Vicente Padilla had nothing. He looked weak, and had over 30 pitches in the first inning alone. He was lucky to escape the first inning with just one run given up. We did tie it up in the bottom of the first, which I’m sure made everyone feel good.
But then it got really REALLY ugly in the top of the second, and that’s not even Padilla. The Rangers comitted two errors, and one was particuarly heinous, it looked like something out of little league, or a videogame. The not so bad one was Ian Kinsler dropping a ball thrown in from the outfield which allowed a run to score. But the particuarly heinous one was Gary Matthews in center whiffing on a ball, allowing it to roll all the way to the wall. By the time they retireived it out there, the Royal batter had come around third, and scored on that play. Ugly! There was one to my eyes at the park looked like an error but wasn’t counted as such – a ball got by Mark DeRosa in right which I thought should have been an error, but it wasn’t. We did actually get a true third error in the game later on when Mike Young had a fielding one. UGLY!
All of that combined to allow a big ol’ five spot for the Royals in the second. That was the game. Yeah, we managed to piece together a few more runs in the 6th & 8th, but after the second inning, the game was essentially over. Benoit did pretty good in relief, as did Ron Mahay, but John Wasdin allowed three runs in the top of the ninth to add insult to injury.
However, one positive note was the debut of Carlos Lee. Wearing #45 (RA Dickey’s old number), Lee made an immediate impact. Playing DH tonight, he went two for four – two singles in his first two at bats. Lee got a standing ovation as he came to the plate in the second inning, and was pretty well applauded after that from what I saw. I’ll talk more about the trade over the weekend, I’ll try and leave it out of here.
I was at this game tonight. We wnated to be there for the Build a Bear giveaway, and Samantha did fine for awhile, but she hit her wall, as the game started only half an hour before her bedtime anyway. She was having fun for awhile, but in the fourth, she hit the wall. We had to leave in the fifth inning, which is very unlike me, but the welfare of the kid comes first. I am going again Saturday night (by myself), so that will be different.
I did take some pictures during the game of a few things – I had decent seats, so I got some nice shots of some of the guys at the plate. Check out my pictures by clicking on the Carlos Lee thumbnail pic here.
Rupe Up, Guzman Down
- P Josh Rupe recalled from AAA
- OF Freddy Guzman optioned to AAA [ Link ]
Carlos Lee Trade
- OF Carlos Lee & OF Nelson Cruz acquired via trade for OF Kevin Mench, OF Laynce Nix, P Francisco Cordero, & P Julian Cordero [ Link ]
Mench, Cordero, Nix all gone. Carlos Lee is in
Just saw this come across the ESPN website. It’s just happening, so I’ll have more to say later.
Power ball: Lee headed to Rangers
The Brewers are trading Carlos Lee to the Rangers as part of a multi-player deal, ESPN’s Keith Law has learned. Texas also will get Nelson Cruz and a player to be named for Francisco Cordero, Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix.
Update: ESPN has a story on it now. Link.
Update #2: It’s now on MLB.com as well. Link.
Update #3: Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports weighs in on the trade, calling it one that can “impact both leagues”. Link.
Update #4: Aaron Gleeman from Rotoworld weighs in on the trade, calling the inclusion of Nelson Cruz “the most surprising part of this deal.” Link.
Update #5: Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline has an article with a similar slant to Ken Rosenthal’s. Link.
Update #6: TR Sullivan has a lot more to say in this story on the Rangers site. In it, talks about Cruz as a key to the deal, even so far as to having JD call him “our right fielder for some time”. This same link now has a 10 minute audio interview with TR Sullivan with the guys from MLB Radio, so check that out, too.
You can discuss this subject on this thread on our forums here.
Here’s a few thoughts by me on the outgoing Rangers players (other than the minor league pitcher Julian Cordero, who I don’t know anything about):
Mench: I always liked Kevin, the goofy fun attitude worked for me. However, we all know it never rubbed well with Showalter. Also, Mench developed into a rather streaky hitter, with more trips on the slump side than the hot side. Probably fell out of favor due to a combination of both of those.
Nix: Even moreso than Mench. Definitely tried hard enough, but always seemed to not get much above the Mendoza line when he had a chance to grasp the CF job. Could really power a home run. Nix was the only guy I ever recall (besides Carlos Delgado) who hit a home run to right field that went OVER section 251 (last in upper home run porch) and into the walkway back there.
Cordero: We all know what happened to him and his closer’s job. Looks like Otsuka is set now, we’ll probably sign him to at least 2007, I would imagine. Cordero was the final link to the big Juan Gonzalez Tigers trade some years ago. All the players from that are out of the system now.
As far Carlos Lee, he’s (in my opinion) a more reliable stick than any of the current outfield options we have at the moment, so that will be an upgrade. He’s only under contract for 2006, he had an $8.5 Million 2006 option excersized by the Brewers in the last offseason, so he can be a free agent after this year. Be curious to see if we try and keep him especially if we try and make a run at Vernon Wells in the offseason. I also don’t know much about the other inbound player, Nelson Cruz, so I don’t have anything to add there, either.
Anyone know if Lee will be in uniform tonight in Texas?
As I said in one of the updates, TR Sullivan has some good stuff to say. Read this article over at the Rangers site. This article also says that Josh Rupe is being called up to take Cordero’s empty roster spot, but how the actual bullpen jobs break down is as of yet unknown. This same link now has a 10 minute audio interview with TR Sullivan with the guys from MLB Radio, so check that out, too.
G102: Rangers swept by Yankees, 8-7
You know, two seasons ago, Ryan Drese was busted on live TV making a gesture at a cameraman. Remember that? That’s what I feel right now about the Yankees.
Harold Reynolds out at Baseball Tonight
This has apparently just been announced, and I don’t see any other stories that give any details as to why. I’m sure that will come out soon enough.
However, I will have to say, I’ll miss his sparring with John Kruk – those were some of the most entertaining moments of the show for me. :)
UPDATE 7/26: After reading around a bit this morning, it would appear that something behind the scenes went on. One article I read states that ESPN policy says the only three things you can be fired for on the spot are 1)Fighting with co-workers; 2) Transmitting Internet pornography; 3)Sexual harassment. Some other ESPN baseball folks who have had “issues” recently are Michael Irvin & Rick Sutcliffe. These guys had a drug paraphenelia (sp?) and on air alcohol issue, and weren’t fired, just suspended, so Reynolds’ issue was probably one of the three above, or something else more severe.
I did peek at Baseball Tonight last night, and it was just John Kruk & Karl Ravech with Tim Kurkjian (sp?) on the phone. No mention of Reynolds, although I would have been surprised if there was, tell you the truth.
However, according to this link from a site that deals with “ESPN Dirt”, it would appear it’s the sexual harrassment thing. However, it’s all rumour as if you read this link, someone denies the sexual angle, and then someone says “yes”, so we won’t REALLY know unless ESPN or Reynolds themselves say. And even then one has to wonder if they’d tell the full story.
UPDATE #2: Reynolds said something publically. According to this article, he claims he merely gave a woman a hug and it was misinterpreted. So that seems to cobborate the sex angle of the story. Of course he’s gonna spin it to suit himself – I doubt if it was “merely a hug” he would have been fired for it.
G101: Rangers lose to Yankees, 7-4
As is my policy on games we lose to the Yankees, I will not write about this one.
Except this. I was at this game. It was hot. It was fairly entertaining booing A-rod. :)
Eaton activated
- P Adam Eaton activated from 60 day DL
- P Bryan Corey designated for assignment. [ Link ]
G100: Rangers lose to Yankees, 6-2
Game just ended. In keeping up with my personal policy on Yankee games, I will not write about it. Except this. Tex’s home run went further than 420 feet.
G99: Rangers shut out AGAIN
The Rangers have now been shut out for the fifth time in the month of July alone! We lost the series finale to the White Sox, 5-0.
Jon Garland went 8 plus innings, giving up just 6 hits. He also irritated his manager when he wouldn’t intentionally hit Ian Kinsler – Ozzie Guillen needs to chill the hell out regarding hitting people. Yeah, everyone knows it’s done, but stfu already, dude.
Anyway, Vicente Padilla only actually gave up one earned run in his 7 innings pitched. There were three more unearned runs. Don’t ever like giving up that many runs.
Starting to get a little concerned that we’ve now been shut out this many times in one month.
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