Saturday a.m. things
by Adam J. Morris on Apr 18, 2009 9:39 AM CDT
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Print1-6 in the last 7 games, 4 of which were at home, all of which were against teams that don't appear to have a realistic chance at the playoffs.
Jeff Wilson says the meltdown yesterday was total -- every aspect of the team was terrible. Can't really argue with that.
Wilson also says that Michael Young story is overblown, and is just giving the media something different to write about.
Evan Grant's game story does focus more on the bizarre Young/Vizquel give-up pinch hitting decision, with Marlon Byrd being quoted as saying that the players would have liked to have seen what Young could have done in that situation.
This does, of course, end up distracting from another bad Matt Harrison start, and another awful performance from the bullpen.
Anthony Andro writes about one of the few positive stories out there right now, Nelson Cruz's strong early start.
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I am still upset about the MY thing
What a terrible signal to send to the team
Wilson is right
that the main story is the suckitude of our pitching/defense, but that is such an indefensible move to PH Vizquel, that it is shocking.
"The idea that the Rangers are going to be a solid contender for a number of years is a fantasy." - Adam J. Morris
PH for Young
I’m just wondering what message that sends the team. That the manager is giving up and pinch hitting for his “team leader” and supposed clutch hitter for a guy who while being awesome in the field doesnt hit very well.
Wouldnt surprise me in the least to see the team turn on him soon the way they turned on buck.
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
What I don't get
Washington said he’d already told Vizquel he was going in the game and would hit that inning, so apparently, in Washington’s mind, that was that. I’m wondering what would have happened if the Rangers had rallied earlier in the inning, and there was one out and runners on first and third and the Rangers were down 9-2. Would he still have done it? Was the decision just made, and in Wash’s mind, it couldn’t be un-made?
I am thinking Wash isn’t the best at thinking on his feet.
by Adam J. Morris on Apr 18, 2009 10:06 AM CDT up reply actions
That tends to dovetail in
with his lack of situational Pinch Hitting. So many games he left PHs on the bench, when he might have increased his percentages.
"The idea that the Rangers are going to be a solid contender for a number of years is a fantasy." - Adam J. Morris
Not sure about that.
He pinch-hit Catalonotto against the Nationals last year and got the win.
On the flipside, he stuck with Murphy against BJ Ryan in a clutch moment and got a game winning hit out of him. Also last year.
Just a couple that went his way that I can remember.
by oc on Apr 18, 2009 3:36 PM CDT up reply actions
What makes this
situation even stranger is that, in their previous game, the Rangers took a 15-4 lead into the 8th where Texas proceeded to bat around and add four more runs – he allowed every regular to hit in that meaningless inning and there were no subsequent defensive replacements either.
"A good start would be not giving up 900 runs again." -Jon Daniels
by Randy Richardson on Apr 18, 2009 10:43 AM CDT up reply actions
That would have been a great time
to stick Omar into the game for Young (0-5 with a BB and SB that night). It wouldn’t have been that bad of a time to stick Davis or Murphy in the game either.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
even if you PH
you can always go with AJ or Murphy for the platoon matchup. Going to Vizquel sends one, and only one message. We are surrendering.
"The idea that the Rangers are going to be a solid contender for a number of years is a fantasy." - Adam J. Morris
The pinch hitting
My perspective is that Washington just gives up late in games. When the team is down late, he starts thinking that the game is lost and that late inning ABs are just ways to get his other players in the game or get people more ABs.
The Young/Vizquel PH is just insanity and shows he is giving up a 9-0 game. Lots of guys do that though. What gets me are some of those early losses to Detroit when he kept Murphy in in the ninth inning of very close games (and yes, Murphy’s a lefty against Rodney’s righty, but he simply wasn’t going to break out of his slump against Rodney and his fastball – playing percentages means nothing if the guy you send up has a 0% shot). He just stops trying to figure out ways to win if the team is behind late. He starts thinking “oh well, lost this one, how can we win tomorrow”
What makes no sense about it is that if there is ever a team generated to mount an 8th or 9th inning comeback it is this one. This team’s offense is huge. You can’t throw in the towel with this team’s bats.
Giving up is simply pathetic. Washington gave up.
doesn't make sense
“In a 9-0 game, we just decided to get Young and [Josh] Hamilton off their feet,” Washington said. “I had already told Vizquel he was going into the game and I wanted to give him that at-bat.”
Vizquel has started 2 of the Rangers 10 games. I hardly think he needs ABs. Why not rest MY and Hamilton on Wed. in the blowout win? Do they really need a couple of innings off after an off day?
http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
There's so many inconsistencies here
that the whole situation just looks bloody awful.
I’m tired of parsing Wash’s thoughts. There’s little substance.
I'm all Washed out.
by inactive lsb user on Apr 18, 2009 11:35 AM CDT up reply actions
Daniels and the Young Thing
I have tended to support Daniels as a GM. I thought some of his bad trades were early in his career and that he has gotten much better as the years have gone on. But, he has completely blown it this season in regards to the bullpen. The bullpen was awful last year and was left basically alone save the acquisitions of Donnelly and Turnbow, who added nothing. I think he has to be held accountable for that failure.
As for the Young thing, it is overblown and merely just another puzzling example of Washington’s decision making. He doesn’t make good decisions and doesn’t get the most out of this team and that hasn’t changed since day 1.
I'm not sure you can blame the bullpen on Daniels
Hicks is the one spending, or in this case not spending money. He was willing to pony up for Sheets, but when that fell through, Hicks probably breathed a sigh of relief. Then his economic forecast probably took another nose dive in the last two months. Thus he was unwilling to spend money he doesn’t have.
Daniels can’t go spend money on the bullpen unless Hicks okays it. Saying that’s all on him seems like you’re looking for the wrong scape goat. This team is going places, hopefully when Wash gets canned but lack of money for pitching doesn’t rest on the GM.
Well, if you remember
Right after the off season started, JD said that bullpen was one of the things they wanted to improve and look on the market for. They ended up doing pretty much nothing. So it must mean that either JD couldn’t sign any of the better FA relievers or he really thought the bullpen was good enough.
im going with couldnt sign anyone
we heard they were in on cruz and cordero and those went nowhere.
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." - Mitch Hedberg
And in Cordero's case
It was said they offered him more that Seattle did.
Keith Law on Greg Golson, "He's similiar to Cameron and Hunter in that all three are black."
http://tinyurl.com/ranger-rage
Yesterday...
was just plain bad.
Shitty Royals offense > Shitty Rangers pitching.
Good Royals pitching > Good Rangers offense.
I know a lot of the attention is going towards the bad decision by Wash to PH for MY. It sends a very bad message to your team to throw in the towel like that. However the fact is that the Rangers pitching still sucks and put them in a 9-0 hole. The game was likely over anyway. That is what people should really be upset about. I’m much more upset about Harrison sucking and not being able to find the strike zone than I am about MY not getting to hit down 9-0. That’s just me though I suppose.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Matt Harrison's start
It wasn’t that good, but he was at least keeping this team in the game for the first 5 innings. He then started the 6th and allowed 2 guys to get on base quickly. Eyre then allowed those 2 guys to come around and score. You’d like to see better out of Harrison, but I’d say its similar to the Benson start from the other day. He pitched good enough to win that game with this offense. There was no excuse to not score until the 8th inning last night.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
well
the excuse is that meche is pretty good.
I guess I agree wtih you that I didn’t think Harrison was terrible (or at least unexpectedly terrible) but given that expectation, I guess I shouldn’t have expected a win
Ceterum censeo Cat esse delendam - Cahill the Elder
Meche was hittable last night
The Rangers had their opportunities, but things like Hamilton swinging and missing at the same ball 3 times in a row made him look much better. There was also no reason Meche should have been able to go 6 innings with only 92 pitches. And after he left, this team still couldn’t score more than 3 runs against the wonderful RP trio of Wright, Waechter, and Ramirez.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
well
i don’t think the rangers were trying all that hard against the bullpen (especially after the pinch hit) but I agree about the other stuff
Ceterum censeo Cat esse delendam - Cahill the Elder
I know it happens
but there is no excuse to ever stop trying in a Major League baseball game. This team in particular should know about how quickly games can turn. They should be trying to score runs even when they are down 10 runs.
That’s also what makes the Vizquel pinch hit such a low blow move.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Matt Harrison
Is sometimes frustrating to watch; not in the sense of frustrating to watch a horrible pitcher, but in the sense of watching a pitcher who is really close, but not quite there.
He doesn’t really have an out pitch. The changeup is a good pitch, but certainly not devastating; the curveball looks horrible; the slider was good at times but seems really inconsistent, and I have no idea what he is doing with the cutter at this point. Therefore, he HAS to nibble, and the frustrating thing is that he has decent command in the sense that he can get most of the pitches fairly close to where they needs to be (unlike Mr. Gabbard), but he usually just misses a little bit. If you look at the pitch locations from gameday, he threw a bunch of strikes in the bottom of the strike zone. I think maybe 1 out of maybe 10 of those pitches was actually called a strike. That’s not surprising, since for most umpires, the strike zone shrinks at the top and bottom, and widens in the middle. Harrison is always trying to catch the call for the low strike, but that strike never gets called. Then he elevates the ball and gets hit – it happens a lot when he pitches.
well you just described
a 23yo with only 17 ML starts and less than 100 innings. It is frustrating because he has shown what he is capable of doing when he is “on”.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Andro & Wilson video recap of last night's game:
"It doesn't look like he's trying. It kinda pisses me off," "He could throw 110 if he tried. The way it explodes out of his hand is really something special." ~ B-Mac on Feliz.
Interesting comments
by Joey M. over at http://www.bbtia.com/.
and even if a late surge had come up short, what sort of message does it send to the fan base- one which the Rangers are heavily reliant upon for walk-up ticket sales in order to compensate for slumping season-ticket renewals -
Washington’s questionable decision-making on Friday evening was but a microcosm of a three-season managerial reign that has been loaded with head-scratchers, and to assert that he has measurably improved in that regard would be a rather dubious assertion.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
Well
AJM said it would take 3 losses this weekend with really questionable plays to get Wash fired.
1 loss with the really questionable plays has been fulfilled.
I’m with Adam – if the Rangers don’t win today or tomorrow, Washington isn’t the manager on Monday.
i feel like that might be the easy case
and there’s a good chance that the rangers will win 1 of 2. What then?
The harder case – what happens if they win the last game? I feel like the Rangers don’t want to fire him the day after a win. Given that, and the convention of not firing a guy in the middle of a series (apparently that is a convention), they could end up waiting a long time. I don’t really understand what they are waiting for. Preparation for this game isn’t going to change at all and one or two wins/losses shouldn’t change your mind about anything. Fire him and get it over with.
Ceterum censeo Cat esse delendam - Cahill the Elder
I agree
Once the decision is made to move on, then they have to move on.
And really, who knows if they’ve come to that decision. His increasingly bizarre and frustrating moves have now pushed us all to a critical mass. And I guess the F.O. was closer to firing him than we here thought last year. But it could be they’ve decided not to make any move at all until May or even June. I think that’s dumb for the same reason – once you know Wash isn’t the guy for the team, move on.
It’s like dating. If you’re miserable and you’ve figured out that it isn’t going to work, why stay?
Ok, but then who?
If everyone thinks Jackie Moore is some kinda savior, why has he had no impact on Wash’s strategic decisions? He was entrusted with being an advisor to Ron, yet nothing at all has changed.
Why would this team perform a damn bit better under Moore?
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
I don't think Moore is necessarily better than Wash
I think he’ll probably be pretty neutral (which may be an improvement over Wash) but is more just a placeholder until we find someone else. Hopefully, it would light some kind of fire under these guys to get them to start playing better but I don’t think that’s likely.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Who cares who?
If you are JD/Nolan/Hicks, and you know it isn’t going to work out with Wash, then you pull the plug. It can’t get worse, and it can only be better.
The mentality of “we can’t make a move until we know what the next long-term step is” will only leave you paralyzed.
Evan has some more thoughts on last night's game:
"It doesn't look like he's trying. It kinda pisses me off," "He could throw 110 if he tried. The way it explodes out of his hand is really something special." ~ B-Mac on Feliz.
Evan know something we don't?
It might be a good idea for Diamond to make sure he’s got a passport with him because he might be just one outing away from his major league debut. Who knows? Might be on the way right now.
*small sample size alert*
through the first ten games, Rangers hitters:
as RHB 1,133 OPS
as LHB 610 OPS
In 235 PAs, RHB have 20 doubles
In 165 PAs, LHB have 2 doubles
"A good start would be not giving up 900 runs again." -Jon Daniels
by Randy Richardson on Apr 18, 2009 11:52 AM CDT reply actions
Absolutely a guess on Diamond
But I think if the minute the Rangers feel like they’ve got someone with a chance to get some outs in the bullpen, they are going to make a move. They went back and forth on Rupe this spring. Though I still love his stuff, he’s done nothing to inspire confidence since the season has started.
This.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
That
Keith Law on Greg Golson, "He's similiar to Cameron and Hunter in that all three are black."
http://tinyurl.com/ranger-rage
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