Comments on: Little Things Add Up To Big Trouble As Rangers Finish April With 4-2 Loss To Oakland

By: Longhorn Matt

Longhorn Matt — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:22:31 +0000

Evan, I agree with your take on Young’s throw home. Young was close to third when he snagged the ball, and his throw was well in advance of the runner. Even if he had taken the time to step on the third for the first out, Young still should have had the time to get the ball to home in time to tag out the runner. Not a huge mistake, but I agree that it was a mistake.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:55:43 +0000

Games like these show how far the Rangers are from being a legit contender.

By: Evan Grant

Evan Grant — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:35:06 +0000

@hudsonb: Agreed, way down the list. But my take was that it was possible to step on third and throw home to get the tag. Maybe I misjudged it, but I that was my first instinct.

By: Dusty Y

Dusty Y — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:34:30 +0000

I agree hudson, get the sure out at home instead of taking the chance of a missed/botched tag. Plus, the double play opportunity was still there afterwards.

By: hudsonb

hudsonb — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:54:57 +0000

I think on the throw to home Young did the right thing. If he tagged 3rd to force a runner, that would take an extra split second and remove the force at home, so the runner has to be tagged. Instead, he got a sure out, and prevented the run.

If you insist that this was a mistake, I won’t argue, but I will say that it was somewhere around #17 on the list of ways the Rangers pissed this game away.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:49:44 +0000

Thanks, Evan for story on what happened in the game. I was unable to watch yesterday, and the newspaper accounts read more like feature articles. Thanks for getting us caught up on the current state of the Rangers. However, from the sounds of it, this might have been a good one to miss!

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:28:31 +0000

I thought Wash preached infield defense and making contact at the plate.

Doesn’t seem like this players coach has had much impact on the previously exisitng players culture.

I agree. They still “Live by the homer; die by the little things.”

By: tomckil

tomckil — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:24:02 +0000

Great analysis as usual, and thanks for the post. Just in time for lunch break in Hong Kong 13 hours ahead of you.

By: Fred

Fred — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:49:00 +0000

They have shown a remarkable lack of ability to advance runners and to score runners in scoring position with less than 2 out. Part is the huge K rate and part is lack of ability, or lack of interest, to practice situational hitting.
Are they gonna do someting about it? Can they?