Ok, I don't really think they are idiots, but I knew that would get attention. While I don't think they are idiots they are wrong on both points they tried to make today. (For those not familiar Bob and Dan are the afternoon 12-3 hosts on Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket)

First, Dan said Grieve was being ridiculous Ranger announcer when he said something along the lines of Guthrie, Bedard and Cabrera were a very tough to hit threesome and that he couldn't think of a team with a tougher three to hit. Ummm, Dan, take a look at the numbers. There are only 7 teams with 3 pitchers ranked in the top 50 in MLB in batting average against. Below are those teams with the three pitchers and their rank. Only the Cubs have 3 pitchers with a current better average ranking... Again, this is not ERA, it is batting average against which is what Grieve was referring to (when he said hardest to HIT). Admittedly, Oakland is right there close also, but I do not think Tom Grieve's statement was a stretch.
CHC    Rich Hill    11
    Jason Marquis    13
    Ted Lilly    14
BAL    Jeremy Guthrie    4
    Erik Bedard    9
    Daniel Cabrera    35
OAK    Dan Haren    2
    Joe Blanton    21
    Chad Gaudin    31
NYM    Oliver Pérez    3
    John Maine    7
    Tom Glavine    50
CWS    Javier Vázquez    12
    Mark Buehrle    30
    Jon Garland    39
BOS    Josh Beckett    23
    Dicek Matsuzaka    24
    Tim Wakefield    36
SF    Matt Cain    17
    Noah Lowry    29
    Barry Zito    38

Next, Bob tried to make the point that perhaps the Rangers have been buying into Ron Washington's patience at the plate theory since Mark Teixeira has been out. Since Tex had the fight with Wash about being patient early in the season, his theory was that players were getting in line behind Tex, but with Tex out of the lineup they are now getting in line behind Wash. Now there are lots of ways to measure this, but the simplest is number of pitches per plate appearance. Oakland, Boston and the Yankees are continuously at the top in this category which reflects what we believe to be their batters ability to work pitchers. Teixeira has been out 30 days, so it works out to use stats from the last 30 days (courtesy MLB.com). In that stretch, the Rangers are averaging 3.83 P/PA. Prior to that, with Tex in the lineup, the Rangers were averaging 3.87 P/PA. They ranked 5th in the AL on both counts. Bottom line is that there is no evidence in the NP/PA numbers to suggest that the Ranger have been any more patient with Tex out of the lineup than with Tex in the lineup (if anything, they have seen fewer pitches in his absence). YTD Boston, Cleveland, Oakland and NYY are the top four teams with Texas ranking 5th in NP/PA.