Thoughts on a 3-2 Rangers loss

M’s 3, Rangers 2

• I had a very long week this past week.
• Actually, I’ve had a couple of very long weeks, mainly due to being very busy at my job that pays the bills so I can fuck around on the internet and talk about the Rangers at my leisure.
• Being busy at the real job isn’t a bad thing — its better than the alternative. And I’ve been doing this long enough to know that its a cyclical thing, that you’ll be slow at times and really busy at times. When I first went out on my own a little over thirteen years ago (I mean, not ENTIRELY on my own, because I had two partners, but you know what I mean), for a long time I would get anxious and panicky when things were slow. And then things would stop being slow and start being really busy, and I’d get anxious and panicky because things were really busy.
• I think I’ve finally gotten to where I have been able to mentally — or emotionally, really — embrace the fact that its slow sometimes and it is really busy sometimes, and that instead of being panicky when it is slow and afraid I won’t get any more clients and won’t be able to pay my employees or pay myself or anything else, I try to enjoy it being slow and don’t feel bad about leaving early or spending more time arguing about park effects online.
• And when its busy, well, I have to work a bunch and then that’s good because hopefully I’m working a bunch on cases that are paying and are going to pay, and that balances out when things are quieter.
• Anyway, after a really busy two weeks, which included a 4 p.m. hearing yesterday (I assume the judge was mad at us* and that’s why she set it at 4 p.m. on a Friday before a holiday weekend), I was exhausted yesterday and fell asleep in like the third inning of the game.
• * This is a joke, so if one of my colleagues or someone sees this, don’t go tell the judge I thought she was mad at us. I’m saying this for comedic effect.
• And thus I saw the Rangers fall behind, and then didn’t see anything that happened after that, although a perusal of the box score indicates that they at least scored a couple of runs, which is good. And it looks like there was some sort of cluster in the fifth inning that blew a good chance to score more runs.
• In fact, looking at the box score, I’m thinking the Rangers should have won this game. Texas had more hits than the M’s did. They drew more walks. They had more baserunners. Yes, the M’s did have a home run, but still, I think Texas should have won. Let’s call this a “W” and move on.
• Jordan Lyles did the thing where he allowed runs early and then was better later. His end line of 6 IP, 6 hits, 1 walk and 8 Ks looks pretty good, in fact, except that one of the hits was a 2 run home run. He allowed all three runs, but still gets credit for a Quality Start, so attaboy Jordan.
• Lyles’ ERA on the season is now 5.79.
• John King came in for Lyles in the seventh and faced the minimum, allowing no hits or walks. He hit the first batter he faced but got the second batter he faced to hit into a GIDP, and struck out two.
• I haven’t checked, but I’m guessing there weren’t any Mavs announcers yelling on Twitter about Chris Woodward being a moron for pulling Lyles after six for King.
• It was a two hit night for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who is now slashing .290/.327/.424. Joey Gallo had a double and a pair of walks, and Nick Solak had a double.
• Jordan Lyles hit 93.5 mph on his four seamer yesterday. John King topped out at 92.8 mph on his sinker.
• Joey Gallo’s double had an exit velocity of 111.2 mph. Khris Davis had a sac fly in the fourth that had an exit velocity of 110.9 mph, and an expected batting average of .870, so that’s another data point in favor of just calling this game a win instead of a loss and saying that it is reality that is wrong, not us. Charlie Culberson had a 102.4 mph single. Adolis Garcia had a 101.5 mph fly out. Jose Trevino had a 100.4 mph line out. Nick Solak’s double was 101.4 mph off the bat. And Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two — count ‘em, two — singles with 100.9 mph exit velocities, and a 101.7 mph lineout that had a higher expected batting average (.670) than either of his singles (.630 and .530).
• Okay, enough of this “losing games on the road” malarkey. Time for a win.