Rangerfans.com

I didn’t get to see or hear any of this game, as I was busy doing some family stuff. Probably a good thing I didn’t, as I would have gotten mad at it. I’ve written many times about how I don’t like ten inning games, we usually lose them. More than 10? I’m all for it, but games that last exactly ten we seem to lose all the time.
The Rangers were up 6-2 going into the eighth. The M’s tied it, 6-6. We went up 8-6, then they tied it again to send it to 10. Scored one in the 10th? Of course, game over.
Bah.
Feliz started the game, went five. Wasn’t too bad – four hits, two hits and two earned runs.
Darren O’Day was pretty awful – four hits, four earned runs in one inning.
Pedro Strop gave up a couple, as did one by Miller, but they’re not making the roster, so that doesn’t so much matter to me.
Couple of home runs for the Rangers by guys who also aren’t making the 25 man roster. Those being Kevin Cash & Omar Quintanilla.
Bah.
Sigh.
Any number of those words you want to sub in there (for words that look like @$%)@$^) usually) are fine here.

This has been a BAD week for pitching. The numbers combined were so awful, it makes me feel completely bad about the entire bullpen. I’m sure a lot of it is just spring training stuff, but you always want your guys to be better than worse in spring.
Matt Harrison got bombed (well, not super bombed, but enough), and so did Cody Eppley. Eppley’s since been sent down (I’m writing this 4 days after the game happened). Mark Lowe also got bombed. Darren Oliver & Zack Jackson didn’t give up any (earned) runs, and Jackson’s been sent down as well.
Harrison gave up four hits and four walks for four earned runs in four innings. His strikeouts and home runs allowed totaled four as well. Not that it’s a relevant stat (or a real one) at all, but I ran out of fours to use for him. Oh, the icing is he had two wild pitches, too. Bad outing.
Cody Eppley gave up two hits and two walks for three earned runs in his ONE inning.
Mark Lowe gave up three hits and two walks for four earned runs in his ONE inning.
Mr Yuck, indeed.
We were actually in the lead after three innings (4-3), but that didn’t last. Our offense was fairly scattered. Two guys (Murphy, Tracy) had two hits, everyone else had one. However, Elvis Andrus’ one was a good one – a home run. Something he hasn’t done in bloody ages. David Murphy also had a double.
Six runs isn’t anything to sneeze at, but when the pitching coughs up that many, you just want to hang your head and scream “Put in the Horse!”

Last night I didn’t get to start watching the game until late. It started at 9PM anyway, and I wasn’t clear to watch baseball until about 10:30. Checked on a few online msgs before going to watch the game, and a friend of mine had posted this as his Facebook status:

I forgot the Ranger game was on TV. I think I’ll check in and….ooooooohhhhhhh no.

That irritated me, as I don’t like reading updates before I get to see the games, as I usually watch them time shifted (Thank you, TiVo). Granted, it’s my own fault for looking, but still. So anyway, I took that comment to mean we were losing bad. Tuned in, and it was 12-0. I tuned right back out, and went to play some MLB 2k11 on my Xbox 360.
In a story about the game, Ron Washington said,

“Full moon,” manager Ron Washington said. “It seems like we left our gloves, bats and brains at home. We just had a bad night.”

I’ll go further than that. IT SUCKED! No good came of this game at all. The thumbs down image I used for the last game doesn’t cut it. Time to haul out “Mr. Yuck”…

Chris Davis’ grand slam was cool, though.

I only saw part of this game, and I missed the end, as I was recovering from being sick. Couldn’t stay awake to watch it. Good thing I didn’t, otherwise I would have gotten mad and it would have woken me up when I needed to sleep.

Adrian Beltre & Chris Davis had good games. That’s about it for this game. :)

Bah.

On Monday, the Rangers tried to give away the game to the Dodgers, but managed to hold on for the win. Not the same on Tuesday. They did give up the game to the Dodgers. We were up 6-4 going into the bottom of the 8th, and gave up three.
The Rangers offense was another of those light hitting games. We had thirteen hits and one walk for offense. Of the 13 hits, just one of them was anything other than a single (Murphy double). Speaking of Murphy, he had a good day going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. Most of our hits were bunched, as Borbon, Andrus, Napoli, & Blanco had two hits as well. Couple with Murphy’s three, and that left just two for the rest of the lineup (other Andrus, & Moreland).
Pitching wise, the wheels came off this game for Derek Holland & Alexi Ogando. Holland went four, gave up seven hits and two walks for four earned runs. Ogando went 3.2 innings, gave up six hits for three earned runs. Cody Epply put out the fire late, only went 0.1, but didn’t give up anything. I don’t think anyone expected Holland to get through camp with a bad outing, but one never WANTS to see them.
Nice story about Elvis getting to play with his brother in this game on mlb.com. Check it out.

The Dodgers threw starter John Ely out there on this game, and in the first inning, he looked quite good. That was about it, though. I was actually ready to write a Dodger fan I know and praise Ely. Then he wasn’t nearly as good after the first inning. :)
The Rangers first run came in the second after David Murphy doubled in Nelson Cruz.
We put up a three spot in the third when Ian Kinsler doubled, Elvis Andrus reached on a fielding error, and then Josh Hamilton popped his first home run of the spring. A huge shot that went over the right field bullpen. Looked pretty big on TV, that’s for sure!
We added our final run in the in seventh when we had a single, walk, single group of guys.
Our pitching was “eh”. Feliz started the game on a day when we got the latest flip/flop about closer/starter with him. He went four innings, gave up three hits and a run and a walk. Not bad. Eric Hurley wasn’t too bad, either. He also went four innings, giving up four hits and a run (no walks). However, we tried to give it back with the guy we ran out in the 9th, Miguel De Los Santos. He only went one inning, but gave up the Dodgers 3rd & 4th runs in the 9th inning. He got out of it, but was pretty wobbly looking, despite his line not being THAT awful on pure numbers.
De Los Santos was sent to the minor league camp after that.

I missed 100% of this game, and I’m pressed for time today, so I’m not going to be commenting on this one. Except, Hi Randy. I know you’ll say something. :)

I watched this full game Saturday afternoon, even scored it with my new scoring software. Managed to keep track of all the goofball substitutions, too. All but the last one. The White Sox did me a favor, and didn’t substitute anyone (except pitchers) until the ninth inning, when they pinch ran for one guy. The sub was one of the “who is that” guys, so I ignored that substitution. Rangers didn’t go the same way, it was the usual spring training mess. But I managed to keep on top of it.
This was also the first TV broadcast by John Rhadigan, who is replacing Josh Lewin as the TV play by play guy. My review of his first outing is that he was nervous, but didn’t make any major gaffes. The only possible downside I see is that Rhadigan might be too much like Lewin’s predecessor, Bill Jones. I liked Bill Jones too, but Jones was a lot like Tom Grieve, and when Grieve is parterened with someone who is like him, it doesn’t get as much out of Tom. Josh was so “out there”, he got a lot of stuff out of Tom that we probably wouldn’t have heard of anywise. It’s unfair to John to label him Bill Jones II this early on, but I don’t see Rhadigan being as “out there” as Josh was, so hopefully he can find a way to get a lot out of Tom, too.
Finally, I was disappointed we got IMMEDIATELY into the food in the booth stuff in the first game. I really REALLY was hoping that would have gone out the door with Josh.
Game wise, Matt Harrison looked awesome. He made the big guys in the Chicago lineup (mostly Adam Dunn) look silly. Which is big. Matt is one of the guys who needs to ramp it up this year. Time for him to get it going and pitch the way he should be. This was a good sign, although the team was mostly made up of lesser players (Chicago did what we did to them a few days previous). Still, it’s hard to argue with Matt’s line. 4IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K. He looked good.
So did the other guys who followed him. Mason Tobin, Pedro Strop, Tucker, & McClung. The only Ranger pitcher to give up a run was Cody Eppley, who gave up the lone Sox mark on the scoreboard.
Offensively, we had two outbursts that accounted for all of our runs. Andres Blanco tripled down the right field line, scoring two. That was in the second. In the fourth, Doug Deeds (who is having a nice spring) singled, scoring the other two. That was it for the scoring, we were done in the fourth.
But it was nice to have Rangers baseball back on TV. Be nice in about a week and a half once the wholesale changes stop. Makes it a lot easier to score. :)