Friday a.m. things

by Adam J. Morris on Aug 1, 2008 9:32 AM CDT

Rough outing for Matt Harrison yesterday, who just couldn't throw strikes consistently, and who ended up leaving the strikes he threw in bad positions.

It happens. That's part of breaking in young pitchers. You just have to hope Harrison learns from it and improves.

Anthony Andro calls the Rangers' July "ragged," and that also is an apt description for last night's game. Andro also notes that the Rangers had a team ERA of 6.63 in July, which makes the fact they had a winning record in the month rather astounding. The Rangers are last in the A.L. in ERA, and Evan Grant notes that no team has made the playoffs -- or even finished above .500 -- since divisional play started with the worst ERA in the league.

Eric Hurley, Brandon McCarthy, and Doug Mathis are all close to returning. Hurley may start for the Rangers on Wednesday, and McCarthy is making a rehab start tonight.

With Michael Young able to play shortstop, despite the broken finger, Evan Grant thinks Travis Metcalf may be on his way here to replace Ryan Roberts. There's a certain amount of Metcalf enthusiasm out there, but he seems to me to be a good defensive third baseman who doesn't play any other positions, and doesn't hit well enough to be a major league regular, which limits his value.

And T.R. Sullivan has some bloggy notes up.

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Re: Travis Metcalf

I wonder if the plan is to put Ryan Roberts through waivers today to make room for Tommy Hunter on the roster, and then send Hunter back down and call up Metcalf on Saturday.

That’ll leave us without a UT guy for a night, but we managed to survive without one for a few games there a couple months back…

A Lonestar in California

by lonestarJon on Aug 1, 2008 9:43 AM CDT 0 recs

Harrison

While last night’s start was disconcerting Id much rather see Harrison out there trying to grow than Millwood struggling. I just hope they give Harrison time to develop and take his lumps.

"There is nothing wrong with a good baseball argument, even if it gets a little personal now and then. If someone here get[s] their feelings hurt because of a blog post they really need to get a grip."

t ball

by booyahcaveman on Aug 1, 2008 9:47 AM CDT 0 recs

+1

I get aggravated by all the hatorade out there right now. Yeah, we’re in the wild card race, but honestly, this is so much farther ahead than I thought we would be this year. I would much rather have our young guys up now and struggling and figuring things out when we weren’t expecting to compete, as opposed to going into next year or 2010 determined to compete and having to go through this struggle then.

"You got a guy coming up there who can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat." - Tom Grieve on Richie Sexson, 5.8.2008
"I’ve been a Rangers fan all my life and I can tell you there’s been plenty of fucking crying in baseball…" - WhipSmart, 6.3.08
"When it comes to Jeff Mathis, the story ends with us putting one in his earhole." - AJM, 7.7.08

by lisa w on Aug 1, 2008 9:52 AM CDT up 0 recs

people need to look at the lee way danks was given last year

and understand that young pitchers sometimes completely struggle. harrison might not turn into danks but he still needs to take his lumps.

i thought harrison flashed some good secondary pitches but he just couldn’t locate anything with consistency. if only his fastball was somewhat dependable.

""If they'd have told me you can make the team but you've got to shine the shoes, I'd have been there shining shoes." -Bradley

by ab03 on Aug 1, 2008 9:58 AM CDT up 0 recs

Agree completely...

.... that said, I hope he stops looking like someone shot his dog every time he fails. He’s gonna have to grow and learn from taking his lumps and not let it shatter his pscyhe.

There is no such thing as global warming. David Murphy was cold, so he turned the sun up.

by SarasotaRanger on Aug 1, 2008 10:26 AM CDT up 0 recs

Right now, Harrison has a case of Gabbaritis

Control lefty who cannot locate the fastball. He also needs to improve his breaking pitches a bit to get more swing and misses, but the fastball command is the biggest problem. Gabbard has demonstrated quite definitively that without a consistent fastball, good breaking pitches are still useless, and Harrison must get this straightened out as soon as possible – it’s far from trivial.

That being said, Harrison’s fastball has got much more potential if he ever figures it out. He is also younger and appears to be more durable than Gabbard. I still like his chances.

by Telegraph on Aug 1, 2008 12:11 PM CDT up 0 recs

this team isn't farther ahead of where we thought they'd be...

...we’ve been forced into playing these sorry-asses because half our fuckin’ team is on the disabled list.

by oc on Aug 1, 2008 1:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

+ 1

There is no status, except for me. Because I am who I am.

MILES

by LAMuscleFag on Aug 1, 2008 3:03 PM CDT up 0 recs

Moves

So I am assuming to make room over the next couple weeks for Hunter and McCarthy we will see gabbard moved to the 60 day today and Hunter purchased. Then whenever we decide to bring Metcald up we will DFA Roberts and that spot will go to McCarthy when his 30 days of rehab are up. I imagine we won’t be seeing Nelson Cruz until we can move Cat sometime here in August.

Bryan Smith (12:17:17 PM PT): Justin Smoak and Josh Hamilton. The AL West might just have found their Bash Brothers, v. 2.0.

by bigsteve on Aug 1, 2008 9:50 AM CDT 0 recs

Do you ever see the league moving the 40 man to 45?

I think they need to do it.

by Coolbean04 on Aug 1, 2008 9:56 AM CDT 0 recs

it only happens to John Koronka

oops, Matt Harrison.

Josh Hamilton is better than you.

by Longhorn on Aug 1, 2008 9:58 AM CDT 0 recs

Friday links

Expected to read about offers JD got, but apparently those were too underwhelming. Maybe Newberg night will reveal some tidbits. Maybe there was truly nothing to bite one’s nails over.

Here’s Hindman on Hunter.

Go Strangers.

by hightowersmith on Aug 1, 2008 10:04 AM CDT 0 recs

The remainder of the season is still about

answering questions about this team IMO.
Going back to the beginning of the season I had several questions that have been answered. Ian can lead off, Hamilton is a stud OF, Bradley can be productive as a DH, 1B though not handled by Shelton, Brousseard or Blalock looks to be a fit for Davis who can also hit pretty well so far, MY can play decent defensive SS though his range is limited, and Byrd, Murphy and Boggs are all nice 4th OF in the MLB.
The big question still remains the rotation. The injuries have hampered getting this question any development but we still have two months. Focus on who will be ready and able to fill a rotation spot come opening day 08 and this could be a very successful rebuilding season. If not then we are not much better than when we started, Given some room I am confident that some of the kids (BMac, Hurley, Harrison, Gabby, Harrison, Hunter, etc.) will suceed. The real question is which ones will succeed and which one(s) will flop. Only time will tell and that time will be painful.
Here’s hoping that we do not have the worst ERA and Fielding% next year at this time.

by Bigfan16 on Aug 1, 2008 10:06 AM CDT 0 recs

value

Metcalf can increase his value by learning how to play 1B and maybe the OF. And learning how to hit a little bit wouldn’t hurt either.

"An effortless 98" - Scott Gardner after Neftali Feliz's first AA pitch

by RangerMad on Aug 1, 2008 10:20 AM CDT 0 recs

for Metcalf to have a ML career

he needs to learn how to play SS and 2B. And with his bat, he better learn how to play them extremely well.

Warner Madrigal makes Ezequiel Astacio look downright handsome.

by tricer on Aug 1, 2008 11:03 AM CDT up 0 recs

Keeping Trends Alive

since the All Star Break, we’ve swapped 2 losses with 2 wins, then kept the streak alive for 3 full cycles, and started back with another loss. I guess that’s how a .500 team plays ball, but we’ve had such strange consistencies this year, with the 45 plus games in a row within a game of .500, and now this. it would be fantastic if we could put a big streak together while we’re at home so much. Sadly, this month doesn’t seem like a month that could help propel us into the playoffs; our opponents:

3 vs the Jays
4 vs Yankees
3 “easy” ones at Baltimore
3 at Boston
3 vs Tampa
3 vs Tigers
3 vs Indians
3 at Kansas City
4 at the Teixeira Angels

That’s a tough stretch – the best team in baseball for 4, the East leader, and 2 of the 3 ahead of us for the Wild Card, plus the team nipping at our heels. And with our pitching stretched so thin, I can’t imagine we’ll be anywhere closer to the Wild Card than when we start the month…

"No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

by Walter Sobchak on Aug 1, 2008 11:47 AM CDT 0 recs

16 of those are at home though

"Would you mind walking a time or two so I could drive in some runs"? Milton Bradley

by boomer1 on Aug 1, 2008 12:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

prediction

15-14

"An effortless 98" - Scott Gardner after Neftali Feliz's first AA pitch

by RangerMad on Aug 1, 2008 2:01 PM CDT up 0 recs

Harrison...

I hope he remains in the rotation the rest of the year. He will struggle at times like he did last night, but I still think he could be a ML starter. Let’s remember the age of all three of the young “H’s” in the rotation right now.

At this point I could care less if it’s Metcalf or Vazquez at 3rd. It really make s no difference from here on out.

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

by slc ranger on Aug 1, 2008 3:43 PM CDT 0 recs