Heating UP

Unfortunately the only thing heating up at the Ballpark is the mercury. The boys of summer were 1 hit last night and dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres. The Angels come to town tonight for 3 followed by 4 with the Mariners, this could be a critical stage in this teams season. If the next 7 games are as ugly as the previous seven, we could find ourselves 5-6 games back in no time.

All i'm hearing on the trade news is that Daniels would like to add bullpen help, and yes we probaby do need another solid arm in the pen. This front office is still refuses to admit this offense is going nowhere right now. If this is the plan stick with the young guns and see where this team is going for the future, then why in the hell don't we trade Millwood, Jones, Padilla and get some more prospects for our young system.

CHRIS

What a night for Chris Davis, 4 for 5 with a double and a HR. I honestly hope this was the beginning of something for him, being that i'm on that bandwagon to send him back down to AAA. His struggles have been the topic of many Ranger blogs and newspaper articles, but i'm sure that all of us critics will gladly eat crow if he continues to show signs of life at the plate.

The Rangers closed out the six game road swing 2-4 and managed to keep a .5 game lead in the AL WEST. It's early in the season, but the next 10 games could lend direction for the rest of the season.

Hellow Win Column

Good to see you again my friend!!! Padilla pitched a great game last night going 7 and allowing 1 run, in fact Padilla has had 4 starts now since clearing waivers in early June. Maybe being put on the waiver wire is what he needed, he's 3-0 and only allowed 6 runs in his last four starts.

I keep hearing that this line-up misses Hamilton and when he gets back things will get going. First of all, i like Josh Hamilton, but if your line-up goes into a talespin because a .240 hitter is missing you've got issues. Hamilton is one of the best defensive center fielders in the game and he had a great offensive year last year, but he has struggled at the plate thus far this season and honestly has no business being 3rd in the all-star voting for the OF. None the less, I will be glad to see him back in the line-up, just not sure him missing has anything to do with the woes.

a little break

lets get a little comic break from the bad baseball

Things could be worse!!

As bad as the hitting has been of late the Rangers still hold on to a slim lead in the west over the Angels and now surging Mariners. The truth is yes the bats are cold, but this team has only been 1 or 2 hits away from winning their last 4 games ( lost the last 4 games by a total of 6 runs) in large part due to the pitching staff which continues to be solid.

This morning in the Star Telegram, Gil Lebreton ( http://www.star-telegram.com/284/story/1445638.html ) argues to leave Chris Davis alone and look at bringing up a couple of more unproven young players to stick in the already struggling line up. If we were 10 games out already at this point I'd say sure, why not, but we're sitting a top of the A.L. West even through the recent struggles. If anything this team needs to add a couple of veteran hitters to the line-up, and that means that yes we would have to move some young talent elsewhere to get what this team desperately needs, solid AB's.

Is it just a funk?

The west coast road trip couldn't have started much worse, getting swept by the Giants after two great starts by Millwood and Holland. I'm really starting to question rather or not this last month of poor hitting is just a slump or something more. Hear me out, very few Rangers are getting quality AB's in this skid, a lot of first pitch swinging pop-outs. It's not unusual for 1 or 2 guys to struggle at any given point, but the whole roster is a bit concerning reguardless of what the players keep saying. The swings in this line-up are looking slow and extremely long. I keep harping on this, but I'm honestly starting to wonder outside of Young ( who gives you 200 hits a season year in year out) if maybe we are just an average team with guys that up to this point in the season were playing better than they are. Shorten those swings boys.



Go Rangers

Looking for the Positives

Tough loss last night, after blowing some chances in the 1st and 2nd inning the Rangers battled back to take a 4-3 lead in the 6th. Feldman found himself in a bad spot in the bottom of the 6th, with runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out, Kinsler made a great play to double off the runner at 1st. The next batter Fred Lewis crushed the hopes of getting out of the inning when he took Feldman yard and the Giants bullpen did the rest.

Now lets look for the positives. Elvis Andrus really seems to be seeing the ball well right now going 2-4 last night. He is showing some patience at the plate that the rest of this team could learn from, he is becoming a tough out and not many Rangers can say that of late. Scott Feldman threw a decent game last night going 6 innings, the go ahead homerun he gave up in the 6th was not a bad pitch, and the Rangers did have plenty of chances in this game to score more runs. Michael Young went yard for the 2nd time in two games, and Byrd came through with a clutch double to give them the lead in the 6th.

I still believe in this team, but have two real concerns looking at the rest of the season. First, can this pitching staff continue to be solid, and more so will the bats wake up in time to make this a season to remember. This is a fun young team to watch and the pitching this far has definately been the big bright spot. Trying to keep it positive this morning, the reality post will probably come later.

Go Rangers

David Murphy swinging a Hot bat

The Rangers finished off a disappointing 4-5 home stand last night falling to the Astros, and now head west for some more interleague play with the Giants, D-backs, and Padres. Chris Davis and Michael Young hit HR's last night, David Murphy had a solid 2-3 outing, but overall the bats are still in hiding for this team. Don't look now the Angels are only a 1.5 back and getting healthier winning 7 of their last 10 including 6 in a row. The next 9 games are against the NL West and need to go 6-3 heading into the big series in Arlington with the Angels.



David Murphy continues to swing a hot bat, and staking his claim for a spot in the everyday line-up after Hamilton returns. Murphy who started the season 3 for 31 (.097 avg.) has since went 35 for 112 for a .313 avg. including a .340 avg. in the month of June.

This Day in Baseball History

A few historical tidbits from this day courtesy of www.nationalpastime.com


1973
Twenty days after pitching his high team to a state championship, Rangers' rookie David Clyde pitches five innings, strikes out eight and allows just one hit in his first major league start as Texas defeats the Twins, 4-3. A crowd of 35,698 fans, the first sellout at Arlington Stadium, to see the debut of the 18-year-old, $125,000 bonus baby.


2001
Citing he wants to spend more time with his family, Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. announces he will retire at the end of the season. The two-time MVP will be best remembered for his streak of playing in consecutive 2,632 games.



2002
In the first major league game to feature four players with 400 career homers, the Cubs beat the Rangers, 4-3, as Alex Gonzalez hits a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Sammy Sosa (475), Fred McGriff (459) and Juan Gonzalez (401) watched Rafael Palmerio add his 460th home run to the total.

Chris Davis, and the hitting problem

It's hard for me to say this about someone from my hometown, but Chris Davis it's time to head for waivers. He is an above average first baseman and seems to be well-liked by his team, but if this team is going to make a serious run at October baseball ( i know we haven't even got to the allstar break yet) there is no room in the batting order for a .202 average. This brings me to my bigger problem with this team, hitting. This team needs to learn how to play small ball, Michael Young is the only .300 hitter in this everyday line-up. Outside of Young there don't seem to be any hitters in this order that can or will shorten up there swing and just put the ball in play. David Murphey seems to be getting on track and shows the ability to shorten up when needed, as he did last night, but I don't see him getting a lot of AB's after Hamilton returns. There needs to be some changes starting with Hank becoming the everyday 1st baseman for now, and move Omar into the DH spot hitting .322, who says your designated hitter has to be a power hitter. I would even go so far as to hit Omar lead off and slide Kinsler to the 3rd spot in the order behind Young, but in the end I guess it's easy to manage the team and 2nd guess from the comfort of my couch. You have to admit the line-up change does make sense, why not go for more consistent AB's and possibly better run support for our pitchers.

P.S. John Daniels i'm available if you need me

what needs to be done

For those of us who've been Ranger fans as long as we can remember ( although at times it's been tough to admit ) the season is off to a better than expected start. There seems to be something different about the way this season is going, we seem to have found some stable starting pitching, but there seems to be a lack of hitting. I find myself questioning Ron Washington regularly in close games for his management, mostly his unwillingness to move runners into scoring position late in games. The Rangers may have won in extra innings last night, but Washington's managerial decision in the 9th to let Chris Davis (hitting a crowd pleasing .202 and on pace to break the strike out record) swing away with no outs and a runner on 2nd is beyond me. There had to be somebody on the bench who can get a bunt down, like maybe Elvis Andrus. If this poor decision wasn't enough, with 2 outs and the runner still stuck on 2nd he pinch hits for Omar with Jones. I've never managed a big league team, but it would make sense that when a basehit wins the game you would probably want a guy hitting .320 swinging the bat versus one hitting .250 and prone to strike out, right? All for not, because at the end of the day the sign still flashed "HELLO WIN COLUMN", but one does wonder if Washington would be held accountable had the game been lost.