/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64993241/1167416426.jpg.0.jpg)
How bad is National League baseball? Jeff Mathis, the worst hitter of this decade, was intentionally allowed to reach base freely in a key situation forcing Mike Minor to bat. I can’t believe the sport survived a hundred years with that league’s rules.
Nevertheless, the Rangers are finished with NL style baseball for the rest of the decade and they leave the Senior Circuit in true NL-style with a 1-0 victory! The one run, of course, coming on a real thinking-man’s sacrifice fly just as Connie Mack would have wanted it.
Here’s hoping the next time the Rangers play in a NL park, universal DH is here for good.
Player of the Game: Whatever adjustment Mike Minor purportedly made before this road trip began it, uh, worked. Following a start where Minor allowed goose eggs over seven innings in Cleveland, today Minor somehow improved upon that by four-hitting the Brewers while striking out eleven over eight easy, breezy innings of shutout work.
Boy the Brewers sure could have used a pitcher like that in their quest to be relevant for the first time in franchise history, huh? If only such a character had been readily available for a fair price at the deadline or something.
Up Next: The Rangers continue their road trip up in Toronto where RHP Ariel Jurado will make the start against a yet to be determined Blue Jays hurler in the opener. Monday’s first pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 6:07 pm CT.