Sunday, April 28, 2013

How Many Ballgames Is Your Team Going To Win When They Score Zero Runs?

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Not any, including today's game versus the Twins.  The offense continued to struggle.

Moreland wasted a base hit in the 3rd when he took WAY to big of turn around 1B, got caught in no man's land and was thrown out retreating to 1B.  This was the latest example of the Rangers looking clueless on the base pads in this series in particular and generally this season.

That's the first time this year the Rangers lost 2 in a row.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: That's the first time this year the Rangers lost 2 in a row, which is quite an accomplishment since we're almost in May. Ogando looked good early (just like Holland did yesterday).

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Even losing the last 2 games in MN, the Rangers split the series with the Twins.  And the Rangers have yet to lose a series this year.

You have to wonder if the pitching staff is looking at the position players and wondering if they're going to get any type of consistent run support.

Read more...

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Rangers' Offense Takes a Step Backwards

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: 2 runs in the top 9 is all the Rangers' offense could manage in a 7-2 loss.  And Moreland continues to struggle at the plate so it doesn't help when he commits an error at first.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Holland was great early.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The lineup Wash put out there was weird.  Gentry was batting second.  Look, I like Gentry but he's not having a great go of it so far like he did last year.  Yeah, rest players like Elvis just maybe put someone else in the 2 slot?

Read more...

Friday, April 26, 2013

That Got Interesting Towards the End Versus the Twins...

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: ...since Ortiz looked shaky in the 9th and then Joe Nathan gave up a 3 run homer.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But the Rangers hung in and won 4-3 behind a great start by Grimm.  And all the starters except Gentry had at least 1 hit.  An insurance run that Kins drove in in the top of 9 really came in handy.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: They are still your first place Texas Rangers.  And they also have the best record in all MLB.  And they're doing it with pitching.  Who would have thunk it?

Read more...

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Rangers Offense Bad But Win 2-1

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Again, the Rangers' offense is bad.  2 runs with lots of opportunities.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Tepesch was great.  Through 6 IP he had a 2 hitter going!

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: With the Rangers only managing 2 runs, Rookie Nick Tepecsh was pitching a 2 HITTER WITH NO WALKS after 6 IP and I swear Tom A. Greive (TAG, our local announcer) said something close to the following, "....for the most part he's been in pretty good control of the game."  For the most part!?!?!  How about dominating?  What game was TAG watching?  Why doesn't TAG stick to what he's good at and eat more cookies or announce more birthdays?

End of the day we have the old guys from the Muppets in the balcony announcing the games for us.  Enjoy.

And yeah, I could do better.

Read more...

Rangers Pound Halos Like a Drum 11-3

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers' bats beat up on a young guy making his first MLB start so let's not assume the offense has turned the corner just quite yet.

And Moreland took a step backward against lefties, and generally at the plate as the only Ranger without a hit.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Pretty much almost every Ranger contributed at the plate, especially in the 4th inning when they put up a huge crooked number.

And Yu Darvish was, one again, amazing giving up only 3 hits in 6 IP, and had 11 K's against only 2 BB's.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I know it's early in the season but the Rangers still have not lost a series.  They did split a 4 game series versus the Mermen and split their 2 games versus the Cubbies (the middle game was rained out and will be made up).  Not too shabby with the offense still not quite out of its early season funk.

Read more...

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Rangers Lose in 11 Versus Halos

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The first inning gave us yet another example of extra outs leading to runs.  A 3rd strike against Trout got away from Pierzynski and Moreland mishandled the throw so Trout was safe at first with 1 out.  And of course the Halos scored both their runs (Trout and Pujols) with 2 outs.

Baker went out with an injury in the top of the 1st when he slid into the wall in foul territory in left field making a catch for an out.

In the top of 10 with 1 out Robbie Ross (who up to that point had pitched well in relief) gave up back to back singles.  Trout, a righty, was due up.  And Wash left Ross, a lefty, in to face Trout.  And Trout walked to load the bases.  Then, Wash brings in another lefty, Joe Ortiz, to face right handed batting Pujols.  Why oh why not go with a righty-righty match up?

In that at bat against Ortiz Pujols hit a grounder to Beltre.  It looked like Beltre could have stepped on 3B and then thrown to 1B for an inning ending double play.  Instead he went to home for 1 out.  And it looked like Pierzynski wasn't expecting him to go to home plate since he wasn't even standing on home and had to tag the runner out.  All that said, Everyday Joe Ortiz got the next batter, Hamilton, out to get out of a 1 out bases loaded jam.

But Ortiz gave up the game winning walk off homer to Kendrick (another right handed batter) in the bottom of 11.  Again, what happened to righty vs. righty and lefty vs. lefty match ups?

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Ogando battled in 7 IP with 2 ER's (the other 2 in the first inning were unearned, again that error really hurt).

Nellie hit a towering 3 run shot in the top of 6 cutting the Halos' lead to 4-3.  In the top of 8 the Angels had and error and the Rangers tied it up 4-4 with 2 outs.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Sometimes (all the time?) there really seems to be no rhyme or reason to why Wash makes pitching moves.

Read more...

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Thank You Mr. Pierzynski, Rangers Come Back and Beat Halos 7-6

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Doogie Holland issued some early walks and got himself in some jams.  Some of the jams he got out of.  But he couldn't get out of the jams he got himself into in the 4th and 6th innings, when he gave up 3 ER's in each of those innings.  Holland had been on the edge all night so why didn't Wash pull him before it got out of hand in the 6th I wonder?

And the Rangers left a lot of guys on base early.

Hamilton was 4-4.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Elvis started the ballgame with 2 straight hits, and was 3-5.  Mitch Moreland batted well too, going 3-4.  David "Charlie" Murphy was 2-3 also.  Nice to see on all counts since they've had a slow start.

The Rangers rallied after Holland struggled and tied the game up in the top of 7, making it 6-6.  Then in the top of the 9th A.J. Pierzynski had a solo homer to win the ballgame.

Pujols was 0-5 and struck out 3 times.

Scheppers was strong in 2 IP and Nathan got the save against the top of the Halos' batting order.

Again the offense looked A LOT better than it had just a few games ago.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Josh Hamilton was moved down the lineup.  The Angels' order is now Pujols, Trumbo then Hamilton (it used to be Pujols, Hamilton, Trumbo).  Maybe Sioscia was getting tired of other managers walking Pujols to pitch to Hamilton, like Jim Leyland did with 2 outs and no one on base in extra innings.  The strategy worked for Leyland by the way, at least that inning.  The new batting order worked for Hamilton against the Rangers unfortunately.

The A's lost thanks to ex-Ranger Napoli hitting a grand slam for his new team, the Boston Red Sox.  Rangers expanded their lead in the division with the win tonight.  I know it's early to be watching the division race but each game matters.  A win in April equals a win in September.

Read more...

Monday, April 22, 2013

First Place Texas Rangers, Rangers Sweep Series, Win 3-1 As Offense Goes Off On Seamen

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Kins had an error in the 1st that looked like it might be a sign of a long day.  Otherwise, that's about it for any bad stuff.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Every starter except Soto (giving Pierzynski a day off behind the plate) had at least 1 hit and 1 run scored.  And the Rangers had 4 homers (Beltre, Martin, Moreland and Nellie), power we had not seen to date this season.

Grimm went 6 IP with 1 ER.  Kirkman went 3 IP with 1 ER as well, effectively giving the rest of the bullpen a day off.

And the Rangers won a get away game to boot.

And, and at least for the time being you're watching the first place Texas Rangers.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Next up, Mr. Hamilton and the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, CA, West Coast, USA, North America in Anaheim, CA.

Read more...

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Rangers' Bats Show Up Again and Beat Up on Mermen, Go For Series Sweep Next

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Tepesch took a line drive off his wrist in the 2nd and had to leave the game.

Elvis is batting less that .200 and again went hitless.  And the rest of the lineup only managed 5 hits.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: In only 1.2 IP Tepesch looked good and Wash says, at least preliminarily, he won't miss his next start.

The bullpen came in and along with Tepesch combined for a 5 pitcher shutout.

Berkman and Pierzynski continue to be the early season standouts on offense, each contributed  2 RBI's in the Rangers 5-0 win.

Murph is hopefully starting to come out of his batting funk, he had a solo homer.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Murph was moved down the lineup presumably because of his poor batting.  When is Elvis going to be moved down the lineup or do we really want someone batting .194 in the #2 slot?

With this win and an A's loss the Rangers trail in the division by only half a game going into Sunday's action.

Read more...

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Rangers' Offense Shows Up Versus Mermen

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: 6 of the Rangers' 7 runs came in 5th inning.  Why point that out?  Because it'd be even better if the offense was clicking all night in multiple innings.

And Elvis Andrus continues to struggle at the plate, he was the only Ranger without a hit versus the Seamen.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Every other starter did have a hit though.  And Yu was great again with 10 K's in 7 IP.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Matt Harrison is scheduled to have back surgery and is going to be out for a while.  Time for the young guys, Tepesch and Grimm, to step up.

Read more...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Ogando Gets Rocked by Cubbies

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Ogando only went 2.1 IP with 5 ER's.  And again the Rangers' offense continued to struggle, managing only 4 hits and 2 runs.  And Cruz and Kins were the only ones with hits with 2 each.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Lowe had only 1 ER, Ortiz and Frasor had 0 ER's.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The Rangers' offensive woes are now becoming worrisome to say the least.  Essentially if the Rangers' pitching staff gives up 4+ runs in a game the Rangers have almost no chance to win.  And that will continue to be the case until the offense gets going, if it can.  Is too soon to be looking for a trade to get a big bat capable of hitting few homers in here?

Read more...

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Holland Pitches Rangers to 4-2 Win Over Cubbies

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers had managed only 5 hits and 1 run through 7 innings at the plate.

In the top of 9 Gentry was called out at home plate for the 3rd out on a throw from the 1B after the pinch hitting Martin had an infield hit.  The replay showed clearly that he was safe.  Terrible call.

Rangers' relief pitching continues to struggle.  And Jeff Baker dropped an easy fly ball that would have ended the game and secured the shutout.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Of course Derek, Doogie, the Dutch Oven, Holland only gave up 2 hits, no runs and no BB through 7 IP and when he left the game leading 1-0.  Then the Rangers added 3 runs in he top 8, including a Beltre 2 run homer.

Jeff Baker started in left and Muph sat.  Wash's decision kinda panned out as Baker had the first RBI of the ballgame (but Baker misplayed/dropped a fly ball in the 9th, see above).  And needless to say Murph's been struggling.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: In the top of 8 while the Rangers were batting (and scoring 3 runs) you could hear Rangers fans at Wrigley cheering, "let's go Rangers," during the broadcast.  Pretty cool.

Does anyone else remember when the Texas Rangers wouldn't even consider "asking" Alfonso Soriano (now a Cub) to play the OF?  Then he was traded to the Nationals and then-manager Frank Robinson did't ask him to play OF, he told him to and eventually Soriano did.  And now he plays OF for the Cubbies.

Oh yeah, it was in the 40's temperature-wise during the ballgame.  Sometimes it pays to live in Texas.  Of course I might change my tune when it's triple digits for 2 months straight in the summer.

Read more...

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Rangers Lose Finale to Mermen 4-3, Split Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Splitting a 4 game series is about as unsatisfying as it gets, your team didn't win the series but at the same time didn't lose it either.  It's like kissing your sister.

And again the Rangers offense struggled leaving 10 on base with no HR's.  And Nick, Bulldog Jr, Tepesch earned all 4 runs giving up 9 hits in 5.2 IP.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But Tepesch didn't walk anyone and his ground ball to fly ball ratio was 12-4, meaning a lot of ground balls found holes in the infield.  It happens.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Rangers still have not lost a series this year.  Next up inter-league play versus the Cubs in Chicago.  There are way too many key Rangers still batting under .250 (see Murphy, Moreland, Beltre, Gentry and Elvis for example).  That's got to change if the Rangers offense is ever going to get going.

Read more...

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Rangers Beat Seamen 3-1

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers managed only 5 hits.  And Ogando looked shaky in 5 IP.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: But Ogando only gave up the 1 ER and kept the Rangers in it.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: And Wash threw out a funky lineup.  Murph was moved down, Pierzynski was moved up the batting order, Baker played 1B, Garcia played SS, Berkman and Moreland sat, and Elvis DH'ed.  It got the job done in the end though.

Now the Rangers will try to win the 4 game series against the Mermen tomorrow afternoon.

The A's finally lost a game (versus Detroit) and their lead is now 1 game over the Rangers.

In other division news, the the Halos got a taste of Josh Hamilton checking out mentally in a ballgame when he lost track of the outs in the final inning and got doubled up on the base pads to end the game yesterday in a loss against the 'Stros.  Since Hamilton is fond of comparing himself to Jesus, I wonder if Jesus ever lost track of the number of outs when he was running the bases.

Read more...

Rangers Lose 3-1 Versus Mermen

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: How many games are the Rangers going to win when they score only 1 run?  Not many, including this one.  Murph and Beltre continue to struggle in the middle of the batting order.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Yu had a good, albeit wasted performance.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Murph is batting worse than Moreland yet he's #5 in the order.  Is it time yet to move Murph down the order and move Pierzynski, batting well over .300, up?

Oh, and by the way, the freakin' A's have now won 9 straight and lead the division by 2 over the Rangers.

Read more...

Friday, April 12, 2013

Rangers Win Ugly Versus Seattle in Opener Last Night

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Grimm looked rough on the mound.  And not helping matters the Rangers managed only 4 runs on a 11 hits.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Even though he looked rough Grimm managed to only give up 2 runs, keeping the Rangers in it.  And Everyday Joe Ortiz came in and looked good again giving up only 1 hit and 0 ER's.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The A's have picked up right where they left off last year, are on an 8 game winning streak and lead your Rangers by 1 game going into today's action.

Read more...

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Rangers' Offense Stunk Up the Joint...

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: ...and they lose the finale/getaway game 2-0 to the Rays.  The offense managed only 5 hits.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: And the Rangers wasted a good (even great) pitching performance by Doogie Holland.  He gave up only 2 runs on 5 hits.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The poor offense was without Pierzynski and Berkman who had the day off.  I guess that's a some type of excuse for a goose egg.

Next up Seattle.

Read more...

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Welcome to the Majors Mr. Tepesch!

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The 4-8 batters in the Rangers' lineup were a combined 0-fer through 7.  Not good. (Although Beltre did have a ground ball out, RBI in the 5th)

Aggressive base running got Kins thrown out at 2B trying to stretch a single into a double behind Martin going from 1B to 3B on Kins' hit.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Rangers' rookie starting pitcher Nick Tepesch gave up only 1 run on 4 hits in 7.1 IP.  Not too shabby.  And his ground balls to fly balls ratio was 16-2.  Excellent, especially in the hometown park.

Oh yeah, the Rangers won 6-1 behind  young Mr. Tepesch's pitching and good offense from the 1-3 (Kins, Elvis & Fat Elvis) & 9 (Leonys Martin) hitters in the Rangers' lineup.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: I, as others have done, compared Joe Ortiz to Everyday Eddie Guardado yesterday.  So today I'm going to compare Nick Tepesch to another lanky right handed starter that didn't have an overwhelming fastball but did induce a lot of ground balls and looked calm, cool and collected on the mound.  Yup, I'm going to compare Tepesch to Orel Hershiser.  At the very least Tepesch sure did remind me of Hershiser tonight.  Bulldog, Jr.???

The Rangers have won the first 3 series of the year.  You know what that means?  Yup.  They're on pace to win each series this season.

Speaking of on pace...what's it about batting in the 3-slot for the Texas Rangers in the beginning of a season?  Berkman is batting .480 in the young season.

Read more...

Monday, April 8, 2013

Welcome to Baseball Town, TX Tampa Bay Rays! Rangers Win 5-4

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The way our local announcers, Busby and Tom, "TAG", Grieve, were talking during the first 5 innings you would have thought Ogando was getting beaten like a drum.  In fact he only gave up 1 ER on 3 hits through 6.1 IP.  Sometimes I have no idea what game they are watching.  Frustrating to listen to announcers do that, much less our hometown guys.  Usually it's the national broadcasters that do stuff like that.  Oh, and the whole time Busby and TAG are bagging on Ogando they're praising the pitching of the Rays!  The Rays, who at the time were losing the game 3-1 in a pitching duel!  To Ogando!  Again, frustrating.

Also, Ogando seemed to be on a short leash since Wash pulled him after 6.1 IP, with less than 90 pitches thrown, having given up only 3 hits and 1 ER.  Sure, in the 6th he had 2 on with 1 out, but what happened to letting your pitchers pitch their way out of trouble?  Wash?

Kins' poor awareness at times on the base pads reared its ugly head again, he got caught in no man's land in the first inning.  This is a long running (pun intended) problem for Kins dating back to last season.

Kirkman is our setup guy?  He came in with a 5-1 lead in the 8th.  He started the 8th with 6 straight balls and eventually was pulled for Lowe, with the bases loaded and 1 out.  Then Lowe walked in a run and gave up another run on a fielder's choice making it a much more tense 5-3 ballgame.  This is an ongoing experiment/adventure.  Maybe Joe Ortiz (see below) will/should get a shot at being the setup guy.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining:  Beltre is starting to come out of a mini slump he was in to start off the season, driving in a first inning run.

Pierzynski and Moreland went yard back to back in the bottom of 4.  Moreland went 3-3, staring to come out of his early season slump.

As mentioned above, Ogando was lifted for the young reliever Joe Ortiz with 2 on and 1 out in the 6th.  Ortiz got out of the inning without giving up any runs.  And Ortiz was perfect in 1.2 IP.  At least one media-type has referenced that Ortiz reminds some of an Everyday Eddie Guardado-type pitcher, especially because of the way he carries himself on the mound.  And not just because he has the same "body-type", is a lefty, a reliever, and has a Latino surname like Everyday Eddie.  Everyday Eddie, Jr.?

Elvis drove in some insurance runs (2) in bottom of 7 to give the Rangers a 5-1 lead.  The Rangers would need those runs given Kirkman and Lowe's adventures (see above) in the 8th.

Nathan pitched the 9th and after a bit of another adventure (and a terrible called 3rd strike for the final out), got the 300th save of his career.  Impressive. (Correcting my last post, his last outing against the Halos was not a save opportunity).

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Is it weird that a ball club's name is associated with a the body of water adjacent to a metropolitan area?  I think so.  Tampa, Flordia is a town.  Tampa Bay is the body of water in the Gulf of Mexico next to the city.  The Rays don't play in the bay.  They play on land, in Tampa, Florida.  The whole thing is very unstable.  Of course the Rays learned it from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Read more...

DFW Metroplex's new nickname? Baseball Town, USA

I like our new nickname.  Thanks Hambone.

Read more...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Rangers Beat Halos 7-3, Win Series

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The wind was jet streaming out to right field, which, as the national ESPN announcers pointed out about 27 times before first pitch, could help the visiting team.  Yu got off to a little bit of shaky start in the top of the first giving up 2 runs.

Wash pulled Yu due to a blister that affected him throwing his change-up after 5 IP.  In the 6th he was due to face the bottom third of the of the Halos' order with righties due up, instead lefty Robbie Ross came in.  Why not throw a righty?  Ross put two on before getting out of the inning.  Also the blister only affected Yu's change-up and he had only thrown 85 pitches.  So why not just have Yu not throw the change?

For at least one game, Hamilton broke out of his slump with a single and a double.  I also question if you can call it only a "slump" since it dates back to last June.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: The wind was jet streaming out to right field, which of course could help your Rangers and did.  Berkman and Murph went yard back to back in the first putting 3 runs on the board. Soto, giving Pierzynski a breather behind the plate, had a double and then scored on a hit by Kins.  Speaking of Kins, what did I say?  It's an odd (versus even) year.  Kins also had a 3 run homer to increase the Rangers' lead from 1 run to 4 in the bottom of 6.

Here is yet another example of Yu being strong to very strong: in the top of 3, with no outs, Yu walked Pujols and then gave up a double to Hamilton.  Pujols held at 3B.  Then Yu struck out Trumbo and Kendrick and induced an inning ending fly ball to CF.  Nice.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Pujols doesn't look right when he's running.  In fact it's painful to watch him run.

Why Leonys Martin instead of Gentry in CF?  Again I know it's a small sample size but right now Gentry is playing better this year.  And given how well Gentry played last year for the club I would have thought it'd be his spot to lose.

Read more...

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Harry Has a Rough Start, Rangers Lose to Halos 8-4

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Matty Harrison got roughed up in the first couple of innings, giving up two HRs in the first and staking the Halos a 4-0 lead.  That and an ER Harry gave up in the 2nd inning would be all the Angels would need.  Although Murph had a hit he's still struggling to step up, batting .133 in the young season.  Oh yeah, Pujols had 2 HRs and was intentionally walked 3 times, the first time that's happened for an American League player since Ike was president.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Moreland got off the snide, hitting a homer for his first and only hit of the year.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: We again saw the Hamilton we were used to seeing everyday at the end of last season as he went 0-4 with 2 SOs (albeit with 1 BB and 1 R).

This is the exact kind of game I'm afraid the Rangers are going to find incredibly difficult to win.  If the Rangers' pitching doesn't hold up then it doesn't seem you can count on the offense to put up 5+ runs in a ballgame.  At least it doesn't from the small sample size we've seen so far.

Read more...

Friday, April 5, 2013

Rangers Beat Hamilton's Halos 3-2 In Home Opener

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Poor, poor Mitch Moreland is still without a hit in this young season.  The offense only managed 3 runs on 12 hits, not a great run to hit ratio.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Nellie, AJ Pierszynski, Kins and Berkman continue to produce at the plate.  Doogie, the Dutch Oven, Holland looked great and Nathan closed the game out.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Josh Hamilton made his return to Texas and he looked about the same as he did towards the end of last season.  He swung at a 3rd strike away in the dirt, he first-swung and popped out, he misplayed a ball in the corner and he seemed to lollygag on a ball popped up to shallow right field that fell between him and the Halos' first baseman.  Oh yeah, and he was without a hit, sound familiar?

Read more...

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Rangers Beat Astros 4-0, Take Series 2-1

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Moreland is still on track to be hitless this season.  Small sample size but after he had such a good spring it's got to be frustrating to the first baseman.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining:  Rangers pitchers had a combined 15 SO's.  Ogando had 10 SO's with only one BB and gave up only 4 hits for the win.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: The 'Stros may not be the best test to see how this thing is going to go this season.  The Halos will be.  Let's see how that goes starting Friday.

Read more...

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Yu Nearly Perfect, Rangers Win 7-0 Over Astros.

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: The Rangers had only supplied 1 run through 7.1 innings at the plate.  Moreland and Beltre are on pace to go without a hit this season.

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: Yu pitched 8.2 innings perfectly with 14 strikeouts before he gave up his first hit allowing his first base runner.

Gentry had a double and a triple in his first start/action of the season.  Kins went yard with Gentry on third.  Kins, Elvis & Fat Elvis were a combined 8 for 12 in the 1-3 spots.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: Our local announcers, Busby & TAG, talked during the broadcast like there was a chance Yu wouldn't come back out for the 9th after he was perfect through 8.  Really?  Could they really think that there was any chance Yu wasn't going to go back out and try to finish it off?

 Yu induced a ground ball from the 27th batter he faced.  If the batter had been a little earlier around or a little behind on the pitch it would have been a routine grounder to Kins or Elvis.  Or if he would have topped the pitch it would have be a slow bouncer right back to Yu.  Instead it was sharply hit right back up the middle through Yu's legs and into centerfield.  So close.  But still a great, awsome performance.

Read more...

Monday, April 1, 2013

Reports Say Elvis/Rangers Agree to $120M Extension

Glass Half Empty / Afternoon Cloud: Now can Elvis bat lead off instead of Kins?

Glass Half Full / Silver Lining: At least that means the Rangers have settled on Elvis as their SS for the foreseeable furture.

Thoughts / Observations / Sidenotes: So what the heck does that mean for Profar?  Kins signed a big extension  not too long ago.  There doesn't seem to be a spot for Profar in the middle infield.  Since the Rangers have an obvious need there, any chance of Profar starting in center field in triple-A?

Read more...

When Last We Left Our Boys of Summer...

Older TTRB Stuff

Powered by Blogger.

  © Blogger templates Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP