Losing Control: Angels’ Lackey Ejected After Two Pitches As Rangers Extend AL West Lead With 5-3 Win

D-tails
• Boxscore (Rangers 5, Angels 3); Standings; The Depot live game blog; Francisco to DL

Angels manager Mike Scioscia pleaded his case for John Lackey to crew chief Tim Tschida (left) and Bob Davidson, but they weren't buying. (Photo: Brad Newton)

ARLINGTON - It is now official. The Rangers have all the components for a bona fide pennant race.

They have an official team song – “Day N Nite,” by Kid Cudi, which has started to shake the clubhouse walls before every game after every win. They have an official team motto – “One Team, One Mission,” – which appeared on the team’s dry erase board before the weekend series with Los Angeles.

And as of Saturday, they have an official rival: The Angels, who have spent the first two days of the series acting like they either respect the Rangers or fear them.

That became very apparent before and during a 5-3 win Saturday which extended the Rangers winning streak to six games and their lead in the AL West to 3.5 games.

On Friday, the Angels arrived in Texas and turned some rather mild-mannered quotes from Marlon Byrd into bulletin-board material. On Saturday, Lackey pitched like he was the one affected by it.

Well, at least that’s how it appeared for his two pitch outing.

After six weeks on the DL, he threw his first pitch behind the back of Ian Kinsler, who had hit two homers in Friday night’s series-opening win. The second one caught Kinsler in the ribs. Even before Kinsler threw the bat down to glare briefly at Lackey, home plate umpire Bob Davidson was ejecting the Angels ace.

“They banged the ball around pretty good last night,” crew chief Tim Tschida said. “The kid [Kinsler] hit two home runs. When the first pitch of the next game to that hitter is behind him, that’s a red flag. We gave [Lackey] the benefit of the doubt because maybe he was a little amped up coming off the DL. When he hit him with the second pitch hit him that was something else.”

Rather than anything really vocal, Kinsler’s response was to steal second, move to third on Michael Young’s ground out and score on a sacrifice fly by Josh Hamilton to tie the game. They did not trail again and have not trailed at the end of any inning during the series.

“It was interesting,” Kinsler said of the first. “I play the game the right way. I play hard to compete and to win. I don’t know what that was all about and I don’t know what he’s trying to prove. I thought the umpire handled the situation very well.”

Lackey blamed the rust and also pleaded that if he was trying to hit someone, he’d be more than happy to let them know and that if he was going to hit someone, well, Kinsler wouldn’t have been the target.”

“If you know anything about me, I’d go straight to the source if I was going to do something,” Lackey said. “If you’ve ever talked to me, I’d tell you I was going to do something, I’d tell you if I did it, I’d stand up and own up to it. I did not try to throw at him. I hadn’t pitched in six weeks. The last thing I wanted to do was come out of the game early.”

In two rehab starts, Lackey had hit one batter in 9.2 innings. But that was a Portland Beaver and certainly nobody had suggested in print that Lackey “bring his ‘A’ game” if he intended to beat Portland.

Byrd had suggested just that on the eve of the Angels series in a quote in the Star-Telegram:

“We’ve faced Lackey enough. They probably feel they need to throw him out there at some point in time, and why not against us? I don’t know what his success rate is against us, but he’d better bring his A game.”

When Lackey arrived at his locker Friday, the quote was circled in red and taped to his locker. On top of the six weeks he spent nursing some elbow inflammation, he had another 24 hours to contemplate being challenged before making his first start of the season.

So were the Angels, who have dealt with injuries, tragedy and aging already this season, trying to intimidate the Rangers before any real semblance of a playoff race began? Was Lackey?

“I don’t know and I don’t really care,” 3B Michael Young said. “I don’t think intimidation works at the big league level. Whatever goes on in there clubhouse goes on over there. We have our own business to take care of.”
And with Lackey out of the game, that business became a lot easier. The Rangers spent the next eight innings hitting against Los Angeles’ weary bullpen, which had thrown 120 pitches (the equivalent of a complete game on Thursday) and 460 (an average of 76.7 per game) over its last six games. The bullpen allowed the tying run in the first and two more in the second. After the Angels tied it in the fourth, the bullpen couldn’t provide the elusive “shut-down” inning and Texas scored twice more to take the lead for good. RHP Vicente Padilla, the more likely of the two starters in Saturday’s game to be ejected for hitting somebody, stuck around for eight solid innings. It once again lessened the burden on a thin bullpen, which is currently without closer RHP Frank Francisco.

And so, if Lackey or the Angels were trying to send the Rangers a message about a potential pennant race this season, the Rangers were content to send their own back.

The message: They are completely focused only on winning each game. And then getting back to some Kid Cudi.