Sorry if this entry seems kinda thrown together. I'm trying to bang this out between jobs. My goal for the first 10 or so entries is to try to put one out a day in order to get a feel for what I like as far as format and such. With this specific entry I am going to outline 3 aspects of the Rangers as The Ugly, The Bad, and The Good. (And I just noticed that Jayson Stark has a similar series of blogs...but he sucks and is a Phillies fan so who cares). I think this will be a theme I bring back when I feel fit, and I feel it fit to fire the first one up.
The Ugly- Joe Nathan. No two ways about it. Nathan came into last night's game with a two run lead. There will be loses (I refuse to say "You can't win 'em all" seriously), I understand that. But the problem I have is that Nathan was one of the best closers in the league up until last year, out thrown by Rivera and very few others. It seems weird that the Ranger's closer has more losses than all of the starters combined. Now I understand that we are a whole week into the season, but he has both losses. He has lost 2 out of his 3 appearances this year. Now, do I believe we need to jump ship, move him to middle relief, and move Adams to closer? Not exactly yet. He might just need to get back that feel for the ball, and it may take just a little more time. Wash might need to monitor Nathan more closely in games in which he pitched the night before. They're paying this guy $14 mil to do a job, and Wash is not one to normally make brash decisions. I say that, but a switch of Nathan and Adams at this time in the season would be about a few weeks earlier (I could be a little off) than two years ago when the Ranger's did the same thing with Frank Francisco and Neftali Feliz. I say sit the guy tonight, and possibly tomorrow against the Twins, then see what he's got. Showing faith with give Nathan confidence, and that may be all he needs to get everything back together.
The Bad- Ranger's Run Manufacturing Abilities. Ok, well its not really that bad, but just something I've noticed. As of today the Rangers have 11 homers scoring a combined 18 runs. The reason why I am bringing this up is because the team is going on the road now and one of their stops is The Motor City. It is known as one of the most hitter-unfriendly parks. I would like to see more ropes to left, and bloops for base hits. It will show that they Rangers can move around the bases and get runs from something else besides the long ball. One stat that I think shows how they have not been getting on base and getting a good amount of runs in is stolen bases. They are at 3. This team has the speed, or at least they did last year. The weird thing is it took them 6 games to get a stolen base, which happened last night. The crazy part is it was done by their catcher. Mind you there were 2 more steals today, so that is going in the right direction. But it seems like this team is becoming the team of the 90's, but with pitching. Now, I am not trying to complain and say stop hitting homeruns, I'm just saying this could be a concern if there is no flexibility within this club when it comes to hitting.
The Good- Starters. A few days ago, I would have said the relievers. But, we've already touched on one reason why they are not in this portion. The starters have pitched 3 shutouts in their starts in 6 days. I also believe that every starter has gone at least 6 innings into the game, except Yu (5 2/3). Also, every starter, omitting Darvish again, has has got a quality start, 6 innings pitched with 3 or less earned runs. They good. We are seeing the veteran, Colby Lewis, step up and try and change his habit of giving up a ton of homers and getting pop-ups to stay as close to the infield as possible. Dutch had a slightly rocky first game but has improved with todays start. Matt Harrison threw a great game, keeping the bats off the ball by only allowing 4 hits. Darvish showed his stuff, maybe a little later in his first appearance than would be wanted, but he will hone in on it and be great. Neftali showed that he can stretch out and go deeper than 5 innings. I know this is a very early assessment of the starting rotation, but its looking very good so far.
Well, I am having to cut this one off here in order to not be too late to work. Last night's game was fun until...well...you know. Wish i could have ended my Ranger's 4 game attending in a row thingy with all wins, but things happen. At any rate I plan on skipping the Yankee's series completely due to the obnoxiousness of their fans and will probably catch a couple Rays games. Until next time...
FYR
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