Game Report: Brewers 7, Rangers 4

Thanks to five unearned runs Friday night at Surprise, Milwaukee swept the two-day home-and-home series between the clubs. The Brewers scored three in the first and three more in the fourth, both innings in which the Rangers made errors. It made a loser of RHP Kevin Millwood who made his second consecutive quality start this spring. Millwood allowed four hits and struck out six, but was charged with six runs (only one of which was earned). (more…)

Balky Back Takes Dustin Nippert Out Of Bullpen Race

Nippert tried to throw “live” batting practice this afternoon, but his back stiffened up again and the session was cut short. The Rangers haven’t made a roster move with him yet, but seeing as he hasn’t pitched in more than 10 days and is now going to miss even more time, you can bet he’s out of the mix. The Rangers can put him on the DL to open the season, if they wish, but that would necessitate leaving him on the 40-man roster. Now, if the back issue is really serious, the club could place him on the 60-day DL, thereby holding on to Nippert for the time being and opening a slot for one of these RHPs: Kris Benson, Jason Jennings or Derrick Turnbow.

Multi-Media Alert: Adjust Your TVs

If you are watching the game at home on Fox Sports Southwest, there will be a large blue blob invading your screen in the top of the fourth inning. That would be me. Announcement of major importance (at least to my parents) should be forthcoming during my air time.

UPDATE: In case you missed the semi-large announcement (well, I guess any announcement involving me is large), I’ve joined the Fox Sports Southwest team and will be a pre- and post-game analyst for about 15 games this season on Rangers Live.

Happy Birthday, Adam Melhuse: You Aren’t Going To Make The Rangers

The Rangers told Adam Melhuse he wouldn’t make the Opening Day roster on Friday, which just happened to be his 37th birthday. He told them he didn’t have much interest in going to Triple-A. There was no anymosity. The Rangers made it clear to Melhuse coming to camp that Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Taylor Teagarden would likely be the team’s 1-2 combination behind the plate.

Melhuse did not participate in Friday’s pre-game workout, but has not yet been given his official release.

Andruw Jones Batting Cleanup, Playing Left Field

The Andruw Jones affair gets more interesting by the day. Jones is in the lineup tonight hitting fourth against Milwaukee right-hander Dave Bush. Against right-handers, you’d expect the Rangers to hit lefty Hank Blalock there. Blalock is in the lineup, but is batting fifth. Also Jones is getting a look at a position other than center field where he has won 10 Gold Gloves.

Hmmmmmm.

Also 3B Michael Young is back in the lineup. He played only briefly on Tuesday before re-aggravating a slight left quadriceps strain. He’s had only the one at-bat Tuesday in the last week.

Crunchy Numbers: Rangers Defensive Metrics

You know the old joke about how a team wasn’t very good but they made up for it by not trying very hard? Well, I’m not accusing the Rangers of not trying hard, but while the 2008 Rangers suffered from horrible pitching, but they made up for it with wretched defense.

Earlier this month, Evan talked to John Dewan, creator of the Fielding Bible, about the chances for improved Rangers defense in 2009 and this is a follow-up or expansion on that piece.

I generally agree with Dewan that the Rangers defense should be much better in 2009, but I do see one pretty big problem (and Nolan Ryan seems to agree with me on this).

I’ll warn you before you make the leap. This pushes the envelope for baseball geekyness. Though I study this stuff, I rarely try to write about it because it’s too esoteric for most people to fight through, and that’s not exactly what we’re going for here.

But if you are interested in this stuff or if you just want to take a peek inside the brain of a truly pathetic baseball dork, then by all means make the jump.

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Burning Question: How Good Has Dirk Nowitzki Been This Season?

Was just perusing John Hollinger’s must-read Insider Gems, a supplement of quick hits to his daily PER Diem column for ESPN.com, and came across something that got me thinking about the above question. He was wondering what would happen when it came time to vote for the All-NBA teams since three guards (Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade) are clearly among the best five players, and the vote is by position. He figured one of them, probably Chris Paul, would be bumped to the second team, causing a trickle-down effect. The whole thing is behind the pay wall, so I’ll just reprint the relevant section:

If Paul is bumped to second team, that means Tony Parker and Brandon Roy would be duking it out for the other guard slot, while a pair of forwards who have had lesser seasons (Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki, I’m guessing) ease into second-team spots at those positions.

I don’t really care about the All-NBA team, since it doesn’t affect any bonus clauses in my contract. What I do care about is this: is it fair to say Dirk is having a lesser season? Let’s jump.

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InsideCorner Asks: What Works; What Doesn’t?

Since we’ve got a night game tonight and some time to kill, I thought you could dodge some work in the office and help us out a little at the same time. In short, we want to know what you think works in this arena and what doesn’t.

Since the bulk of our coverage has been related to the Rangers and since we are less than 10 days from the season opener, I thought now would be a good time to get some thoughts on our direction. In particular, I’d love your input on this stuff: (more…)

Realizing I Am Old.

It was bound to happen. I can no longer avoid it. I have become old.

They say age isn’t a number, it is a state of mind.

So what state of mind am I in when I try to watch Memphis play Missouri and I can only focus on the ridiculous nature of Memphis’ uniform? I am sure a reasonable basketball game was going on, but here I am cheering against Memphis because I, the guy who once promised myself I would not become one of those bitter old media guys who hates everything the kids do, cannot come to terms with the fact that their shorts look ridiculous to me.

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Multi-Media: Evan Grant vs. Jamey Newberg, The Sequel

We’re talkin’ baseball.