Rangers Gameday: 3/18 Vs. SD
Joey MatschulatWednesday, March 18th Game Preview
Texas Rangers (10-9-0) vs. San Diego Padres (4-10-3)
Brandon McCarthy (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Cesar Ramos (2-1, 9.53 ERA)
3:05 p.m. CST in Peoria, Arizona (Peoria Sports Complex)
TV: - - - | Radio: MLB.com Webcast, XM 179
| Rangers |
Padres |
||
| Position | Player | Position | Player |
| 2B |
Ian Kinsler |
3B |
Chris Burke |
| DH |
Frank Catalanotto |
2B |
David Eckstein |
| CF |
Josh Hamilton |
DH |
Cliff Floyd |
| RF |
Nelson Cruz |
LF |
Emil Brown |
| LF |
David Murphy |
RF |
Chris Snelling |
| 1B |
Chris Davis |
1B |
Kyle Blanks |
| 3B |
Travis Metcalf |
CF |
Will Venable |
| C |
Taylor Teagarden |
C |
Nick Hundley |
| SS |
Elvis Andrus |
SS |
Everth Cabrera |
Notes: Designated hitter Hank Blalock (tight left quadriceps muscle) has been withheld from today's lineup as a precautionary measure ... Left-hander C.J. Wilson (blister, left middle finger) plans to throw live batting practice on Thursday, and hopes to be ready to pitch again in a live game as early as Saturday ... Right-hander Brandon McCarthy is scheduled to throw four innings (65 pitches) this afternoon ... Right-handers John Bannister, Brendan Donnelly, Willie Eyre and Neftali Feliz are all slated to pitch this afternoon ... Retired Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer arrived in camp this morning and was in uniform as a guest instructor.
Reader Comments (14)
And that didn't take very long...Catalanotto hit an RBI single, and Cruz went deep to the tune of three runs to make it 4-0 Texas in the top of the first inning...
Who's starting for the Pads?
Sorry about that...just now threw up the main info. When I heard Busby carrying on about Ramos being shelled by the Rangers, my first thought was "So, that's where Mario landed."
McCarthy works a scoreless first inning, thanks in part to Teagarden cutting down Chris Burke at second on a futile steal attempt...
I kinda feel sorry for the spare minor leaguer who has to face that lineup.
Speaking of spares, get a load of that Padre lineup. Yowzers.
i feel bad for the average major leaguer who is going to have to face that lineup... (hopefully)
Random bottom of the seventh inning things:
- Caught a reference to "productive outs" from Rush Olson on the broadcast earlier. Sigh.
- Per Evan Grant, Guardado's dealing with some soreness in his left shoulder and is being examined. Between the line of thought that C.J. may not reach his minimum innings threshold for the spring, Guardado's setback, Torres's recurring lower back soreness necessitating another examination and Gabbard being...Gabbard, what I wrote the other morning about the Rangers' left-handed relief depth is beginning to look particularly apt.
- McCarthy was solid, but then this is a terrible Padres lineup. Feliz is in now.
Fairly quick and efficient eighth inning for Feliz, who gave up the lead-off walk but then came back with the strikeout and 4-6-3 DP...
And there goes Smoak again with another loud opposite-field out...
On to the bottom of the ninth inning in a 9-2 game...
And Feliz gives up a lead-off double to Hundley...
It sounds as though Feliz is frequently employing the slurve in this outing...unfortunately, a wild pitch (or passed ball, I wasn't paying attention) moved the runner on second to third..
Per K-Law, Feliz is working 91-95 mph...
And Drew Macias slashes the Rangers' lead to 9-4 with a two-run shot on a low 2-0 fastball...
Feliz fans Chad Huffman with a 3-2 breaking ball, and the Padres are down to their final out...
And the Rangers escape Peoria with the 9-4 victory to move to 11-9-0 on the spring...
Off topic, but Max Ramirez baby!