Sunday morning Rangers things

The story from yesterday is the ongoing failure of Kevin Millwood to pitch well in the second half.  After the first few months, there was a lot of talk about Millwood having really taken to the Nolan Ryan program, working deeper into games, pitching to contact, getting ground balls when he needed them, and basically turning back into the top of the rotation starter that the Rangers thought they were signing almost four years ago.  There was talk of him deserving an All Star berth or even Cy Young consideration.

The counter to that argument, that the stathead community put forth rather vigorously, was that Millwood was for the same guy he had been in 2008 -- his peripherals were no different, and his great first half was due in part to an improved defense and in part to an incredibly fluky strand rate that was driven by holding opposing hitters to an exceptionally low level of production with runners in scoring position.  The argument was that he'd regress to his expected ERA in the mid-4s in the second half, bringing his numbers up as the season went on.

What we have instead seen is Millwood fall apart in the second half of the season.  Since July 1, he's posted a 5.92 ERA, with 29 walks against just 35 Ks in 59 1/3 IP, with 9 homers allowed.  Millwood had 70 Ks and 36 walks in 112 1/3 innings prior to July, with 14 homers. 

This isn't regression to the mean -- this is Millwood getting demonstrably worse over the last two months, with his peripherals all declining.  And while correlation doesn't always equal causation, one has to seriously question whether this late season fade is connected to the new mantra of pitching deeper into games, throwing more pitches, going one or two more innings than you've done in the past.

Earlier in the year, the talk about no pitch counts and pitchers expected to finish what they start was all the rage around the Rangers, with this new, tougher mindset being credited with the Rangers improved pitching and getting back in the playoff race.  That was crap at the time, of course, and what we now may be seeing is the unintended consequence of pushing at least one veteran starter harder than he's been pushed in recent years -- Kevin Millwood being worn down and out of gas in the last month of the season, when the Rangers are fighting for a playoff berth.

Evan Grant's post-game analysis focuses a lot on Millwood's second half collapse.

Jeff Wilson's game story notes that the Rangers blew an opportunity to gain ground in the Wild Card race, with Boston getting hammered.  Anaheim, of course, beat the Royals again, getting an unearned run against Zack Greinke thanks to an error by Willie Bloomquist that allowed them to get into extra innings, ultimately winning 2-1 in 11.

The S-T has updates on Josh Hamilton and Michael Young.  Hamilton, it sounds like, won't be playing today.