Last night I didn’t get to start watching the game until late. It started at 9PM anyway, and I wasn’t clear to watch baseball until about 10:30. Checked on a few online msgs before going to watch the game, and a friend of mine had posted this as his Facebook status:

I forgot the Ranger game was on TV. I think I’ll check in and….ooooooohhhhhhh no.

That irritated me, as I don’t like reading updates before I get to see the games, as I usually watch them time shifted (Thank you, TiVo). Granted, it’s my own fault for looking, but still. So anyway, I took that comment to mean we were losing bad. Tuned in, and it was 12-0. I tuned right back out, and went to play some MLB 2k11 on my Xbox 360.
In a story about the game, Ron Washington said,

“Full moon,” manager Ron Washington said. “It seems like we left our gloves, bats and brains at home. We just had a bad night.”

I’ll go further than that. IT SUCKED! No good came of this game at all. The thumbs down image I used for the last game doesn’t cut it. Time to haul out “Mr. Yuck”…

Chris Davis’ grand slam was cool, though.

I only saw part of this game, and I missed the end, as I was recovering from being sick. Couldn’t stay awake to watch it. Good thing I didn’t, otherwise I would have gotten mad and it would have woken me up when I needed to sleep.

Adrian Beltre & Chris Davis had good games. That’s about it for this game. :)

Bah.

On Monday, the Rangers tried to give away the game to the Dodgers, but managed to hold on for the win. Not the same on Tuesday. They did give up the game to the Dodgers. We were up 6-4 going into the bottom of the 8th, and gave up three.
The Rangers offense was another of those light hitting games. We had thirteen hits and one walk for offense. Of the 13 hits, just one of them was anything other than a single (Murphy double). Speaking of Murphy, he had a good day going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. Most of our hits were bunched, as Borbon, Andrus, Napoli, & Blanco had two hits as well. Couple with Murphy’s three, and that left just two for the rest of the lineup (other Andrus, & Moreland).
Pitching wise, the wheels came off this game for Derek Holland & Alexi Ogando. Holland went four, gave up seven hits and two walks for four earned runs. Ogando went 3.2 innings, gave up six hits for three earned runs. Cody Epply put out the fire late, only went 0.1, but didn’t give up anything. I don’t think anyone expected Holland to get through camp with a bad outing, but one never WANTS to see them.
Nice story about Elvis getting to play with his brother in this game on mlb.com. Check it out.

The Dodgers threw starter John Ely out there on this game, and in the first inning, he looked quite good. That was about it, though. I was actually ready to write a Dodger fan I know and praise Ely. Then he wasn’t nearly as good after the first inning. :)
The Rangers first run came in the second after David Murphy doubled in Nelson Cruz.
We put up a three spot in the third when Ian Kinsler doubled, Elvis Andrus reached on a fielding error, and then Josh Hamilton popped his first home run of the spring. A huge shot that went over the right field bullpen. Looked pretty big on TV, that’s for sure!
We added our final run in the in seventh when we had a single, walk, single group of guys.
Our pitching was “eh”. Feliz started the game on a day when we got the latest flip/flop about closer/starter with him. He went four innings, gave up three hits and a run and a walk. Not bad. Eric Hurley wasn’t too bad, either. He also went four innings, giving up four hits and a run (no walks). However, we tried to give it back with the guy we ran out in the 9th, Miguel De Los Santos. He only went one inning, but gave up the Dodgers 3rd & 4th runs in the 9th inning. He got out of it, but was pretty wobbly looking, despite his line not being THAT awful on pure numbers.
De Los Santos was sent to the minor league camp after that.

I missed 100% of this game, and I’m pressed for time today, so I’m not going to be commenting on this one. Except, Hi Randy. I know you’ll say something. :)

I watched this full game Saturday afternoon, even scored it with my new scoring software. Managed to keep track of all the goofball substitutions, too. All but the last one. The White Sox did me a favor, and didn’t substitute anyone (except pitchers) until the ninth inning, when they pinch ran for one guy. The sub was one of the “who is that” guys, so I ignored that substitution. Rangers didn’t go the same way, it was the usual spring training mess. But I managed to keep on top of it.
This was also the first TV broadcast by John Rhadigan, who is replacing Josh Lewin as the TV play by play guy. My review of his first outing is that he was nervous, but didn’t make any major gaffes. The only possible downside I see is that Rhadigan might be too much like Lewin’s predecessor, Bill Jones. I liked Bill Jones too, but Jones was a lot like Tom Grieve, and when Grieve is parterened with someone who is like him, it doesn’t get as much out of Tom. Josh was so “out there”, he got a lot of stuff out of Tom that we probably wouldn’t have heard of anywise. It’s unfair to John to label him Bill Jones II this early on, but I don’t see Rhadigan being as “out there” as Josh was, so hopefully he can find a way to get a lot out of Tom, too.
Finally, I was disappointed we got IMMEDIATELY into the food in the booth stuff in the first game. I really REALLY was hoping that would have gone out the door with Josh.
Game wise, Matt Harrison looked awesome. He made the big guys in the Chicago lineup (mostly Adam Dunn) look silly. Which is big. Matt is one of the guys who needs to ramp it up this year. Time for him to get it going and pitch the way he should be. This was a good sign, although the team was mostly made up of lesser players (Chicago did what we did to them a few days previous). Still, it’s hard to argue with Matt’s line. 4IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K. He looked good.
So did the other guys who followed him. Mason Tobin, Pedro Strop, Tucker, & McClung. The only Ranger pitcher to give up a run was Cody Eppley, who gave up the lone Sox mark on the scoreboard.
Offensively, we had two outbursts that accounted for all of our runs. Andres Blanco tripled down the right field line, scoring two. That was in the second. In the fourth, Doug Deeds (who is having a nice spring) singled, scoring the other two. That was it for the scoring, we were done in the fourth.
But it was nice to have Rangers baseball back on TV. Be nice in about a week and a half once the wholesale changes stop. Makes it a lot easier to score. :)

It wasn’t quite Bud Selig sitting in the stands in Milwaukee, but the Rangers & Reds played to a 5-5 tie on Friday. Heard on Saturday that the umpires won’t go extra innings at all? That was new to me. But ties in spring training aren’t too uncommon, just not a regular occurrence.
The Rangers ran just three pitchers out there this game. Colby Lewis started and went four. Michael Kirkman followed, went four as well. The final pitcher was Tateyama, on a day where his homeland was devastated. Lewis gave up two earned runs (three overall), and Kirkman gave up just one run – it too was unearned. Tateyama also gave up a run, so they all had something on their line. Kirkman was the best, though – just two hits and no walks over four innings with six punchouts. A lot of people have him as a dark horse for biggest pitching surprise in 2011. His overall line this spring has been quite good, I could see it. But I’m not the best prognosticator with young guys like that. :)
This game was more a power game than usual. The entire lineup had ten hits. Six of them were extra base hits. There were four doubles (Kinsler, Torrealba, Moreland, & Gentry). Kinsler also followed up with a two run home run, and the final one was by a guy I’d never heard of for us – Michael Olt. That one tied the game in the bottom of the ninth.
But that was it. Didn’t go any further, the game stopped there. 5-5 tie. Not a lot to say either, I missed this game totally.

In a game where the White Sox came to Surprise, bringing mostly backups and minor leaguers to play, we lost to them anyway. Although, it wasn’t due to the fault of new staff ace, CJ Wilson.
Wilson started the game, and went four, as we’re now starting to stretch out a little more. Gave up just three hits and a walk. One run, punched out three. Nice outing. 59 pitches, which for four innings is right at average. So it was a good outing.
Unfortunately, the guys who followed him can’t say the same. The first reliever was Dave Bush, who I don’t think will make the club, but my gut feeling can’t quite rule it out, either. He wasn’t nearly as good. Went three innings, six hits, two walks, three runs. Did punch out three, but threw a bazillion pitches. OK, not quite that many, but he did throw SEVENTY over three innings. I’d call that laboring for sure.
Yancy Brazoban did have a scoreless frame before giving it up to Mark Lowe, who blew the save, giving up the final three runs on three hits and a walk. Bla.
Still, the pitcher of this group that probably will see the most action is CJ Wilson, and he was fine, so I have to rely on that for the good pitching thing to take from this game.
Offensively, this was a no power attack. Everything was a single except one double by Mike Napoli. Kevin Cash & Elvis Andrus had two hits – everyone else had just the one. Just well put together coupled with the four walks overall. Nothing terribly sexy to write about this one reading from the box score. :)
Bah. We lost. That’s about it for this one. Except for Craig Gentry’s impression of Rodney McCray. Not exactly funny, but that’s all I could think of when I read about that one.

Dallas Braden is a guy I liked last year. Yeah, he pitched for the A’s, but that team has a lot of young pitching that’s quite good. QUITE good. Braden was one of them. I’ve drafted Braden (along with Trevor Cahill) on a few of my fantasy leagues. However, this game, Braden was NOT a guy I wanted to draft.
His line was pretty bad. In his 2.2 innings of work, he gave up six hits and a walk. Five runs, three earned. 59 pitches – yeah, not good. The Rangers teed off on him. I still think he’s a good pitcher – even the best guys have the occasional bad outing. Not that Braden’s “the best”, but it’s not uncommon when the date in March is a single digit.
Our old pal Brandon McCarthy threw against us, and had the best outing of any of the A’s pitchers this day. He too went three innings, gave up four hits and a run with no walks. A lot of pitches though (54). Still, his bottom line was better than any other Oakland pitcher. Oh, and Blevins gave up three late in his one inning of work.
None of that compared to Texas pitching. Derek Holland started, and nailed it – he had a great performance. He too went three innings, but gave up just two hits. That’s it. No runs, no walks, and punched out four. Only 37 pitches, so he was fairly efficient too. Gotta love that. In a spring where so much was made (at least nationally) about us not having Cliff Lee, several of our guys (Holland, Matt Harrison for starters) are having really good springs. It’d be nice if this is real, and not just a mirage, as it’s time (get it – last year’s slogan – ha) for these guys to be what they can be. “They’re just young guys” isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Offensively, we had a lot of things going on, but not a ton of power. Of the 14 hits overall, three doubles (Young, Torrealba, & Chavez) and a home run (Napoli) were it. Four of the guys had two hits, and the rest were scattered all over the lineup. Even three of the late inning subs got in on the fun, too.
But for me, the best thing of this game was Derek Holland. Man do I hope this is real and not just a spring training mirage. There even was a separate article on mlb.com about Holland and his spring. Check that out, too.