Post-Game Show: Angels 5, Rangers 2

Posted on June 29th, 2009 10:00pm by Evan Grant
Filed under AL West race, Baseball, Post-Game Wrap up, Texas Rangers

Three Up and Three Down from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where the Rangers dropped their third straight game

Three Up
• CF Marlon Byrd had a fantastic game, going 3-for-4 with a homer and a running catch at his shoe-tops. Most impressive: He did it all on a bruised left knee. He fouled a ball off the inside of the knee cap in the second inning – one pitch before hitting a homer.
• RHP Doug Mathis got only one out, but it was in a situation where he had to keep the game close – an unusual scenario for him. He did just fine, getting Juan Rivera to ground out to second.
• Another of the Rangers’ top prospects reached the major as Julio Borbon made his big league debut.

Three Down
• The Rangers have now lost three straight, eight of their last 11 and have lost seven games in the AL West standings in a matter of 17 days. They now trail Los Angeles by 2.5 games and lead Seattle by only one. The Rangers cannot re-capture first place in the West in this series.
• The bottom four hitters in the Rangers lineup – Julio Borbon, Taylor Teagarden, Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus – went 1-for-16 and got only two balls out of the infield, fly outs by Teagarden and Andrus (which ended the game). The lone hit was an infield single.
• Borbon went 0-for-3 in his debut with a pair of strikeouts and a pop out to the third baseman in foul territory.

Bookmark and Share
17 Comments to “Post-Game Show: Angels 5, Rangers 2”
  • Little O @ June 29th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    Jennings has to be a Thumbs Up.

    Batters are totally lost at the plate.

  • Ryan s @ June 29th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

    when does the Cowboys season begin!… Some things never change, Angels well on their way to another AL West title and here we sit wondering if Davis will hit over 200

  • Jacob B @ June 29th, 2009 at 10:11 pm

    any chance they cut Hamilton’s rehab assignment short, say ending tonight?

  • scooper @ June 29th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    @JacobB: that’s exactly what I was thinking. If he is stealing a base, he has to feel OK. I think I’d activate him and use him at DH.

  • Zhigh63 @ June 29th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Once Hamilton is back I really hope that Murphy does not end up as the odd man out. He has been one of the few people getting hits. Once he started hitting this season he has been a steady bat that works the count more than other guys in the lineup. I just think he has to stay in the lineup.

  • scooper @ June 30th, 2009 at 12:10 am

    @zhigh63: I agree. Wash just moved him to the 3 spot, so I think he understands what he has in Murphy. I really don’t think he’ll be the odd-man-out (at least I hope not!).

  • Jacob B @ June 30th, 2009 at 1:02 am

    And well does that signal real panic if you bring back Hamilton early? I guess at some point you don’t really care what you call it.

    @Zhigh63: No way he gets squeezed out at this point. He moves down to 6 in the order with Hamilton batting 3, and Byrd batting 4.

  • Keith M @ June 30th, 2009 at 1:10 am

    I, too, was surprised by the low attendance at tonight’s game. I can’t think of any reason for it other than the economy.

    From my seat in the upper deck, I saw only a couple of large groups. Perhaps the companies that in past years would have “employee nights at the ballpark” just aren’t able to do that this year.

  • KJ @ June 30th, 2009 at 1:48 am

    @Keith M – it’s simple. it’s a weekday night and it’s already 100 degrees. the rangers traditionally haven’t gotten people out to the ballpark in those conditions unless 1) the yankees or red sox are in town or 2) the rangers are legitimately playing great baseball, which we know they haven’t as of the last couple weeks.

  • Keith M @ June 30th, 2009 at 6:09 am

    KJ,

    That’s all true. But I think a team that by most accounts has exceeded expectations this year should be drawing more than 17K vs. the Angels.

  • Clinton V. @ June 30th, 2009 at 7:41 am

    Keith:
    Whatever expectations were set prior to the season are now null and void in this area. This is a “What have you done for me lately?” city and if the expectations they set for themselves in May aren’t met then there’s no crowd.

  • Casey Abell @ June 30th, 2009 at 7:50 am

    Attendance has been okay. The Rangers are one of very few teams in the majors with a double-digit percentage increase in ticket sales this year. (And the announced number is ticket sales, incidentally, not turnstile attendance.)

    The performance on the field lately is something else, though. When a guy with a .752 OPS at AAA is rushed in as the DH savior, you’ve got problems. The team just hasn’t hit at all for weeks now, and will probably soon fall out of contention altogether.

  • Joe @ June 30th, 2009 at 7:53 am

    I’m not sure what the right thing to do for the offense is, but all I know is that when Blalock was announced as the pinch hitter in the bottom of the 8th in place of Borbon, I just about choked. I have always been a fan of Hank but I guess I have come to realize that he isn’t what he used to be. I knew before it happened that he would swing for the fence on the first pitch no matter where it was. The only thing that surprised me about his at bat was I figured he would pop up to 2nd or right field, not ground out to short.

  • Casey Abell @ June 30th, 2009 at 9:01 am

    Well, that’s true about Blalock pinch-hitting, I guess. We could have left Borbon in to strike out again and hoped the catcher missed the ball.

    Halfway seriously, that might have been a plan. It’s obvious that Borbon will chase any breaking ball down. The Angels pitchers picked up on this immediately. As Borbon whiffed at another pitch in the dirt, it MIGHT have skipped by the catcher.

    Hey, it couldn’t have been worse than any other Rangers hitter lately.

  • Casey Abell @ June 30th, 2009 at 9:31 am

    Okay, I shouldn’t pick on Borbon. It’s not the kid’s fault that he was rushed to the majors as the DH in what was only the most important game of the year so far.

    The Rangers have just stunk in every concevable way at the plate this month. For June their team OBP is forty-five points below league-average, their SLG is forty-seven points below, their OPS is 14th out of 14th.

    They ain’t getting on base, they ain’t hitting for power, they ain’t doin’ nothin’ with the bat. Jeez louise, they’ve been a lot worse than Oakland this month, and Oakland is worse than everybody else in the league.

    So to fix this problem they rush a kid to the majors when he’s already having enough problems at AAA. To paraphrase those obnoxious MLB commercials, this is beyond desperation.

  • Joe @ June 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    I didn’t get a chance to tune in until the 8th so I hadn’t know what Borbon had done up to that point. My main whine was that I am just tired of Blalock and I will add Jones and Davis in there also. It’s just plain painful. Not that any others in the line up are doing any better but I feel like these 3 are all versions of Jason Botts now. All have potential game altering power but they mostly supply heart ache.

  • scooper @ June 30th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    I have to say, once again, that I find all of this hilarious! Where are all of the people who were calling for Borbon to be called up? I never understood how he was supposed to save us, but now folks are calling it a “panic” move. I’ll say the same thing that I’ve said about all of our other youngsters – he is young, he will learn, and he will get better. There is no way that anyone should expect him to be our “saviour.” And before the topic comes up, I’ll say the same thing about Smoak. If we are depending on kids who have never played major leaague ball to “save” us, then we are in trouble. The only way this gets better is if the guys who have been here all year start hitting like they are capable of hitting. I understand the move with Borbon – they thought he might bring some energy and get on base (which the rest of our guys have not been doing consistently). But you can’t jump all over the kid when he strikes out. Give him a break, it was just his first game in the big leagues!