That was a disappointing game last night. The offense bears the brunt of the blame...if you can't score more than 2 runs at TBIA, you don't deserve to win.
But for most of the game, the Rangers pitchers did their job well enough to get the win. A couple of bad pitches from C.J. Wilson were the difference between a win and a loss last night.
Tom Grieve tried to excuse the pitch to Nick Swisher that Swisher took deep, but that was a pretty fat pitch...a 92 mph fastball up and out over the plate. I know Wilson gets high marks for self-confidence, but this is one of those instances where self-confidence can work against you...I don't know that he has the type of stuff where he can challenge a major league hitter with a fastball like that and get away with it regularly.
I've been wondering what it was about Wilson that had Buck & Co. so convinced that he needed to be a part of the 2006 pen. After his first few outings this year -- and after seeing Everett, Swisher and Chavez all hit rockets off of him -- I'm still wondering.
Evan Grant has some injury updates:
- Mark DeRosa and Brian Shouse are supposed to go to Oklahoma on a rehab assignment on Thursday
- Ian Kinsler is still "at least two weeks" away from coming back
- Frankie Francisco is supposed to throw an inning in a simulated game today
- Josh Rupe had a 35 pitch bullpen session yesterday, but was still just at 85-90 percent
And T.R. Sullivan has a new mailbag column up. The most interesting item...apparently, even if Cordero losing his closer role this season (something that Sullivan says isn't imminent), the Rangers plan on exercising his option for 2007, on the theory that even getting a setup reliever in the free agent market would involve more of a financial commitment than the $5-6 million Cordero will earn next year.
The other questions are kind of weird, and include a "why don't we trade for Barry Zito?" question and a "why don't we call up John Danks?" question...