Saturday a.m. things

by Adam J. Morris on Apr 5, 2008 9:41 AM CDT Comment 40 comments

After four games, the Rangers are tied for first in the A.L. in rotation ERA, at 1.88. Not bad, huh?

Quality outing for Kason Gabbard last night, although Tom Grieve suggested that Gabbard's style is more likely to succeed against a free-swinging team like the Angels. Gabbard has to walk a razor's edge in terms of his control, getting batters to chase those breaking pitches juuuust off the plate, but last night was an example of what Gabbard can do at his best.

Dustin Nippert? Not so good...but then, the Rangers padded their stats late in the game off of the back of the Angel bullpen, so it is only fair to return the favor.

Ron Washington described Gabbard as "aggressive," which isn't an adjective I'd use for Gabbard...he's really almost the opposite, a Kenny Rogers-esque nibbler who is going to try to throw breaking balls on the black part of the plate when down in the count. Evan Grant's game story also says Gabbard's fastball was at 84-86 mph most of the game, for what that's worth.

Grant also has some notes on playing time this weekend, saying that Milton Bradley will play right field on Saturday. Presumably, David Murphy will move to left, and Frank Catalanotto will DH, although Bradley is going to go back to the DH slot on Sunday. Gerald Laird is being given the choice of sitting either Saturday or Sunday, with Adam Melhuse getting his first start of the season one of those days, and Jason Botts may start on Sunday.

Marlon Byrd may be facing a platoon situation, but he's being positive and saying the right things, saying that the Rangers have several outfielders who can hit lefties and righties, and he has to show he can hit righthanders to stay in the lineup every day. He hit RHPs and LHPs equally well last year.

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Byrd

This has the making for a tough year for him and us watching him. I've come around on the why swap him for Murton, I guess - but still it would have been nice to swing a 3 team trade with Murton going to another team and something valuable coming to the Rangers.

by Randy Richardson on Apr 5, 2008 9:57 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

gabbard

while he had a nice outing last night, he's starting to remind me more and more of koronka. soft tossing plate nibbler. perhaps he will end up being closer to moyer than rogers.

"When we're mad we'll use our words. Then the rest of the world will play nice with us. And the only boom-booms will be in our pants." - Ralph Wiggum

by rentz on Apr 5, 2008 10:08 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Gabbard v Koronka

I really liked Koronka, but he always struck me as one of those lefties whose ball motion is more horizontal than vertical - the ball would really go inside -> outside against lefties and vice versa to righties. It seems like the type of pitching that is effective 1) the first time you face a team, and 2) only if it is located perfectly.

Gabbard's ball motion seems more vertical, especially to righties. His curve seemed pretty good at dropping just into the zone on guys. He's obviously not Barry Zito with that 12-6 curve, but Gabbard's was certainly impressive last night and fooling guys. I agree that he needs to get guys to swing, which suggests needing consistently good location, but I think he could be good.

Anyway, those are just my completely-untrained perspectives on how those two guys pitched. After watching Gabbard yesterday (my first time), I was pretty happy with what I saw.

by JBImaknee on Apr 5, 2008 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

However

Gabbard has far superior off-speed pitches. Unfortunately, his fastball command is just not there, which is not comforting.

by Telegraph on Apr 5, 2008 11:19 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tonight

Could be another pitching duel tonight. Weaver's good against the Rangers, and last year even Millwood somehow managed to be pretty good against the la la la's.

These have been some pretty interesting games to watch.

As far as Gabbard goes, he does look very hittable, but man...those groundball outs. I think as he gets older and his command improves he stands a chance at being a decent pitcher, although they were saying on the broadcast that he's never thrown more than 97 pitches in a start. Clearly he's got to do better than that. But those hits allowed numbers? He's not Koronka...the kid's got something. And the Rangers acquired him for what ended up being nothing.

by Black Francis on Apr 5, 2008 10:11 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice Piece on Eric Nadel

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/baseball/rangers/stories/040508dnspohorn.2cedc4a.html

Personally, i think Nadel's fantastic. Listening to other team's broadcasts on gameday audio makes me appreciate him even more. Holtz and Nadel are up there with the greatest teams ever.

by jcAustin on Apr 5, 2008 10:38 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Great Read!

Thanks for the link. Nadel is wonderful.

...it's the weekend, so why the hell not?

by Rodney on Apr 5, 2008 1:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1

He's a wonderful play-by-play guy with a genuine passion for baseball that always shines through. I miss listening to him.

I'd always wondered why they didn't let him do TV, but apparently it's just a case of him being completely content in the radio booth, and that's fine.

Glad we're honoring him on opening day.

"Sabean did a good job on selling high on Liriano." Excel Hearts Choi

by thedirkatron on Apr 5, 2008 4:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gabbard

I'd say he's aggressive. He pounded the strike zone pitch for pitch. He threw his curve, sinker and fastball all for strikes. That's aggressive to me.

by meatbonelefty on Apr 5, 2008 11:10 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

that is not what he did

every time he got to two strikes, he'd start nibbling away. every single strikeout was a borderline called strike or swinging strike on a ball out of the zone.

New Troll Script for 2.0

by ab03 on Apr 5, 2008 1:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Disagree

Do you really want Gabbard to throw stuff down the middle when he is up in the count 0-2 or 1-2? He wasn't nibbling, he was hitting the corners (and doing a great job of it) which was forcing the Angels to respect his abililty to do that and end up swinging at a lot of balls that missed the corners.

by Gdawg on Apr 5, 2008 4:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Byrd

He may have hit LHP and RHP equally well LAST year. He is hitting niether this year. Tom Grieve made me want to throw the remote at the TV last night. The way he kept talking about Byrd's ability to hit made Byrd sound like Wade Boggs. Marlon had one good month last year. At trhis rate he is going to get DFA'd in favor of Mench.

I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~Rogers Hornsby

by RangerMad on Apr 5, 2008 11:38 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

And I know no one likes fantasy talk, but I picked him up in my Lonestarball user AL-only league to spell me in CF until Granderson come back, and he's freaking killing me. I'd have been better off just leaving the fricking space empty.

"Sabean did a good job on selling high on Liriano." Excel Hearts Choi

by thedirkatron on Apr 5, 2008 4:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Saying he is hitting neither this year

is a little premature considering he has all of 13 ABs, isn't it?

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on Apr 7, 2008 8:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

How do you Ranger fans like

Ben Broussard now?

by redwolf75 on Apr 5, 2008 1:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Been liking him.

Glad he's finally getting consistent playing time, though I would prefer Botts against LHP.

"You are this month's NYTXFAN." - t ball

by Chase Irwin on Apr 5, 2008 2:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1

" Winning doesn't always mean being first,
winning means you are doing better than you have done before"

by coolaid on Apr 5, 2008 2:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ben's awesome -- but as you

noticed during the 1st game of the season, he's totally helpless versus lefties. Washington's probably learned that lesson by now, and I'd hope would play now Botts versus LHPs in the future (unless they're playing the Mariners, of course, lol)

by redwolf75 on Apr 5, 2008 2:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

platoon

realize this is ron washington we are talking about here. he likes to run guys out there even if they can't hit lefties.
i think eventually botts will platoon broussard but i think its going to take him absolutely falling on his face to do it.

"When we're mad we'll use our words. Then the rest of the world will play nice with us. And the only boom-booms will be in our pants." - Ralph Wiggum

by rentz on Apr 5, 2008 4:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You overestimate Ron Washington's learning capabilites

By the time he realizes Broussard can't hit lefties, it'll be September or something.

A Lonestar in California - 2.0

by lonestarJon on Apr 5, 2008 5:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

+ 1

I guarandamntee you that if you tried to bounce a few chocolate bars by Gerald Laird he would block every one of them.

by LAMuscleFag on Apr 5, 2008 6:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

IF the Rangers win tonight it will be..

your First Place Texas Rangers. Notify all the girls at the ticket office.

I guarandamntee you that if you tried to bounce a few chocolate bars by Gerald Laird he would block every one of them.

by LAMuscleFag on Apr 5, 2008 1:32 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Hopefully Millwood will show the same

form as he did in the first game of the season. And all Weavers must die -- here's to another BB grand slam.

by redwolf75 on Apr 5, 2008 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gabbard did a great job of eluding the Angels

last night. The Angels swung the bat a lot but missed connecting to the ball. I would attribute this to Gabbard's performance last night, not "a free swinging team like the Angels." The only free swinger is really Vladimir Guerrero because he has the ability to hit the ball anywhere near the plate, but the rest of the team has remarkable plate disipline which was displayed once the team showed up to hit in the last inning. They would not have put up six runs in one inning by swinging at anything that came across the plate.

Scioscia, "Roll the hole!"

by 44FAN on Apr 5, 2008 2:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Seriously?

Garret Anderson? Tori Hunter? Not free-swingers?

No one on that team has a high BA-independent OBP. They're free swingers and if you use their performance against the fabulous duo of German and Nippert as indication of their true baseball ability, then you obviously have no idea just how bad those two are at throwing strikes. I'm sure a lineup of LSB posters would have drawn at least 2 walks last night. 3 if Ben gets an at bat.

What's up with all these new people showing up? I liked it better when Angels fans stayed on their own car-wreck of a blog.

by FirebatM3 on Apr 5, 2008 2:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's why AJM...

doesn't want us trolling their sites. So they aren't tempted to come over here and troll LSB. I don't mind a occasional conversation from another team fans point of view, but this is only going to end up with a lot of trash talking amongst fans on other teams sites, especially come August/September.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on Apr 5, 2008 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

sbnation obviously had increased

posting on other sights in mind when they introdued 2.0. As long as the visitor is not trash-talking, I don't think it's a problem.

by redwolf75 on Apr 5, 2008 3:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

why would you?

you're just making friends wherever you go

sites, not sights.

New Troll Script for 2.0

by ab03 on Apr 5, 2008 4:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I made a spelling error on the internet.

Kill me now.

by redwolf75 on Apr 6, 2008 11:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually...

you spelled the word right, you just used the wrong one. So that would be a grammatical error not a spelling error. :)

And since you are a Mariners fan...

"Kill me now."

How would you like to die?

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on Apr 6, 2008 11:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

¡Vámonos!

"You are this month's NYTXFAN." - t ball

by Chase Irwin on Apr 7, 2008 2:08 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually no, that could be deemed

a "spelling error." Perhaps I have no knowledge of this word, "sight." Perhaps, I thought "site" was spelled s-i-g-h-t.

But seriously, I'm typing fast, and do not give a hoot if I make a mistake or two. I understand pointing it out if someone's post is reef with errors...but if someone makes a small mistake, pointing it out is quite immature.

Oh, and I'm glad the Rangers owned Jon Garland. Good to teach Angel fans not to fall in love with him too soon.

by redwolf75 on Apr 7, 2008 8:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

FireBat, you're right

that Torii and GA are free-swingers (also Howie Kendrick), but you're wrong in saying the angels have no high OBP players on their team (and no, I'm not an Angels fan). Reggie Willits, Casey Kotchman, Mike Napoli, Chone Figgins, Maicer Izturis, and Gary Matthews Jr.can all take walks.

by redwolf75 on Apr 5, 2008 3:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

With the exception of willits and maybe Napoli

none of those guys really take that many walks, look up their IsoPa

Figgins: .107
Izturis: .112
Kotchman: .150
Matthews: .158

For reference, Michael Young, a guy who no one will confuse with a OBP guy has a IsoPa of .145. The free swinging Ichiro Suzuki has one of .104. Those aren't good numbers, they're not a patient team.

by FirebatM3 on Apr 5, 2008 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs