The Depot: Rangers Live Blog, Notes, News And Other Interesting Stuff (vs. Tigers, 4/12)

We don’t close, even on Easter. If you aren’t watching The Masters, or even if you are, hope you’ll stop by for a little baseball chat on a perfectly lovely day here in Detroit. It’s cool, but crisp.

10:32: Manager Ron Washington said he’d give 1B Chris Davis at least one more day in the lineup before he decides whether to rest him to try and break him from his season-opening 1-for-18 slump. So Davis is in the lineup, batting seventh today against RHP Edwin Jackson. Last year, Davis also went through a 1-for-18 slump (August 13-17) and had more strikeouts (10) than he does in this stretch (nine). Davis broke out of the slump with a 5-for-8 performance in the first two games of a series against these Tigers. In Detroit, the Nos. 7-8 spots are a combined 0-for-17. Got to have more of a threat ahead of No. 9 hitter Elvis Andrus.

Said Davis: “Last year, I saw a lot of first pitch fastball and then a lot of off-speed stuff after that. But right now, they are throwing a lot of stuff over the plate that I should be hitting. I’ve just been late on everything. Yesterday in the ninth, Fernando Rodney throw me a first pitch fastball away, that I took for a ball. Then he came back over the inner half of the plate with a fastball. It surprised me that it was in and in mid-swing I kind of yanked off it. It told me I’m not recognizing the pitches early enough. That’s what I’ve been working on, getting my foot down earlier and recognizing pitches better.”

As we mentioned yesterday, the only disconcerting thing about this slump from my perspective is that it seemed like Davis was locked in on pitches over the last 10 days of spring training. And now, he seems completely lost. Davis said he wasn’t “locked in,” but did feel good at the plate the last 10 days of camp. It’s perhaps another reminder that he is going to be a very streaky hitter throughout his career.

10:44: Interesting decision to revisit from yesterday. Still not exactly sure what to make of LHP Matt Harrison’s day. Too many walks (five) and he couldn’t deliver the “shut-down” inning when the Rangers forged a lead against Justin Verlander. But in the long fifth inning, he managed to surrender only one run and keep the score tied when it could have been much worse. Well, here’s the managerial decision to discuss: Harrison starts the sixth and walks No. 8 hitter Brandon Inge. How much farther do you let him go? Does he face another hitter? Or do you keep him around through leadoff man Curtis Granderson, a left-handed hitter?

Washington let Harrison pitch through Granderson and face right-handed hitting Placido Polanco with a man on first and two outs. Polanco, who had doubled in his last at-bat, lined a ball past third that turned into the game-winning hit. The ball slowed unexpectedly and by the time LF David Murphy scooped it up, Adam Everett, who had singled, was able to score.

Should Washington have brought in RHP Jason Jennings to face Polanco? Washington said he was waiting for Magglio Ordonez to pull the trigger. Brings up this argument: What’s more important – winning that specific game, the fourth of the season, or giving Harrison a chance to get through the sixth? In July or later, winning the game takes on the most importance for me. For now, though, I want to give my young pitchers as much chance as possible to pitch out of their own jams and to build confidence.  You have a stance?

11:01: Hair grooming note: RHP Warner Madrigal pulled out his corn-rows yesterday, fluffed out his afro, and then shaved everything off. Told Ron Washington: “Gotta change something.”

11:48: Of note today about RHP Kevin Millwood: He is pitching on five days of rest. It’s a big departure from how the Rangers have handled him in the past. The club has done everything possible to keep him on four days of rest because Millwood likes his regular routine. But the truth is he’s been a better pitcher with extra rest throughout his career. Millwood is 86-68 (.558) with a 4.31 ERA when he pitches on four days of rest; he’s 53-39 (.576) with a 3.63 ERA on five or more days of rest.

Millwood said he’s not against five days, he’s just always had trouble figuring out what to do with the extra day. Today and the two starts that follow will all be on five days of rest.

“It is what it is,” Millwood said. “I’m not complaining at all. I just liked the routine. If it makes everybody more comfortable and gets guys in the mix, that’s fine. I’m all for it.”

11:58: Another thing worth watching on Millwood is how he bounces back from a strenuous start. He threw 113 pitches in the season opener. Last year, in the start after an outing of 110 pitches or more, Millwood was 1-3 with a 6.06 ERA.

12:27: Chris Davis’ first at-bat results in a fly ball to center. It’s no routine fly ball. He drove a 1-and-2 pitch more than 40o feet but to straight-away center. Curtis Granderson caught it just before the warning track, so ifugure it traveled about 405 feet. It’s the best ball I’ve seen him hit this season.

12:36: Random note about nothing: Former Rangers C Einar Diaz, who seemed to lack any measurable baseball tool, will manage Baltimore’s Appalachian League rookie ball team.  You can bet that team will, like Diaz, “play with its hair on fire.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.

1:07: Bad inning for the Rangers. Had two men on and no outs after RF Nelson Cruz hustled for a double and LF David Murphy followed with a walk. But Davis bounced into a double-play to extend his slump to 1-for-20 and C Jarrod Saltalamacchia struck out. Salty is 0-for-9 since returning from his dizzy spell. He is 0-for-12 since doubling in the second inning of the second game.

1:27: Four runners left on base in the last two innings for Rangers. Had two on and one out in the fifth, but CF Josh Hamilton grounded to short and DH Hank Blalock popped up.

1:30: After retiring the bottom third of the lineup in order in the fifth, Millwood has retired 13 of the last 14 hitters he’s faced. He’s retired four of the last five on strikeouts.

1:35: Yeah, I’d say look for Hank Blalock at first base tomorrow with Marlon Byrd in the DH spot. Chris Davis just took a called third strike to end the sixth. It’s now a 1-for-21 slump and he does look a little defeated at the plate. Edwin Jackson challenged him with fastballs on the first two pitches of the at-bat and Davis was simply overpowered. They were in the 96-97 mph range according to the gun, but Davis shouldn’t get overpowered by fastballs by anybody. He’s got a timing issue to work on.

1:40: Another 1-2-3 inning for Millwood. That’s 10 in a row retired and 16 of the last 17. Also, this is an important trip through the lineup. Last year, Millwood allowed a .359 average after hitters after the second time through the lineup. He began the sixth against the top of the order, got a soft liner to second from Curtis Granderson and ground outs from Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez. Polanco, who has two of the Tigers three hits, entered the game hitting .529 against Millwood (9-for-17) and Ordonez began at .429 (9-for-21).

1:45: Bottom third of the lineup is 1-for-9 today with the lone hit coming on Elvis Andrus’ second-inning single. In the series, they are 2-for-28 and both hits are by Andrus.  If the bottom third is full of  automatic outs, the Rangers are going to have offensive issues.

1:58: Millwood through seven and I think he’s done. He’s at 112 pitches and in the seventh, he was definitely pushing it. He had two twice cover first base, once catching a ricochet off the glove of Chris Davis in mid-air for the out. He also saw his streak of consecutive batters retired end at 10. Don’t think it’s possible for Rangers to be happier with him. He’s on the cusp of ending a losing streak, which is what No. 1′s do. He’s made consecutive seven-inning outings and allowed one or no runs in them. He’s thrown more than 11o pitches on both occasions. He’s done the job.

2:22: I’ll just say “C.J. Wilson.” And I’ll let you handle the rest of the discussion. The number of ways he left the pitching staff in a lurch today after blowing a4-0 eighth-inning lead might equal the number of Tweets he sent out in the last 24 hours. For the record, he sent out 11 Tweets.  Among this morning Twitter topics: Somali pirates, Jack Bauer, breakfast burritos and a bad dream about a Loch Ness monster-type of creature. Guessing tonight’s dreams will not be any better.