Tag Archives: The Rangers

Gallardo walks a tightrope to get the Rangers the Victory

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The Rangers picked up their first home victory last night 6-2 behind a gutsy performance from Fort Worth native Yovanni Gallardo. Gallardo allowed 2 runs in 5.2 innings, but could have allowed much more as he was in jams much of the night. In the 3rd, he was in a bases-loaded jam with two outs when he struck out Chris Carter, in the 4th he had runners on second and third with one out, and was able to get Marwin Gonzalez to ground and Jake Marisnick to pop out. Then in the 5th he allowed a leadoff single to Jose Altuve and was able to pitch around that. That was the difference between last night and Opening Night is that he was able to pitch out of the jams, and that he was very economical with his pitch count. He actually left the game with only 90 pitches. That is the Yovanni Gallardo this team is going to need. The pitcher who is in control of his fastball and slider and mixing it up well and shows that veteran guile in tight situations. If he can do that he can succeed in the American League.

There were other things that happened obviously like the Rangers scoring 6 runs with only 2 of them being earned. The Astros committed 3 errors and the Rangers were able to take advantage to the tune of the 4 runs. That is what it takes sometimes to win, a team has to do the small stuff it takes. One of those small things is when a team gives the Rangers extra outs they must take advantage. That is why I thought Elvis Andrus’ at bat in the 5th was probably the biggest at-bat of the game. The Astros had just committed an error at 1st base that allowed a runner to score, but still kept the bases loaded. Elvis then comes up and singles through the left side of the infield to score two more runs and make the advantage 5-1 and pretty much close up the game.

There was not alot more that happened fortunately. There were no more injuries last night and so the Rangers move forward with the team they have and win the game to even their record at 3-3.

Other Game Notes

  • Adrian Beltre had what Emily Jones called a little league home run last night. He tripled to the right field corner, but rounded third a little bit wide, drawing a throwing error from shortstop Marwin Gonzalez that allowed him to walk home with the first run of the night.
  • As far as the injury news is concerned yesterday Derek Holland was placed on the 60-day DL and Ryan Rua was placed on the 15-day DL with his sprained ankle. Jon Edwards and Carlos Peguero were called up as injury replacements. Both actually got into the game. Peguero started in right field and went 2-5 with an RBI and Jon Edwards came on in relief of Gallardo in the 6th, but walked both hitters he faced allowing 1 run to score.
  • Shin Soo Choo didn’t play and is still day-to-day with back spasms.
  • The Rangers play the Astros in the rubber game of this series at 2:05 this afternoon. It will be Colby Lewis going for his second win of the season against Dallas Keuchel who also won his first start of the season. It should be a solid matchup as both are looking to continue on the success they had in their opening starts of the season. The Rangers will once again be looking for their first winning streak of the season. Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!

Quick Thoughts about Tonight’s Game

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Colby making his first start of the season

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.