Martin Perez has certainly been one of the main stories of this Rangers season thus far. Heading into this game he was 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA, had thrown back-to-back shutouts, and had a 26 inning scoreless streak. That scoreless streak did not last long as the A’s scored 2 in the first on their way to scoring 8 runs off of Perez. I will have to say that I don’t have too much to say about this game. I did not get a chance to watch the game. I was at work last night and was watching the Thunder playoff game. I will say though that it was going to happen eventually that Perez was going to have a bad start. He had just faced the A’s last week and they were bound to make adjustments from their approach in that game. I do find it disappointing that Perez did not pitch better or make any in-game adjustments. I find it also disappointing that the Rangers lost these last two games with their best pitchers on the mound. This loss makes it 4 of the last 5 for the Rangers. Their record falls to 15-12 and they are two games back of the A’s. Today is a big game as they will be needing to snap out of this mini-funk. It will be Robbie Ross JR. going against Jesse Chavez.
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Rangers Get Gray’d Out by A’s
The Rangers lost last night as Yu Darvish drops another game to the Oakland A’s. This loss drops his record against the A’s to 1-7 with a 4.73 ERA. It is becoming quite the issue. Darvish had the option of either facing the Mariners on Sunday or the A’s last night and he chose the A’s. He has a lot of bravado and pride, but this time it might have hurt him and the team. Last week in his game he had to really labor through 6 innings and tonight he couldn’t get out of the 4th. The A’s approach to facing Darvish is just to be patient and not swing at anything outside of the strike zone. That approach takes a lot of discipline and that is what the A’s have. Darvish tends to throw right on the border of being a strike and most hitters will swing, but the A’s do not. The Rangers staff and Darvish will have to figure out a way for him to have success against the A’s. The A’s look to be the Rangers top rival for the division and if Darvish cannot pitch well against the A’s it will make winning the division very difficult. They still have 15 more games against the A’s and Darvish figures to pitch in a few of them. That is the big takeaway from last night’s game was that Darvish just cannot pitch against these guys.
There were other things to this game as well. Sonny Gray was brilliant for the A’s as he pitched his first MLB complete game shutout. He bounced back from his last start against these Rangers when he gave up 3 runs in 7 innings and took his first loss of the season. Last night he only gave up 3 singles and shut the Rangers out. They did not have an answer for Gray. His fastball was constantly moving and his curveball was breaking very sharply. On this night he won in the battle of aces.
There were some positives for the Rangers. The bullpen was lights out. Aaron Poreda came in for Darvish in the 4th and finished out the inning and then Nick Martinez came in to finish out the rest of the game going 5 innings and not allowing a run. The highlight of the game had to be Leonys Martin’s double play catch and throw in the 8th inning. I have embedded it above because it was certainly the play of the game. Martin is starting to really play gold-glove level defense. His timing on the jump was perfect and his laser throw to first base was right on time. Fielder wasn’t even on the base and still had time to jump back. The only reason I can think of that he wouldn’t be on the base is that he wasn’t expecting it to come on time. He must have thought there is no way he get it back in, but Martin just threw a laser back to Fielder to get the out. It was remarkable. Outside of that though those were the only two positives to take away from this game. The A’s just came in and played better.
Today it will be Martin Perez and Scott Kazmir. Perez will carry with a 26 inning scoreless streak into the game and a streak of back-to-back shutouts. The last pitcher to throw 3 consecutive shutouts was Cliff Lee for the Phillies in 2011. The only Rangers pitcher to accomplish the feat is Charlie Hough in 1983. Perez has been pitching very well and last start really neutralized the A’s offense. He must continue to keep his pitches down and force the A’s to hit groundballs. Early on in the season Perez has been able to do that as he has forced teams into 11 double play grounders. He hopes to continue doing that and improve on his 4-0 record. Scott Kazmir also has been having success for the A’s early on this season. He is 3-0 with a 1.62 ERA. It has been a comeback season thus far for Kazmir. He once was the Tampa Bay ace before they started winning, but since then he has bounced from team to team. He has pitched for Angels, Indians, and now the A’s. It looks like from his early results that he has rediscovered that success he had early on in his career. It will be lefty vs lefty tonight as the A’s look to win the series and the Rangers look to get one back. The game starts tonight at 7:05.
Things we Learned from this Road Trip
The Rangers just finished a 4-2 road trip that saw them go to Oakland and Seattle. They swept Oakland and lost 2 of 3 to Seattle. After the road trip the Rangers find themselves tied for first place and they find themselves starting to get healthier. I will say I did not see a lot of the Saturday and Sunday games. Saturday I was busy watching the Thunder playoff game against the Grizzlies and I wasn’t home to watch the game on Sunday. From what I have read though and what I saw earlier on this trip I think we definitely learned a few things about this team during these last 6 days.
- Martin Perez is starting to pitch like the stud pitcher he was projected to be. For several years Perez was this top prospect that the Rangers were carefully nurturing in the minor leagues. They took it slow with him because he was always among the youngest players in his league. Yet, he would go out there and put up great numbers. The Rangers did not rush him though because they knew that he was special and they were willing to wait. That wait ended last year when he became a full-fledged member of the rotation. He struggled at the beginning, but in the second half he figured it out. He went 7-3 with a 3.39 ERA the last two months of the season and was likely their second best starting pitcher. He has carried that momentum into this season. So far he is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA and has thrown back-to-back complete game shutouts. This last one was against the division leading Oakland A’s and helped them complete the sweep. He has been able to do this with a combination of a devastating changeup and an ability to keep the ball down and get ground balls. He is figuring it out and he has been one of the main reasons the Rangers have excelled. If he pitches well again on Tuesday against the A’s he likely will win pitcher of the month for the AL. That is how far he has come. Hopefully he can continue that as the Rangers move forward through this season.
- The starting rotation is finally healthy. Nick Martinez did get a start this last week, but with Matt Harrison now back they are as healthy as they will be until Derek Holland gets back. Their rotation is now Darvish, Perez, Ross, Lewis, and Harrison. That is a pretty stout staff. Harrison came back yesterday and looked as sharp as he did in 2012. He was working quick and getting outs. That is what he does. This team so far is 15-10 and tied for first place despite all these injuries. The number I saw yesterday was that they had 15 wins and 12 players that have spent time or still are on the DL. Now that they are getting closer to being healthy it will be interesting to see how this team does. One thing to watch over these next few weeks is the number of innings these starters get, because even though they are pitching well now it is still just April. The Rangers will need these guys healthy come September and October and it will be interesting to see how much Wash rides his guys these next few weeks until the bullpen is fully healthy.
- The 8th inning is an issue. The Rangers lost 2 of 3 to the Mariners over the weekend primarily because of 8th inning struggles. On Friday Neal Cotts was called upon to protect a 3-2 lead and get it to Soria in the 9th. Cotts though in 20 pitches did not retire a single hitter and allowed 4 runs and the Mariners ended up winning 6-5. Sunday was worse. The Rangers had a 5-0 lead in the 4th and a 5-3 lead that it handed to Alexi Ogando in the 8th. Ogando proceeded to allow a 2-out rally that concluded with Ranger-killer Kyle Seager hitting a 3-run home run that gave the Mariners the lead. Last year Tanner Scheppers was a dominant 8th inning guy and was almost always able to hand it over to Joe Nathan. This year though it has been a constant struggle. I am sure that once Scheppers is healthy he will resume that role, but until then Cotts and Ogando will have to do a better job of making their pitches and getting people out.
Now the Rangers come back home for a another important series against the A’s. After this series there will only be 13 more games remaining between what looks like the top 2 teams in the AL West. The Rangers really made a statement with that sweep last week. All of those games were very hard-fought and the A’s will try to get some of those wins back in Arlington this week. The matchups will be Yu Darvish vs. Sonny Gray today, Martin Perez vs. Scott Kazmir, and Robbie Ross vs. Jesse Chavez. Should be 3 very competitive games. The games get started tonight at 7:05.
Rangers Win in the 9th Again!
Josh Wilson scores go-ahead run
The Texas Rangers once again won with a dramatic 9th inning rally. This team has faced adversity by losing multiple players to injury, yet here we are on April 23rd and with a win today they will be in first place and have the best record in the AL. I can’t wait to see how well this team plays once they have their full compliment of players. This attitude of never quitting is the best attribute that Ron Washington imparts to his team. Washington is no Tony Larussa or Buck Showalter as far as a tactician, but his teams always play hard and never stop trying until the final out is recorded. Time and time again this season we have seen that. In actuality this team should not be 13-8. They still are missing 2/5 of their starting rotation, 2nd baseman Jurickson Profar, 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre, left fielder Shin Shoo Choo, and last night they lost back-up 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Despite all of that Ron Washington has them playing and believing that they can still win games. It is like those Real Texas Baseball commercials where Washington says, “We are going to win, because that is what we do”. It is a cheesy line, but the players have bought into that and are playing like that every night. The expectation now is to just win and they are doing just that.
Last nights game as mentioned above was another example of this attitude and belief that has permeated among the team. We are just going to fast forward to the 9th inning. The A’s had a 4-3 lead and closer Luke Gregorson on the mound. Mitch Moreland, who had been sitting due to a lefty on the mound, pinch-hit and led off with a double that got past Coco Crisp. It looks like if the Rangers execute they should be able to at least tie the game. Robinson Chirinos then bunts Moreland over to third. So, one out and Leonys Martin coming up to try to drive him in. All it would take is a deep fly ball or a base hit, but instead Martin bunts and Moreland gets a late break and is thrown out by a mile. Now there are two outs with Martin on first and little to no chance to win the game. After the game Washington revealed that there was some miscommunication and that Martin was not supposed to be bunting there. At the time it looked like it might cost them the game. Martin then stole second to give himself a chance at scoring with a base-hit. Josh Wilson was up at the plate trying to extend the game. Wilson had made an error earlier in the game at third that allowed the A’s to be able to score the go-ahead run. He was certainly looking for redemption from his mistake. He got it as he lined a ball to deep left field off of the wall and Martin scored to tie the game. Wilson got a double from it. Then, two pitches later Michael Choice singled up the middle to give the Rangers the lead. Incredibly the Rangers went from their final out and final strike to having the lead in a matter of minutes. It was a remarkable turnaround. Joakim Soria then came in to close it out and he was able to go 1-2-3 and the Rangers somehow won this game. With the win the Rangers improve to 13-8 and the A’s fall to 13-7. They also won their fourth straight series and continued their winning ways.
Notes from the Game
- Nick Martinez started the game and pitched pretty well. He struggled and was very lucky to make it through the first two innings. The Rangers established him to an early 2-0 lead, but the A’s came back with 2 in the bottom of the first to tie it. Then in the second he walked two guys and had runners on second and third with only one out. It looked like he was just about to get pulled if he had walked another batter or allowed the two runners to score. He got Jed Lowrie to fly to medium center field and Leonys Martin then threw a laser to Robinson Chirinos and he tagged out John Jaso to end the inning. After that he settled down a bit and was able to get through 5 innings only allowing two more runs. He saved the bullpen for today by getting through 3 more innings. It was a successful start though and I imagine he will be back up at some point later on this season.
- The Rangers lost 2 more players in this game. Kevin Kouzmanoff left in the fourth inning with what is being described as back tightness and Pedro Figureroa left after one pitch complaining about pain in his elbow. The Rangers have 2 wins in this series and 3 players lost to injury. Shin Shoo Choo will still be out today, but is expected to be back this weekend when the team travels to Seattle. There will be more news about Figueroa and Kouzmanoff later today.
- In the 6th inning the Rangers were able to properly execute a wheel play. The A’s were threatening, but the Rangers were able to bait Eric Sogard into bunting to Josh Wilson. Wilson then turned around to fire it to Andrus who had run over to cover third and get the out and minimize the chance the A’s had at scoring.
- The bullpen once again pitched very well. Aaron Poreda came in and pitched an inning, Shawn Tolleson came in and pitched an effective 1.2 innings, and then after Figueroa left with an injury Ogando came in and finished the 8th. Soria then was able to close it down. Washington has had to mix and match early on this season, but it doesn’t really seem to be affecting the bullpen. Everyone continues to pitch very well. The bullpen is becoming a strength of this team, much like it was last season.
Preview of Today’s Game
Today’s game will be an afternoon start at 2:35. It will be Martin Perez facing Sonny Gray. These two are among the best young pitchers in the entire AL. Perez has been outstanding early on this season. He has a 3-0 record and a 1.86 ERA. He also has thrown 17 consecutive scoreless innings. His last time out he threw his first complete game shutout against the Houston Astros. He will look to continue that success today against the A’s. In his career he is 2-3 with a 5.79 ERA against the A’s. He has made a lot of improvement since the last time he has played them. It will not be easy as the A’s will be looking to not get swept for the first time this season.
For the A’s it will be Sonny Gray. Gray has been as good if not better than Perez early on in the season. Gray is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Gray was the A’s Opening Day starter and has won each time out. It will be Gray’s first start against the Rangers. It will be interesting to see how the Ranger hitters approach this matchup as they will have a scouting report, but not previous at-bats to call back on. I expect the first time through the order they will be feeling him out and the next two times they will have more success.
This will be a good test for both pitchers as they will be counted on to deliver in these types of situations throughout the year. The winner of this game will be in first place come tomorrow. Still a lot of baseball to be played, but if the Rangers continue to play hard and pitch well they will give themselves a shot to win late. That Michael Choice gets Game-Winning Hitis all you can ask for.
Rangers Strike First against the A’s
Darvish pitching against the A’s in game one of their series.
The Texas Rangers went on the road and won a hard-fought game against the division leading Oakland A’s 4-3. It was a game that saw both starting pitchers bend, but not break. That was highlighted mostly by Yu Darvish. When Darvish is going well, he is able to easily get through 6 or 7 innings with double-digit strikeouts and few hits allowed. Tonight was not one of those nights. Heading into the game Darvish was 1-6 with a 4.30 ERA against the Oakland A’s. He also has not won at the Colliseum in his short career. So the question became how would he do last night? It wasn’t a sure thing that he would pitch well, and early on it looked like that trend might continue.
Darvish early on in the season has not gotten any run support and has not pitched with the lead in any of his prior 3 starts. That changed last night as Shin Shoo Choo led off the game with his second home run of the season to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. Yesterday, I had remarked that for the Rangers to win last night they had to score early, make Straily work, get to the bullpen early, and get timely hits. They did establish a lead early for Darvish, but he was only able to hold that lead till the bottom of the second inning. Brandon Moss led off the second inning with a home run. It was the fourth home run he has hit in his career against Darvish. The A’s would go on to add 2 more runs to the board on a Eric Sogard double and Coco Crisp single. Darvish early on was trying to establish the fastball and get ahead in the count and then work in his other pitches. He lacked his usual control though and so the A’s were just looking at those pitches or fouling them off making him work harder than he normally does. They were very methodically driving up his pitch count. Darvish said about that start, “Compared to last year, I think I’ve matured mentally to battle through these kinds of games”. That is certainly what he had to is battle. In Darvish’s previous starts he had been able to maintain control of his pitch count which has allowed him to go 7-8 innings in those starts. Last night that was not the case. This is where I credit Darvish and Chirinos for coming up with a different plan mid game. Yu doesn’t get a lot of credit for being as cerebral as he is. He is a very intelligent pitcher who just happens to throw hard. He knew that the A’s were sitting on his fastball and that he didn’t have the best control of it, so mid game he changed to more curveballs and off speed pitches. This midgame adjustment really saved the game. It caught the A’s off guard and allowed Darvish to get through the 6th inning. He had even told Wash, “I was going to get through six innings,”. In the 5th and 6th he was able to get more ground balls and facing his last hitter and his 115th pitch he struck out John Jaso. Washington said about Darvish, “He settled down and started making some pitches. He bent but didn’t break. He was good enough to keep us in the game.” When he left the game it was still 3-3.
His rebound from that 3 run second allowed the offense to be able to come back and tie the game. The main reason they were able to come back tonight was actually Prince Fielder tonight. Fielder has been hitting better lately, but tonight he actually looked very locked into the game. In his first at-bat he actually went opposite field. He drove a ball to deep left field for a double in the 4th. It is the first opposite field hit I can remember him getting this season. Kouzmanoff then followed with a single to the outfield that scored him and made it 3-2. Then in the 5th the Rangers were able to get a 2-0ut rally started when Elvis Andrus had a single to center. Rios then followed with a bloop single to right fielder Josh Reddick that moved Elvis to third. Fielder then finished it off with a hard-hit single to right field. The A’s decided not to shift there and that allowed one to sneak over the infield. That single tied the game at 3. The score would stay that way till the top of the 8th. Both team’s bullpens pitched really well. The A’s were able to call on Ryan Cook, Fernando Abad, Sean Doolittle, and Dan Otero. The Rangers called on Jason Frasor, Neal Cotts, Alexi Ogando, and Joakim Soria. The game remained scoreless through most of these pitchers. Then in 8th, Kevin Kouzmanoff led off with a double off the wall in right field off of Sean Doolittle. Doolittle is one the AL’s best left-handed relievers, but Kouzmanoff got the best of him last night. Then on 2 strikes Moreland was able to lay down a sac bunt that moved Kouzmanoff to 3rd. That caused Bob Melvin to bring the infield in for Donnie Murphy. Murphy proceeded to hit it right back up the middle against the drawn-in infield. That gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead. They would fail to score another run in the 9th with Choice at 3rd when Chirinos struck out. Soria came on in the 9th to try to close it out. He did just that, despite a throwing error by Elvis Andrus that put a run in scoring position. He kept the ball down, he kept calm and showed why he is their closer. This was probably his best save this early in the season. The Rangers with the win move to 12-8 and 1.5 games back and the A’s fall to 13-6.
Notes from the Game
- Fielder did what I have been screaming for him to do all season and that is hit it opposite field. All season teams have been shifting on him and he just would continue to hit it right into the shift. If he shows he can do this, then he might not see such large shifts. His two hits though were huge. It looked like early on that this will be a 3-1 game that they lost, but Fielder’s opposite field double seemed to turn the tide. He did look way more invested than he has at times this season. He sometimes gives off an aloof feel, but tonight he looked locked in. That is the guy the Rangers need to be hitting 3 or 4 in the lineup.
- I have never seen Darvish gut it out more than he did last night. In the past when he didn’t have it you could tell from his body language and then poor results would follow. Tonight he didn’t have it, but he kept battling and just found a way to make it through the 6th inning. That is what the best pitchers are able to do, is even when their stuff isn’t on they still find a way to get hitters out and last deep into the game. That is what Darvish did last night.
- Kevin Kouzmanoff once again with two hits, including the rbi single to make it 3-2 and then the leadoff double in the 8th that helped to give the team the 4-3 lead. Kouzmanoff yesterday was named AL Player of the Week. That is quite the accomplishment for someone who wasn’t even expected to make the team this year. He has certainly earned himself a role and at-bats even when Adrian Beltre possibly comes back this weekend.
- In the 9th inning Shin Shoo Choo turned his ankle trying to beat out an infield grounder. He was stretching out try to beat the throw and landed on the bag awkwardly. He will have an MRI today to see if there is any damage, but is likely out for the rest of the series. No word yet on who will move up to leadoff. The candidates are Elvis Andrus or Leonys Martin. Martin did hit some leadoff last year, but really struggled and so midway through the season Wash moved him back down the order. He has been hitting better this year, but Wash might not want to mess that up. I would not be surprise if he goes with Andrus-Choice 1-2 in the order. We will see later on today how Wash plans on handling this and how long Choo will be out for.
- To me Joakim Soria really claimed the closers job last night. There has been this thought among Ranger fans that Neftali Feliz will be the closer at some point if he can regain his velocity and control. Unless Soria gets hurt the closer job is his. I know at some point he will struggle, but last night he was great. He showed he could come through in a hostile environment, 1 run lead, and the A’s best hitters at the plate. He is the closer, if Feliz does come up at some point maybe they can slide him in as the 7th or 8th inning guy.
- Overall it was a great win. It is not September though yet. They still have 18 games left against the A’s. They will play 6 games total with this series and a series next week in Arlington. After these two series they will still have 13 left. It is nice to get a win though and show that even with all these injuries they are doing more than just surviving, they are playing good baseball.
Tonight’s Game Preview
Tonight it will be rookie Nick Martinez against Tommy Millone. Martinez who last pitched for the Rangers on April 5th against the Tampa Bay Rays will be brought up to pitch for Tanner Scheppers. Scheppers was placed on the DL last week due to an elbow issue. Martinez like last time will be brought in just for this one appearance. Last time out he pitched 6 innings and only gave up 3 runs. Hopefully he can do that again tonight. He had been pitching for AA Frisco and has made two starts with no decisions and has a 1.86 ERA. He will asked to try to continue that. Washington I am sure will have a short leash and will be ready to go to his pen at any moment. The A’s are going to try to make him work. They are going to make him throw strikes. To win he has to throw first pitch strikes, don’t nibble around the plate, and pitch to contact. If he does those three things he will have an opportunity to go deep into the game and give the Rangers a chance to win. On offense the Rangers have to survive the loss of Shin Shoo Choo. They still have to be patient at the plate and not be swinging at everything. Once again getting timely hits will be important. In order to beat the A’s the Rangers have to do the small things. They must get runners on, move them over, and drive them in. The A’s really require teams to be fundamentally sound. That is how they beat teams is by forcing them to make mistakes they normally would not make. Game once again is at 9:05 tonight.
Rangers Homestand Recap and Road Trip Preview
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The Rangers just concluded a very succesful 10 game homestand. They went 7-3 in the homestand and won all three series. They took 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros, 3 of 4 from the Seattle Mariners, and 2 … Continue reading
Rangers win behind Robbie Ross Jr.
Two words can sum up this game tonight and they are Robbie Ross. He was absolutely outstanding tonight. He made loads of improvement from his last start against the Red Sox to tonight. His performance was the reason the Rangers were able to bounce back from last night’s loss. Here are some quick thoughts I had on tonight’s game.
- I have to start with Robbie Ross Jr. He was the man tonight. If you remember last week he had a one-on-one conversation with Ron Washington after he walked 4 hitters in the span of two innings. It was less encouraging and more scolding. Ross responded by pitching better after that. Tonight he carried that over into pitching 7.2 innings and walking no one. Wheras last week he lacked control, tonight he was in complete control. He controlled both sides of the plate and was able to work it inside and out. The Mariners just never looked comfortable up there. He just competed out there and the night was capped off when Wash went out to the mound not to scold, but to congratulate. It was quite the moment when Wash took him out of the game and Ross was surrounded by the entire infield getting congratulations. It was Robbie’s night and no one can take this away. Who know what the rest of the season will hold for Ross, but tonight he was phenomenal.
- Prince Fielder hit his first home run of the season and his first home run for the Rangers. It was a no doubter that was hit 416 ft to deep right center field. It seemed to take a weight off of his very large shoulders. Hopefully this hit will get him going. The offense has been really lacking without his production. If Prince can start to hit and drive runs in, it will provide much needed balance to the lineup and it will help them survive this stretch without Adrian Beltre.
- The offense as a whole seemed to be much looser. These last few nights you could see them tense up everytime someone got on base. It led to numerous double plays and lack of timely hitting. Tonight, after Prince’s home run everyone seemed to loosen up. The offense actually was led by 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. He went 3-4 with 3 rbi’s and so far is hitting .450 in his limited time in the big leagues. He has done an admirable job filling in for Beltre. Tonight he and Fielder went back-to-back in the second inning. It was the first time the Rangers have went back-to-back in Arlington since April 30, 2013 when it was Nelson Cruz and Jeff Baker. Elvis continued to hit with two more hits tonight and Moreland added a couple of hits as well as a sac fly. Hopefully this marks the Rangers coming out of their slump.
- Finally, the starting pitching continues to be outstanding. Scheppers had one bad inning on Saturday, but other than that everyone has been really good. It is going to be a hard call for Wash when Matt Harrison returns in about a week to determine who gets moved to the bullpen. After tonight I would say Scheppers but he was really good outside of one inning on Saturday. That could change if Ross struggles his next time out. Whatever happens though this will improve the depth of the bullpen or maintain the consistency of the rotation.
Tomorrow is a battle of Aces as Yu Darvish will take on Felix Hernandez at 7:05. It should be a pitchers duel so that means that it will be a high scoring affair. Can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
Quick Thoughts about Tonight’s Game
Colby making his first start of the season
The Rangers lose tonight 7-1 in the first game of this four game series against the Seattle Mariners. It was a game that also marked the return of Texas Rangers playoff hero Colby Lewis. It was his first start since August of 2012. Here are some quick thoughts I have about tonight’s game.
- The big story from this game as has been the big story from this season revolves around instant replay. First lets go back to last Monday when the Rangers faced the Red Sox. In the first inning there was a potential double play that Andrus caught and then lost on the transfer. The runner was ruled safe and Ron Washington reviewed it and it stood. Tonight in the 6th inning Pedro Figueroa was on the mound and a ball was hit back at him and he threw to JP Arencibia at home and JP looked to have caught it and lost it on the transfer. The runner was called out this time, but Lloyd McClendon challenged it and it was overturned and the runner was called safe to give the Mariners their 6th run of the game. Ron Washington immediately came out to argue and was immediately ejected from the game. The rule being enforced now says that you must come up cleanly with the ball on the transfer for the runner to be called out. Ron Washington when asked about the rule said, “I understand what the rule is saying, I just don’t agree with it”. He also went on to say that it is giving the runner the advantage and how something needs to be done about this. It clearly is a story not just for the Rangers but for baseball as a whole. Just like the NFL has had to redefine what constitutes a catch, in baseball they are having to do the same thing with the catch and transfer rule. It is something that players and managers are going to have to learn and adjust to.
- Colby Lewis was very good tonight. Things though went south on him his third time through the order. It easily could have been that the Mariners had a read on him or he started to fatigue in his first MLB start of the season. That doesn’t take away how sharp he looked. He had great control of his fastball and his curve ball, and through 5 was able to keep the Mariners off-balance. It was in the 6th though that they started to make better contact. Grounders that found fielders the first 5 innings found holes in the 6th . It started with a Robinson Cano grounder that was just out of reach of Josh Wilson. It continued with a triple to left center that was just out of reach of Leonys Martin. Then, it was a single by Rangers killer Kyle Seager through a hole in the shift. After that it was 3-0 and Colby was taken out of the game. To me he looked like the Colby Lewis of 2010-2011. That Colby didn’t rely on overwhelming velocity or great stuff, he just knew how to pitch and how to get hitters out. Wash was also asked about Colby and after discussing his start said, ” Happy to have him back.” Aren’t we all. This rotation will be better with the presence of Colby Lewis. It’s funny for so many years the Rangers relied on a great offense with decent pitching. Now they are a team with great pitching and decent hitting.
- The offense is in a big time slump right now. It was always known that Adrian Beltre is the most important person in the lineup and we are finding out why. Over the weekend without Beltre, Prince Fielder was walked 4 times and he still isn’t hitting or getting many pitches to hit. Rios was in a 1-16 slump that hopefully was broken with a 9th inning single tonight. Without both of those guys and with Beltre on the DL it is hard to sustain a big inning. Tonight for example they got the leadoff man on base 5 times and hit into 4 double plays right after. They also have not scored more than 1 run in an inning since last Tuesday against the Red Sox. That spans 53 innings or almost 6 full games. It just is not working as a unit. Choo and Andrus get on base a lot, but the middle can’t drive them in and the bottom of the order can’t get anything started or can’t sustain rallies. It just is something that needs work and I am sure these guys will put the work in, but really the onus falls on Fielder and Rios. They must start being that power threat in the middle of the order that the team needs.
- Seattle looked like a completely different team to me than the one we saw in 2013. This was my first time to see them this season and they looked a lot more poised and confident out there on the field. It still is really early, we are only 13 games into a 162 game season, but Seattle might have something there. They have good young pitching and lots of young position players who may be on the verge of figuring it out. They also have a good mixture of youth and veteran leadership. The Mariners might be able to make this a 4 team race this year. Still a long season though.
Tomorrow is game 2 as the Rangers will send Robbie Ross JR to the mound to face the Seattle Mariners and former Rangers prospect Blake Beavan. The game will start at 7:05 as the Rangers look to bounce back from tonight’s loss.
Game 9 Recap
The Rangers let one get away today. They had an 8th inning lead and a chance for a 3-3 road trip through two of the best teams in the AL and they let it get away from them. It wasn’t a game they played particularly well, but yet they had a 2-1 lead and Neal Cotts on the mound to try to get it to closer Joakim Soria. Just as quick as you snap your fingers it was gone. David Ortiz had sent one down the right field line and around Pesky’s Pole for a game-winning 3-run home run. Instead of 3-3 it became a 2-4 road trip. That still is not bad, it is exactly what I expected. I expected them to win the Yu Darvish and Martin Perez starts, seeing that they are the most experienced starters that they have right now. That is exactly what they did. They won 3-0 on Sunday and 10-7 last night. They sit at 4-5 and are now preparing for a 10 game homestand that starts on Friday against the Astros.
Instead of talking about big picture, lets discuss today’s game. It was Robbie Ross Jr. making his second start of the season going up against veteran Jake Peavy. Early on Robbie struggled with his control. He walked 4 hitters between the 2nd and 3rd innings. That brought out Ron Washington. It wasn’t to take him out of the game, but to give him a stern talking to. Nothing seems to bother Wash more than a pitcher who is not throwing strikes. It was just Wash and Ross out there, no catcher or other infielders. That got through to him as he did give up one run in that third inning, but then he calmly got David Ortiz to ground into a double play to end the inning. That was it as far as the scoring for the middle innings. Ross would only walk two more hitters and make it into the 6th inning. The score was still 1-0 when he was lifted. He did walk 6 hitters, struck out 4, but only gave up 2 hits. He still needs to work on his control, but only giving up one run allowed the Rangers to come back and have the lead late.
They would have to come back late because early on Jake Peavy was spectacular. He was able to control the plate and keep the Rangers off-balance. He ended up striking out 8 and walking 4. The only one who was seemingly having good at-bats against Peavy was Choo. He led off the game with a double and then had two walks against Peavy. Everyone else struggled through 6 innings. In the 7th though things turned around when Mitch Moreland took a 89 mph fastball deep into the right-field bullpen to tie the game. Up to that point it looked like even though they were only down a run that it was not meant to be their day. Moreland changed all of that with one swing. Then it looked like a game that the Rangers could steal. In the 8th they did just that. Elvis led off with a double and was eventually brought home on a sac fly by Alex Rios. All of a sudden the Rangers had a 2-1 lead and were 6 outs away from a victory and a series win.
That leads to today’s questionable decision of the game. It occured in the bottom of the 8th after the Rangers had taken a 2-1 lead. Alexi Ogando had been in since the 6th inning and had pitched very well. It was his best appearance of the season. His fastball velocity was up and he was able to keep it down in the zone and his slider was very filthy. He was able to strike out 4 hitters in those 1.2 innings. Instead of bringing in Cotts to start the inning he let Ogando start the inning. He proceeded to walk Jackie Bradley Jr. At that point the Red Sox decided to pinch hit with A.J. Pierzynski. Washington then had a decision to make go with Ogando or come in with Neal Cotts. Cotts was warm and ready to go, yet Washington stuck with Ogando. He was clearly hoping that Ogando could finish out the inning and that he wouldn’t have to use Cotts. Ogando stayed in and Pierzynski blooped one right down the right field line to put two on and no outs. Ogando would get Pedroia to ground out.Then Cotts would come in to face Ortiz with two runners on and one out. David Ortiz then went yard to give the Red Sox a 4-2 lead and the game. I understand why you start the inning with Ogando, but why keep with him even after the Red Sox have pinch-hit with Pierzynski. It just goes back to the problem the Rangers have with the 8th inning. They don’t have one guy who is good enough to assume that role so it leads to confusion late in games about who to bring in. Today it cost them as David Ortiz just did David Ortiz things in helping the Red Sox win the game 4-2.
Notes from the Game
- Shin Shoo Choo is an on-base machine. That is all he does is aim to get on base. Early on this season he has been hitting and walking a ton. Right now he is in the middle of a stretch that has seen him reach base in 8 of his past 10 plate appearances. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. I love seeing how he is able to work a pitcher and wait till he gets a pitch that he likes. He is also normally in the middle of any Rangers rally, whether he starts it or he keeps it going. I questioned whether he was worth the contract that they gave him, but after seeing him play I would say that he is.
- -Alexi Ogando was filthy today. This is the Ogando that the Rangers wanted to win a rotation spot. He lacked control though all Spring. Today he was bringing it and in the 6th and 7th innings he was untouchable. He was able to locate his fastball on both corners and the slider was really biting. This Ogando can be a real asset in the bullpen as long as he can bring it on a consistent basis.
- Adrian Beltre was sent back to Texas to be examined further, but he has not been put on the DL yet. Instead they did bring up Kevin Kouzmanoff to man 3rd and designated Seth Rosin for assignment. Now they have 10 days to either trade or send him back to the Philadephia Phillies. Hopefully the Rangers can find a way to keep him, because he had shown some potential to be a solid weapon down in the bullpen.
The Rangers will have tomorrow off and will be back on Friday at home to begin a 10 game homestand starting with the Houston Astros. It will be Yu Darvish going up against Scott Feldman at 7:05.
Game 8 Recap
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Last night the Rangers were trying to bounce back from a loss that saw them strand numerous players on base and score only one run against the Red Sox. The players knew that they had to have more timely hits … Continue reading
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