The Depot: Live Game Blog, News And Notes

BALTIMORE – Taylor Teagarden has struck out in seven consecutive at-bats, one shy of the Rangers’ record. All seven have come on breaking pitches. Teagarden knows that until he proves he can hit the pitch, he’ll keep getting more of them.

“I ask myself why it’s happening, but the simple answer is that it’s about timing,” Teagarden said. “I’ve been latea in getting my swing started, and because of it, I haven’t done a good job of recognizing pitches until its too late. A good pitcher is going to continue to exploit that until I prove I can make adjustments.”

Teagarden, who is 1-for-15, has started just four games this season. He struck out in all four at-bats Thursday and in his three at-bats against Kansas City on April 19. He last made contact on April 13 and got his only hit on April 9. Teagarden said his lack of playing time may not be helping him break the slump, but it’s not the reason for it.

“This is my role and I’m just going to have to adjust to it,” he said. “I know I’m not going to play five days a week. Playing time is not the reason I’m struggling. I am doing my best to pick up things. Andruw [Jones] and I have spent a lot of time on the bench talking about how to make the adjustment to more limited playing time. For me, it’s still about timing. Once it clicks, it clicks. But it hasn’t clicked yet.”

6:00: RHP Kevin Millwood has had an “HK” inked on the corner of the skull of his baseball cap for late Phillies announcer Harry Kalas, who passed away earlier this month. The two had a close relationship in Philadelphia when Millwood pitched there in 2003-04. But don’t expect to see the tribute when Millwood takes the mound for his next start Tuesday against Oakland. MLB sent him word Friday that it violatedthe league’s uniform policy.

6:08: Couple of quick minor league notes. RHP Jared Hyatt has been sent to Oklahoma City to replace RHP Luis Mendoza. LHP Joe Torres has been sent from extended spring training to Frisco to replace Hyatt. … OF Ben Harrison has been activated from the DL at Oklahoma City. He replaces OF Brandon Boggs, who has gone on the bereavement list following a death in his family.

6:12: I am looking at Darren O’Day’s bio and this just jumped out at me: Not only does he have a college degree; it’s in animal biology. Now, that’s interesting. Also, looking these things up keeps you from watching the Rangers strike out twice in the first inning to run the season total to 136. Yes, it is the worst in the majors.

6:19: Good news for Rangers. RHP Vicente Padilla’s velocity seems to be back up in the “normal” range. It’s been 91-95 mph here in the first. And most importantly, he’s been willing to throw it.

6:30: SS Elvis Andrus just handled his first play of the game without issue. Thursday, Andrus made three poor throws. 1B Chris Davis saved an out on one, but the other two went down as errors. Andrus has five errors this season and four of them are throwing errors. Manager Ron Washington said he wasn’t concerned about the throwing. He thought Andrus had “pushed” a couple of throws, but saw no reason to address anything with Andrus. As I was typing this, Andrus finished off the second with another perfect throw to first.

6:43: Shutdown-inning talk. OK, the Rangers gave Padilla a lead on Ian Kinsler’s single (which broke an 0-for-11 stretch). In his last two starts, the Rangers gave Padilla a lead on three different occasions. He has not maintained said lead even through the next half inning.

7:19: Vicente Padilla balked in the third run of the fourth inning. We’re pretty much left to guess how he balked. I’ve been told he seemed to disengage from the rubber with the wrong foot and then moved his entire body before being completely off. Best guess from a baseball mind far more educated than mine.

7:28: From Inside Corner’s East Texas Bureau, we’ve been sent the picture you see to the left. We’ve been told that the Orioles were playing with the Cardinals and/or the Blue Jays in Frankston. We also have too much time on our hands pondering what in the world is going on with Vicente Padilla, who just surrendered Brian Roberts’ first homer of the season.

7:38: The Rangers enter the sixth inning with five strikeouts by hitters tonight. They will not break the club record for strikeouts by the end of April (199 in 2003). But that team played 27 games by April 30 and averaged 7.37 strikeouts per game; counting this game as complete, the Rangers are averaging 8.69 strikeouts per game. No way around it: That’s awful.

7:54: Good news for Rangers: Hank Blalock’s homer to lead off seventh brings Rangers within 4-2; Bad news for Cornerites: No winners in Home Run pool. Only one entrant picked Blalock at all and that was for a fourth inning solo blast.

8:31: Chris Davis will face lefty George Sherrill. Last night, in same situation, Andruw Jones came to the plate. Hard to figure the difference in thinking tonight. Jones did strike out on three pitches. Davis just missed first pitch by three feet.

8:35: From my point of view, the ability to DH or pinch hit Jones against a lefty is the EXACT reason he made the roster in the first place. If not used in that situation, what is his role?

8:42: Over the last two innings, the Rangers have sent the tying or go-ahead run to the plate seven times. And yet they have not tied the game. Once again, this is a team that has started the season playing for the homer and disregarding almost every other aspect of the offensive game.

8:58: Holy Frijole! Michael Young has done it again. His two-run homer with two outs in ninth gives Rangers lead. If you are counting at home, that’s three homers in the last five games that have either tied the game or given the Rangers the lead in the ninth.