A couple of interesting items in Evan Grant's notes column for Monday morning...
Grant quotes Mike Young and Rod Barajas as saying that the team's performance on the road trip has been "embarrassing", and says that several other players used that phrase, as well.
I have to agree with them...the team is embarrassing right now.
Grant also concludes that Showalter's ripping of the team, and the players "no holds barred" meeting with Dom Chiti, didn't work, although realistically, I don't know what could have been expected from such meetings.
This current flameout, and the attendant mess that the clubhouse has turned into, raises once again the question...if the team's success last year was attributable to the great team chemistry, then where is the team chemistry now? How did it so quickly disappear?
Or could it be that the team chemistry was the result of the team winning, rather than the other way around?
Grant also has this blurb on Ricardo Rodriguez:
RHP Ricardo Rodriguez (bruised right shoulder) is eligible to come off the disabled list Wednesday, but won't. He still hasn't pitched off a mound in Arizona and probably won't do that before Tuesday. The Rangers do not expect him back before Sept. 1 and it's uncertain if he'd then get another shot at the rotation.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like management has soured on Ricardo Rodriguez, and may be ready to cut bait with him. There's no other reason for RicRod not to re-join the rotation as soon as he's healthy.