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Nobody in the world is going to claim that Miguel Gonzalez is anything but a journeyman innings eater who the Rangers were hoping could give them a month of solid pitching.
A month like, I don’t know, the month of July or August Gonzalez had pitching for the woeful White Sox before coming to Texas in a waiver deadline trade.
In July and August, spanning nine starts, Gonzalez averaged six innings per start, pitched through or into the eighth inning in three starts and allowed three or fewer runs in eight of the nine starts against teams with potent offenses such as the Dodgers (twice), Cubs, Indians, Astros, these Rangers, and the Twins.
Immediately after joining the Rangers, however, he’s turned back into the pumpkin that allowed 15 runs in 15 2⁄3 innings back in June. Worse yet, the pumpkin that is Miguel Gonzalez is now rotten and starting to smell bad.
In two outings with Texas, against the not-so-potent offenses of Atlanta and Seattle, Gonzalez has now allowed 11 runs and pitched just 5 1⁄3 innings total with seven runs and just 2 1⁄3 innings of those coming tonight.
In over 50 innings in July and August, Gonzalez had allowed just three home runs total. In two starts with Texas, barely getting through five innings, Gonzalez has allowed four home runs.
The lesson: Never become a Texas Ranger.
Player of the Game: Congratulations to Willie Calhoun who will now have to forever remember this turd of a baseball game as the one in which he made his Major League debut. Calhoun collected an RBI single in his first big league at-bat and made a couple of Rusty Greer specials in left field.
Up Next: The Rangers will try to climb back to within two games of a playoff spot as Martin Perez goes for an eighth straight win. He’ll be opposed by Seattle’s own waiver wire trade acquisition Mike Leake. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT.