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Word, unless you're a redhawks fan, you probably never consistently saw "good Eddy" rather than "Pedro Astacio Eddy".
You don't follow the Rangers if you think Edinson Volquez ever gave them good pitching.
Word, unless you're a redhawks fan, you probably never consistently saw "good Eddy" rather than "Pedro Astacio Eddy".
Because 1) it's not what happened 2) it's subjective and 3) it happens all the freakin time. Esteban Loaiza for Michael Young, Andrew Brown for Milton Bradley, etc, etc. There's a lot of instances where servicable pitchers gets traded for everyday position players with question marks.
I don't think we've been a above-500 team since the last days of August 06, I believe.The Rangers are .500 this late in the season!!! How long since that happened?
Seriously... I'm going to enjoy this optimism as long as it lasts. Be it another week or 6 months, just gonna enjoy it.
THis brings back memories of a doubleheader against the White Sox I went to about two years ago.
CJ Wilson started game 1 and did really well. Funny that he is the closer now. Volquez had just been called up and started game 2. Oh. My. God. I never saw a worse display of pitching in my life, at least not live. It was horrid. You could tell he had good stuff ... if he could just locate it. But it just never happened. Story of his career w/ the Rangers. His line that day:
Texas Rangers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
E Volquez, L (0-1) 4.2 6 5 5 2 3 1 9.63
Of course, it didn't help that Way Back Wasdin came in to relieve him
Funny note .. the opposing SP for the White Sox vs. Volquez was Brandon McCarthy. He got a shutout that day. Blech.
John Danks has never pitched for the Rangers, so you must be a Redhawks fan. Chris Young is good, but if you'd take a minute to look at park adjusted ERAs or Chris Young and Kason Gabbard, you'll know why he isn't as good as his park make him out to be. Still a dumb trade though, but Billy Beane once traded Jeremy Bonderman for Ted Lilly and Tim Hudson for the mighty Dan Meyer/Charles Thomas combo. Theo Epstein traded Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena. Expecting a GM to bat 1000 is pretty stupid.
Almost as stupid as claiming John Danks will be better than Brandon McCarthy 1 year out.
Baseball is the only sport where everybody really i mean really just has so much optimism for their team to have a winning season for some reason more than any other sport. Am I off on that one or not?The Rangers are .500 this late in the season!!! How long since that happened?
Seriously... I'm going to enjoy this optimism as long as it lasts. Be it another week or 6 months, just gonna enjoy it.
If you're a Rangers fan who still watches and pays attention even through the losing, then this young and scrappy lineup is a breath of fresh air. It's far from elite, but it's nice to see a group and a manager who so far seem to give a .
Danks never pitched in the majors, McCarthy had, and McCarthy was rated as a better prospect than Danks at the time. So that trade you're ing about wasn't a case of "good pitching for a question mark" because Danks & McCarthy were both question marks.
And Chris Young for Adam Eaton was trading a decent prospect who had fatigue issues for a guy who was a proven Major League pitcher who theoretically would be a better fit since he wasn't just a RH fastball pitcher, he had a better curveball than fastball, and he was in a contract year. The trade failed because Eaton got hurt and then came back & proceeded to not give a since pitchers get big contracts regardless of performance these days. Not because Daniels traded good pitching for a question mark. Again, with his fatigue issues, Chris Young was the question mark. Adam Eaton just failed to give his best to the organization.
Seriously, do you watch baseball at all, or just hear when Dan McDowell es about the Rangers and just repeats that word for word?
alright alright....I have changed my mind. The Rangers are great and hopefully they re-sign Daniels for another 10 years because everything he touches turns to gold, go rangers.
Rangers with 5 quality starts out of the starting rotation, but they waste three of them. Gotta get the bats going.
Nice little summary of the season so far...a fair write up.
Texas is hitting .249 as a team. The club is nearly the worst in the league in fielding percentage and defensive efficiency rating, neither of which fully accounts for costly plays unmade. The schedule makers sent the Rangers on the road for the season’s first week, pitting them against the two teams that have earned every expert’s nod to win the West, the first of whom sent Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez to the mound.
And yet the club returns to Arlington, prepared to open the home half of the schedule, toting a 3-3 record. All things considered, we ought to feel pretty good about that.
Especially because the reason that Texas sits at .500 -- winning two games big and playing the other four tight -- is that the starting rotation has a 2.31 ERA (only Oakland and Seattle have better AL marks), twice as many strikeouts as walks, and only one non-quality start, which stands alone as best in baseball. On average, the starters are getting midway into the seventh inning, a remarkable feat for the first week of the season (and in the Rangers’ case in recent years, noteworthy any time of the year). Add the fact that four of the Rangers’ seven relievers to see game action have yet to be scored on (one of the other three, Joaquin Benoit, had what has to be the season’s filthiest inning of relief work in yesterday’s eighth), and it’s clear that the pitching is to credit for 3-3.
Yeah, that was in this morning's Newberg Report, if I recall.
A very fair assessment and proves what the knowledgeable fans have been saying all along ... that hitting was as much of a concern, if not moreso, than pitching.
This team's got a lot of fight in them, and they seem eager to play. The last couple of years they all emulated that sourpuss Teixiera at ude, and it showed in their production. This year reminds me of the 04 team. Hopefully the results are the same.
With great hitting and bad pitching/fielding they would probably be 1-5 right now. .500 road trip to start this season and .5 off 1st is a success. Let's see how they do at home against a bad O's team.
I think the hitting may continue to be a problem all year because of the two opposite philosophies being preached to the guys. The players just aren't gonna know what to do when Ron Washington is telling them to work pitchers & stretch out innings & sustain scoring runs, and Jaramillo is telling them to hack away for the fences every time.
In general, they've been doing a pretty good job of working pitchers. I doubt it'll be much of a concern when it heats up.
dallas news...
Give the Rangers some credit: They went out to the west coast against two divisional opponents and finished 3-3. They'll take it.
Evan Grant gives a good summary of what happened on that trip. Besides the starting pitching, which is clearly the best news of the first six games (five quality starts, 2.30 ERA in six games and a complete game), what are you most encouraged about and most concerned about?
• David Murphy. He's 9-for-22 and looks like that guy that hit so well as soon as he got to Texas last year. So much for "fourth" outfielder. That Eric Gagne trade with Boston keeps getting better, doesn't it?
• Road series win. Texas didn't have one of those until late May last year (eighth road series of the season).
• Ben Broussard and Gerald Laird. I had a feeling Laird would bounce back. But I'm surprised by Broussard. He struggled in spring training and kept assuring everyone that he was ready to go and that he just needs all of spring to get ready. I'll trust him next time he tells me that. He has three homers. Laird, by the way, had two on Sunday.
• Errors. Not good. The club has six in six games. That actually doesn't lead the league. Pittsburgh has nine errors in six games, Seattle has eight errors in six games and Philadelphia has seven errors in six games. Texas has to get better defensively. They won't continue to win games despite problems in the field.
• Hitting. The Rangers are batting .249 as a team, that's 15th in the league. That has to get better, doesn't it?
Yes the hitting will get better...but the ? is will the pitching get worse because it really cant get any better
Jason Jennings and Marlon Bryd = Trash
Word. Come back B-Mac!
Sweepin the doubleheader! Good .
And the Rangers are above .500 for the first time in the Ron Washington era.
I know playofss are probably a stretch but Damn. This team is looking better and better everyday... Trade Salty for another quality starter and they might have a chance for the post season. Go Rangers!!!!
Rangers need 1 more soild starter, Jennings wont cut it and Mendoza is unproven....Will someone wake me up when Blalock gets his 1st RBI of the season
Im going to the game tomorrow but too bad for the Rangers that Roy Holliday is on the mound...Luis Mendoza better bring his A game to keep the Rangers in it bc giving up 4+ runs to the bluejays with Hollliday on the mound = loss
Last edited by sribb43; 04-11-2008 at 08:24 AM.
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