Post-Game Show: Rangers 3, Rays 1

D-tails
• Boxscore, Standings

Before we go into the Three Up/Three Down, please be aware that you are always invited to add your own. Got an email from some folks disagreeing with some choices and I’d never discourage you from putting up your own list here. These are just my quick and random observations. So, with that, away we go: Three Up and Three Down from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where the Rangers won for the third consecutive time to keep applying pressure to the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angel.

Three Up
• RHP Tommy Hunter has now made three starts this season and seems to get a little better with each one. Though manager Ron Washington pulled him with one out in the sixth, Hunter had shut down the hottest team in the AL. Hunter has earned yet another start and, if he keeps this up, it might be hard to displace him when Matt Harrison returns from the DL. He also picked up his first major league win on his 23rd birthday.
• DH Hank Blalock provided the walk-off home run on Wednesday and the bulk of the Rangers offense with a two-run, fourth-inning homer on Friday. He is earning his way back into the everyday lineup.
• LHP C.J. Wilson pitched a scoreless eighth against the heart of the Tampa Bay lineup. Wilson has a 1.07 ERA over his last 24 outings and has regained the trust of management after a shaky start to the season.

Three Down
• Two more strikeouts for 1B Chris Davis on an 0-for-3 night that dropped his batting average to .201. He’s now at 113 strikeouts and the Rangers are still three games from the halfway point of the season. The club is going to have to make a decision about his progress by the All-Star break.
• 2B Ian Kinsler had three more fly ball outs and saw his batting average dip below .260 with an 0-for-4 night. Kinsler is hitting just .172 on the homestand.
• For the second time this season, a bank of lights failed at The Ballpark. Fortunately, the teams were able to play on and the relay switch atop the stadium was quickly repaired.

The Depot: Patriotic Rangers-Rays Live Game Blog, News, Notes And Other Stuff

7:01: Last few minutes to get in the pool.

7:02: Since I can’t let an argument go, let’s at least compares apples-to-apples in the “Is-Kevin-Millwood-Lucky-Or-Good” debate. Let’s compare where hewas after 17 starts in 2007. At that point, he was 6-8 with a 5.50 ERA, had allowed 155 baserunners in 93 innings, a .291 opponents batting average and 3.66 walks per nine innings. This season, he’s 8-5 with a 2.80 ERA, has also allowed 155 baserunners in 119 innings, a .242 opponents batting average and perhaps, most significantly, 2.95 walks per nine innings. So, Millwood is actually walking fewer batters and allowing fewer baserunners per nine innings whe compared to where he was in 2007 at the same point. Have no idea what his stranded runners percentage was, but it’s pretty clear to me, he’s allowing fewer hits and walking fewer batters, so there is reason to believe that it’s not simply defense and luck, but also quality of pitches and an aggressive mentality.

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Grab A Float, Jump In The Pool And Watch The Fireworks

Here is your Rangers lineup tonight against LHP Scott Kazmir:

2B Ian Kinsler (Only Ranger with a HR vs. Kazmir, but a .154 average), 3B Michael Young, CF Marlon Byrd, LF Andruw Jones, DH Hank Blalock, RF Nelson Cruz, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 1B Chris Davis, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Tommy Hunter.

One note, don’t jump in the pool with fireworks. They’ll get wet that way.

Friday-Afternoon Rangers Notes, Including Hamilton Update

ARLINGTON - Rangers manager Ron Washington indicated Friday afternoon that Josh Hamilton hasn’t yet shown timing at the plate in his minor league rehab at-bats that would earn him his way back into the Rangers’ lineup. Hamilton is scheduled to play for Triple-A Oklahoma again on Friday night.

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In Blog Eat Blog World, Lone Star Ball Dogs Inside Corner After Inside Corner Dogs Rob Neyer

In regards to the very animated conversation about Kevin Millwood’s success this season, Adam Morris takes me to task on Lonestarball with lots of thoughtful reasoning. And then the discussion spills over to Facebook. Bottom line: I’m sticking by my thinking that Millwood’s numbers this year have improved significantly because he is in better shape and because he’s got a better group of fielders behind him. Richard Durrett also weighs in at the DMN’s baseball blog.

The argument about how low his strand rate in 2007 could be turned on its head. You could also argue that his strand rate that year would have been significantly higher – thus bringing down his ERA – had he an adequate set fielders behind him.

Good stuff all around. Vigorous baseball conversation. Awe. Some.

ESPN’s Rob Neyer Says Kevin Millwood Has Been More Lucky Than Good; I Say ‘Wake Up, Rob Neyer’

Kevin Millwood leads the AL in innings pitched. He is tied for fourth in quality starts (12), one shy of the AL lead. He ranks fifth in the AL in ERA (2.80). Pitching in a park notorious for being hitter-friendly, he has a compiled the fourth-best home ERA (2.49) in the AL.

By almost any evaluation, Millwood has been one of the top five or six pitchers in the AL this season.

Unless, of course, you are ESPN stat-meister, Rob Neyer. Neyer’s take: He’s been lucky (hat-tip to Jack Daddy for the column) . According to Neyer and R.J. Anderson of the statistical-analysis site Fangraphs,  Millwood is stranding too many runners. Yep, he’s prohibited too many runners who have reached base from scoring, thus underscoring why Millwood has been so lucky and not good. And here I am thinking that not allowing runners to score is actually an attribute for a pitcher.

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Series Preview: Rangers vs. Rays

Newsflash: BJ Upton and Carl Crawford are fast.

As in fast enough to combine for 69 steals in Tampa Bay’s first 80 games. That’s good enough for the duo to put Tampa 4th in steals in all of Major League Baseball. By themselves. As a team? Oh, the Rays have managed a humble 121 steals, which gives them the ML lead by 42. Tampa stole as many or more bases in the month of May than 22 teams have stolen all season. Scratch that newsflash. It should read: The Tampa Bay Rays are fast.

So the Rangers will certainly have their hands full keeping Upton, Crawford and company corralled over their weekend series with the Rays. And the Tampa outfields have a lot more to offer than just their speed, too.

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Pitching Profile – June Edition

Just like we did at the end of May, here is a good, extensive look at the Rangers starting rotation. The point of this exercise is to dig a bit deeper than the basic stats for each starting pitcher to see what they are good at – or what they are not good at.

Through the end of June, the Rangers rotation has taken the ball 76 times. Only 6 pitchers have made more than 2 starts, so we will focus on those guys. Kevin Millwood, Scott Feldman, and Vicente Padilla have taken the most turns, then Matt Harrison and Brandon McCarthy both have 11 starts a piece. Finally, Derek Holland has 6 starts under his belt.

As you might expect, June was not a bed of roses for any part of this team. Let’s take a look and see how it worked out for the starting rotation.

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (7/3)

Edwin Escobar (photo by Scott Lucas)

Most of the young pitching talent harvested from the Caribbean is extremely raw. It took Wilmer Font a couple of years to put it together even a little bit. We’re still waiting for Geuris Grullon to command his nasty stuff. Carlos Melo has power and, at times, astounding movement on his fastball, but no idea where it’s going. Some will work it out, most won’t.

And then you have the rare guys like Wilfredo Boscan and Martin Perez who seem to be almost complete pitchers at age 17 or 18. They can throw two or three quality pitches for strikes and they go to the mound with an idea and the ability to execute it.

Early indications suggest that the Rangers might have found another guy in the Martin Perez mold in Edwin Escobar, a lefty from Venezuela who turned 17 in April and who is off to a dazzling start in the Arizona League. The Rangers signed him one year ago for a bonus of $350,000 and you have to wonder if, like Perez, he amounts to a first-round sort of talent for a third-round sort of price.

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