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Rangers 3, Royals 1
- I drove to Arlington from Houston today to sit in the sun on a 95 degree day and watch Scott Baker pitch for a Ranger team that will likely lose 100 games.
- No one can ever question my Rangers fan bona fides.
- Scott Baker, who hadn't appeared in a game the Rangers won until a couple of weeks ago, now has a 2-3 record on the season.
- Baker pitched pretty decently today, giving the Rangers 5 innings in a spot start, with the only run coming on a Billy Butler home run. After the game, Ron Washington praised Baker for coming in and throwing strikes and giving the Rangers innings after having not pitched for so long.
- Another solid outing for Shawn Tolleson, who didn't allow a hit or a walk in 2 innings. His ERA on the season is now 2.90. In a lost season, Tolleson has been a nice surprise.
- Neal Cotts pitched the 8th, and Neftali Feliz the 9th. Cotts was good Cotts. The interesting thing about Feliz was that he started out the inning throwing 91 mph, but by the final batter, was up at 95. That is what we saw his last time out, on Thursday, when he started the inning throwing 90, allowed a pair of homers, but then was at 95-96 mph for the final batter. I have no idea what the deal is there...that said, we know that 95 mph is still in that arm. And if he can get back to throwing 95 mph consistently, he can be a valuable bullpen piece.
- It seems weird that the Rangers only scored 3 runs, because they had runners on base all game. Every Ranger got on base today, and every Ranger except Elvis Andrus got a hit. Texas had 16 baserunners in 8 innings...that should result in more than 3 runs scored.
- Adrian Beltre and Robinson Chirinos each went 2 for 3 with a walk. Adam Rosales, meanwhile, had a pair of doubles. Someone about 15 rows behind me yelled early in the game, "Why hasn't Adam Rosales been released?" After the two doubles, the guy shut up.
- I have never understood why you would go to the game and yell insults at players on the team you are pulling for. We all know what Adam Rosales is...he's a utility infielder who is going to start once or twice a week. He's not particularly good, but he's not awful, for what he is. He was starting at third base today because Adrian Beltre was the DH. What would possess a Ranger fan to go to the ballpark and yell insults at Adam Rosales?
- Dan Robertson was 1 for 3 with 2 walks today, raising his slash line on the season to .288/.349/.347. He's quietly been pretty decent as a backup outfielder this year, and if the Rangers end up with a grab-bag platoon instead of Alex Rios in the outfield next year, Robertson could end up as a part-time starter in 2015.