Sunday morning Rangers things
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 9:48 AM CDT
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PrintAnother Rangers win, another solid piching performance. I definitely can get used to this.
Jeff Wilson has praise for Scott Feldman, who dropped his ERA down to 4.04 on the season, and who says that his command is improving in each outing.
Evan Grant has praise for Nelson Cruz, who has broken out of a recent slump with three homers in the past two games, and who may be replacing Hank Blalock as the team's regular cleanup hitter. Grant suggests that Blalock's approach suffers when he's hitting cleanup, resulting in bad at bats and bad performance, and dropping him in the lineup could result in less of the all-or-nothing approach he's exhibited of late. And Blalock responded to the move with three hits yesterday...
T.R. Sullivan's game story includes this quote from Ron Washington about the first-inning replay that resulted in Miguel Tejada's home run being upheld:
"They went in and checked it and said home run," Washington said. "I had nothing more to say about it. It was just one run. I figured if we couldn't score more than one run, we didn't need to worry about that."
I realize such a level-headed approach isn't likely to gain Washington much support from the segment of fandom that wants him to go out there and scream and yell and get ejected all the time, but...well, his explanation makes sense to me.
Washington said that Ian Kinsler was showing signs of mental fatigue, particularly in going 0 for 5 on Friday, which led to Kinsler getting the day off yesterday. Without checking the numbers, my sense is that Kinsler has tended to be pretty streaky, so while this bad stretch is not a good thing, I'm not too worried about him snapping out of it.
Some more praise for Mike Maddux -- Darren O'Day says that an adjustment to where he stands on the rubber has been key to his performance since coming to Texas.
Jim Reeves wrote yesterday about how the Rangers need to take a more patient approach at the plate, and today writes that this isn't necessarily at odds with Rudy Jaramillo's teaching an aggressive approach. Rudy says that it is a matter of balancing working the count with swinging at hittable strikes.
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First Place Mother Effin' Texas Rangers!!!
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
by Rodney on May 24, 2009 9:51 AM CDT reply actions 4 recs
First Place Mother Fuckin' Texas Rangers!!!
Adam Lambert is indeed a rock god,so suck it.
by red shoe ranger on May 24, 2009 10:58 AM CDT up reply actions
we actually have the best
winning pct in the AL, fourth best in baseball…nice
and even though im hetero and married, i would have Mike Maddux’s children…
by captain freakin' magic on May 24, 2009 9:52 AM CDT reply actions
I laughed at this
and even though im hetero and married, i would have Mike Maddux’s children…
-- Micah
Baseball Is My Boyfriend
I'm an Andrus-caliber catch. :-)
by The Best Micah on May 24, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions
Better caption for the Feldman pic:
“Scott Feldman thanks the heavens for his .239 BABIP and 15.7 LD% this year.”
"Hi, I’m a fucking horsefaced moron." - John Lackey to Ian Kinsler, 5/16/09
"That start was like somebody on a deathbed suddenly jumping up and doing the Lindy Hop, then speeding away on a pogo stick while playing the fiddle." - Telegraph on Matt Harrison
hey, game's at 1
when do the gates usually open? i want to get there as early as possible…
"if my kid said 'uhh' that much, i would say, Hey! ... stop saying 'uhh' that much..." - dennis miller
Kinsler has been just awful on the road
The last I saw, he was hitting .159 on the road. I think it’s probably even lower than that now.
.165/.224/.308 in the road
As I noted in my latest stattacker post over on HWC, he was doing fine this month up until Detroit. He seemed to get hit the hardest by all the bad mojo in that place this past week.
"Hi, I’m a fucking horsefaced moron." - John Lackey to Ian Kinsler, 5/16/09
"That start was like somebody on a deathbed suddenly jumping up and doing the Lindy Hop, then speeding away on a pogo stick while playing the fiddle." - Telegraph on Matt Harrison
when we're playing in Detriot, I'm depressed
Hopefully he’ll start to get some consistency on the road, we can’t afford to have him cold on the road if we want to be competitive. Especially on our hell road trip in June.
One year ago
I was almost on a mission to hunt Scott Feldman down and take out both his elbows, in case he tried to pitch with his other hand.
Now, he is the starter I would most want on the mound in a big game. Crazy.
by SaltyGoesYard on May 24, 2009 10:24 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
The things I said were wrong.
If you’re out there reading this Mr. Feldman, I want to make it up to you.
Dinner for two at Carrabba’s.
It's weird feeling happy about the current state of the Rangers.
As a fan, all I can say is “Hell Yah!”.
As an analytical fan, I’m happy to see that Cruz is getting time in the 4-spot. I think that bodes well for the rest of the season. I’m also happy to see the pitching staff hasn’t gotten afraid of “pitch-to-contact” even though they are pitching against more potent lineups. Staff BB/9 for May is 3.32 (ranked 5th in ML) and for the last 7 days (Detroit, Houston) it is 2.77. This also bodes well for the rest of the season.
Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power? Wonderboy, won't you take me far away from the mucky-muck now. -- Tenacious D
Respect the Feldman!!!
If this Cruz in the clean-up/Blalock in the 5 hole thing works, it will be interesting to note that this is exactly how it was supposed to be in the offseason. Why they changed that, we may never know.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Reeves' rebuttal
Good rebuttal to Reeves’ article by Joey over at BBTiA In a nutshell, talk is cheap.
Elvis Andrus - 2009 AL Rookie of the Year
From Newberg Report this morning
Randy Galloway wrote in Wednesday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the Rangers "had a salary-dumping deal worked out for [Kevin] Millwood just before the trading deadline" last July.
Not true.
Says Jon Daniels of Galloway’s note: "It’s somewhere between irresponsible journalism and pure fiction. No truth to it whatsoever. I’d love to hear his ‘source’ explain who the deal was with, what we were getting in return, and why it didn’t happen. Not the first nor last time this type of garbage will be put out there."
Heh. Who would’ve thought?
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
Just read that myself, heh.
No love lost there, eh? Scathing.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
Greatness
JD has come out swinging at Grandpa Urine this year. I love it!
2009 Texas Rangers: Why The Hell Not Us?--ghtd36 on May 13, 2009
JD/Galloway
Yeah, I don’t think he likes him very much. He made a pretty snarky comment at last year’s Newberg Night about how Galloway would have a better idea of what was going on if he’d bother to show up at the games once in a while.
"I dont care to debate with a troll." - Sharky
I remember that
JD is just doing and saying what the rest of want to about Grandpa Urine.
2009 Texas Rangers: Why The Hell Not Us?--ghtd36 on May 13, 2009
Can't imagine why he wouldn't like him
After all, he writes with at a 3rd grade level and resorts to name calling in each of his columns to trash JD.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Hard to tell who you are talking about
Josey or Galloway or maybe both.
2009 Texas Rangers: Why The Hell Not Us?--ghtd36 on May 13, 2009
Yeah
I know you have to have a pretty thick skin to be a major-league GM (or at least should) but years of Galloway calling him “Jon Boy” in every freaking column he writes has to be getting on Daniels’ nerves. It’s really juvenile on Galloway’s part.
"I dont care to debate with a troll." - Sharky
Galloway's a puss.
Doesn’t take phone calls on his show.
Doesn’t read e-mails. Only reads text-toy messages that flow with his line of thought. Never acknowledges when he’s wrong.
The only way we can take him down is by showing up at his live remotes and bark in his face. I would love to rattle that sonuvabitch.
That.
¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!
I came here to split hairs. And you?
by inactive lsb user on May 24, 2009 12:15 PM CDT up reply actions
Are you talking about Daniels?
Or Galloway?
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions
Comedic ambiguity
¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!
I came here to split hairs. And you?
by inactive lsb user on May 24, 2009 12:55 PM CDT up reply actions
I have to question the wisdom of coming out and saying that
The team is in first place, and playing well. The plan is starting to bear fruit.
Getting into a pissing match with probably the most prominent columnist in town, who also is on the radio three hours a day, when all this is happening, seems like a questionable decision.
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions
I don't see what the big deal is
JD just said there was nothing to what he wrote. Nothing Galloway could say in response would be any worse than anything he’s already said.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on May 24, 2009 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions
There's a difference between...
…saying there’s nothing to what he wrote and throwing out words like “garbage” or “irresponsible journalism.”
Who knows, maybe Daniels is trying to stir up a pissing match as a way to draw more attention to the team right now.
But it surprises me that a guy like Daniels, who has always been so measured and careful about what he’s said, would use language like that. Very atypical.
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 11:53 AM CDT up reply actions
JD usually is pretty calm about this stuff
I’m sure it’s just pure frustration/shock to hear something that is a complete lie. I don’t see any sort of pissing match here — it will just be business as usual for Galloway who will keep calling jD names in the appaer — and JD won’t say much.
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on May 24, 2009 11:59 AM CDT up reply actions
I can't type
*names in the paper
"He will not coddle them. Nolan Ryan doesn’t coddle." - Jeff Passan
by Dirk Diggler on May 24, 2009 12:00 PM CDT up reply actions
If I printed something that was inaccurate
I could hardly be insulted by someone calling it garbage or irresponsible journalism, because…well, that’s what it’d be. And, maybe it’s because I’m a girl, but if someone did say that about me, I’d be working extra hard on their story the next time to make sure I was accurate.
-- Micah
Baseball Is My Boyfriend
I'm an Andrus-caliber catch. :-)
by The Best Micah on May 24, 2009 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Id say its only a bad move if Galloway was correct
But if Galloway fabricated that story or had a bad “source” I see no problem with JD calling him out. Especially with the way Galloway has written about JD and the Rangers over the years
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.
I'm simply talking about from a tactical/p.r. standpoint
Calling out the local media’s 800 lb. gorilla isn’t something that often turns out well.
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 12:12 PM CDT up reply actions
What if it leads to
Galloway’s ‘Woody Hayes moment’? He becomes a caricature to even his ardent supporters. JD just made the interception, now let Galloway self-implode.
"I saw your act, just didn't make it for me. Just a lot of fluff."
I doubt that will happen
There’s a certain meme out there that Galloway helps promote that Jonny Donuts is the guy for whom it is a good day if he doesn’t come home with a stinky diaper, while Nolan Ryan is the one who came in and cleaned up Jon Boy’s mess and got this thing turned around.
That’s the reality for a segment of the fanbase. So I don’t see how anything that happens here is going to lead to Galloway appearing a caricature to the people who listen to him and read him and like him.
by Adam J. Morris on May 24, 2009 12:21 PM CDT up reply actions
Is there a sportswriter
thats an 800 lb gorilla anymore?
"I'd praised catcher Max Ramirez two weeks ago, but after his continued struggles I'm increasingly convinced he's not going to pan out." - crops.mlblogs.com
Bill Simmons, unfortunately.
¡Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!
I came here to split hairs. And you?
by inactive lsb user on May 24, 2009 12:56 PM CDT up reply actions
Surely not Galloway.
He’s becoming a stumbling old man, and his station is lucky to pull a 1.0 share…hardly a local behemoth.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
Nope
Not in DFW.
I'm Matt mutha-effing Bush, bitches, and mutha-eff East County.
"I'm as passionate and knowlegeable as any fan out there." Josey Wales
by Brian Thomas on May 24, 2009 10:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Maybe if it was someone other than Millwood
Millwood is one of the team’s leaders and their “ace” pitcher. You don’t want him thinking that he was about to be traded last season.
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
-The Outlaw
Scooter
I got to meet Feldman a few weeks ago and told him how much better he has been and is alot more fun to watch pitch these past two years. He looked at me like I had a dick coming out of my forehead but the very next day he pitched 6 shut-out innings and had another quality start. I somewhat feel responsible for this turn of events…
My next pitcher to “offer advise too” is CJ, although he may be harder to “encourage.”
by De Peche Ranger on May 24, 2009 11:13 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
uhh
random?
Scout: He was a first-round pick right? Got a huge bonus?
KG: Oh yeah.
Scout: Well, he spent a lot of it on milkshakes.
-
Scout to KG: On Sandoval: "Man, that fat [expletive]-er can hit."
by knockoutking on May 24, 2009 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions
Do you have a dick coming out of your forehead?
Aikman and Bradshaw?
Please. They are in the same league as Trent Dilfer and Jim McMahon as QBs who were taken to the SB by great Defenses and great Running Games.
-DJCahill
by SarasotaRanger on May 24, 2009 11:22 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, maybe you do have a dick coming out of your forehead
and just don’t know it.
Kinda like that boog nobody tells you about.
by Evil Monkey on May 24, 2009 11:47 AM CDT up reply actions
This is why atheletes hate fans.
Quit fucking up everyone else’s rep, jackwad.
"Back on the scene, with a gangsta lean" RW
"you gonna lose your horse. seriously." FX2
Yes we can! November 04, 2008
RE: O'Day
It’s nice for once to have a pitcher come to the Rangers and have a mechanical adjustment made and success follows instead of it usually happening the other way around.
Mike Maddux, thank you for coming to Texas.
"Embarrassing admission: I have never, ever, ever been able to see a guy's aura. That's right. I...am an aura-blind American." -Junior, FJM
Day game batting practice?
I’m thinking of getting to the ballpark early tomorrow to catch BP. Do the Rangers typically have BP before day games though? If not, is there much other reason to show up early?
Second thought give me Cain
He is younger.
2009 Texas Rangers: Why The Hell Not Us?--ghtd36 on May 13, 2009
That is also my thinking
He has put all the hype together this season and has been dominant. What does it take though? starts with prolly Davis or Cruz
I was thinking Neftali,
and I’d consider it.
"I saw your act, just didn't make it for me. Just a lot of fluff."
Let's lay off dealing Font
until he at least has big time value.
by Brett Perryman on May 24, 2009 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Shut up on the Font
I'm Matt mutha-effing Bush, bitches, and mutha-eff East County.
"I'm as passionate and knowlegeable as any fan out there." Josey Wales
by Brian Thomas on May 24, 2009 10:50 PM CDT up reply actions
Hah, figures
Madison Bumgarner just had a 6 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K game in AA at age 19 and has a 0.50 ERA in three starts there. And we know how hot Alderson has been. I guess it’s kind of predictable that they would start to look at moving Cain now that they are staring having those two in their rotation in the face.
by Brett Perryman on May 24, 2009 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions
They would be smart
to sell high on Cain right now, I think he’s quite overrated and due for some major regression.
G G G E-flat_______ F F F D__________....
Isn't it amazing how simple
these pitching adjustments often are, yet how it can take a new organization to see them?
by Brett Perryman on May 24, 2009 12:49 PM CDT reply actions
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