For whatever reason, I'm just not that put out by this loss yesterday.
I should be. The Rangers had a chance to sweep Oakland at home and take a commanding lead in the West. Instead, they've dropped game 1 in embarrassing fashion and allowed Oakland to enter into a tie for first place.
Still...this is one of those games that, early on, I just felt like the Rangers didn't deserve to win. They played sloppy. Bad defense. Bad managerial decisions.
And in case I haven't been clear on this before now, having Elvis Andrus bunt in the fifth inning of a tie game with two on and no one out is never a good idea.
Jeff Wilson writes that the bullpen let the Rangers down yesterday. Ironically, it was Darren Oliver and Neftali Feliz -- two-thirds of the "trusted" section of the bullpen -- that blew the save.
Chris Ray and Dustin Nippert also allowed a run apiece, but then, at that point, you were in to extra innings and using the weak part of the bullpen. Ray has, as I've noted before, walked more batters than he's struck out, and he's giving up a ton of fly balls. I struggle to understand why he continues to be up, given that the Rangers can option him.
Todd Wills writes that Feliz was supposed to face Adam Rosales, the second batter of the ninth inning, but Ron Washington didn't have Feliz get warmed up in time to face Rosales.
Richard Durrett has post-game thoughts here and here.
Evan Grant has his post-game thoughts up at the DMN blog, and mentions that Elvis Andrus was bunting on his own with two strikes in the fifth inning.
Derek Holland gets the start today, and Anthony Andro writes that Holland is confident in his ability to step into the rotation and contribute.
On the Rangers sale front, Evan Grant says that Bud Selig needs to seize the Rangers. So does Gil Lebreton.