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.

If We Don’t Go After Lee, We Should Still Pursue Pence

Reading the Dallas Morning News and comments from Evan Grant (if you haven’t realized it- I LOVE Evan’s work), he makes a good point. I am not sure how our $100 mil offer to Cliff Lee was structured, but it probably didn’t include a back-loaded deal that would have seen him earn the most past the age of 35. That is exactly how is deal is structured with the Phillies. I believe in the business model the team is using, even though as a fan, it is sometimes frustrating. So let’s just say for argument’s sake, we are concentrating on Zack Greinke and Josh Johnson. I do not believe our pursuit, if we have any, of James Shields is real. Have you seen his numbers? He’s just a more talented version of Derek Holland. A great outing followed by a bad one and two mediocre ones.

That said, I still see the need to add Hunter Pence. Maybe to a lesser extent Shane Victorino, but he is also a rental. Our outfield situation, while plenty populated, isn’t providing the numbers we need and certainly not the numbers we are used to. Pence, who strikes out a little much for our taste, is still a solid alternative to David Murphy and Craig Gentry. Put on top of that struggles by Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz and he could quickly work himself into a more full-time position. He also provides a little backup in case we lose Hamilton after the season. I said “little”, he is not Josh Hamilton. But he is better than Josh is right now.  The only problem with this is that I am sure the Brewers and Marlins want Mike Olt included and I would be the Phillies would also want him.

I do know this. Don’t believe much of what you read. I just go back to the original Cliff Lee deal and it surprised everyone. Not that we wanted him, but the rumor mill was clueless as to when a deal would happen.  It’s a tight-lipped bunch in the front office.

Offense Struggles….Again

We left eight men on base last night. Michael Young and Craig Gentry were both 0-2 with runners in scoring position. Josh Hamilton got an RBI but was 0-4 to drop his average to .290 and the free-fall continues. All of that was the cause of last night’s loss, not the mini-meltdown of Joe Nathan. Joe got two quick outs before walking two and giving up an oops of a hit that plated the eventual winning run. That was all secondary. Vicente Padilla is the story from last night.

Padilla has a long and storied history of hitting batters. Last night he hit Adrian Beltre in the head. Padilla’s stuff has gotten so bad, he has upped the ante on trying to intimidate hitters. Most recently he and Yankee first baseman Mark Teixera exchanged barbs after Padilla sent Teixera to the ground. Teixeira homered in his first two career at-bats against Padilla, in 2005, when Teixeira was with the Rangers and Padilla was with the Phillies. He had not gotten another hit since then — but he’d been hit three times. The two were teammates with the Rangers in 2006 and 2007. My problem with the whole thing is we need to respond. His own teammates, Teixera included when he was with the Rangers, do not like Padilla doing this. They fear retribution.  The Red Sox should be nervous tonight. The message should be sent early in the game. The problem is, Derek Holland is on the mound. He may do it without meaning to.

I was still fuming last night, well after the game was over. A head shot is bad on so many levels. While Beltre was checked out and cleared from concussion land, blurred vision could be an outcome of this.  Obviously a batters vision is his most important asset. I don’t think we need to be aiming for anyone’s head, but last night, sending Tanner Scheppers out to start the ninth and answer, would have been fine with me. I say Scheppers because whoever answered would have surely been tossed and probably fined. But maybe the league might finally take a look at a certain kook named Padilla.

On the trade front, just by reading all of the rumors and gossip, it appears that Greinke is target number one for the Rangers. Josh Johnson of the Marlin Fire sale Johnsons would be next. Only speculation about a Ranger call on Cliff Lee and nothing concrete. It’s possible it was done and the answer was a firm no. But Cole Hamels signed a ridiculous deal (six-year s$144 million) with the Phillies and they might be willing.  They are paying out a ton of money to just four players, including Lee.  I don’t know about Pence or if even five players (as mentioned below) would even come close to what the Phillies want. But with Lee, he isn’t just a known commodity on the field, he is a known commodity in the clubhouse.  That means almost as much.