2-1. That's a score from today's baseball game and the tally of the overall series.
I missed the game today thanks to the Comcast SportsNet sending a crew to televise the games of this series but apparently deciding today's game wasn't worth their time. Did Comcast SportsNet Bay Area take a day off to go to Six Flags or something?
Ray Fosse: "Want to go to Hurricane Harbor?"
Glen Kuiper: "Heck no. It's not warm enough for that yet!"
Ray Fosse: "What? It's like 90 outside today."
Glen Kuiper: "That's like...air temperature or something. The water is probably still cold."
Ray Fosse: "Fine, want to go to the House of Wax?"
Glen Kuiper: "Ooooh. Yeah! Do you think they have a Wax Pete Rose?"
Ray Fosse: :(
I'm sure it has to do with the actual TV contract, by why even send a crew if you're not going to broadcast all of the games. Anyhow, because I live in Oakland, somehow, I was supposed to be able to go to the game in Texas as the Rangers' broadcast of the game was blacked out on MLB.tv.
However, once the game was archived on MLB.tv, I watched the whole damn thing so I could sweat out a sweet win like everyone here.
Some thoughts on a nice series win and a two game division lead for the Texas Rangers:
- I'm not sure exactly why Josh Donaldson is afraid of home plate, but he made two routine looking plays at the plate much more vague for the umpire to call. In fact, upon watching the replay of Ian Kinsler's attempt to come home, I'm pretty sure Donaldson didn't actually apply the tag until Ian was sitting on the plate.
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C.J. Wilson is now the guy I'm most confident of when I check out who is starting the game that night. I think back to just about every time he was called into a ballgame from the bullpen the past few seasons and the groans of contempt that was heard from a large contingent of every faction of Rangers fans and I am amazed that C.J. is doing what he is doing.
He's walking too many batters and he isn't striking out very many, and eventually he's going to give up home runs, but even as he regresses, I'm confident that he is a much better starter than I thought he would be. This experiment is becoming a revelation.
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Gio Gonzalez is a funny when he is unhappy:
- The O'Day chant needs to become canon at the Ballpark. It has become one of those natural, not forced, special things about the Rangers and the Rangers fans that doesn't come along very often. The chant needs to continue to be cultivated and nurtured so that when the Rangers are fighting off foes late in meaningful games in September, the entire 45K+ crowd is hollering their 'O'Days' in a way that transfixes the opponent and becomes a part of the legacy.
- Speaking of O'Day, he might not get the opportunity to pitch late in meaningful September games if Ron Washington continues to show a lack of know-how on how to use him. It was 7-0 Rangers in the 7th inning yesterday when Ron Washington inexplicably put O'Day in a game he had no business seeing. At other times, we've seen O'Day come in for only one or two batters.
O'Day has been the Rangers third most effective reliever behind Neftali Feliz and Darren Oliver. He shouldn't be coming into a game as a mop up guy. That's what Doug Mathis is here for. And even though Doug Mathis did come in the next inning, pitching O'Day in that game just didn't make any sense. O'Day would have been very useful in the game today but, because of last night, he was all but unavailable. I just don't think Ron Washington knows what he has in Darren O'Day.
- Back on April 28th I mentioned a trend of Ron Washington lead baseball teams and how once they get themselves out of the two week funk of the last half of April, they tend to have a solid May. I was hoping for the Rangers to go 10-5 over the next 15 games played from that date. They've gone 10-4 since then. Regardless of tomorrow night's game in Toronto, the Rangers are meeting expectations.
