Bullpen Bailout: Rangers Upset Halladay's Blue Jays, 5-4
Closer Frank Francisco (pictured) celebrates the completion of his first career five-out save in Toronto on Tuesday, April 21st.Confronted by a game situation approximately six times more critical than the average game situation with his team clinging precariously to a 5-4 eighth-inning lead in Toronto, Texas Rangers closer Frank Francisco offered a rare glimpse of vulnerability ... and then responded by notching five outs in six plate appearances, affirming the impregnable right-hander's dominance and efficiency.
Right-hander Brandon McCarthy's six adventure-filled frames of three-run baseball comprised his best single-start average fastball velocity (91.25 mph) since early 2007, a steady diet of strikes (62.9 percent), the well-documented change-up/slurve tandem that remains so tantalizing but inconsistent and a ridiculous ground-to-fly ball ratio of 4-to-12 (one of those fly ball outs required a running stab in foul territory by right fielder Nelson Cruz which almost sent him careening into the seats), and from that mixed bag of results was produced a surprisingly close game which found McCarthy and the Rangers' top four relievers squaring off against an unusually homer-prone Roy Halladay.
Called upon after white-hot second baseman Ian Kinsler smashed his first opposite-field home run since August 16th, 2006 (belted against the Angels' Joe Saunders at what was still known at the time as Ameriquest Field in Arlington), Francisco ultimately relieved the mess made by shortstop Elvis Andrus's untimely eighth-inning error and enigmatic left-hander C.J. Wilson -- albeit not before yielding a single to Scott Rolen and a four-pitch free pass to Lyle Overbay himself, prompting a coaching visit that thankfully paid immediate dividends.
Third baseman Michael Young made the game-saving snare on what otherwise would have been a game-winning bases-loaded RBI double courtesy of Rod Barajas, and Francisco quickly retired rookie phenom Travis Snider with an inside change-up that induced a harmless inning-ending fly out, paving the way for the first five-out save of his major league career and illustrating that manager Ron Washington actually intends to follow through -- quite smartly, I might add -- on what he had reportedly been contemplating with respect to possibly deploying his best reliever in the highest-leverage situations.
We need to see more of that sort of enlightened breaking of the bullpen paradigm from Washington in the days and (possibly) weeks to come, because his bullpen management on Tuesday evening was nothing short of superb, and it helped Texas steal a game that few considered winnable at the day's outset.
Quick Hits: Right-hander Kris Benson (right elbow tendinitis) attributes his injury to an inadequate pitching mound in Peoria, Arizona, upon which he first experienced elbow soreness during a minor league game against the Padres on March 25th; nevertheless, Benson proclaims that he will be ready to go for his rescheduled Saturday evening start in Baltimore, and he is scheduled for a bullpen session later today ... Right-hander Vicente Padilla is not altering his routine in the wake of the recent disappearance of his mid-90s velocity ... Kerwin Danley, the home plate umpire for Tuesday evening's Rangers-Blue Jays tilt, has been diagnosed with a mild concussion after being hit in the face by a shattered Hank Blalock bat ... Outfielder Josh Hamilton snapped his 0-for-15 skid with an eighth-inning single on Tuesday.
15 Comments | in Game Recaps, The Season
Reader Comments (15)
While watching those tense last couple of innings, I kept thinking to myself that if Frank blows the save, the same fans who screamed for Wash's head last week because he saved Frank for just the 9th inning, will blame Washington for not bringing Eyre in. So kudos to Joey for giving Washington credit for his good moves, and proving to all the haters out there that Wash is not the lousy manager that most people around here want to paint him as.
JM, what's your opinion on pulling a battling McCarthy at 97 pitches? Is the philosophy to go one more inning, or not? Are they de-emphasizing pitch counts, or not?
Further, why pull Jennings when he did? In favor of a matchup, which is exactly what the paradigm is. I submit he had to use Francisco for 5 outs because he had mismanaged the pitching alignment in the 1st place.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not rooting against him and I'm happy they won. But in my view losses don't make him a bad manager and wins don't make him a good manager. It's his field generalship and his record. The latter is reflective of the former.
In my view, Ron Washington will never get a break from fans who never liked him & think they know how to manage better than he does, and so he is doomed. The team will eventually go on a bender and Washington will eventually be offered up on the altar as scapegoat for a disappointing 2009 season.
Yessir, bring in Francisco in the 8th inning if you have to. Wash saw that he had to and made the right decision. You used the phrase "break the paradigm" -- I like it. This is winning baseball, it always takes some guts and risk.
JDolla$, not sure but it looks like you're responding indirectly to my post. If so, let me say I like Washington fine. I was a big fan of his hire. Thought he was the perfect recipe for the clubhouse after the Showalter tenure. Further I like that he doesn't just go by the book, he sometimes manages by feel based on his experience in the game. I respect that experience and value it, it's another of the reasons I thought he might be the guy here.
But reality is, knowledge and experience don't necessarily define leadership. And that as badly as we may want something for someone, it's not always going to be a fit. Having watched the guy for 2+ years now, I'm convinced he's in over his head. That upper management had to build an almost entirely new decision making support structure (bench coach, pitching coach, 3rd base coach) around him, and that he apparently had no input into those replacements, tells me they may have considered it as well.
It's nothing to do with emotions such as liking, hating, etc. It's the record and the overall performance picture created during his tenure so far.
If you weren't referring to my post, my apologies for singling yours out.
Sometimes a manger has to go out and win a game intead of counting on the other team losing it. A win last night was much more important than saving Frankie for a possible save tomorrow. An opportunity that may never come to be. Good job by Wash.
I still think alot of the late-inning antics could have been avoided had they simply stuck with Jennings for another out or two before going with Francisco, thereby bypassing the jam CJ got them into. Or, having gone to Wilson, letting him pitch to one more batter to give Franky time to properly warmup before coming in. Still, Wash does seem to be learning from his mistakes so he might get the bullpen figured out before too much longer. I also would have liked to see McCarthy at least go out there for the 7th, but my guess is, that given his injury history, they're being a little more conservative with his pitch count.
And I don't think anyone would ever want to bring in Eyre to relieve Franky. I cringed when they showed him warming up in the bullpen. If it came to that, I would have rather seen Feldman, who seems to have become the forgotten arm in the bullpen. Maybe they're just saving him to replace the first guy to go down in the starting rotation...?
Management is definitely slowly putting together the team they think will take them into the post season. It appears they don't think Feldman will be a part of that team
As much as I enjoyed Michael's walkoff Sunday, and the big win over Halladay last night ultimately Washington's job will be tied to wins & losses. It makes no difference chemistry or how much the guys love playing for him, when "that staff's" ERA begins to climb he'll be gone. Although I believed Wash was in over his head from day one, it's a shame his head's going to roll because of that staff. Top to bottom they have to have one of the worst collection of pitchers in the bigs. Not to mention watching the Mitch Williams starter kit in CJ on a nightly basis is tough to hanlde. With any other staff, scoring runs like we do, we'd have a shot @ the division. My fear is, not unlike any other year, that come the end of July this team will be done, and we'll begin whispering how great next yr will be with the new look version of "DVD!!!"
Brandon:
I agree. The talent level now is very low, and is going to be the culprit for the team's and Ron Washington's demise this season, if those two seeming inevitabilities come to pass. JD will have his hands full this summer & in the offseason with rebuilding the bullpen & rotation for next year. With 12 spots, I would argue that only the following guys who are up here now are seen as long-term candidates to fill those spots: Franky, McCarthy, Harrison, and Holland. Jennings might be a possibility, although his value on the market will probably preclude him resigning here if he keeps this quality pitching up. I didn't include CJ, either, as I agree that if he persists in his current trajectory of wildness and lack of command, he's a goner for sure. So that leaves 8 spots to fill via trades & free agency. Quite a task...
Hello Darren O'Day. Goodbye... Eddie? Eyre? Feldman?
good to see the rangers win a close game i was starting to wonder when it would happen! they need some pen help badly wilson needs to go to AAA for a while but the thing is who are they gonna call up? madrigal, rupe, turnbow can even get a clean ip nippert maybe once he gets healthy...
No - they just got Darren O'Day. Check him out - he was decent last year, and is only 26. He was a closer in AAA and is only in his 2nd year. I think he was a casualty of that amazing bullpen LAA had last year - otherwise they would have definitely hung onto him.
I'm pretty stoked about it - he's gotta be better than some of the other spares we're tossing out there. And if he's any good, they can put Jennings in the rotation where he belongs.
A.S.: That's the philosophy to be certain, but I suspect management is more inclined to take it slow with McCarthy this early in the season in light of that perceived lack of durability and his injury history (both of which will hopefully become more favorable as the season progresses, assuming no health-related setbacks).
Mike Maddux emphasized this spring that he doesn't take a "one size fits all" approach with his pitching staff, and in that vein, there's a difference in comfort levels between Millwood throwing 110 pitches and McCarthy throwing 110 pitches. One also gets the sense (and I know I've heard/read this talked about before, although exactly where escapes me at the moment) that the Rangers don't want their starters going out for another inning of work if there isn't a reasonable chance that they can finish it themselves without requiring a bailout from the bullpen, and at 97 pitches through six innings he probably wasn't going to make it without going north of 110 pitches.
There's also this phenomenon where managers will sit idly and do nothing if their starting pitcher has already surpassed his comfortable pitch count, but, say, has two outs in an inning with nobody on base. If McCarthy records the first two outs of that seventh inning without incident but pushes his pitch count to, say, 107-108 pitches, and then has to battle through a 10- or 11-pitch AB...well, you can see where I'm going with this. Doesn't mean that I agree with that philosophy, but we've seen smarter managers than Washington adhere to just that, and the risk is obviously amplified with a pitcher like McCarthy.
Makes sense JM, Thanks.