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As last game could be the start of Nick Tepesch’s loss of his rotation spot when guys come back, this one could have been the start of Justin Grimm’s.   Eight hits and three walks combined for five runs in five innings.  Ugh.   However, all five runs came in the first inning.  That he came out beyond the first was a bit of a surprise.  But he did put up zeroes in innings 2-5.   That’s not bad, but the first inning was pretty far away from good.  Check that, VERY far away.

My man Smokin’ Joe Ortiz had another shutout inning.  Liking this guy a lot! [Read more…]

This was supposed to be a day off, but the Rangers had to make a trip to Chicago to make up a rainout from a couple of weeks ago against the Cubs.  It showed.  They were lethargic, and quite frankly looked like a tired team.

Nick Tepesch might be coming back to earth a bit.   As he was the starter, he did the “fly ahead early” ahead of the team to get some sleep.  It didn’t help.  He got knocked around.    Threw four innings, allowed six hits, four walks, and the first six Cubs runs; although one was unearned.   Given we now have Colby Lewis & Martin Perez about to hit rehab assignments, it looks like perhaps Tepesch will lose his spot if he pitches like this again.  Even if he straightens up, he’s likely to lose his spot anyway, as we’d need two slots for the other guys.   Still, I like the kid, and he’s done mostly pretty well this season.   [Read more…]

Oh, there’s a bunch I could write about this game.

• Yu Darvish’s 14 strikeouts. (16 overall by staff)
• Nelson Cruz’ 2 run HR in the 6th to tie it.
• Another scoreless outing by our bullpen
• Mitch Moreland’s increasing confidence

Oh, there’s a bunch from this game to like.  But honestly, the thing that most Rangers fans will remember is the image to the left here.  The Rangers swept the Red Sox.   It envokes memories of this sound clip, which was also against the Red Sox..

The Rangers, who were already a good team this year, swept the Boston Red Sox, the previous best record in MLB holder before the series.   YU gotta love that!

 

 

Well, OK, it wasn’t just Ogando, but I was getting tired of saying “Rangers beat…”  ;)    Although, Ogando didn’t do too bad.  Had a OK line.  Six innings pitched, and six hits allowed.  Threw in two walks, but gave up just one run – which is the important stat.   Didn’t exactly dominate, but pitched decently enough.  Technical quality start (as I’ve said before, I think a QS should be seven innings, not six).    Alexi also struck out four, and ran his season record to 3-2.   Average that out, and it’s about an 18 win season, if he sustains the pace, and I don’t know any team that won’t take an 18 game winner from one of their pitchers.  [Read more…]

This one is simple.

Derek Holland was bringing it.   8IP, 6H, 1BB, 0R, 9K, 112P.   Best outing of the year.

Our offense woke up.  EIGHTEEN hits, comprising of three doubles and fifteen singles.  Three walks thrown in there.

That was it.  Big bop bats, and stellar pitching will lead to wins like this every time.  Need more of it!

Justin Grimm drew the “no offense” short straw in this one.   He actually pitched quite marvelously, but didn’t get the win.  That’s pretty much the definition of “hard luck loser”.   He did give up the three runs the White Sox got, and officially got a quality start.  But he was cruising through the first five. Didn’t allow any runs in the first five innings.   And of the six hits he allowed total, three of them came in the sixth inning.   Grimm did make it back out for the seventh, and retired the two batters he faced in the seventh, but was out at that point.   Felt bad, because the three runs all came on a three run home run.  Outside of that, he had a great outing.  But as Wash says, “That’s the way baseball go”. [Read more…]

This is a game we lost, but outhit our opponent.  Whenever that happens, I always see it as a game of missed opportunities.  Due to work and family stuff, I didn’t see or hear any of this game, so I’m saying this before looking at the recap or the box scores.    Taking a quick look at the box score, I see we left nine men on base.  Yeah, that kind of number kind of proves “missed opportunities”.     [Read more…]

It was a Yu Darvish game.   I’m getting the feeling when Darvish pitches that you used to get when Nolan Ryan pitched.  You always felt SOMETHING was going to happen, and you started the game expecting to win it.    So when Darvish got down 2-0 in the first inning, I was midly bummed.  Not that I expected the “Perfect game” Darvish every time out.  But I expected him to hold the line a little better early on. [Read more…]

Taking a pass on this one, ran out of time.