Post Game Show: Rangers 5, Detroit 2

D-tails
• Boxscore, Standings

Three Up
• In six starts this season, RHP Tommy Hunter has an ERA of 2.00. Throw out his 5.1-inning/three-run outing as a spot starter on May 29 and Hunter has a 1.47 ERA. What is not to like about this guy?
• 3B Michael Young has three consecutive three-hit games and is now hitting .447 since the All-Star break. He hit his 14th homer in the eighth inning after singles in the first and sixth.
• LHP C.J. Wilson’s entrance music, whatever the name of that funky,discoish tune, is downright catchy.

Three Down
• 2B Ian Kinsler was one of three Rangers who didn’t reach base and his 0-for-4 night has hit batting average (.242) is barely topping the .240 mark.
• RF Josh Hamilton didn’t reach base in his four at-bats after being dropped to the No. 7. Detroit intentionally walked Nelson Cruz to face Hamilton with two outs in the seventh. He struck out looking at a 3-and-2 pitch after missing the 3-and-1 pitch Hamilton (.223) is danger of falling below .220.
• It rained.

The Depot: Rangers-Tigers Live Game Blog, News, Notes And Weather Updates On The “Eights”

5:00: As Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson once said: “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” namely here. And as John Hiatt once crooned (and Buffett covered): “Thank God, the homer pool is open.” On second thought, maybe they were talking about a tiki bar. Ah never mind, you can get your guesses in right up until first pitch.

5:36: Not much in the way of note-age tonight. RHP Kevin Millwood feels better and is hopeful of making his start on Friday. Millwood, who suffered a slight strain of the gluteus maximus on Sunday, is expected to throw a bullpen session Wednesday if he doesn’t have any unexpected storeness. … Don’t look for RHP Frank Francisco to be activated during the Detroit series. Francisco planned to try and throw in the outfield Monday. If that goes well, he might pitch a bullpen session Wednesday. So while the pnuemonia is apparently gone, the recovery continues. Given that he hasn’t pitched since the All-Star break, it is quite likely he will end up making a rehab appearance before being activated. … There are no more reported cases of the flu in the Rangers’ clubhouse.

(more…)

UPDATED: Rangers Josh Hamilton Hitting Seventh

UPDATED at 4:53 p.m.

ARLINGTON - Josh Hamilton is back in the Rangers lineup today after a day off, but he has lost the No. 3 spot for now. Hamilton is hitting seventh tonight. LF David Murphy will hit third again.

Manager Ron Washington said he simply wanted to take some pressure off Hamilton, who is hitting .203 since returning from the disabled list earlier this month.

“I think he’s just trying too hard,” Washington said. “I just want to give him a little break to hopefully get him back going. I don’t want him to feel like he’s got the weight of the team on his shoulders.”

(more…)

Indoor/Outdoor Home Run Pool Time

It is currently raining in old Arlington. A gaggle of Rangers brass is watching 24th round draft pick RHP Sean Blackwell throw in the bullpen. They must like the Kansas signee from Houston’s Clear Creek high school a lot if a bunch of folks decided they’d get their nice clothes wet an all.

In the meantime, we’ll attempt to play the home run pool if the rain does not intercede. Not sure what the forecast is for later tonight, but I’m guessing the Rangers will tell me there is a “window” if I ask, so I’m not going to ask right now.

For the time being, we will play blind. I won’t get a lineup until about 3:30. You can check back then if you’d like or you can enter now and change your entry once the lineup is posted. I’m easy like that.

Here is your lineup against Detroit RHP Armando Galarraga: 2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, LF David Murphy, CF Marlon Byrd, 1B Hank Blalock, DH Nelson Cruz, RF Josh Hamilton (yes, you read that correctly), C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus and pitching for the Rangers … RHP Tommy Hunter.

Series Preview: Tigers at Rangers

When the 2007 season started, Armando Galarraga was a Frisco RoughRider and Tommy Hunter was still playing college baseball at Alabama. Galarraga made the jump from double-A to triple-A to the majors that year, posting a 6.24 ERA in one start and two relief appearances for Texas. The Rangers drafted Hunter in June and sent him to their short-season affiliate in Spokane.

A matter of months later, in the offseason before 2008, the Rangers designated Galarraga for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Jason Jennings. The Tigers claimed Galarraga and stuck him in the rotation for most of the season. He posted a 13-7 record with a 3.73 ERA in 178.2 innings. Cue the grumbles. Hunter was fast tracked to the majors in ’08, moving from high-A to double-A to triple-A in a season without a noticeable hiccup in his performance. He did not fare as well in his big league debut, however, allowing 20 runs in 11 innings for an ERA of 16.36. Cue the groans.

But all was not as it appeared. Galarraga was a 26-year-old rookie with an unsustainably low batting average on balls in play (BABIP) that kept his ERA lower than it should have been. Hunter was a 22-year-old prospect who had logged less than 200 minor league innings and was still awaiting a twist of fate that would introduce him to the cutter that would change his pitching repertoire. And here we are. Galarraga, despite lowering his ERA by nearly a run over his last four starts, is giving up 4.82 runs per nine innings and has a WHIP of 1.49, while Hunter has been arguably the Ranger’s best starter in July, going 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA in three starts.

So as the two young righties prepare to face off in Arlington tonight, the edge would seem to go to the current rather than the former Ranger. Unless you take Texas’ 0-6 record in ’09 against Detroit into account. And the fact that, unlike the Rangers’ previous opponent, the Tigers actually have something to play for.

(more…)

Weekend In Review

Eric Hurley and Joaquin Benoit both having to undergo season-ending surgery to repair torn rotator cuffs? Shame, but that’s baseball. A combined seven trips to the 15-day DL — as well as two stints on the 60-day DL — for Frank Francisco, Dustin Nippert, and Willie Eyre? Unfortunate occupational hazard. A fractured shoulder blade that will keep Brandon McCarthy out for the rest of the season? Tough break, but not unexpected with his injury history.

Kevin Millwood leaves due to glute tightness? Matt Harrison needs a rib removed? Vicente Padilla out with swine flu??

The injuries that have started to pile up on the Ranger pitching staff are getting so ridiculous it’s almost funny. Almost. But the Rangers have managed to persevere so far, holding their lowest team ERA since 1992. They’ve allowed 422 runs through the season’s first 96 games, a number lower or equal to any Ranger team since 1976. And while the starters have been excellent, limiting damage and pitching deep into games, the bullpen has been the key the last few months. So Evan convinced the two huge waiver-wire additions, Jason Grilli and Darren O’Day, to sit down and discuss the keys to Texas’ success in relief, and then questioned Nolan Ryan on how a new approach to pitching has helped the Rangers keep late leads.

(more…)

Countdown To The Trade Deadline: Take A Shot At Making The Best Possible Rangers Deal

Just under five days to go before the trade deadline, so let’s engage in a little exercise: Make believe trades. You may have already read the armchair GM’s roundtable in which MJH, Jamey Newberg, Joey Matschulat and I wasted your time. Now it’s your turn:

We’ve got a simple question, doctors (with Spanish subtitles, too!): Propose your best, most realistic trade the Rangers could make between now and the deadline. Be specific. Who knows if the club makes a trade and your proposal is dead-on, we might even send you a prize. Or Jon Daniels might hire you as an assistant. Time’s a wasting. Go.

Armchair GM Roundtable: Trade Deadline Edition

Back by popular demand, another mind-tingling edition of Armchair Roundtable and once again it’s huge.

Yesterday morning, I assembled Our Leader (Evan Grant), the Godfather (Jamey Newberg: The Newberg Report), and The Wonder Kid (Joey Matschulat, founder of Baseball Time in Arlington) in a chat room to kick around the Rangers options at the trade deadline.

Make the jump for an explosive edition of Armchair Roundtable where I think we manage to illustrate just how difficult the decisions will be for the Rangers as they engage in trade discussions this week.

Plus, we find out what kind of ice cream Jamey, Evan and Gerry Fraley favor.

(more…)

The Most Interesting Men In The (Dallas Sports) World – At Least For Thie Week, Anyway

10. Jordan Spieth: Big weekend for the rising Jesuit Junior golfer. Won U.S. Junior Amateur Championships on Saturday. Then his parents got a new driver. Spieth turned 16 Sunday.

9. Tommy Hunter: Big Rangers starter beat Josh Beckett on Tuesday. Has pretty much assured himself a spot in the Rangers rotation for the foreseeable future. Not bad for a guy who had a 16.36 mark in three starts last year.

(more…)

Road To Arlington: Rangers Farm Report (7/27)

I hope to see this again next spring, but you can bet that his name is coming up in virtually every trade conversation Jon Daniels is having right now.

Here’s a tease: Yesterday, Evan, Jamey Newberg and Joey Matschulat from Baseball Time in Arlington joined me at the Roundtable for more than an hour and a half of trade chat. We’ll have the transcript up in about four hours. Make sure to check back to get your head right with the trade deadline.

(more…)