Brandon McCarthy had appeared to turn the corner, and was pitching better (if not awesome). Or at least it seemed that way. Then he got sidelined by the infamous blister injury. Our best pitcher of VERY immediate vintage goes down on the DL, and we bring back Kameron Loe. I don’t think anyone (except maybe Kam himself) thought that this was going to be a good thing. Kameron, like much of the 2007 Rangers, has been a disappointment. I think most people figured he’d show up again much later in the season, not this quickly.
So back up to the majors comes Kameron to the land of Pieroghies, and the extremely tasty Primanti Brothers sandwich (my wife’s from Pittsburgh, I know it well). Kameron was more than up to the challenge for his return. As was theorized on TV last night, he might have been helped by the fact that he was leading 1-0 when he went out to pitch first. A lead in the first is not something Ranger pitchers have enjoyed much at all this year. That happened due to a lead off home run by Jerry Hairston Jr. Hairston doesn’t hit a lot of those, so they’re nice to see when they crop up. Loe was cruising along, not allowing much of anything – just five hits and three walks in all. He was helped out by two double plays. In fact, Loe was the first Ranger starter to go eight innings in a game, and we’re at game 66. That’s not good. I personally would have liked to have let him try to get the complete game shutout, but it was probably good to get him out with 8 and a shutout before he could blow the shutout in the ninth.
Kameron even chipped in with a single, and a run scored! :)
Congragulations to Travis Metcalf who got his first major league hit in this game, a home run to left field. It appeared security was talking to the guy who got the ball, so I hope Travis got it back.
Gerald Laird also had a big home run, a three run shot in the seventh – in fact, 5 of our 6 runs were on home run balls.
I spotted Jamey Wright in the dugout in Pittsburgh on TV last night. There’s been a lot of talk that he will be activated and pitch a few starts for us. I’m not thrilled with that, but I’m even less thrilled that he’d have to be activated from the 60 day DL. Unless they also then DFA Sosa, and bring up Jason Botts, while moving a pitcher back to AAA – who knows, could be what the Rangers are waiting for, other than Sosa’s 600th.
One more remark about Loe. The quote he had about AAA pitching coach Andy Hawkins fixing his mechanics after just one start was quite disturbing. The quote went something like “Andy saw a problem with my mechanics about my delivery position – I corrected it, and it’s all good again” (I’m seriously paraphrasing there). Uh, why did Mark Connor not see that for as many starts as Kam made in the majors before he was sent down. The other remark by Kevin Millwood about not knowing what he’s doing wrong is also not good to hear.
I wonder how long before we start hearing about getting rid of Connor instead of Washington (which is a bunch of crap).
BTW, the picture of the Primanti Brothers sandwich that is in the linked Wikipedia page above was one I took some years ago when I was up there visiting. The thing is EXTREMELY good. If you’re up there, go to the original location in the Strip District. It’s awesome!
I might have a hard time getting past the cole slaw and I’d like to know what the dressing is first, but that is a good looking sandwich.