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Usually towards the end of the year, we always hear about how many players the Texas Rangers have used overall in any particular season. The Rangers are usually towards the high end of that list. Injuries, callups, usually make for a long list, and you tend to forget the guys who are here so quick that they don’t even have time for the proverbial “cup of coffee”.

Last year I kept track of it, and it worked pretty well, so I’ll do it again for 2009. This post will get bumped whenever there is a player who is making his first appearance for the Texas Rangers in 2009. I am going to count guys who get called up, but don’t play immediately (or sometimes don’t play at all), as they will be part of the 25 man roster officially. So here goes. The most recent additions will be on the top of the list. The original opening day 25 man roster is not in any particular order. The Rangers have one guy in the 2009 original 25 that is making his major league debut (Elvis Andrus), which was the same as 2008 (Kaz Fukumori).

#45 – Craig Gentry (Sep 1 – Major League Debut)
#44 – Pedro Strop (Aug 27 – Major League Debut)
#43 – Ivan Rodriguez (Aug 18)
#42 – Kevin Richardson (Aug 15 – Major League Debut)
#41 – Esteban German (Aug 5)
#40 – Neftali Feliz (Aug 2)
#39 – Dustin Nippert (Jul 7)
#38 – Julio Borbon (Jun 29 – Major League Debut)
#37 – Jason Grilli (Jun 9)
#36 – Doug Mathis (Jun 3)
#35 – Brandon Boggs (Jun 2)
#34 – Guillermo Moscoso (May 29 – Major League Debut)
#33 – Tommy Hunter (May 29)
#32 – Joaquin Arias (May 9)
#31 – Greg Golson (May 4)
#30 – Max Ramirez (May 1)
#29 – Luis Mendoza (Apr 23)
#28 – Darren O’Day (Apr 22)
#27 – Derek Holland (Apr 18 – Major League Debut)
#26 – Willie Eyre (Apr 15)
#25 to #1: Kris Benson, Scott Feldman, Frank Francisco, Eddie Guardado, Matt Harrison, Jason Jennings, Warner Madrigal, Brandon McCarthy, Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Josh Rupe, CJ Wilson, Jarrod Saltamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, Elvis Andrus (Major League Debut), Hank Blalock, Chris Davis, Ian Kinsler, Omar Vizquel, Michael Young, Marlon Byrd, Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, Andruw Jones, David Murphy.

What was that mess?
It’s pretty bad when you score 10 runs in three innings, with a 7 spot, and it doesn’t feel like you did it, or it even mattered.
You can try making yourself feel better by saying things like “It’s only one loss”, and we’re only 6 games behind Anaheim, and 4 in the Wild Card, but..
Wow. THAT SUCKED!

Uh-oh. Another well pitched game given away by the bullpen. That’s happened a little too much lately. While it’s not a true problem I think, the fact that it’s happened more than once is a little concerning.
Kevin Millwood started the game in search of his first win against the Twins (!). Period. He pitched more than well enough to win. Six innings, six hits, two walks, and just two runs allowed. Both of those were on a two run home run to Jason Kubel. So Kevin was keeping things well in check. Felt good turning it over to the bullpen.
Jason Grilli came on first, and threw a scoreless, one hit inning of relief. That felt good.
What didn’t feel good was what CJ Wilson did. One inning, three hits, one walk, and THREE runs allowed – all earned. CJ was also credited with a blown save, and loss. Good, he was total ass this game.
Offensively, We had a couple of doubles, a Nelson Cruz home run, and a pile of singles. Didn’t exactly light it up, as Scott Baker kept us mostly in check. 7IP, 6H, 3R, 6K, 1BB. Their bullpen didn’t allow us any movement, but it didn’t matter.
Was a pretty deflating feeling in the bottom of the eighth, so there wasn’t much fun to be had in the top of the ninth. Another late inning loss. Sigh.

I’m taking a pass on this one, but not for the usual reason. This evening after the game was over, I found that a friend of mine had to go to the emergency room. She had just had a miscarriage a few days before, and had come home after having that procedure done. She had to go back to the ER tonight, and has been worked on all night. It’s almost 3AM now, and I’m gonna crash. My mind has been there tonight, plus I’m sure a lot of tomorrow will be spent dealing with fallout of her ER trip tonight. So I’m giving this one a pass – just wanted to say why, it’s not a casual bailout.
God bless you my friend, may you be healed both physically and emotionally. You’re too young for this kind of stuff.

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

P.S. Scott Feldman was great, wasn’t he? Nice to see him getting some love on ESPN (they had him on Baseball Tonight via telephone)

Darnit.

You know, after the game was over, I tried to think of some cool way to say how great this win was. I thought and thought, and couldn’t come up with something good. All I wanted to say was “Man, that game felt great. The Yankees lost.” This felt better than most Ranger wins against the Yankees, too. I can’t quantify that, it just “felt” better.
AJ Burnett was actually quite good. Went six innings, gave up just two hits, and struck out twelve. That’s 12 out of 18 batters he got outs on he struck out. However, one of the hits was a three run home run to Ian Kinsler. Then when Burnett came out, his successor gave up another three run home run – this time to Chris Davis – something I’m sure brought a smile to Jamey Newberg. Ian Kinsler followed up with another home run in the 8th. We just overpowered them. Which is no easy feat.
Dustin Nippert was completely ineffective, but was lucky as hell. He didn’t make it out the fourth inning, and when he did exit, he had thrown 98 pitches. He also bloody walked seven batters during this time, and I believe only one of them scored. Jason Grilli followed up, and got the win, but deserved it. 2.1 innings of perfect baseball. CJ & Frankie finished the game out, not allowing any runs either.
I listened to the game on the radio in front of the computer, and had the MLB Gameday going too. I used their Twitter integration to chat with others about the game, which was kind of cool. Enjoyed that.
What else is cool is Anaheim lost and Boston lost. Good. Good, Good.
Oh, finally, after last night’s game, I wrote that they need to end the Jason Jennings experiment. That turned out to be pretty prophetic, as before this game, they designated Jennings for assignment to make room for Pedro Strop. I usually don’t get my baseball wishes answered that fast. :)