Rangers Gameday: 6/29 Vs. LAA
Monday, June 29th Game Preview
Los Angeles Angels (41-32) vs. Texas Rangers (40-34)
Sean O'Sullivan (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Vicente Padilla (6-3, 4.48 ERA)
7:05 p.m. CST in Arlington, Texas (Rangers Ballpark in Arlington)
TV: FSNSW-HD | Radio: KRLD 105.3 FM, XM 178
| Angels |
Rangers |
||
| Position | Player | Position | Player |
| 3B |
Chone Figgins |
2B |
Ian Kinsler |
| RF |
Bobby Abreu |
3B |
Michael Young |
| CF |
Torii Hunter |
LF |
David Murphy |
| DH |
Vladimir Guerrero |
CF |
Marlon Byrd |
| LF |
Juan Rivera |
RF |
Nelson Cruz |
| 1B |
Kendry Morales |
DH |
Julio Borbon |
| 2B |
Maicer Izturis |
C |
Taylor Teagarden |
| C |
Mike Napoli |
1B |
Chris Davis |
| SS |
Erick Aybar |
SS |
Elvis Andrus |
Pre-Game Notes: The Rangers have signed 2009 second-round pick Tommy Mendonca (reportedly doling out a signing bonus of $590,000 to complete the deal) and assigned the 21-year-old Fresno State third baseman to short-season Spokane, where he will begin his major league career on Tuesday.
Minor League Games: Oklahoma City vs. Nashville (Josh Rupe), Corpus Christi vs. Frisco (Tanner Roark), Visalia vs. Bakersfield (Kennil Gomez), Tri-City vs. Spokane (Kyle O'Campo), AZL Rangers vs. AZL Indians (Ezequiel Rijo)
26 Comments | in Gameday, The Season
Reader Comments (26)
Sensational strike 'em out/throw 'em out double play to end the top of the first inning and get Padilla back into the dugout with just six pitches to his ledger...
I really hope calling up Borbon wasn't a premature reaction. I'm not sure he's ready for the majors yet.
Nice example of one-out hitting by Young, who recovered from an early 0-2 count by letting a pair of borderline pitches go by and then mashing a hard single into left-center field on a high fastball...
And after a Byrd double into the left field corner and a Nelson Cruz intentional walk, Borbon will have a tremendous opportunity in his first major league AB...
Mike: Hope so as well...the Rangers apparently haven't made the determination as to whether he'll remain part of the roster beyond Hamilton's return date, so whether he does stick around will be largely predicated on his performance and how well he makes adjustments in these critical early days as a major leaguer...disappointing outcome in his first major league AB, with Borbon just missing what might have been a three-run double down the right field line, but he certainly doesn't appear intimidated...
NO WAYSmoak makes either of those plays look as easy as CD does all the time
It just seems to me that another young player who will have his struggles from time to time may not be the solution for the lineup, but I guess if he's only around until Hamilton comes back, that might be ok.
Speaking of Hamilton, he worked a five-pitch walk in his first plate appearance at Frisco tonight...
I really don't get all the people saying we need to get rid of Rudy. He's probably the most highly regarded hitting coach around and I can't think of a team in the majors that wouldn't be clamoring to get him if we were stupid enough to let him go. What's more, who would you replace him with? Anyone coming after him would be unable to fill his shoes and I gotta think it would be hard to convince any the of the hitters to change their approach from what Rudy would tell them...
Nice homer by Murphy to straightaway center field to vault Texas into the early 1-0 lead on a night where Padilla is thus far pitching quite efficiently...
Regarding Rudy, I think it's only natural (and to some extent understandable) that people demand accountability from the hitting coach when the hitting has faltered over a prolonged stretch, and as some have voiced, he may not be the best hitting coach in the majors at conveying his message, but he's among the very best in the game at extracting maximum offensive value from his pupils (with a plethora of hitters who have worked with Rudy extolling his coaching ability), and you really have to wonder what sort of clubhouse agitation would arise from cutting bait with a trusted, quality long-time coach being let go...
Also, Byrd absolutely smoked that ball. Welcome little exhibition of power hitting in that frame.
I think Murphy and Byrd have a chance to flourish in the 3 and 4 spots. They seem like they might have the right kind of mentality for it.
On the other hand, I see no sense in batting Borbon sixth. I'm astonished Cruz got even a single pitch to hit with Borbon batting behind him.
That is a strange lineup configuration, and I'm not going to try and make any real sense of it, but I don't surmise we'll see Washington try it again...
Nice to see Kinsler swing for a base hit instead of the fences for a change.
Well, this inning isn't going particularly well.
What happened to the plan of not bringing Jennings in during the middle of an inning or with men on base?
The Rangers will know they've hit bottom if they can't score any runs off Darren Oliver...
No love for Darren Oliver? He's been a great reliever for LA for years. He's like a LOOGY + because he can actually get righties out too.
Well they're pinch hitting 0-3 Borbon with Blalock, somehow I'm still optimistic.
You know, the Rangers are presumably fairly enamored with Nippert and his stuff to some extent, but I'm really not sure if I swap out Grilli for Nippert when the latter is ready to return...I have serious reservations that Nippert will ever overcome his career-long control problems and be a viable major league pitcher that you can depend on, and Grilli has been pretty serviceable thus far...
And Blalock squanders a two-on, two-out situation with a feeble grounder to shortstop...I'm about ready for him to go away...
ugh. Please, someone tell me July will be better.
July will be better, Hamilton will be back and this funk everyone is in won't go on forever. And we'll probably have some new personnel after a trade the Rangers are sure to make with the overabundance of talent they currently have which won't all fit on the 40-man roster.
Saunders/Weaver looming over the next two days. What a sickening descent.
I hope they put Blalock and Jones on waivers. Either someone takes them off our hands for us or they get sent a message about their actual value.