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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Your Texas Rangers Bullpen Move Of The Day

This is becoming such a regular feature, we should line up a sponsor. … Get me advertising!

Anyway, RHP Willie Eyre, as expected, was placed on the DL after aggravating his groin strain.  RHP Luis Mendoza has been promoted after going 2-0 with 10.1 scoreless innings at Triple-A Oklahoma. Mendoza walked six, but struck out 13. PCL opponents have hit .108 against him. He hasn’t pitched since last Sunday, so he’d be available for long relief tonight.

Just to recap your Rangers bullpen, it now looks like this: RHP Frank Francisco (closer), RHP Jason Jennings, LHP C.J. Wilson, LHP Eddie Guardado, RHP Luis Mendoza, LHP Derek Holland, RHP Darren O’Day.

It’s been a whirlwind out there.

Roster Moves: Kris Benson To DL; Darren O’Day Claimed

While we were busy researching the All-Earth Day team, the Rangers snuck a few roster moves into their game notes. Ah, what’s a day of Rangers baseball without roster moves. We’ve got our third change to the bullpen in the first 13 games of the season and the first starter to go on the DL. Who had RHP Kris Benson in that pool?

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Derek Holland Era Has Begun

Holland purchased from Oklahoma City; Josh Rupe designated for assignment.

Well, I was half-right. After watching Rupe struggle through another poor outing last night, the club decided it would risk losing him. They didn’t call up Thomas Diamond, but instead went to the prized 22-year-old lefty pitching prospect. Holland will pitch out of the bullpen for the time being, but I expect he’ll find his way into the rotation before the All-Star break (unless there is marked improvement in the rotation).

Though he was a non-roster invitee, Holland stayed with the big league team until the end of spring training. He impressed everybody in camp with his pitchability, his stuff and his mature approach to the game. Holland had been scheduled to start tonight for Oklahoma City. His first outing had been kind of rough. He allowed four runs in four innings. I’d like to put the typical disclaimer on here that young kids often struggle in the majors for the first time, but the Rangers do expect big things from Holland, even though he has made just five appearances above Class A. He was a combined 13-1 last year with a 2.27 ERA at Class A Clinton, Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Frisco.

Down And Out: Texas Rangers Elect Not To Play For Comeback In 12-3 Loss To Kansas City

• D-tails – Boxscore: Royals 12, Rangers 3; Post-Game Show comment thread; The Depot live blog

ARLINGTON – On yet another night when Rangers pitching collapsed in a heat, the team still found itself at the intersection of Unlikely Comeback Boulevard and Meaningless Stats Way.

And that’s when the Rangers chose a most curious alternate route: The Surrender Expressway.

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Morning After: Revisiting Rangers 7-5 Loss To Baltimore

Some things to think about, discuss or just debate after the loss to Baltimore last night:

1. The bullpen is a mess. Only Frankie Francisco and Jason Jennings have inspired any kind of confidence at all and Ron Washington’s hands are pretty tied with the two of them. He’s got to save Francisco for the ninth inning and he can’t use Jennings on back-to-back nights. Talked to Jennings briefly after last night’s game and got the impression he was willing to pitch – he never told the Rangers he couldn’t go – but you can’t fault the club for protecting a guy who has two years worth of serious arm problems in his immediate past and who has never pitched in relief. Willie Eyre is going to be with this team before the end of the week, but how much trouble is a team in when the next great hope for the bullpen is a guy with a 5.23 career ERA and a .372 opponents batting average and who also hasn’t pitched in the majors in a year?

2. There is one bright spot in the bullpen and it’s a freakin’ 1000-watt bulb: Francisco. Since he took over as closer late last August, he’s not allowed an earned run in 15.1 innings of work. He’s holding opponents to a .096 batting average. In a word: he’s been brilliant.  But the Rangers can’t regularly stretch him out past an inning like they did last night (he went 1.1). That’s for special occasions. Ending a four-game losing streak qualifies as a special occasion.

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