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Thoughts on a 5-2 Rangers loss

Just one more day until the All Star Break

By Adam J. Morris
Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Angels 5, Rangers 2

  • This game seemed, for a while, like a game the Rangers might win.  They got after Jered Weaver early, put a couple of runs on the board in the 2nd inning, and Miles Mikolas was doing good things.  It felt like a situation where the Rangers might actually break this losing streak.
  • Alas, it was not to be.  After 5 strong innings, Mikolas got into trouble in the 6th, and the Angels ended up putting four runs on the board that inning.  And that ended up being enough.
  • Mikolas's final line was 5.2 IP, 9 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 3 Ks, a walk and a bloody HBP -- Collin Cowgill ended up leaving the game after his nose was split open (update -- it was actually Matt West who hit Cowgill).  He threw strikes and looked pretty good until things came apart in the 6th.
  • Matt West and Roman Mendez each pitched an inning, they each gave up a hit, they each walked a batter, they each fanned a batter, and they each were able to escape without allowing a run.  That's a moral victory.
  • Joakim Soria got into the game against what could be his next team, and threw a shutout inning.  There was a lot of talk during the game about Soria, Jason Frasor, and Neal Cotts being available, although the booth acknowledged that the price for Soria -- who has a very reasonable team option for 2015 -- is going to be a whole lot higher than the cost for Frasor or Cotts.
  • I really like Soria, and don't want him to be traded.  But if he is traded, please, please JD...don't trade him to the Angels.
  • Ron Washington chewed out the team after the game on Thursday, and before yesterday's game, cited Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus as the only two players on this team who have won anything, and said attitudes needed to get in check and people needed to do better.  There was a lot of speculation that Leonys Martin and Alex Rios, in particular, were the players Wash was calling out.  And then yesterday, Leonys made an error while overrunning a ball in center that Anthony Andro described on Twitter as just a "lazy" play, and today, Rios cost the Rangers a run by overthrowing the cutoff man during the ugly 6th inning.
  • Over the final six innings of the game, the Rangers mustered one walk and one single.  They looked almost dangerous the first three innings, but after that, the offense shut down.
  • The Rangers had four hits today.  Rougned Odor had half of them.
  • Just one more game until the All Star Break.  After the break, Geovany Soto and Jim Adduci will likely be activated.  Soto will likely be the regular catcher, and Adduci will likely be the regular first baseman.  They aren't going to turn the season around with their return, but they should make the team a little better.
  • Pimps be damned, its hard out here for a Rangers fan.

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