Overreactions To A Losing Series
Frank Francisco reacts after yielding a home run to Vernon Wells on Thursday, April 8th.Because disregarding an entire off-season full of insightful observations and vesting all faith in a three-game sample is the new inefficiency in baseball analysis:
● There's really no way to sugarcoat a collective .168/.248/.316 offensive showing, nor is there really any way to prevent the ensuing hand-wringing -- early-season problems of any sort are magnified even if the act of doing so doesn't fit within the parameters of good sense, largely because, well, hey, the off-season and spring training are over, and what else is there to talk about? That being said, so long as one recognizes the fallacy of descending into full-fledged panic over what amounts to a three-game slump, I don't think there's any harm in pointing out two items of mild interest/concern ... one of which should bother you more greatly than the other.
Through three games, the Rangers are the second-worst team in baseball in terms of hitting runs above average against change-ups, at a whopping minus-2.7 runs -- perhaps not even worth mentioning, but reflective of our perception that Texas is getting killed by this particular pitch so far. More troubling, however, is Josh Hamilton's appearance at the plate. I don't know if it's that he appears to be so late on so many pitches (a function of diminished bat speed?), or if it's that his followthrough looks -- for the lack of a better descriptor -- lackadaisical, or if it's simply that he's not getting good wood on anything right now, but he's clearly not right, and if this is what the Rangers have to look forward to from their putative No. 3 hitter, then that's an enormous problem going forward.
● From the "How Not To Ingratiate Yourself With Your Boss" department comes Jarrod Saltalamacchia's latest DL-necessitating setback, a bout of upper-back stiffness akin to that which sidelined him during spring training, something which has manager Ron Washington miffed due to Saltalamacchia's non-disclosure of the injury to the ballclub: "He needs to mature. He has put us in a bad situation. What if he had walked last night and we tied the game? Was he going to tell me then that he couldn't catch? I don't care how badly he wants to play, you can't just think about yourself. [...] I'm not disappointed in him for being hurt; that happens. I'm disappointed in how he has handled it."
When recently deposed sinkerballer Luis Mendoza pulled a similiar stunt in April 2008 (that is, only notifying the Rangers of his shoulder pain after an abortive start in Detroit), he was evidently reprimanded, placed on the 15-day disabled list and only reclaimed a spot on the active roster -- and, later, in the starting rotation -- after injuries necessitated his promotion. If you believe that the Rangers will uphold that precedent in this situation, Saltalamacchia might well find himself on the opposite end of a 60-40 or 70-30 playing time split with Taylor Teagarden if/when he recaptures his health, a proposition about as sketchy as his subpar offensive projections.
● Yes, Frank Francisco was an unmitigated disaster on Thursday afternoon, with errant command and below-average fastball velocity (90-93 mph) conspiring to ruin what should have been a rubber-game win, and the sheer atrocity of his performance likely merits a little attention being trained on him as far as it being a possible indicator of injury, but hasn't he at least earned enough leash to obviate talk of him being supplanted by Neftali Feliz after one poor outing (which, I might add, was preceded by a very good Opening Day appearance)? The timing and circumstances of his meltdown sucked, but this isn't the appropriate time to throw him under the bus.
15 Comments | in Analysis, Game Recaps, The Season
Reader Comments (15)
Bah. I don't even want to think about this right now.
This lineup misses Kinsler in a big way. The bottom of the order is ghastly right now.
Gonna step away from the ledge on this one. But the signs aren't good. Thanks for doing the chat yesterday, Joey - that was fun, even though the game was not.
@ Rich - How do you figure this lineup misses Kins? Isn't he hit-or-miss at the plate (well, I guess everyone is hit-or-miss... but you get my point)?
I like what someone said on yesterday's post; there are 2 guys that would LOVE a chance at playing everyday (Murphy) and doing so in the bigs (Smoak); Give Josh, Davis, etc... some real competition and let them battle for playing time.
And not to beat a dead horse but this lineup could withstand Davis' "growing pains" if he was surrounded by proven hitters... but he's not and as a result, he's really suffering . Why would anyone give the kid anything over the plate when you know he's going to swing at everything out of the zone... same goes for
Hammy, Salty, TT, and to a lesser degree Kins, Cruz, and Vlad.
Too many big swingers... not enough PROFESSIONAL hitters.
** Maybe our expectations are unreasonable given that Borbon is pretty much a rookie, Andrus is a pup... Davis, Salty, TT, etc... are still inexperienced. Maybe this team is just ridiculouly young and JD should have made offense the focus of the off season, instead of pitching.
the numbers certainly do not lie but it is only 3 games. We were in great position to win the series and look at the rest of the division. Are they "panicing" in Anaheim where Rodney got LIT uplast night late dropping them to 1-2. Seattle is 1-2 with as many if not more batting troubles than we have shown. Kinsler is a BIG missing bat and hitting is contagious. Let's see where we stand after the Seattle series. Not gonna lie though, the upcoming roadtrip to CLE, NY & Boston scares the heck out of me.
That comment implies that the top of the order is playing any better... The top of the order sucks every bit as much or more as the bottom. The only part of the lineup that is even worth mentioning positively in these first three games is the middle third and frankly only 2/3 of the middle has hit particularly well. Putrid performance all the way around. The game story from this one should be about CJ's solid outing not that the Rangers can't hit the damn ball. I haven't seen it written anywhere yet, but really we are perilously close to being 0-3 and Ronny's job starting to come into question. I'm not sure what the % chance of winning was in the various late inning situations on Opening Day, but we were pretty lucky to pull that one out. Come on boys, this isn't the start I was envisioning...pick it up.
Ranger fans are clearly restless. The hype/expectations surrounding this team are really elevated.
In game 1, Wash should have been called out for not PR for Vlad in the ninth when Vlad was on first not third. If Murph doesn't score or if Vlad gets cut down going first to third- all hell breaks loose in the press. Where was Wash anyway?
I doubt that Hammy's issues are anything but mental but with his injury track record who knows. Julio is being asked to do a lot (USE HIS SPEED) and to this point has not performed. Young will get it going. I'm disapointed but in May we will have forgotten this first series. Now if the Rangers go 1 and 2 vs. the Mariners then the boo birds will really be out in Arlington. Sometimes it seems a road trip is what a team needs to gel.
You don't pinch run for your clean up man only on first in a tied ballgame, much less if you're down...wash pinch ran when he was a legit scoring threat...you don't try to score on a double there and the outfield throws to second there on a single....wash wasn't wrong there
"It's Time!"
Their words; not mine.
Maybe they were thinking the Julian calendar which runs 13 days behind the internationally accepted Gregorian calendar? Ya know this could explain their historically slow April starts..................
Just thinking otta the box. Kinda like the Ranger batters.
(FYI:The Julian Calendar a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B, but remained in use into the 20th century. The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582.)
"The bottom of the order is ghastly right now."
It's just three games... but the top of the order is what has been so disappointing. Borbon, Young and Hamilton are a combined 1-for-30. Odd since Hamilton and Young especially were so hot all Spring long.
Or maybe that's not odd... think about it. In Spring Training many pitchers are focusing on their fastball and fastball control and just building up arm strength. Great for an aggressive lineup. The first three pitchers thrown at them are changeup specialists... well specialists may be a stretch, but their best scondary pitch is a changeup. Apparently a changeup is death to an overaggressive lineup.
I doubt that Hammy's issues are anything but mental but with his injury track record who knows.
The problem is that I think I would almost feel better if I knew his struggles were ascribable to something tangible, like nagging wrist soreness or something ... at least then you could nail down the problem and directly address it. If it's mental, and it was largely mental throughout 2009, how do you get through to him then? If he's lost his edge/confidence at the plate (and make no mistake, that's the impression he's giving us right now), how do you round him back into pre-'09 form?
just by looking at the standings on the AL West Texas is on the same side of Angels and Seattle. I hope that destiny is getting us warm for a long long season, but not because of a losing year but because of the playoffs! I am really negative about my favorite team, the Rangers, but even I know this won't stay like this the whole season.!!!
To answer my own question, according to KRLD pre-game show host Bryan Dolgin, Josh Hamilton believes he found a mechanical flaw in his swing. So, keep an eye out for that, I guess.
Two of the games were very well pitched. Even Hardin's start could have looked a lot different without MY's error. Lewis goes out today and looks like an Ace. No, I am not worried yet.
Wow Frankie blows another save and another very good ranger starting pitcher performance(didn't see the game just game cast), very disappointing.