite way ON PURPOSE. He’s figuring some stuff out. Still could have worked it a little more, but no K’s. Where do you start with Michael Young? He had two hits tonight. A good sign. He saw 19 pitches at the plate, but that is still less than four per at bat. And he still hasn’t walked since 1985. Napoli got a walk. He’s shown some signs, but a lot of them have come against the Angels. He still has an axe to grind. Mitch appears to be pressing a bit. Making up for lost time and trying to get more playing time. And Murph is heating up again. I know it’s hard on platooned players who want to play everyday to not press. He’s been up and down all year, like normal, but it appears he is ready to make it happen. We didn’t get it done and lost 6-2.

All in all, we do look a little more confident at the plate.

Rangers	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	#P	AVG
I Kinsler 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	12	0.27
E Andrus SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	20	0.286
A Beltre 3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	9	0.311
N Cruz RF	4	0	0	0	0	3	17	0.261
J Hamilton CF	4	1	1	0	0	0	10	0.287
M Young DH	4	1	2	0	0	1	19	0.269
D Murphy LF	3	0	1	2	0	0	11	0.293
M Napoli C	2	0	0	0	1	0	17	0.226
M Moreland 1B	3	0	1	0	0	0	10	0.273
Totals	32	2	5	2	1	5	125

 

On the other side of things,  Derek Holland was either outstanding or awful. He’s leaving the ball up to much. Missing his spots. And worst of all, he left the ball up to dangerous hitters. From now till the end of the season, he just can’t do that. Especially the leaving the ball up. Four walks? No bueno. Scheppers, Ogando and Perez finished it out and were “efficient”.  I am still pretty certain Martin Perez is hanging around for a spot in the rotation instead of moving Ogando there. Again, it depends on Feldman. If we get Oswalt some longer outings perhaps he can work things out. I know he doesn’t want to be in the bullpen. And we paid a lot of money for him to NOT be in the bullpen.

Tomorrow Yu Darvish is on the hill and it would be nice to see him figure things out. I wonder if they will put him with Soto. Some new input from behind the plate may help him out. Thursday night we get our first look at who ESPN calls “Mr. Dependable”.  I just hope he isn’t the only one.

The best news? The next game WON’T be in July.

Rangers Lose, Hamilton Boo’d

Tonight Ranger fans finally showed their frustration with Josh Hamilton. They showed it with rare Ballpark at Arlington home team boos. I have been following from the beginning and can only think of a handful of times that this happened. Evan Grant and I think Tim Collishaw of the Dallas Morning News called fans on Twitter “fickle” tonight. I beg to differ. I think an immense amount of patience has been shown.  Yes I agree with Evan, we have an outstanding record and are in first place. But these aren’t just Cowboy fans. The Rangers have created a new culture of baseball in D/FW. Subtlety is not lost on all of them. They see the gray area we are operating in right now. Forget the team not playing up to their potential. There are several players who are having career worst stretches right now. On a night most were aware the Angels were reloading their guns, we watched a guy, in his walk year, continue to flounder. Not just at the plate, where he struck out two more times and left runners in scoring position, but made bonehead plays in the field. Josh Hamilton is not in the building right now.

I understand everyone’s need to protect Josh. I get it. But he is a pro ballplayer getting paid tons of money, on the verge of asking for more tons. As I pointed out on Twitter, it’s not so much the epic failure of Josh these last two months, it’s the appearance of not caring. I doubt that is true, but perception is reality. He did look aggravated Wednesday night at one point, but he totally misplayed a fly ball that he DID see and made a care-free throw into second base that allowed a runner to turn a long single into a double. That is not Ranger baseball. Worse still, when Josh strikes out with men in scoring position, it is putting a new kind of pressure on Adrian Beltre. One I am sure he can and will handle. But for now, it’s new.

With the performance of Yu Darvish and Alexi Ogando tonight, I would hope that we are kicking the tires a little harder on Josh Johnson. I will not move in not wanting James Shields. Maybe Jeremy Hellickson. But not Sheilds. I am totally behind the front office in withdrawing from the Geinke sweepstakes even without a demand for Olt or Profar. He is a rental. I know the Marlins are asking for a Teixera type deal for Johnson. I know that we won’t pay that and I am good with that. I would hope the price drops on Tuesday and/or they can add one or two players to their side. Something like, yeah we’ll include Olt and Perez, if you include Stanton.

A guy can dream can’t he?

So the Angels got Greinke and perhaps a full game in the standings. The Angels lead the Rays 3-1 in the 7th as I finish this.

A Bittersweet Day

We’ll start off with the game last night. That’s the good news. Our bats were lively and Josh Hamilton actually knocked in a couple of runs. Mike Napoli homered again. And it was a beautiful shot to deep left. The most shocking news from last night’s 9-1 win over the Red Sox? A quality start from Scott Feldman. Something telling from Scott last night was his admission that he thinks too negatively sometimes. Last night, he said, he tried to stay positive.  If his problems end up being mostly in his head, then that would be immensely more fixable than any mechanical problems he might have. The reason why this is important? Well that’s the bad news.

We lost Colby Lewis for the season yesterday.  The problem he had with “forearm tendonitis” is more serious than that. Add to that Roy Oswalt’s tricky back and we have problems. We have Feliz on a rehab assignment and Alexi Ogando struggling with his command. Both would be decent options, if they were throwing like they used to.  Tonight Martin Perez will be pitching and we will have quite a few scouts in the stands. Scouts from the Phillies, Brewers and Marlins more than likely. Here’s what the rumor mill is churning out now…

We want an elite pitcher. That is a very short list. One of those pitchers, Zack Greinke, throws tonight against the Phillies. Coincidentally, Cliff Lee will be pitching for the Phils. Greinke has had issues of late and would only be a rental. Another scenario, which really doesn’t have rumor legs yet, is a deal for Lee. Before the Phillies would even consider that, they would need to sign Cole Hamels. Not that we don’t want Hamels, but he would be a rental and if he doesn’t take this deal the Phillies are offering (rumored to be in the six-year $127 mil neighborhood) would almost certainly guarantee we wouldn’t consider being able to sign him. That makes him, for sure, a rental. But continuing on with Lee, Jamey Newberg this morning, said something like Lee and Hunter Pence. Now we would lose Olt and Perez just about guaranteed (plus at least 2 more).  But neither are rentals. It would also free up David Murphy to be traded for some bullpen reinforcements. Nolan said it’s time to consider everything but not panic. But with Colby out and Oswalt questionable, it turns what was only a “what if” situation, into something a little more serious. Not for now. But for October.

Lee and Pence wouldn’t fix everything, but it couldn’t hurt.

Just an Anomaly

Things were back to “normal” tonight as the Rangers dropped a winnable game to the Angels. Dan Haren, who has not been Dan Haren this season, looked more like Cliff Lee as he handled the Rangers. More trouble moving runners and getting the job done. Josh Hamilton remains clueless at the plate and seems to be in a free-fall. There has been absolutely no sign of life from him other than the occasional home run that is now starting to appear to be on lucky swings.  He did stop swinging at first pitches, but his refusal to use his immense talent and try to hit the ball the opposite way is killing the Rangers. But he is not alone. Yes we got a key 2-run homer from Nelson Cruz tonight but based on Haren’s total lack of success and inflated ERA this season plus our past success against the “good” Haren makes me think we still have major problems with our offense.

Matt Harrison appeared to feel the pressure in the first couple of innings, then settled in to pitch a pretty good game. But for whatever reason, Ron Washington decided to put Alexi Ogando on the mound so he could continue his struggles against Albert Pujols. What I do not understand about this is Wash is one of those guys who plays the percentages and uses our bullpen situationally. This is the second time this week he had Snoop out there in a place where he had failed in the past.

So we take our (now) five game lead back home to face the Red Sox. But it’s not that simple as we’ll have the (what’s the opposite of sufficient?) fill-in talents of Scott Feldman and more than likely Martin Perez this week. Colby’s injury is still bugging him and Oswalt has a bum back. If there was a time that it looks like we need some starting pitching help, that would be now. But the trade front doesn’t look that promising these days.

Sure enough, teams that are selling are learning that rentals are not “in” this year. We covered it a lot here. Based on his current “break” Zack Grienke doesn’t look possible and Hamels appears near a deal with the Phillies. The was almost a deal for Ryan Dempster to go to the Dodgers but they said the price (high-end prospects) was too high for a rental and turned their attention to Matt Garza. All well and good except Garza is now banged up. Unless J.D. has something up his sleeve, there is a long-shot possibility for Cliff Lee. Not as long but still not good odds for Anibal Sanchez or Josh Johnson from the Marlins. James Shields might be available from the Rays but the Angels appear to have an edge on a deal right now. If they get Shields (and reportedly Ben Zobrist too) it will just make them that much tougher. I am pleased to see that their bullpen is still a mess. Then there is the matter of Mike Adams and Ogando having problems retiring hitters.

It’s gut check time.

Silly Buzz Has Me Excited

The talk of Cliff Lee to the Rangers is almost absurd. But when you start thinking and playing out scenarios, it’s not ludicrous. The key being the Phillies signing hometown pitcher Cole Hamels to a very expensive deal. The Phils might need to dump some salary and since the deal he signed with the Phillies was actually LESS than what we offered him season before last, it wouldn’t be a huge hit on our payroll. Ok bad phrasing. Of course it would, but not outrageous.

There are really no scenarios in which I see us wanting to deal Jurickson Profar. But, if we had to in a deal to get Lee, I could live with it. No player is a sure thing. Profar is as close to one as I have seen in our organization since maybe Mark Teixera. Profar is better than that. But we get a #1 starter that is proven and probably able to stay at that level for at least the next two seasons.

I would be willing to see a package fronted by Mike Olt and Martin Perez, plus a couple of other good prospects. Again it’s only speculation but appears to be burning up the internet right now.

Yesterday’s game had a horrible finish. I put it on Wash. Yes Ogando needed some work, right off of the DL. But he was pitching to someone who had already burned him. In a similar situation. This season. I couldn’t find any info online as to why we didn’t put Adams or Nathan in. I assume it was to rest them for the Angel series. I will say this. That spark I saw in the team the night before was present again yesterday. Something just looks different. Instead of knowing we were going to fall apart with an opportunity, while we weren’t successful every time, I felt like they weren’t pressing and letting the game come to them. Listen, this is really based on no science whatsoever. It is me watching baseball for over 40 years.

The Angels did us a favor and dropped the final game of the Detroit series, losing the series 3-1. We’re up six going into that amusement park of a yard and while we get Weaver in game one, I like our chances.

Hell YES I would take Cliff Lee back.

Crap.

Today’s Ranger news has not been good. Alexi Ogando is out 4-6 weeks on the DL with his bum hamstring. There is talk of Martin Perez coming up to pitch and he has shown himself nowhere ready. And now this…

I have already talked about being superstitious. The curse of the Sports Illustrated cover is well-known.  I know Josh has been the cover boy before, but the timing of this is not good. We’ll see tonight as we try to hold things together while Nolan and J.D. figure out what to do next. Wash has said our bats will come ’round again. Let’s see if home cooking does the trick.

Let’s Get on the Rotation-Go-Round

Sorry I haven’t posted. Things are heating up with the new radio station and I have been buried. I am claiming multiple posts Friday keep my everyday post in-tact. It’s a creative way to make things work. Kind of like what the Rangers are having to do right now. As I write this, we await word on Alexi Ogando’s injury. They are saying we will know about a DL stint tomorrow. Just another rotation injury. Here’s the latest:

Derek Holland– No structural damage to his throwing shoulder. He lost 15 pounds due to illness and they are saying he will need to get back into overall physical shape to get back to it.

Neftali Feliz– He met with Wash to talk about being in another role when he returns from the DL. Looks like Roy Oswalt will get his spot.

Roy Oswalt- Scheduled to throw 100 pitches tomorrow night for Frisco. That would have him ready to go for the Rangers Sunday or Monday. Barring complications.

Alexi Ogando– Tweaked his hammy running to first (hey he’s pretty fast). Tomorrow we learn if a DL stay will be for him. I am guessing yes.

Robbie Ross– Threw 4 innings yesterday. Very well I might add. Were they stretching him out to start?

So our rotation for the week is Lewis-Harrison-Feldman-Darivsh (on extra rest).  After that? Not so sure. The ESPN schedule has Ogando as next. Too soon for Oswalt. Would it be Ross? Would Colby pitch on short rest?

We did mange to score some runs this weekend. Saw a story in the Dallas Morning News about how we hit a good pitcher yesterday. I didn’t read it because the answer was easy. He isn’t that good this year. So bad has he been, that I wouldn’t take him in a trade right now. We have Arizona and Houston this week. Arizona can rake, Houston not so much. I STILL think we should entertain bringing the ridiculously hot Mike Olt up and take him for a spin.  It’s a double win. It could provide some much-needed offense and it could also give Michael Young the motivation he lacks this season. I know this is one of those crazy message board thoughts (have you read those??), but it doesn’t upset the apple cart too much. It also looks like Craig Gentry is working his way into a full-time job. It’s been a lot of fun to watch him the last week.