D

Fixing A Leaky Pen

When Jimmy Rollins sent Jonathan Broxton’s 99 mph fastball screaming into the right-center gap of Citizens Bank Park last night, Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier chased obligatorily after it, although he never really had a chance. The ball bounced off the wall, just below the scoreboard, and dribbled along the warning track before Ethier could finally scoop it up and fire it in to shortstop Rafael Furcal. Philadelphia’s Eric Bruntlett scored easily from second base, and Carlos Ruiz, despite his 5′10″, 216-pound frame and catcher’s knees, made it all the way around from first before Furcal could get the ball out of his glove. After being an out away from tying the NLCS at two games apiece, the Dodgers fell dangerously close to elimination with a 5-4 loss.

Broxton was only the second reliever to play a major role Monday, as just hours before Yankee closer Mariano Rivera worked out of a tight spot in the bottom of the 10th of their game with Los Angeles to keep it going. After the Angels put runners on the corners with no outs, Rivera forced three straight ground outs to push the game into a second extra frame, and though the Angels ended up winning in 11 innings, Rivera’s performance is a testament to the value of having a dominant pitcher in the back of a bullpen.

To this point, the ‘09 playoffs haven’t been kind to closers. Maligned Angel’s closer Brian Fuentes blew a save in the 11th inning Saturday after allowing a homer to Alex Rodriguez. One day earlier, former Ranger Chan Ho Park earned an 8th inning blown save after he gave up two runs to the Dodgers. In the postseason’s first round, Huston Street allowed a run in the 9th inning of a tied game three against the Phillies. One night later, he came into the 9th inning of game four with a 4-2 lead, and left two outs later with a 5-4 deficit. Boston’s Jonathan Pabelbon, Minnesota’s Joe Nathan, and St. Louis’ Ryan Franklin all blew two-run, 9th inning leads in their respective divisional series, leading their teams to early ousters. Through 62-9th inning outs, the equivalent of 21 innings, 15 runs scored in the ALDS and NLDS, and there have been nearly as many blown saves (9) as saves (10).

Which brings us to the Rangers. Although they didn’t quite qualify for the postseason this year, it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t have been contributing to the bullpen debacle had they made it in. The Rangers closer situation was an interesting one in 2009. It started about as well as anyone could have hoped — with 17.2 scoreless innings and 11 saves from Frank Francisco — but the remainder of the season was marked with injury, uncertainty, a lot of collar loosening, and plenty of brow wiping. It got so bad by season’s end that some fans were calling for rookie Neftali Feliz or soft-tossing sidearmer Darren O’Day to take over the final frame. But with Feliz likely moving back into the rotation next year, O’Day’s unproven track record, and the relative unpredictability of relievers from year to year, should the Rangers be looking to stabilize the back of their pen?

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Rangers Turn to All-Purpose Pitcher Dustin Nippert

ARLINGTON – Wednesday dawned as the darkest day of the Rangers’ season to date, at least mathematically. Never further from a post-season invitation, and only 18 more chances to alter that.

With so much at stake in Wednesday night’s series finale against Oakland, circumstances again dictate the Rangers hand the ball to maybe their least likely contributor this season. Dustin Nippert’s name isn’t included when discussing top of the rotation starters or closers or gems for the future. The 28-year-old didn’t pitch for the Rangers until July 7, activated from the 60-day disabled list following a back injury that doctors struggled to identify and cure. Since then, he has become the staff’s 6-foot-8 version of duct tape – eating innings when necessary, starting on a day’s notice if needed.

Wednesday night’s start figures to be his most important outing of the season. “I don’t really want to think about it like that,” Nippert said Tuesday. “They need a starter, and they think I can do the job.”

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As We Were Saying (Back in Early June), Texas Rangers’ Brandon McCarthy Looking Good

ARLINGTON - When Brandon McCarthy last took a big-league mound, the Rangers held a 4.5-game lead in the A.L. West. Almost 13 weeks and yet another D.L. stint later, he didn’t appear to miss a beat and helped the Rangers pull within 4.5 games of the Angels (and within 3.5 in the wild-card race).

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Pitching Profile – August Edition

Just like we did at the end of May, and at the end of June (sorry about the end of July) – Here is the latest 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.

In the 129 games that were played before the calendar turned to September, 9 pitchers have started games for the Rangers. Kevin Millwood (26), Scott Feldman (24), Derek Holland (16), Tommy Hunter (12), Matt Harrison (11), Brandon McCarthy (11), Dustin Nippert (7), Kris Benson (2), and Doug Mathis (2). This study will focus on the six pitchers who have made at least 10 starts. The other 3 run into sample size issues that might render verdicts a bit meaningless.

Proceed at your own risk – for stat nerds only:

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No Relief: Texas Rangers to Cut Ties with Starter-Turned-Reliever Jason Jennings, Add Pedro Strop

NEW YORK – In the end, there simply was no role for RHP Jason Jennings.

After a solid start, cracks started appearing in the game of the converted starter trying to reinvent himself as a middle reliever after two years of arm problems. Initially, he simply couldn’t pitch on back-to-back days. Then, there appeared problems with him inheriting another pitcher’s runners. He fell in the pecking order as rookie RHPs Doug Mathis and Neftali Feliz started establishing themselves as reliable options. And finally, on Wednesday, when it became apparent hitters were no longer chasing his slider and instead waiting for his average fastball and change, there simply wasn’t a place for him on the roster anymore.

Shortly after he made a fielding error Wednesday, then allowed three solid hits accounting for three runs of his own and two of starter Derek Holland, the Rangers decided they had no choice but to move on. So,  Thursday, four days before rosters could be expanded to 40 players, th e club purchased the contract of RHP Pedro Strop and placed Jennings on waivers for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release.

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Jason Jennings Designated for Assignment

Just got off the phone with Evan who relays that RHP Jason Jennings was designated for assignment to make room for Pedro Strop on the Rangers’ roster. Evan will have more shortly.

About Last Night: Looking Back at Texas Rangers Wild 10-9 Win over the New York Yankees

NEW YORK - Really no idea where to begin breaking down last night’s game, so we might as well start at the end.

In theory, manager Ron Washington made the prudent – or safe – call in turning a five-run ninth-inning lead over to RHP Jason Grilli. It was not a save situation and Washington was trying to keep his bullpen in order to give him the best shot at winning more than just one game in the series.

That said, don’t expect to see anybody other than RHP Frank Francisco or LHP C.J. Wilson in to start the ninth unless the Rangers lead is double digits.

Washington’s mode of operation this year has been to go to his closers when there is a game to be won, regardless of score. It’s why Francisco got up with a six-run lead in Seattle back in May and entered the game with one out and a five-run lead – right before he went on the DL for the first time. And if he had it to do all over, Washington would have started the ninth with Francisco on the mound Tuesday.

“I was hoping I didn’t have to go to Francisco,” Washington said after the game. “But I learned a lesson tonight. I’m going to stick to my guns no matter what. I thought Grilli had had a chance to get us through the inning; he throw a good slider to [Johnny] Damon, but he got enough of it for a single and then he walked the next guy.”

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Post-Game Show: Twins 9, Rangers 6

D-tails:
• Box score; A.L. West standings; A.L. wild-card standings

Story of the Game
Who left the 2009 model of Texas Rangers baseball team parked back at the garage? For the second consecutive night, a big early lead against the Minnesota Twins was imperiled in the middle innings; this time, it was impaled. The Twins crawled from a 5-0 hole on Tuesday night to win 9-6, marking only the fourth time this season that the Rangers have scored six runs and lost; two of those games were played the first 14 games of the schedule.

Scott Feldman and Jason Jennings combined to allow eight earned runs on 13 hits. For Feldman (12-5), it was his third consecutive start of six innings or less allowing an average of eight hits.

“I might have been overthrowing a little bit,” he said. “I was probably a little too predictable in my pitches.” Manager Ron Washington chalked it up to: “When you take the ball as often as he’s taken the ball, there are going to be some times when that happens.”

Jennings has a 6.75 ERA in 11 outings since the All-Star break. He gave up home runs to Joe Mauer and Delmon Young on cutters, his first multi-homer outing since April 2008 when he was starting.

“That’s the first time in awhile it’s been hit hard,” he said of the pitch. “I actually felt good tonight mechanically, physically. But it’s not really clicking as well as it was a few months ago.”

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Kids Do Darndest Things as Texas Rangers Even Wild-Card Showdown with 7-2 Win Over Bosox

ARLINGTON - Little known record set at Rangers Ballpark on Saturday night: a sellout crowd of 48,201 took in a “futures” game.

An apt description for a 7-2 Rangers victory over Boston in which Julio Borbon and Elvis Andrus raced around the bases like kids on a playground. (You can’t catch me!) Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz hit the target like the dunking booth at the fair. Quarterbacked by Taylor Teagarden, the greybeard of the Rangers rookies at 25, who will step in behind the plate for most of the next two weeks and maybe longer.

Thanks in great measure to the youngsters, the Rangers pulled back within one-half game of the Red Sox in the wild-card race. “We’re not afraid to bring our young kids up here and let ‘em play,” manager Ron Washington said. “I think the whole organization gets a pat on the back for that.”

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In Other Rangers News: Francisco To Close Again

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Rangers manager Ron Washington said Friday afternoon that bidding farewell to RHP Vicente Padilla wasn’t the only pitching-staff news of the day.

Also: RHP Frank Francisco will return to closing duties immediately; LHP C.J. Wilson will go back to working the eighth inning and, when needed, at least part of the seventh.

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In The Wake Of Trade Deadline Drama, Catching Up With Justin Smoak And Neftali Feliz In OKC

OKLAHOMA CITY - You’re in your early 20s, trying to get your feet wet with the Triple-A Oklahoma RedHawks. And you seem to be in the middle of every trade deadline report and rumor involving the Rangers and Roy Halladay.

Welcome to the past week for Justin Smoak and Neftali Feliz.

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Rangers Roster Roulette: Madrigal For Moscoso

Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?

To fortify their beleaguered bullpen, the Rangers have optioned RHP Guillermo Moscoso, who pitched the last two nights, to Triple-A Oklahoma City and recalled RHP Warner Madrigal. It’s the third consecutive day the Rangers have made a pitching move.

More Musical Chairs For Texas Rangers Bullpen

ARLINGTON - Gas up the I-35 shuttle again. Manager Ron Washington said the Rangers will probably need to bring in another arm from Triple-A Oklahoma after the bullpen was needed for another 6.2 innings to get through Wednesday night’s 13-5 loss to Detroit.

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Long And Middle Relievers, Supposed Soft Spot Of Bullpens, Have Been Anything But For Rangers

ARLINGTON - Turns out a number of the Rangers relievers enjoy TV’s “Dirty Jobs.”

How appropriate.

Because if host Mike Rowe, who plods through stinking filth every week as Geoduck Harvester or Cow Inseminator or Road Kill Remover, were to ever get down and dirty in a baseball uniform, it would be as a reliever. A long or middle reliever to be exact. These are the jobs nobody wants. There are no real glamor stats to justify your existence. They rarely start and almost never finish a game. They are as likely to enter with their team trailing as with the lead. They do the thankless work that few ever recognize and that nobody wants to make a career of. And if Mike Rowe wanted to do a segment on just how somebody does this with grace, elegance and success, he’d go spend some time with the Rangers crew. In the last week, they’ve demonstrated very vividly just how vital good long/middle relief work is to a playoff contender.

On Tuesday, long man RHP Doug Mathis stepped in as a last-minute starter in the Rangers’ 7-3 win over Detroit when scheduled starter RHP Vicente Padilla was still too weak after a bout with the flu to pitch. After Mathis gave the Rangers four adequate innings, RHP Jason Grilli and RHP Guillermo Moscoso, who has shuttled frequently between Triple-A Oklahoma City and a long relief role in Arlington, were part of a quartet of relievers who pitched five scoreless innings.

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‘Pen Is Mightier: For 40 Days and 40 Nights, Rangers Relievers Have Dominated The Opposition

ARLINGTON - Just how good has the Rangers bullpen been this summer. Well, have a look for yourself. After the jump, comes a chart comparing the 14 AL teams in relief ERA, opponents batting average, holds and blown saves since June 10.

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Frank Francisco: Officially Rangers Closer Once Again

ARLINGTON – This is how manager Ron Washington announced that RHP Frank Francisco will resume his closing duties as closer:

“He’s back,” Washington said with a smile.

Francisco, who has spent two stints on the DL this season with a sore shoulder, has not pitched in a ninth-inning save situation since he returned. But on Tuesday, for the second time in a week, the Rangers had LHP C.J. Wilson enter in the eighth and Francisco pitch the ninth. Wilson had served as surrogate closer while Francisco was out.

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Frankly Speaking: Francisco Follows Routine After First Loss As Oakland Beats Rangers 5-4

D-tails
• Boxscore, Standings, Depot game blog

ARLINGTON – The most important moment of the Rangers Sunday’s game with Oakland didn’t come in the ninth inning when Adam Kennedy blasted a drifting fastball from Frank Francisco into the right field seats.

No, it came about an hour later when Francisco wandered back to his locker for the first time as a closer who had been beaten. Mr. Kennedy’s homer, his second of the game, gave Oakland a 5-4 win and denied the Rangers a four-game sweep.

When he finally got to his locker, Francisco had spent a long time in the weight room and an equal amount of time in the trainers’ room – his typical post-game routine. And when he finally appeared at his locker, at exactly 5:55.55 (according to the very specific clubhouse clock), he had the same cock-eyed, playful expression he’s worn after every converted chance as a closer.

Which is to say, all of them.

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Texas Rangers May Have To Dance The Pitching Staff Shuffle This Weekend

ARLINGTON – The combination of a looming doubleheader, the chance to give RHP Brandon McCarthy some extra rest and the ineffectiveness of RHP Kris Benson as a long reliever could lead to a weekend makeover of the Rangers pitching staff.

GM Jon Daniels acknowledged Friday the club might opt to pull McCarthy from a start in Friday’s doubleheader against Oakland in order to give him an extra day of rest since he threw a career-high 124 pitches in his first complete game Sunday.

And that decision could lead to others that would impact the staff.

On Monday, manager Ron Washington said McCarthy would start the first game of the doubleheader with RHP Scott Feldman pitching the second. But if the Rangers push McCarthy back, they could move Feldman into the opener, then make a move at intermission to add a starter for the second game.

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Texas Rangers’ “Out Of Position” Pitchers Improve The Team’s Position Over The Angels in AL West

ARLINGTON - Scott Feldman, who couldn’t win a spot in the Rangers’ starting rotation during the spring, threw six shutout innings on Sunday against an Angels team that came in second in the A.L. in hitting. With closer Frank Francisco on the disabled list and interim closer C.J. Wilson having pitched 3.1 innings the last four days, Darren O’Day earned his first career save. In the middle, Jason Jennings finally made his first appearance of the homestand and earned his first win in two seasons.

Four Texas pitchers combined to outduel Jered Weaver, who began the day third in the league in ERA and in opponents’ batting average among starters, and hand LAA its first shutout of the season.

“We expect everyone in this clubhouse to contribute,” Ian Kinsler said. “That’s why we’re all here.”

Here would happen to be four and a half games ahead of second-place Los Angeles. In sweeping the weekend series before more than 104,000 paying customers, the ‘09 Rangers already have more wins this season in Arlington against the Angels than the ‘08 Rangers (2).

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Frank Francisco To DL; Warner Madrigal On The Way

After watching RHP Frank Francisco throw in the bullpen Saturday morning, the Rangers decided to continue with the cautious route on his comeback from biceps tendonitis. Francisco will need at least two more throwing sessions before being fully ready to compete in games, so the club put him on the DL, retroactive to May 7. He is eligible to return Friday when the Rangers begin a three-game series at Houston. The Rangers are optimistic he’ll be ready then.

“This was his first bullpen and we could probably push him and have him ready for Detroit,” GM Jon Daniels said. “But we’re trying to take the approach that there are at least five months left in the season and we want to take that into account. We want a healthy Frank Francisco for the rest of the season.”

To replace Francisco, the Rangers recalled RHP Warner Madrigal from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Madrigal, who began the season on the big league roster, was optioned to Oklahoma City on April 15 after allowing four runs in 2.2 innings. Since going to Oklahoma he has compiled a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 innings and has held opponents to a .164 batting average.

About Last Night: Battle Of The Bullpens

Newest theory: Bullpens, not starting pitching, will determine the outcome of this series and maybe the AL West race as a whole. Addressed a lot of the issues yesterday in the series preview.

What’s disconcerting, if you are the Rangers and obsessing over bullpen pitch totals as I am, is that the Rangers threw considerably more pitches out of the bullpen last night (74) than did the Angels (36) even though Rangers starter Kevin Millwood once again pitched deeper into the game than his opponent. What mitigates most of that consternation, however, is that Derek Holland threw 58 of those pitches, so the bullpen workload wasn’t spread out among too many people. Holland won’t be available for the rest of the series, but he wouldn’t have been available even if he’d have come out after the eighth inning last night.

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Big Weekend: A Closer Look At Rangers-Angels Series

Once you finished up the round of asking the Rangers about their second consecutive walkoff win, there was only one other Jenny-the-Elephant sized topic left to tackle Thursday afternoon: What about the weekend series with the Angels? What is the significance of the first meeting between the Rangers and the team that has ruled the AL West for four of the last five years?

“These are just baseball games, that’s how we have to look at it,” said OF Marlon Byrd. “We’re not going to look ahead. But we area aware of the opportunity to create some separation in the standings. And when you are in first place, you want to create separation as quickly as possible.  We’ve got the right guy on the mound to start a series in Kevin Millwood. Now, we just go and play baseball.”

Although the Rangers have gone 6-2 since they seized first place nine days ago, they have not been able to create much separation. Almost as soon as they knocked Seattle out of first place, the Angels got hot, too. The Rangers have not led the division by more than 1.5 games since taking over the top spot.

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Frank Francisco Unavailable

The Rangers closer will be unavailable at least through the Seattle series after being diagnosed with biceps tendonitis. Francisco complained of shoulder soreness over the weekend – after he pitched in three consecutive games – and received both an MRI exam and an injection of anti-inflammatories on Tuesday. GM Jon Daniels said the Rangers believe Francisco suffered the injury after working out following the three straight days of appearances and not because of the pitching workload. Daniels is hopeful Francisco may play catch on Wednesday and possibly throw a bullpen session before the weekend. But Daniels also indicated the DL is a possibility.

Francisco, who has had two arm surgeries including the Tommy John procedure in 2005, had not pitched on three consecutive days in major league games since 2007. He was asked to get a four-out save at Seattle last Monday. The next day, he warmed up three different times before entering the game with a five-run lead in the 10th inning. Manager Ron Washington indicated a desire to refrain from using Francisco a third day, but still brought him in with a one-run lead last Wednesday.  He ended up throwing 52 pitches over the three-day span and has not been used since.

“We’ve got confidence in a lot of guys, but obviously he’s a big part of what we are doing here,” Daniels said. “Frankie seemed to think he hurt it working out. We’re going to look at his shoulder maintenance program and see what we can do. We’ll just have to look at that and how he prepares for games.”

Francisco moved into the closer’s role last August 25 and has not allowed an earned run in that role, but his 27.1-inning streak pre-dates his promotion to closer. Francisco replaced LHP Eddie Guardado, who replaced LHP C.J. Wilson after Wilson went on the DL last July to have bone chips removed from his elbow. Daniels said Washington is likely to use Wilson as his first option to close games in Francisco’s absence, but the team could also try to mix-and-match relievers depending on the situation.

Rough Day: Struggling Eddie Guardado Walks In Run, Blows Top, Gets Ejected, Offers Apology

ARLINGTON - Here is how the last day of Eddie Guardado’s April unfolded: Called on to face one left-handed hitter, he issued four consecutive balls to walk in a run; he jawed with home plate umpire Angel Campos while being removed from the game, gesturing wildly; got ejected after being removed; flung his cap and glove into the stands.

And if that wasn’t enough, after it was all done, Guardado admitted he was probably in the wrong about the argument in the first place.

“It’s not his fault; it’s mine,” Guardado said after the Rangers 4-2 loss to Oakland. “It was all me. I went back and looked at the video and there is nobody to blame but me. Even if one of the pitches should have been a strike, it was my fault.”

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Land Of The Lost: Texas Rangers Waste Opportunity To Return To .500 In 8-5 Loss To Baltimore

• D-tails – Boxscore: Orioles 8, Rangers 5; Standings; The Depot live game blog; Post-Game Show comment thread

BALTIMORE - The Rangers were enjoying a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon down by the Inner Harbor. They had already piled up three homers. They had chased Baltimore starter Brad Bergeson from the game. They had a big lead, two men on base, and nobody was out in the fifth inning.

They were on their way to a third consecutive win, to clinching a winning road trip and to evening their season record.

Yep, too good to be true.

Just when it seemed like the season was headed back in the right direction, it all collapsed in an ugly 8-5 loss to Baltimore. The lineup suddenly stopped hitting. After dancing with danger for the first four innings, RHP Brandon McCarthy finally let trouble lead. And RHP Jason Jennings, one of the few reliable pieces in the bullpen, couldn’t hold a shrinking lead.

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