Thursday
Mar262009
Rangers Gameday: 3/26 Vs. MIL
Joey MatschulatThursday, March 26th Game Preview
Texas Rangers (15-10-1) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (13-9-3)
Doug Mathis (1-1, 5.63 ERA) vs. Braden Looper (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
8:05 p.m. CST in Phoenix, Arizona (Maryvale Baseball Park)
TV: - - - | Radio: KRLD 105.3 FM, XM 179
| Rangers |
Brewers |
||
| Position | Player | Position | Player |
| 2B |
Omar Vizquel |
2B |
Rickie Weeks |
| LF |
Frank Catalanotto |
LF |
Chris Duffy |
| RF |
David Murphy |
RF |
Corey Hart |
| 3B |
Hank Blalock |
1B |
Prince Fielder |
| CF |
Marlon Byrd |
SS |
J.J. Hardy |
| 1B |
Chris Davis |
CF |
Mike Cameron |
| C |
Taylor Teagarden |
3B |
Bill Hall |
| SS |
Elvis Andrus |
C |
Jason Kendall |
| P |
Doug Mathis |
P |
Braden Looper |
Notes: Right-hander Doug Mathis is expected to throw four innings or 65 pitches this afternoon ... Left-hander Matt Harrison was scheduled to pitch six innings in a minor league game today ... Left-hander Jimmy Gobble and right-handers Frank Francisco and Warner Madrigal are slated to pitch this afternoon, with minor league hurlers Jared Hyatt, Pedro Strop and Corey Young also available if needed ... Outfielder Andruw Jones fielded grounders at first base for a second consecutive day earlier today.
Reader Comments (19)
And Texas has taken an early 5-0 lead off an apparently rusty Braden Looper...I'd be interested to hear the thought process behind Andruw Jones taking grounders at first base for a second straight day, a position which he made a five-game cameo at last year at Triple-A Las Vegas but has otherwise never played in his professional career...
Taking grounders at first may not support any optimism of Jones bringing his OF defense back up to its previous level.
Good grief, even Doug Mathis is getting into the act with a base hit...
did he not see the 'take' sign?
Either that, or he thought "Oh well, it's not like I"ll get another chance to swing the bat until next spring."
Andruw Jones is like the next coming of Jason Botts, although we'll probably have to eat 6 million of payroll to add this version of Botts...
I think it shows how committed Andruw is to making this thing stick. It's worth a shot; in essence we're training Andruw to replace Catalanotto. A right-handed, high-reward bat off the bench is always something to seriously consider. The best we could hope for out of Cat doesn't compare to the upside of Andruw for a year.
I really do not see the point of keeping Jones around. I would much rather take a chance on Boggs over Jones and Cat.
In defense of Andruw, I'm not sure how I see that this situation is analogous to what transpired with Botts in 2007...
Meanwhile, meltdowns from Mathis and Madrigal have the Rangers down 10-9 in the top of the ninth inning...I'm not sure how much damage this inflicts on Madrigal's major league roster candidacy, but one gets the sense that nobody really wants to step up and claim those remaining bullpen spots...
And the electric trio of Adam Fox, Joey Butler and Adam Melhuse somehow busts up what would have been a win for Seth McClung (whom I've never really liked, by the way)...
Joaquin Arias grounds into an inning-ending double play to kill what could have been a game-winning rally...I would surmise that we'll see Jimmy Gobble make an appearance now, unless Texas decides to roll with FX^2 for a third inning...
Make that Pedro Strop, actually, whom Trip Somers took some awesome slow-mo video of:
http://www.texasleaguers.com/home/2009/3/25/texas-rangers-prospects-richard-alvarez-and-pedro-strop.html
And Texas loses on a walkoff wild pitch, it seems...blech...
Glad it is just ST. :(
What happened to the the normal starters today? Shouldn't it be Harrison's turn to pitch?
Harrison pitched in the minor league game, I think.
By the way, I just noticed that 105.3 The Fan broadcasts through Yahoo! Launchcast. I know sometimes a lot of us have had trouble with it through their site so this might be a good alternative.
That's interesting, but does Yahoo black out the Rangers broadcasts as well?
I've never been able to get a Rangers game on KRLD or 105.3 on Yahoo. I might have to shell out a few bucks a month to get the MLB broadcasts since I live 200 miles south of DFW and can't get a good signal most of the time.
I would pay more for MLB's video, but their arcane blackout rules prevent me from seeing Rangers games online even though I live in the heart of Astros country, and would only get a couple of Rangers games a week if I had cable here anyway. I have thought about dish or satellite packages, but I generally don't have enough time to watch TV to make that worth the money.
I have a buddy who moved to Houston around Jan. 1 who's dealing with a similar problem. He lives on the wrong side of his apartment building to have a satellite and can't subscribe to MLB.tv, so he's basically SOL...the blackout restrictions the league continues to impose against its loyal fans are absolutely ridiculous...