In a statement that seems odd to this Rangers fan, Marlon Byrd returned to the lineup and led the Rangers to victory Friday night. He singled in two runs in the sixth inning, giving us the lead, and the eventual win. As regular readers of my site know, I also follow the Phillies, and I remember Byrd from his time there. My sister in law is also a big Byrd fan, so she has been glad to hear that he’s doing well here. As we creep closer to the end of camp, it is starting to feel like Byrd will be the fourth/fifth/whatever outfielder we carry.
Sammy Sosa, who is also on the team has now hit in 11 straight “A” game spring training games. Spring is spring – so we shall see if he Nevins us on this, or if he really has learned to hit again.
We used seven pitchers Friday night (in order; Jamey Wright, Willie Eyre, Frank Francisco, Akinori Otsuka, Joaquin Benoit, Scott Feldman, & Ron Mahay). Officially Otsuka got the win, and Mahay got the save. I have to admit to being concerned we still have not seen Eric Gagne in an “A” game this spring. For as much money as we gave him, I think he should be in these “A” games, not pitching against scrubs in the minor league games. Not liking that at all. Course, I didn’t think we should have signed him in the first place; Aki was fine. Jamey Wright is also starting to look like a pretty strong candidate to make the roster. He went 3.1IP, giving up 2 runs, and his spring ERA is 2.16. If he does make the club, that’s three guys who are not on the 40 who are expected to be added (Wright, Sosa, & Hairston).
Nice to see our old buddy Doug Brocail’s name in the box score. Still liked him when he was here, even if he wasn’t the best pitcher we had.
It was another scattered offensive night for us. The box score says we had no extra base hits at all, everything was a single (10 of them). And again, we had just one guy with more than one (spring catcher Chris Stewart). Also looking at the box score, I see Kenny Lofton’s averge is under the Mendoza line. Even at Apr 16, that’s not good for our anointed leadoff guy. :(