The Seattle Mariners DFA’ed Brad Wilkerson on Wednesday. That was a bit of a surprise. Brad’s time here wasn’t great, but I figured he had a slot in Seattle. I guess they were tired of his whiffing like the fans in Texas were. Seattle is still on the hook for the rest of his signed salary this year, which was $3 million. He also had $2 mil more in incentives, which he obviously will not get the chance to reach.
I think Brad’s uniform number below is the way most Ranger fans will remember him.
My subject says it all, I think. The only thing I can think of to write about Jennings is that according to several post game stories, he got hurt during the game. If that’s true, and something really is wrong, it could be a graceful way out. Jennings looked good early on, and had a few fantastic moments, but he’s making Mark Clark look good now. Time for something else there.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention something that I always love seeing – someone make their major league debut. Tonight it was Brandon Boggs. Pinch hitting for Frank Catalanotto, Boggs worked the count to I think 3-1, and then jacked a low and away pitch into right center for his first major league hit. In fact, Boggs got another hit on his second at bat, so he’s 2-2 so far in the majors.
The game left lifeless, and that’s because of the crappy feeling you get early on when down 5-0 after the first two innings.
But in more interesting news, the Philadelphia Eagles are suing Terrell Owens over money he did not pay them back. Go Philly! :)
Usually when a guy is DFA’ed, you don’t hear much from them. But Jason Botts apparently wants out per this article over at the Ft Worth Star Telegram today.
Normally, I’m of the ilk of if a player wants out, get him out of here. But for some reason to hear the player actually come out and say it makes me want to bury him in the franchise somewhere so he doesn’t get a fresh start. Petty reaction, I admit, but my point is you usually don’t see quotes from the player saying this stuff.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t end up like Travis Hafner.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had a game like this. We were out in front early, and kept it – no looking back. We’ve not had many of those. We’re usually down 4 or 5 to nothing in the first inning, and we have to hope. Not this time.
Milton Bradley had a no doubter of a three run home run in the bottom of the first. His home run got me to say something I haven’t said much this season – GOODBYE! the second the ball hit the bat. There was no doubt about this one. One funny thing I was surprised that Josh didn’t talk about with the home run was some guy near where the ball landed had his popcorn fly up in the air – and it looked like a pretty full bucket. Whether it was an accident or he was throwing it at the ball is unknown, but popcorn was a flyin’ when the ball went over the fence. That wasn’t the only home run of the game for the Rangers. Josh Hamilton & Jason Botts also launched balls over the stands (but no more popcorn).
But this game wasn’t about the offense, even though there was a lot of it. It was about Vicente Padilla looking very much like the pitcher that Arizona and Philadelphia hoped he would be. Looked strong, pretty good pitch count (121 for nine innings), and most importantly, a complete game shutout. We haven’t had one of those in several years now, and I could go for seeing more of those. We all could. Question is next time out, which Padilla are we going to get? He needs to string together several of these before I think people will really buy into him. I don’t mean complete game shutouts (although that’d be nice), just good strong outings. On the whole, he’s been better in 2008, but I don’t think Rangers fans are ready to completely buy into him just yet.
Josh Hamilton and Michael Young both had three hits, not a huge surprise there. Gerald Laird was 2-5 and is now batting .269. Respectable, definitely an improvement over last year. If he keeps going up, I suspect he’ll get traded in July.
Ian Kinsler had two hits in the #1 hole, and has an OBP of .359. Not bad at all, but you’d like a little better from the leadoff guy.
This was a good game. Something we needed. Next up are the Kansas City Royals starting on Tuesday. They’re not as light a touch as they used to be, so we better keep our heads about us.
Our huge one game winning streak is over, having been thrashed by the Twins 12-6 on Saturday night. To be honest, I wasn’t filled with confidence when the game started. That’s mostly because of who was starting for us. Sidney Ponson. I’m thinking – GREAT. It’s April 26th, and we’re already using guys to start games for us that are now journeymen trying to resurrect a career, and if they don’t make it here, they’re done. I have issues with that for two reasons. First, that we’re using guys like Ponson, and second that we’re considered the last line. Can’t make it in Texas? Well, you’re done then. That’s fairly annoying.
So anyway, Sir Sidney Ponson took the hill for the Rangers. Didn’t look too bad early on, actually. His pitches had a lot of movement on them, and actually looked decent. His line is actually pretty good too, so he’ll probably stay in rotation for awhile, now with Brandon McInjury going to be out for awhile. Ponson’s line was 5.1 innings, seven hits, one walk, and five runs, although only ONE was earned. Finished with an ERA of 1.69 for his work.
Yeah, four unearned runs. That’s thanks to more errors by the Rangers. In all we had THREE errors (plus a passed ball by Saltamacchia). One of the errors was by Ponson himself, the others by Ramon Vazquez, and one by Michael Young. The one by Vazquez was one I saw happen, and it was just “Come one dude, you can make THAT”. The fielding does seem extremely sloppy this season.
Of course when the team gives up sixteen hits and twelve runs, there’s not going to be much in the way of great pitching lines. In fact, only Franklyn German gave up a donut, and he went just 0.2 innings. Blech.
Offensively, we had twelve hits. All were singles except one double by Josh Hamilton, who seems to be going to left field an awful lot. David Murphy was 2-5 with three RBI’s, and is turning into quite a steal from Boston last year. Josh Hamilton was 3-4, and Ian Kinsler was 2-5. Not much power, and we did have a decent number of hits, and of course, we left a dozen men on base.
Ron Washington looked fairly blah in what little of the post game interview I saw. Looked pretty flat. Whether it’s a product of the team just being bad, or everyone (except me) seemingly calling for his head, I don’t know, but the team does seem fairly lifeless now.
Saw an interesting link tonight which was a summary of stories about the possibility of Gerald Laird finally being dealt, now that Saltamacchia is back, and by all accounts will a) not be playing first, and b) is not going back to AAA. Laird’s been doing fairly decently this year, and could bring something back, but it seems a bit early in the season to push that button.
I suspect he’ll be dealt eventually, but my gut feeling is not this early. I didn’t expect to see that happen until June somewhere. I still think he’ll end up in Boston, but I don’t have any hard facts on that – just a gut feeling.
The Yankees could probably use him too, but what do they have that they’d be willing to give up that we need? Unless a trade is expanded beyond 1×1, I don’t see that happening, either.
Hands up those of you who thought that Justin Morneau’s home run was the end of the game. It was for me. Fortunately, I didn’t just skip past the bottom of the third inning.
The third inning was an active one. The Twins got two singles (one of which was a bunt single), and a walk. Morneau followed that with a grand slam, putting the Twins up 5-0. Given how our last week has gone, that was a “Oh crap, here’s #8” feeling. Fortunately, though the Twins put a stinker of their own up there in the bottom of the frame.
If my box score is right, the Rangers started off with five singles in a row, and then two doubles. Unfortunately, the second one had a boneheaded baserunning play. Jason Botts doubled to right field, which sent Blalock home. Hank was thrown out, though, and on the play, Botts stupidly tried to advance to third – he was so out it was laughable. That killed the momentum we had that inning, as Catalanotto struck out looking right after that. Now, a five spot is nothing to sneeze about, but had we not had the bonehead play, five runs would have been in and men on second and third with nobody out. Could have been a heck of a lot more.
What made that feel worse is that in the sixth inning, Catalanotto was called out at the plate, too. Two outs at home – something you never want to see.
Kevin Millwood’s line obviously wasn’t good, but he seemed better than his line showed. He did go six, but gave up eight hits and three walks. Struck out six, but did give up five earned runs. Even with that, his ERA is still a VERY respectable 3.32.
Our bullpen threw four innings of shutout ball. Something nice to see after the bad performance on the losing streak. Eddie Guardado came off the DL and was the first of the four relievers (including Wright, Wilson, & Benoit) to toss a scoreless frame.
Offensively, we had a lot of hits (fourteen in all). Every Rangers starter had at least one, and we had four guys with multiples. We were led here by David Murphy who went 3-5. Hank Blalock had two doubles in this game. Jason Botts & Josh Hamilton also had doubles. Hamilton’s double was one of those that stopped in between two outfielders, and Josh chugged his way to a double where most guys would have settled for a single – nice hustle on that one (if you saw it, you know what I mean). Murphy would have had two doubles, except the walkoff one was far enough for a double, but was only credited with a single; the game having ended at that point.
Unfortunately, though in the bottom of the 10th inning, Hank Blalock came up gimpy going to second base, and was quite clearly in pain, clutching his hamstring. That looked bad when it happened, but he was going to be evaluated today. The fact that he wasn’t put on the DL last night is hopeful, but hamstrings are never a good thing to see happen in a game. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t end up on the DL.
Also, there was an enormous amount of press yesterday about this weekend bringing the firing of Ron Washington. Some of my blogging brethren were actively calling for it. Quite frankly, I don’t see the need for this. Washington reminds me a lot of Johnny Oates, and Wash I think needs more time than the one year and a month he’s been given during the regular season. Are things going great? No. Does someone need to be accountable? Oh sure, my gut just doesn’t say it’s time yet.
Having said that, if Wash is let go, my guess for interim replacement is probably Art Howe, as he’s already here. But I really don’t want to see Wash go yet. I don’t think it’s time, even given the horrendous start we’ve gotten off to.