After a crazy night of seemingly every Cub getting traded, the Rangers nabbed back up catcher Geovany Soto.

The Rangers haven’t been thrilled with the work of backup catcher Yorvit Torrealba this season. Soto has not hit as well as Torrealba this season but he’s better defensively.

Torrealba – .236/.302/.643 in 49 games
Ge. Soto – .195/.278/.345 in 51 games

Soto is four-and-a-half years younger than Torrealba, and he’s under club control through next season, while both Napoli and Torrealba are eligible for free agency after this season. It looks like Yorvit Torrealba will be designated for assignment or maybe even traded.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are sending right-handed starting pitcher Jacob Brigham to the Cubs. Brigham is 24 and was pitching this season for the Frisco Roughriders [5-5, 4.28 ERA]. He doesn’t rank high among the Rangers’ prospects due to control issues, but he’s got a big arm and might be successful as a reliever.

photo courtesy of Keith Allison

Mike Napoli welcomed himself back to Los Angeles of Anaheim by sending 2 ding dongs into the stands. Yu Darvish, excited about the offensive support he received, pitched 7 strong innings, giving up 2 runs, and striking out 11. The Rangers would go on to take game 2 of the series by a final score of 9 to 2. Yu Darvish picked up his 11th win and the Rangers hold a 6 game lead.

The Rangers offense finally decided to pulled their heads out of their asses and started hitting. Michael Young led things off in the 1st with an RBI single that scored Andrus. In the 2nd, the Rangers sent a few long ball gifts for the casual Angel fan. First it was Napoli, then Yorvit Torrealba, and finally, Adrian Beltre.

Mixed in the homer action was a Ian Kinsler double to score Craig Gentry.All of the 2nd inning action was enough to end Ervin Santana’s start as he was sent packing with 6 wonderful earned runs.

While still being inspired by his 2nd inning gift, Mike Napoli, the nice guy he is, sent another solo gift into the outfield stands.

The Rangers would add a couple more runs in the 8th off a Ian Kinsler homer, the Angels would score a couple for themselves, but the final score had the Rangers with more runs (9), which is greater than (2)…if my math is correct.

Alexi Ogando relieved Darvish in the 8th and sent the Angels hitters back to the dugout with no damage done. He would finish the 8th with 2 strikeouts. Joe Nathan cartwheeled into the 9th and finished the Angels off completely.

The Rangers and Angels finish their 3 game series tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

(Image courtesy of flickr.com user Jay DeSimone.)

After learning that yet another pitcher…this time Colby Lewis…would be making a trip to the disabled list, the Rangers (and their fans) definitely needed some good news.  I think a 7-5 win over Detroit is heading in the right direction.

Yu Darvish started out a bit shaky (not at all shocking) in the 1st, walking the first batter and then hitting another just in time for Prince Fielder to smack a double to center field, scoring both runners.  Thankfully, the Rangers would get one of those runs back when Ian Kinsler knocked in his 8th home run of the year to lead off the bottom of the 1st.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Darvish Gets Win No. 10″

The Starter

Davish tied a career MLB high with 11 strikeouts. His Japan high was 15. Darvish on seven days rest pitched eight innings, giving up two runs and walking two. He threw 110 pitches and 76 for strikes.

The pen

Joe Nathan pitched the ninth, give up one hit and struck out two.

The bats

For the second time this season they faced Astros pitcher Jordan Lyles and both games they put up a five spot in an inning. Today it was the fifth as seven straight men reached with the help of an error and hit by pitch. Murphy had two RBI tonight and a walk. Young, Beltre and Torrealba all had RBI as well that inning. Moreland added an upper deck home run porch shot in the bottom of the eighth.

End of the bench notes

- Leonys Martin made his MLB debut and went 0-3 with a walk

- Andrus had two stolen bases tonight

- Rangers were 5-16 with RISP

- Rangers turned two double plays

- Tonight was the 18th sellout of the season with Saturday’s and Sunday’s games looking the same

- Nathan’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is now 33-to-2 for the season

- Watching the Dodgers game Vin Scully tells story of Carl Yazstrsmki was the batboy for AJ Pierzynski’s grandfathers baseball team in Bridgehampton. Nice tidbit

On deck

RH Justin Grimm just called up from AA Frisco [read about him here] makes his MLB debut for the Rangers as he faces RH Lucas Harrell [6-4 4.83 ERA, 1.41 WHIP]

(via flickr.com/Bart Hanlon)

So NOW we get good pitching AND offense?  That hasn’t happened in a while.  I guess maybe they knew Rangers fans needed something to be excited about (i.e. half-price Papa John’s) after learning Alexi Ogando was heading to the DL.

Yeah, so it worked, OK.

Colby Lewis was absolutely spectacular, perfect through 5 1/3 innings and only allowing 4 hits all night.  Don’t worry.  Despite the Cobra awesomeness, he did give up the requisite solo home run in the 8th, giving the Diamondbacks their lone run.  But I think a complete game on 106 pitches with 7 strike outs might help me get over it.

Then came the magical 6th inning…

Here’s the rundown:  Michael Young singled.  David Murphy homered into the wedge!  3-0 Rangers.  Yorvit Torrealba singled.  Mitch Moreland doubled, scoring Torrealba.  4-0 Rangers.  Craig Gentry doubled, scoring Moreland.  5-0 Rangers.  Ian Kinsler singled.  6-0 Rangers.

PHEW!

The boys tagged on 3 more runs, 2 in the 7th and 1 in the 8th.

FINAL: Rangers 9, Diamondbacks 1

Now, I want 2 in a row…

Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again…

Okay, so the Giants beat the Rangers in the 2010 World Series. Let’s get that out of the way right now. Yes, we all remember. And yes, it’s the 1st time the teams have met since. Okay, that’s enough.

Matt Freaking Harrison and Craig Freaking Gentry are the real story here as they led the Rangers to a victory over the San Francisco Baseball Giants. Mr Harrison provided a 5 hit, complete game shut out behind Craig Gentry’s 5 hits and 2 RBI. So let’s look at a brief scoring recap…

How about a lead off ding dong for Ian Kinsler? Damn right. That’s how the Rangers started things off early against Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants. Rangers 1, Giants 0.

And after a lead off double in the 4th by Mr. Nelson Cruz, and an act of small ball (kind of) by Yorvit Torrealba that moved Nelly to 3rd, the Rangers extended their lead on a RBI single by Craig Gentry. Rangers 2, Giants 0.

#22. Do I have to say anything further? Josh Hamilton, 5th inning, a Barry Zito meat ball over the middle of the plate, and consequently, parked into the stands for his 22 home run of the year. I may have did a little forward roll celebration after that one. Rangers 3, Giants 0.

So the 6th inning came upon the Rangers and they showed it the middle finger. Craig Gentry found his way on 2nd base and Kinsler thought kindly of it and decided to knock him in. Rangers 4, Giants 0.

And finally in the 9th with the bases loaded, superstar Craig Gentry strutted to the plate all confident-like, and padded the Rangers lead on his 5th hit of the night. Rangers 5, Giants 0. Yes, you read that right…5 hits for Craig Gentry. 5 hits.

Thank you Matt Harrison and please Rangers, build off of it.

• The Rangers got their 1st win at ATT park…ever.
• Matt Harrison tied David Price (Tampa Bay) for the most AL victories with 8.
• Every single Ranger got a hit tonight. Thank you offense.
• Barry Zito is not a good base runner. And tonight, he wasn’t a very good pitcher either.
• Watching baseball on a Friday night with a glass of whiskey is definitely the way to go…or so I’ve heard.

Upcoming Action: The Giants host the Rangers again tomorrow at 3:05 pm central. Scott Feldman tows the gas station rubber against Ryan Volgesong.

Yay! Teamwork! (via flickr.com/Keith Allison)

Let’s just say I was happy to see decent Derek Holland last night.

The lefty took the mound for the Rangers against Travis Blackely and the A’s.  Overall, he had a pretty good night, allowing 7 hits (including 2 home runs), 3 runs, 2 walks, and 2 strike outs over 5 1/3 innings.  MUCH better than that 8 hit/8 runs in 1 2/3 inning affair last week.

Luckily for Holland (and the Rangers), the A’s didn’t have someone vying for a no-hitter this time out.  The Rangers spread out the scoring over 5 innings, but held at least a 2-run lead the whole game.

In the 3rd, an Ian Kinsler double would score Mike Napoli and Yorvit Torrealba, who had walked and singed.  Another double by Josh Hamilton and the Rangers were up 3-0.  A double, balk and a sac fly in the 4th would tack on another run.

With 2 outs in the 6th, Adrian Beltre singled and was then scored on a Michael Young triple.  They’d go on to score one more run in the 9th on a singley by Elvis Andrus.

FINAL: Rangers 6, Athletics 3

It was great seeing everyone hitting for once and contributing to the win.  Every Rangers hitter had at least 1 hit (11 hits total), and everyone (sans Craig Gentry) either scored a run or had an RBI.  A perfect team effort.

Next up, we have Colby Lewis going against Bartolo Colon at 9:05pm CT.  Let’s hope those bats hang around for a few more games.

(Photo courtesy of flickr.com user Jay DeSimone.)

It’s 1:30 AM, I’m drinking Red Brick Hop Lanta IPA and listening to My Morning Jacket. I’m thinking I may go on a long walk to try and figure out what has gone on mentally the last two nights with this team. After tonight’s game, according to Evan Grant, there was about a 30 minute closed door team meeting.  It focused on getting back to Rangers baseball and better decisions.

The starter 

Yu Darvish deserved a better fate tonight. The baseball gods were not on his or the Rangers’ side as the defense made three errors behind him. He allowed three runs, but only two were earned in 6.1 innings. He also walked three and struck out seven. In a start that could have been a gem, he was spoiled by, in the words of Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel, “total lack of support, both offensively and defensively.”

Andrus was the main culprit in the error department. After having just taken a “mental day” two days ago, he had a lackadaisical throw in the first that allowed Mike Trout to reach to start the game. Worse, he made the decision to not attempt to throw out Trout on a routine ground ball in the 7th inning, instead stopping to argue with the umpire that the ground ball hit the base runner going from 2nd to 3rd base.

Also that inning Yorvit was thrown out of the game after arguing Trout was out on a sac fly to Nelson Cruz who threw home and (although super-slow motion replay showed he was out by a hair) the umpire called him safe.  Torrealba lost it, screaming, yelling and dancing around him like a wild man.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Errors, Umps, No Bats, & Weirdness Oh My”

<photo courtesy of Bo Nash>

Wow! Where to begin. Well, it’s the first game of the double header and it was a pretty day in Baltimore. And it was Colby Lewis at Wei-Yin Chen, or Texas at Baltimore…however you want to look at it.

So, uh…Colby Lewis had a hell of a line today. Let’s start like this…

• Not So Good - Colby allowed 3 home runs to start the game. It’s only the 4th time in history that has happened.
• Good - Colby retired the next 18 hitters…in order.
• Not So Good - Adam Jones led off the 6th with a home run and with a runner on, Wilson Betemit also homered.
• Good – Colby finished with 12 strikeouts.
• Not So Good - That’s 5 home runs Colby gave up for all you math majors.
• Summary for Colby – 7 innings pitched, 5 hits (or homers) allowed, 6 runs given up (all earned), 1 walk, and 12 strikeouts.
• Good – He’ll live to pitch another day.

Anyway, so the Orioles took the 1st game of the double header 6-5, but it was definitely interesting. After the mess, greatness, and mess again of Colby Lewis, the Rangers fought back in the 8th (1 run) and the 9th (3 runs) to pull within 1.

The 3 runs in the 9th came on a David Murphy home run with ducks, Nelson Cruz and Yorvit Torrealba, sitting on the pond. And after all that excitement, the young gun Jim Johnson closed out the remaining Rangers to earn the save.

Final Score: Rangers 5, Orioles 6.

<photo courtesy of Keith Allison>

T’s Observations / Game Notes

• The Rangers lead the series 2 games to 1. I’ll take that.
• It looked like Elvis Andrus may have bumped the umpire on the called strike 3 to end the game. Did anyone else see that?
• It was almost 4 home runs in a row for the Orioles. Adam Jones sent a deep shot damn near to the warning track in center.
• The 12 strikeouts was a career high for Mr. Lewis.
• My bud Evan Alford jinked the Rangers after he called to brag about Colby Lewis and how well he was pitching after the homers. Lewis is on Evan’s fantasy baseball team. He called back minutes later to apologize. Thanks dick.

Upcoming Game: Today at 6:05 pm…game numero dos.

The most important thing of the night is that I added to my collection of Bobbleheads to my lovely brides dismay.

The mound and the game 

Colby Lewis entered the having only walked one all year. Tonight his command wasn’t up to snuff, walking 3 for the first time since last Septmeber versus Boston. Other than that he only allowed a solo home run to Matt Joyce in the second and struck out 5 in 6 innings.

Ogando, Adams and Uehara combined for 3 innings of relief while striking out 3, walking no one and Adams allowing an RBI double to Longoria in the eighth.

The bats

Hamilton had another 2 hits, a walk and 2 RBI. On his Bobblehead night Beltre put the game out of reach with a 3-run home run in the seventh. Moreland contributed with 2 hits. Cruz, Murphy and Torrealba went a combined 0-11 with 5 strikeouts. Kinsler, Andrus, Young also had walks.

End of the bench notes

- Rays came in 2nd in the A.L. in walks. They added 3 more

- Niemann is now 0-3 against Texas

- Cruz has 25 strikeouts this year. Napoli has 24

- Andrus was caught stealing for the first time this year

- The Rays 2 errors lead directly to 2 Rangers runs

- The Rangers have had a team record 5 consecutive sellouts and a total of 514,000 thru only 12 home dates

- The Rangers are first in the A.L. in attendance and second only to the Phillies overall

On deck

Battle of LH as Derek Holland [2-1 4.78 ERA] v. David Price [3-1 2.63 ERA] Sunday at 7:05 PM on ESPN