Post-Game Show: Rays 5, Rangers 4 (10)

Posted on August 22nd, 2009 11:37pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Post-Game Wrap up, Texas Rangers

D-tails
•Boxscore, AL West Standings, AL Wild Card Standings

Story of the Game
The Rangers bullpen, perhaps the team’s biggest asset all season, couldn’t stop Tampa Bay in the late innings Saturday. Perhaps most distressing: The relievers couldn’t do it after getting themselves into counts that should have been pitcher friendly.

In the eighth inning of a tie game, LHP C.J. Wilson was brought in to face left-handed hitting 1B Carlos Pena. Wilson quickly got ahead by muscling two fastballs up and in against the AL’s strikeout leader. Then he tried to get Pena to chase his pitch over and over and over. Instead, Pena worked his way to a walk and then scored when DH Pat Burrell doubled off the wall in left field.

In the 10th, RHP Jason Grilli, activated from the DL two hours before the game, just had no command in his first outing back. He got ahead of the leadoff man in the 10th, 3B Evan Longoria, 0-and-2  before hitting him with a fastball that came too far inside. Grilli then walked Ben Zobrist to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Longogria scored when Pena lined a ball to center field for a single.

The loss was made all the more painful because the Rangers chief playoff rivals won. The Los Angeles Angels beat Toronto to extend their lead int he AL West to 6.5 games. But Boston also won, hammering the New York Yankees 14-1. The Rangers lost chance, in fact, puts them closer to third place (they lead Tampa Bay by one game) in the AL Wild Card hunt than first place (they trail Boston by two).

Three Up
• 3B Michael Young had his third consecutive three-hit game to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. He’s now had 18 streaks of at least 10 games in his career, tied with Ivan Rodriguez for the most in Rangers history. Young is hitting .463 during the streak. Only the lack of a double kept Young from hitting for the cycle.
• OF Marlon Byrd gave the Rangers a temporary reprieve from a traumatic loss with a two-out, ninth-inning homer that tied the game. At 66 RBIs, Byrd is within three of the team leader (Ian Kinsler, 69) and within four of matching his career best.
• RHP Neftali Feliz pitched a career high 2.2 innings and didn’t allow a hit to lower his ERA to 0.63 and his opponents batting average to .085. He did allow the first walk of his career after 12.1 innings over eight games without one.

Three Down
• For the sixth consecutive game, a Rangers starter – in this instance RHP Tommy Hunter – failed to get through at least six innings.
• OF David Murphy finds himself in another long slump. Murphy, who went 0-for-23 to start the season, was hitless in three at-bats Saturday and his last 13 at-bats. His batting average fell to .260, the lowest it has been since the All-Star break.
• The Rangers failed to take a single walk for the ninth time this season. Surprisingly, the Rangers are 5-4 when they failed to take any free passes.

Stat O’ the Game
0: Hits for the Rays with runners in scoring position in 16 at-bats during the series before 1B Carlos Pena’s walk-off single in the 10th inning. Tampa Bay was 0-for-7 Friday and 0-for-9 in the first nine innings Saturday

Player of the Game
Your candidates are: Rangers OF Marlon Byrd (1-for-4, game-tying HR), 3B Michael Young (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBIs), Tampa Bay RHP Matt Garza (7 IP, 3 R), 1B Carlos Pena (3-for-4, 2 HR, 4 RBIs, walk-off single). Vote here.

Friday’s Player of the Game: Michael Young (39% of vote)

Flying Saucer/Flying Fish Depot Double-Dip Game
No winners.

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11 Comments to “Post-Game Show: Rays 5, Rangers 4 (10)”
  • Bill G @ August 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm

    I have to get this off my chest. I have seen several comments about Rudy as the hitting coach. I submit; Rudy has produced great hitting for years, the hitting has gone down over the past two years. What has changed?

  • rob m @ August 23rd, 2009 at 12:18 am

    Bill: Milton Bradley was the difference last year. This offense isn’t too much different than 2006 or 2007.

  • rob m @ August 23rd, 2009 at 12:20 am

    Evan: Murphy has options. How about sending him down and bringing Davis up? AJ and Blalock can DH. You would still have 4 OFers. Murphy could come back up around Sept. 2.

  • JustSaying @ August 23rd, 2009 at 12:47 am

    wait….wait…..bradley was a bad influence…..a bad tempered boy…….oh but he hit and pushed us to victory…….shoot we let that one get away huh……and geez padilla to grab his old dodger spot……..and they’ve got torre and manny….geez they get all the breaks………

  • Anthony in Australia @ August 23rd, 2009 at 1:20 am

    The loss was Ron W’s fault; I distinctly saw him breathing through the wrong nostril during the eighth inning. He has to go…

  • Jack Daddy @ August 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 am

    just sayin – padilla’s performance was average. he was notorious for stopping competing when he didn’t have his stuff and was not the guy you wanted around YOUNG guys, like Feliz. If you don’t think young players get influenced, look at what TO did to some of those guys in the locker room.

    every other team could have claimed him and nobody did. 1 team negotiated with him. you need to give this one a rest.

  • Jon @ August 23rd, 2009 at 8:39 am

    Bill G -

    “I submit; Rudy has produced great hitting for years, the hitting has gone down over the past two years.”

    When one runs the numbers looking at away games for all teams to eliminate ball park home field aspects Ranger hitting is only so so.

    If you look at some past analysis on this blog, such as the All-or-Nothing analysis several weeks ago you will see that the Rangers tend to hit lots of HRs and SO a lot. There hitting is undisciplined and they tend to chase pitches.

    Basically the opposite of what Ted Williams stresses in his book the Science of Hitting.

    As a long time follower of the Rangers their hitting comes in spurts with large slumps. Life would be a lot better if the Rangers got three runs a game and let the pitching and defense carry them. Now they average three (?) runs or so a game, but it tends to be either 0 or 6 not three. See the difference?

    Some will argue that Rudy’s legend was built by all the previous great hitters who later turned out to be on steriods. Rudy has never, ever been associated with steriods, but his hitting legend benefited from those players.

    What is insightful is to read the posting on this blog about Chris Davis and how he did not connect with Rudy, but has received excellent instruction back at AAA. That is turn brings up Nelson Cruz who hit so poorly at te parent club and so well in AAA. How much was adjustment and how much was coaching?

    Lastly, IF one argues tha Ruudy was a great hitting coach based on past player performance how can one not logically argue that he is not a good hitting coach based on current player performance? There are no free passes in logic.

    So I will give you the benefit of any doubt.

    Yes Rudy WAS a great hitting coach, but this set of players might be better served by a change.

    BTW, everyone agreed that the pitching coach change was very, very good.

    What can it hurt to roll the dice? It is not like the hitting will get any worse.

  • Free Chris Davis @ August 23rd, 2009 at 9:12 am

    @Jon: Pretty much agree with you. This definitely has not been a good year for Rudy. Extended slumps for Davis, Ian, Josh and Blaock not to mention AJ, have really got to question whether he should be back next year. I think he basically gave up on both of them by say it is mental. Ron is going to have some clout in the FO this winter. I would not be surprised if he uses that clout to bring in a hitting coach that stresses the approach that he wants the hitters to take at the plate.

  • A. Stephens, Raleigh NC @ August 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 am

    I’m on record as saying that coaches have shelf lives and maybe it is time to make a change if the team feels it’s the right call. But, “not like the hitting will get any worse” is ill informed. It could easily be worse.

    Rudy is not the problem. There are multiple young players going through their first series of failures in their careers. As we are beginning to see with the pitching, the league is adjusting and the hitters and ultimately the pitchers as well will have to adjust in response. This takes time and application.

    The issues re Davis and Cruz. The minors is where young players go to get straightened out. It is where instruction takes place minus the pressure to perform inherent in the majors, which is exacerbated by the expectations of a pennant race by the way. I assure you that any changes and adjustments made my those two had input and approval from Jaramillo. Now that those individuals perhaps responded better to hearing it from someone else is certainly plausible.

    But, the individual farm team hitting coach as well as the roving minor league hitting instructor work through Rudy, implementing the basic hitting principles that will be expected of them the big league level. That system has been pretty successful through the years.

    I’ve yet to hear one person, either current or past player, either Rangers player or someone from another club altogether, either scout or front office guy, who’s background is in the game have anything but praise for the guy. The most negative things one can find about Jaramillo are always on blog comments.

    Again, Jaramillo is not a problem, but sometimes changing things up is just a necessary part of development.

  • Jack Daddy @ August 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    @jon and @a stephens – both well thought out argument.

  • JustSaying @ August 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    @jack i’ll let you know every time he wins a game…….