I missed you, Yu. (Image via flickr.com user mikelachance.)

In what was supposed to be a very exciting Yu Darvish start, Rangers fans were given Scott Feldman instead.  Can you say let down?  Darvish apparently had some neck stiffness and the Rangers weren’t taking any chances.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with Scooter.  In fact, I think he’s pitched way better than people probably expected once thrown into that starters role earlier this year.  I don’t have a beef with Scooter.

What is upsetting was that if the Rangers won tonight, Yu Darvish would have been only the 2nd rookie in the past 100 years to have 17 wins and at least 214 Ks.  The only other rookie to achieve that feat was Dwight Gooden back in 1984.  Guess Rangers fans will have to wait longer…

Anywho…  Feldman was just eh.  Given a 2-run lead in the bottom of the first, Scooter started out the 2nd by walking 2 of the first 3 batters he saw.  A double later and the A’s were within 1.  A solo shot in the 4th by Chris Carter would tie things at 2′s.  Feldman would only last 4 innings.

Michael Kirkman pitched the 5th and 6th, giving up only a single walk and striking out 4.  I’ll freely admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this performance.  Solid performances from Koji Uehara and Alexi Ogando in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings kept things tied going into the bottom of the 9th.  Unfortunately, no runs were scored.

And I guess Mark Lowe didn’t get the memo that the Rangers bullpen was supposed to be awesome tonight as he gave up a solo home run in the 10th to put the A’s on top.  Unfortunately, the Rangers couldn’t recover and their magic number still sits at 5.

FINAL: Rangers 2, Athletics 3