Injury Bug Gets Busy

First things first. The Rangers won, ahead of another A’s victory last night. The three game lead is intact with Seattle coming to town. I wonder what tonight’s lineup might be. Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre, who both homered in the game, came out with injuries. For Josh it was a knee and Adrian’s shoulder. Later Mike Olt pulled up lame running to first. There is a rule that if you pull your DH (Michael Young) out of the game and put him in the field you lose the DH and the pitcher hits, so Ian Kinsler said he would play third. While a ball wasn’t hit that way, it was the first time in his pro career he played something other than second and made me proud because he wanted to just get the job done. Come to find out, he did play a little third in AAA.  This is the time of year older players start having some health issues and Beltre and Hamilton are the offensive heart and soul of this team, so I will be curious to see the what the lineup produces tonight. I also wonder if it speeds the return of Mike Napoli. Naps seems pretty rusty on his rehab assignment though.

Ryan Dempster was solid again last night. I read an article or blog post yesterday (I can’t remember) that said it was doubtful we would re-sign him. I don’t want to be so fast saying it won’t happen because first, Colby Lewis will be in play and second, we don’t really know how much Dempster likes playing here. He may like it enough to lower the asking price.

Tonight is another chance for Derek Holland to prove he is a second half guy. He did this last year too and I suppose if I had to choose him being really good in the first or second half, this would be better. He has been quite good his last few outings.

Kins at third base

Aliens Inhabit Josh Hamilton’s Body

First things first. A nifty win last night vs. the Red Sox. Derek Holland was sharp and also got his team’s back, plunking Adrian Gonzales in his caboose with two out and nobody on in the first. The Red Sox hit a couple of bombs off of Derek Holland, filling a void left by Colby Lewis. Otherwise, Dutch was sharp and picked up the ‘W’. Nellie Cruz did something he hadn’t done in 21 games. He hit a homer, giving us an insurance run. We also pulled off a nice suicide squeeze. Joe Nathan ended the evening doing what he couldn’t get done the night before. All in all a good night. Except for one thing.

Josh Hamilton is just not the guy he was before. As a matter of fact, without researching it, I would just about imagine this is the worst stretch of his career. Nolan actually called him out the other night, telling the press that Josh was giving away at-bats. He always likes to swing at first pitches, but now apparently, there isn’t a thought about what pitch might be coming or its location. He appears as clueless as an A ball player being promoted way too early. His average continues to fall, from steady near .350 to his current .287. It’s good news bad news for the Rangers, who would like to re-sign Hamilton, but there may come a point that it just won’t make sense. Not on price, but on performance.

Off today. White Sox for three this weekend before the Angels head into Arlington. We may or may not have a new player or players by then. The trade deadline is Tuesday at 2PM (my time).

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.

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Don’t get me wrong, there are still some things that need to come together. But last night in our 6-1 win over the A’s things were happening that I hadn’t seen in a while, even in our current run of five out of six. Hard outs. Mike Napoli not striking out. A couple of homers in one game. Yeah Josh Hamilton still appears to be finding his way back at the plate, but there appeared to be an extra pep in their step last night. Best of all, Roy Oswalt looked like he was finding his groove. I bet if you asked him again if he would take almost half the season off, he wouldn’t do it. We have basically been going through his Spring Training in live games. That count. He threw a few too many pitches last night but that appeared to be the result of a very stingy umpire. Oswalt lives on the corners and the umpire would have nothing of it last night. Especially in innings 1-3. It was further proved by Bartolo Colon having the same problem for the A’s.

It’s a quick turn-around today. About eight hours after the end of last night’s game, the teams show up for BP today for a noon start in Oakland. Both teams will be weary, but we get an off-day before we face the Angels. It had to have happened again last night. They clobbered the Tigers 13-0 and had nothing to show for it in the GB column. Of course starting Friday night they will see instant results in that column. I won’t be a glutton here. I will take a two out of three series win.

Colby Lewis is back on the hill today for the Rangers. I’d like to think his last outing before going on the DL was a direct result of his discomfort from his injury. We’ll see.

I May Have Jumped the Gun a Little

Obviously I wrote the previous post as the Rangers trailed 3-0 in the 9th inning. They came back in the bottom of the ninth, mostly on the bat of Michael Young and won it on the bat of Ian Kinsler.  I offer no take backs from that post. Even though MY got it done, there is still a lot of concern for his production. But the same goes for Mike Napoli in spades. There are two kinds of players in contract years. The kind of player that excels and shows, not just his current team, but all of baseball that they are ready for the big bucks. The other kind of player wilts under pressure. They see the opportunity to make big bucks for the very first time. While neither Napoli or Hamilton are poor, it seems they have hit a wall. Hamilton it has just been a recent wall. Napoli has been the year-long variety. While I doubt it is the sole cause of Hamilton’s recent struggles, I can’t be so sure of Mike Napoli. He proved in the World Series last season that he can be clutch, the talk at the beginning of the year had him slated to be one of the, if not THE, top paid catcher in MLB. Did he read his own press?

The thing that galls me the most in both of these cases is, no matter how poorly they play, their agents will still be asking for the kind of money as if they were swinging a hot bat. We all know there is no way Nolan Ryan will play that game.

Scatter-shooting….The first inning of the All Star game had me taking Justin Verlander’s name in vain. Then young Matthew Harrison got into the game and after two quick outs suffered a similar fate…..the AL OWNED inter-league play this season but there was no sign of that kind of dominance on the field in Kansas City….we’re getting some guys back after the break. Colby seems to be the one who will re-join the team the fastest….I still think a re-shuffle of the batting order would work wonders….ever year I have a good feel, or have guessed correctly, about deadline deals. Not who we were getting, but the fact that we would be active. I can NOT get a grip on it this year…..that said, they are pitting us against, who else, the Angels in the race for arms. Greinke and Hamels are both being scouted by the Rangers….why not check on Justin Upton while we’re shopping. There’s still time left on his contract. If we could get it done and keep Profar (a must) it would help offset the need to re-sign Josh Hamilton. Same thing goes for Matt Garza. While he isn’t on the same level as Hamels or Greinke, he is under team control for one more season after this one. Seems to fit our current financial model in both cases…..Hmmmm, makes me wonder about pursuing Cliff Lee over Hamels. Doubtful, but intriguing.

Rangers Start New Streak

I just want it noted for the record that I have continually expressed concern over the effectiveness of our bats over the last four weeks.  Tonight, after Josh Hamilton went yard, we shut down for the rest of the game. Something else that was mixed in for good measure and is not too unusual after struggling, was we lost patience and began to press. Only seven pitches were needed to retire us in the 10th inning. That is not what this team does.  This loss also means our streak of winning seven straight series is over and we have lost three in a row. Those question listed below (two posts down) are still very much in play.

But there are some positives. It appears after the All Star break next week, we will get Derek Holland and Colby Lewis back.  I know J.D. and Nolan are hard at work trying to find a bat and a starting pitcher. The cost will be high. If, in fact, we do anything at all. The good news is the Angels fell to the Indians again today and I would just about bet, that in our search for a starting pitcher, the Angels are right there with us. Ervin Santana is now a problem for them and Dan Haren says his back hurts. Neffi and Koji will be back sooner than later and our pen won’t be as overworked as they are now. I can only guess that the bat we are looking for is either a first baseman or outfielder. We won a lot of games because of our schedule and some oddball five and six run innings, some of which were gifted to us.

Maybe the break is all we need.

A Rare Occurance

After Scott Feldman turned in the typical Scott Feldman performance, I was shocked to realize he picked up the win last night. It was another struggle against an Athletics team that continues to give us fits. I can only hope that if Derek Holland is delayed at all on his trip back to re-join the Rangers, the rotation will include Grimm and Perez and Feldman will go back to the pen. Here’s the trouble with Scott. We more than likely can’t move him. He will be a free agent at the end of the year and he is hardly of rental caliber. Even teams who are pitching poor would have a hard time moving ANYONE to the Rangers. Well enough of that.

Ian Kinsler continues to look dialed in at that plate. We missed you Kins. Josh? Well I have to say last night he had a crucial run producing single and even while his success was still limited, he looked like he had a bit more of a clue at the plate. That’s not me saying he didn’t have a clue before, it was Hamilton himself. I figure the rest of these games with the A’s will be more of the same. A struggle. But if we take 3 of 4 from them, after our earlier problems winning against them, it will be a major victory.

Tonight Matthew Harrison will take the mound after a brief injury scare during his last start. He has been efficient and a hard worker, pretty much his trademark the last two seasons. There was a question on the DMN message board the other day. Who is our ace? I would say it is between Matt and Yu Darvish. But you can’t count Colby out after we learned his struggles were injury related. They are grinders. No flash, they just get it done. OK, well Yu still has flashes. We face newcomer A.J. Griffin who was very good in his first start. But, he was facing the lightweight Giants, so we’ll see. Young, Kinsler and Andrus are having good at bats, Nellie looks close and Josh may have turned a corner last night. As I have said before, if we get everyone, or almost everyone back on it, this will be a frightening team. I’m ready.

It’s All About Me

I have made it abundantly clear that baseball and superstition go hand in hand. I have also made it clear that when it comes to the game of baseball I am very superstitious.  So stay with me while I point out today’s loss is on me. I have had the same wallpaper on my iPhone for quite a while. It was Ranger wallpaper. Two different ones of course. One for the lock screen, the other for the home screen. Then yesterday, I totally broke a major rule by pointing out the Rangers were on a roll. I put a Shhhh in the headline thinking that might clear me of any wrong doing. But the piece de resistance? I added Colby Lewis to my fantasy team before he pitched today.  It was just too much for the Rangers to overcome.

Ok, so maybe not. Colby wasn’t awful today. He wasn’t great either. When the Rockies strung together four runs in the fourth inning, it was more of the Punch and Judy variety that landed him in hot water. After that, it gets into your psyche. Add to that the fact that we can get a runner to third but can’t score him and it doesn’t make for successful baseball. Sure we made a run at them in the fifth. It was all with two outs. But our inability to bring home a runner from third plagued us the rest of the way. It’s why, not that long ago, I said even with our success our bats were still “off”.  Josh Hamilton is not so Josh Hamilton these days, among other maladies.

Well this is something a good night’s sleep can’t fix. And for me to knock off the jinxes.

The Broom Feels Good

It was the same story. Sad bats for 5 innings. Sometimes looking clueless at the plate. I understand a bit yesterday because we had no real book on Houston starter Dallas Keuchel, who was making his Major league debut. One good thing about our hitters though. We can work a pitcher. We will take pitches, foul them off, whatever it takes to make a pitcher throw a lot of pitches. Because of that Keuchel was disposed of and we got to the Houston bullpen. We were familiar with them.  So I won’t complain too much, as of now, about our lack of success in innings 1-5 which was out trademark this home stand.

Colby Lewis was strong and only allowed Houston to bang out one run in seven innings. Our starting pitching has been good since they found out we were going to be short-handed. Our bullpen yesterday wasn’t as good. As I write this, there is not a mention of any moves. I know we sent Tetyama down. Maybe he comes back and Scheppers or Kirkman go back down. But its probably a meaningless move. Now I think we might have added a couple of good bullpen arms to our wish list.

The bottom line is, we lost two starting pitchers and went on a mini-roll. I’ll take it. A lot of talk about whether to start Justin Grimm again or bring Roy Oswalt up. I don’t know what the time-table is for Derek Holland’s return is so it’s all pure speculation. Otherwise I say, why not both? Oswalt is coming off a semi-successful six inning outing yesterday in Round Rock. His best yet.

About Last Night

Two things were awesome about last nights Texas-Arizona tilt. One, obviously, is Colby Lewis. Businesslike and mostly efficient. One walk, six K’s. Perfect into the sixth was a bonus. The other (and I hope it continues) was all of the runs we scored with two outs in the 6th and 7th innings last night. More impressive than his two run homer was David Murphy’s slap hit double down the third base line in the 7th. He took what was given him both with the pitch and the shift. It was nifty to say the least.

Lots of chatter today about who might start Saturday. I am doubtful we will go against what we have always done, which is work from what we have up in the bullpen. There are a couple of minor league names being kicked around. Neither Perez or Ramirez among the names. I would like to make a pitch for Perez. We are, after all, playing the Astros and I think it would be a nice kick in the butt for him. Doubtful though.

Tonight we face another tough-ish pitcher in Wade Miley. Matt Harrison on the hill for us. More two out hits would be great.