So I intend to make this a weekly feature here at BGC.  Basically, I’ll pose a question regarding the Rangers/baseball and you give me your opinion.  Typically, it’ll be in poll form, but sometimes I may ask that you give me your opinion in the comments section (which I ALWAYS encourage).  Sometimes the topic will be serious (Who should be starting in Center Field?) and sometimes it won’t be (What are your feelings about the wave?).

And here we go!

Maybe it’s just me, but when I turn on a baseball broadcast, I expect to hear baseball talk, not two guys talking about cookies for an entire inning.  So, because I got extra pissed off during the 10 minutes that I turned on the Rangers game last night and TAG spent those 10 minutes talking about cookies (YES, COOKIES), I have to ask:

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I guess I just don’t know why the FSSW broadcast continues to do something that they have to apologize for EVERY TIME.  I seriously can’t believe the higher-ups at Fox Sports are OK with their broadcasters telling us viewers to mute our TVs.  REALLY?

I just want to watch (which includes listening) baseball.  Sorry, TAG.

Hello Win Column (thanks Dave!).

Texas Rangers 4, Oakland A’s 1.

Wow, Yu Darvish is not only sexy looking on the mound, but he’s a damn good pitcher. Tonight’s Texas Rangers victory over the Oakland A’s gave Yu his 6th victory on the year. Yep, that’s 6 wins, 1 loss. I love it.

I know you can pull up MLB.com and ESPN.com to find his pitching line for the night, but I personally like to type it down and look at it over and over.

Oh…so now you’re interested? Well, it was 7.2 innings pitched, only 4 hits allowed, 1 earned run, ONLY 2 walks tonight, and 7 hello kitty strikeouts. Not to mention, he threw 73 strikes out of 118 pitches.

Anyway, enough on Darvish, but man was he good. The Rangers offense didn’t drop 14 runs, or anything ridiculous like that. But they did put up 4, which all came in the bottom of the 4th. A home run from Beltre, and RBI’s from Craig Gentry and Elvis Andrus.

Boom!

I should also point out the job Joe Nathan turned in tonight. 3 up, and 3 freaking down. All on swinging strikeouts. Nice work Yo!

T’s Observations / Game Notes:

• Josh Hamilton extended his hit streak to 16. He had 2 hits tonight.
• Elvis Andrus knocked in an RBI…and he’s my fantasy baseball shortstop.
• Mike Adams picked up his 7th Hold of the year after a nicely done job of relieving Darvish.
• Adrian Beltre knocked his 7th ding dong of the year…from his knee.
• Michael Young received a courtesy off day from the skip. Well done Wash, it was needed.
• Phil Mickelson showed up for the game tonight. I guess he’s participating at the Byron Nelson.
• Per Jeff Wilson (FWST), RBiA population tonight was 46,370, which was a sellout.

Coming Up:

Big Matt Harrison dances on the mound against former Ranger flameout Brandon McCarthy. Game starts at 1:05 pm tomorrow.

Who are these guys? I want my Rangers back...

Well, it was the 2nd night in a row that the Rangers couldn’t really score against the Royals.  It’s like they thought they had a few days off after that hyped Angels series.  Sigh.

After last night’s bullpen game, Wash and the Rangers were somewhat forced to keep starter Colby Lewis in through 6…despite the outcome.  And that certainly didn’t work out in the Rangers favor.

Lewis was definitely not himself yet again tonight.  Seriously, 3 bad starts in a row.  I want good Colby back.

Lewis started out the game quite shaky, giving up 6 runs in his first 3 innings.  Thankfully, he as able to settle in for the next 3 innings, keeping the damage to only (??) 7 runs.  Colby’s line for the night:  5 2/3, 8, 7, 2, 2, 4, 1.  Blerg.

» Continue reading “These Aren’t Rangers. They Are Pod People.”

After an awesome night last night at the ballpark (I was on the jumbotron!), the Rangers couldn’t pull it out today.

Apparently we saved all of our bats for the Angels and completely forgot we still had other games to play this week. Ok, ok, they didn’t look that bad…I’m just a little dissapointed.

Scott Feldman got his second start of the year against Bruce Chen and the Royals. Feldman took the mound tonight in order to give Holland a couple more days of rest. Scotty didn’t look bad tonight.

He actually did a great job keeping the Rangers in the game and pitched 4 and 2/3 innings giving up 3 hits and 2 runs (neither of which were earned….thanks Beltre). You can’t make errors and not hit and expect to win boys. Wow. That was a Madden moment. Sorry about that.

Seriously though. What happened to all of those bats? Yes, we had 7 hits, but never when we needed them. The one run we scored was a Nelson Cruz bomb in the 4th inning. It’s the Royals guys, let’s pull it together.

FINAL: Rangers 1, Royals 3

So I think the Rangers liked the pink bats…

Tonight’s match-up saw Neftali Feliz (not to be confused with PEDRO Feliz) on the mound against Jered Weaver.  Feliz pitched a solid 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and striking out 5.  Weaver did not fare as well, allowing 8 runs over 3 1/3 innings.  Ouch.

But enough about pitching.  Per usual, tonight’s game featured the Rangers offense.  And A LOT of it (SPOILER: Every starter had a hit except David Murphy).

The Rangers got on the board early with a sac fly by Beltre in the 1st.  After losing their lead on a 2-run bomb by Trumbo in the 2nd, the Rangers bounced back in a big way in the 3rd.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Of Pink Bats And Boomsticks”

Well, that game was sort of a let down after last night, huh?

Matt Harrison took the mound against CJ Wilson (yes, the same guy who started last night’s game).  Both pitchers were pretty solid.  Harry lasted  until the 7th, leaving after allowing a walk and a single before being replaced by Alexi Ogando to start the bottom half of the inning.  Harry allowed 4 hits (1 homer), walked 2 and struck out 5.  Overall, not a bad outing.  CJ ended up lasting 5 and 2/3 innings.

Ogando pitched 2 innings in relief and really just didn’t look comfortable out there, allowing both inherited base runners to score.  Robbie Ross, on the other hand, looked pretty sharp in the 9th, allowing no hits and striking out 1 batter.

So the offense…  Did y’all know Josh Hamilton is really good at hitting baseballs?  Because he is.  With his 18th jack of the season in the bottom of the 6th, Hamilton tied Cy Williams for the most home runs during the first 34 games.

EIGHTEEN.  It’s scary to think what he’ll do if he can stay healthy all season.

Sadly, Hamilton’s blast and Craig Gentry’s RBI wasn’t enough offense today as the Rangers weren’t able to rally back in the latter innings.

Don’t worry, Rangers fans, CJ didn’t get the win…

FINAL: Rangers 2, Angels 4

I was looking forward to this game all week. CJ Wilson came back to Arlington to take on the phenom Yu Darvish that took his spot on the roster. Man oh man was I looking forward to this. A lot of people really don’t like CJ Wilson after he went to the Angels….How’d he do?

Well, CJ started off the first by striking out Ian Kinsler. Then after three straight infield hits the base were loaded with only one out. Not a bad start Rangers. That’s when the rain came.

Stupid rain. Always trying to ruin my baseball plans. After and hour and 56 minute rain delay we finally got the game underway, but this time with no CJ Wilson. Wait…what? What happened CJ? Are you scared?

The Rangers definitely didn’t seem scared and put up 6 runs in the bottom of the first inning when Williams took Wilson’s spot. CJ will start on Saturday in Williams’ spot.

Hamilton led the offensive front going 3-4 and adding 2 more homeruns to his list. The Rangers racked up 10 runs and extended their lead over the Angels to 8 games. If we could get into double digits I would be a happy girl.

Yu pitched beautifully and definitely earned the respect of his teammates when he came back out after the rain. He pitched 5 and 1/3, giving up 3 runs (2 homeruns by Trout and Hunter) and struckout 7. I’m liking this Yu kid more and more. It’s fun to watch him pitch. He’s just nasty.

The Rangers will get a second go at Wilson in today’s game at 1:05 pm CST. Let’s see if we can make it happen again boys.

FINAL: Rangers 10, Angels 3

I’m pretty much against booing a player on the opposing team.  Across the board.  Really the only reason I can find for doing it is if that player injured a player on your team (see also: Johnny Cueto’s cleats and Cardinals fans).   It just isn’t classy.

So obviously hearing that many, many Rangers fans are planning to boo CJ Wilson when he takes the mound tonight (or tomorrow) when the Angels visit Arlington for the first time this season just makes me cringe.  Why?  I’m getting various reasons: He’s a douchebag, he sucked in the Playoffs, he didn’t want to come back to the Rangers, etc…

Really?  That’s the best you got?  Honestly, if Rangers fans are to boo any person on the Angels, wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be Albert Pujols?

Let’s address these reasons…

1.  He’s a douchebag.

OK.  I’ll give you this one.  He does come across as one.  And he’s probably an ass in his every day life.  We’re booing people for that now?  We don’t boo Miguel Cabrera for drinking and driving (which is WAAAAAAY worse than thinking highly of one’s self).  Crap if we’re booing someone for thinking too highly of himself, why aren’t we booing Michael Young?

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Why I Won’t Boo CJ Wilson”

The Rangers sure are great at finding ridiculous ways to lose.  During a September game in 2010 against the Minnesota Twins, they tested out that “runner’s interference” rule.  Sadly, things didn’t work out in their favor.

During a 2-out, 9th inning rally, Michael Young made contact with 3rd base coach Dave Anderson when returning to the bag.  According to the rule book:

“Not all physical contact in baseball is interference. Accidental contact that has little or no effect on play will usually be ignored; physical contact must result in an advantageous situation for the offense to be considered offensive interference.”

So, since Young wasn’t actually assisted in the play, he really shouldn’t have been called out.  Instead, he was.  Game over.

Final score: Twins 6, Rangers 5.  Ouch.

It was probably best to watch that 2nd inning with your eyes covered, Rangers fans.

Tonight’s game featured Derek Holland against former Ranger Tommy “Big Game” Hunter.  All in all it was a pretty boring game.  (Seriously, how can I be bored during a game that the Rangers score 7 runs?)

The Good:

Josh Hamilton hit his 15th home run (a 2-run bomb) in the top of the first.  Elvis Andrus went 2-3 with 2 RBI and a pair of walks.  Andrus has now reached base safely in 28 straight games.  He’s now tied with Curtis Granderson for the longest such streak in the majors.  Mike Napoli went 2-4, including a run-scoring triple.

The Bad:

Holland.  Ok, he really wasn’t bad.  Just not sharp.  Hard to say what it was, but I never felt comfortable.  The lefty went 6 innings, gave up 4 hits, 3 runs (all unearned), walked 2 and struck out 5.

Adrian Beltre, Michael Young and David Murphy and the LOB.  Yeah, Beltre went 1-5 and left 3 runners on.  Young, who went 1-5, left 4 runners stranded while Murphy, who went 0-4, left 3 stranded.

The Ugly:

I’m not even going to talk about the 2nd inning.  3 errors.  3 runs scored.  All unearned.  Bleh.  The Orioles also joined in on the error fun with 2 of their own.  That’s 5 during the game.  FIVE.  Just ugly baseball all around.

The Funny:

Not sure if the Rangers were hazing rookie Robbie Ross or not, but the kid was warming up for an entire inning with the wrong jersey on.  I guess someone finally told him that the rest of the team was wearing blue because he was seen laughing while tucking in his (correct) jersey at the end of the 8th.  Haha.  Poor kid.

The Awesome:

7-3 Rangers.