The Texas Rangers have signed left-hander Scott Olsen.

Olsen was selected in the sixth round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the then Florida Marlins. He quickly developed into one of the game’s top young pitchers. Olsen went on to post an ERA of 4.04 over 31 starts spanning 180 2/3 innings in 2006.

The club then traded him to the Washington Nationals along with outfielder Josh Willingham in exchange for Jake Smolinski, P.J. Dean and Emilio Bonifacio.

Olsen, with the Nationals, posted an ERA of 5.76 over 28 appearances, including 26 starts, spanning two seasons. The 28-year-old missed the entire 2011 season due to shoulder issues and made three starts in the Chicago White Sox minor league system last year.

Wow…I’m not panicking. Like my friend Travis said last night…we’re not going to panic just yet, right? Right. It was a little confusing for me again though.

Feldman took the mound again and threw and absolute beauty of a game leading the Rangers to a win. He pitched 8 strong innings, giving up 7 hits and no runs! He kept the ball down, mixed up his pitches and got through with the Rangers only putting 2 runs on the board.

I’m not sure who this Scott Feldman is that has graced us with his presence lately, but I like him. He can keep pitching. I was getting a little worried when Yu and Harrison (the only two consistent guys in our rotation) had tough games lately. Who can we depend on? Apparently this Scott Feldman is picking up the slack.

The Rangers got on the board in the third inning off a White Sox error and Josh Hamilton scored. After a Nelson Cruz double in the fifth and a couple of ground outs he came around to score making it 2-0 for the rest of the game.

Joe Nathan came in to close it out and with a couple of amazing grabs by Elvis and David Murphy the Rangers finally snapped their slump. We stay ahead of the A’s by 4 games (where the hell did they come from?) and the Angels by 5…Let’s keep it up boys. We can’t afford to let those guys get close!

FINAL: Rangers 2, White Sox 0

End of Game Notes

• Hamilton was back in the lineup tonight at DH but he was batting 5th. I actually think this is great. Drop him in the lineup, take some pressure off of him and let’s get him out of this slump he’s been in.
• Neftali was scratched from his minro league start today due to elbow tightness…Does that sound like he’s gonna have surgery to anyone else?
• We take on the Angels tomorrow…Oh please don’t lose.
• The trade deadline is grower nearer…Are we going to try and get someone for the starting rotation?

I kind of “leisurely” followed the Rangers and White Sox game, but mostly, I was watching the opening of the Olympic Ceremony. I’m not really sure why because the entire thing was a train wreck, in my modest opinion. I guess it was similar to the Rangers game.

The Rangers ended up losing 9 to 5. I definitely wasn’t happy about that. But at least the Olympics competitions are about to start…right?

The Rangers and White Sox play again tomorrow and Sunday as well. Let’s hope for some better outcomes.

I apologize for the shortness, and lack of in depthness, but the Olympics were on.

The Texas Rangers lost and the Chicago White Sox won. The final score was 5 to 4. Kevin Youkilis provided his own fireworks in the bottom of the 10th on a game ending RBI single. It’s the Rangers 3rd loss in a row, but the good news…the Angels lost.

Mike Adams took the loss for the Rangers. Scott Feldman probably should have. Michael Young and Nelson Cruz provided some offense and Josh Hamilton homered again.

The Rangers face off against the Sox again tomorrow. Let’s hope for a better ending this time.

Happy 4th of July!

OK, so that was a disaster.  I stopped watching when it was 13-0.  Honestly, Roy Oswalt sucked and the offense (and Ian Kinsler’s glove) just didn’t seem to care.  So instead of recapping that torture, I wanted to post a picture of one of the players with a cute animal, and since I lack any sort of photoshopping skills, I was relying on Google to help me out.

NOTHING.  I’m disappointed, Google.  Instead I ended up googling “texas rangers + <insert random cute animal>”.  All I got was this…

So, I guess we all lose tonight, kids.

FINAL: Rangers 2, White Sox 19

(Seriously, if you can find pictures of Rangers with cute animals, send them my way.  This is a travesty.)

The Texas Rangers brought out the whoopin sticks and proceeded to spank the Chicago White Sox 5 to 0. Big Matt Harrison, who I dropped in fantasy baseball (twice), brought the basics to the mound and was dominant.

What started out as a fairly boring game through the top of the 3rd, picked up on a David Murphy home dinger in the bottom of the 3rd and would continue from there.

And not to be outdone by Murph, Adrian Beltre slammed his first hit of the year into the right field bleachers and Josh Hamilton sent an upper decker into the right field home run porch.

ARMS

Matt Harrison was strong as an ox for the Rangers with 6 innings of 4 hit ball. He struck out 3 and gave up 0 runs. Nicely done. And after his 6 innings of Picasso type work, Mark Lowe entered the game in the 7th and did his job.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers Bring Out The Whoopin Stick”

It’s Texas Rangers opening day! Let that sink in…

I love opening day. I love it so hard. And I was so nervous for the season to begin. I was like a little girl opening a Christmas present and received her first Texas Rangers hat.

WARNING…this post may be long, but I was excited dammit. Get over it. On to the game action…

After missing the first pitch, thank you Fox Sports South West, the always solid Colby Lewis took the mound against the Chicago White Sox and displayed an even-keel approach to pitching. On a beautiful day at the ballpark with the temperature coming in at a Texas 75 degrees and a slight breeze, Mr. Lewis performed admirably in the first.

Although he did allow a White Sox spare to get on base with a single, the Cobra Snake struck out the next hitter and would get out of the inning unscathed. And a little props to Yorvit Torrealba who gunned down Alejandro De Aza at 2nd.

Let the offense begin…In the bottom of the 1^st, the Rangers waited all of two pitches to get the bats going – impatient it appears. With former Ranger John Danks towing the rubber for the White Sox, Kinsler took his second offering down the 3^rd base line for a double. And after a beautiful bunt from Andrus to move Kinsler to 3^rd, Joshy Hamilton sacrificed Kinsler in for the lead. Rangers 1, Sox 0. Boom.

What a great way to start the season. And after 1 inning of work, Kinsler was batting 1000.

Not much happened in the 2^nd inning other than the Nap-O-Li chant engine started up. It never gets old. I sometimes wonder how well I would do at my job if I had my name chanted all the time. I think I would dominate.

In the 3^rd, Colby Lewis dropped the boom arm to strikeout the side after allowing a lead-off double. My 3^rd inning observation – Torrealba is a beast behind the plate with cat like reflexes. Oh, and the Cobra had 5 strikeouts through 3.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Opening Day…Enough Said!”

Since Rangers fans won’t be able to see this clip at the ballpark today, we thought it would be perfect for this week’s flashback.

In 1993 after being hit by a pitch, 26-year-old Robin Ventura made the mistake of charging the mound and taking on a 46-year-old Nolan Ryan.  Apparently, Ventura didn’t know that you don’t mess with Texas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zwDkrGKlCg

Let’s hope the Rangers beat up on some White Sox today, Nolan-style.

(Photo courtesy of oocities.org.)

Scott Sheldon: Hey coach, put me in!

Johnny Oates: Where?

Sheldon: Everywhere.

Oates: Uh…sure bud.

And so the legend of Scott Sheldon was born…

In an away game against the Chicago White Sox on September 6, 2000, Texas Rangers utility infielder Scott Sheldon, apparently a man of many positions, put a notch in his belt that only two others (at the time) had been able to do.

With the Sox providing a good old fashion butt whooping (10 – 1) after 4 innings of play, Manager Johnny Oates decided it would be a good time for Sheldon to really get involved in the game. So in the bottom of the fourth, the sequence began…

Catcher (4^th Inning) –> First Base (5^th Inning) –> Second Base and Shortstop (6^th Inning) –> Right Field and Center Field (7^th Inning) –> Left Field, Relief Pitcher, and Third Base (8^th Inning) –> ballgame. Final Score: White Sox 13 – Rangers 1

The idea originally took shape in a spring training game of that year. Sheldon would end up playing 8 positions, but did not tow the rubber. It was after that game that Johnny Oates decided this would be the year he would make it happen.

And before doing it against the White Sox, Oates had originally planned on it happening the week after the White Sox game at home in Texas…I guess he couldn’t wait.

The crazy thing, if you notice in the sequence above, is it only took the positional “superstar” 4 innings to accomplish the extraordinary feat. 4 freaking innings to play 9 positions!  

When the dust settled in Chicago, Sheldon would become the third player in the big leagues to play all 9 positions in a single game. He would eventually be joined later that year by Shane Halter (Detroit Tigers). The only two players to precede Sheldon and Halter were Bert Campaneris (Kansas City Athletics) and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota Twins).

Sheldon would later say, “It’s something to be proud of.” I would agree.

Pitching dominated the game for both teams today, the big difference being the White Sox started what could be considered their Opening Day lineup, while the Rangers started a combination of kids and players vying to make the roster.

The Arms:

Colby Lewis was sharper than Don Draper, pitching 4 perfect innings, striking out 5, including the side in the bottom of the 2nd. He struck out the lead off hitter in the first two innings. His command of off-speed stuff was mid -season form.  Scott Feldman pitched next, went 3 innings, and gave up the first two hits for the Pale Hose. He struck out 3.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers Waste Lewis’ Perfect Outing In Loss”