Your Texas Rangers!: Official 2009 Thread

[mmmfast]

"Davis has been hitting seventh for much of the year and Saltalamacchia eighth. The 7-8 spots in the lineup have combined for 165 strikeouts this season in 425 at-bats."

[92bDad]

Strikeouts are frustrating and they will destroy you in the playoffs.

[92bDad]

Rangers drafted Ruben Sierra...yes the son of former Ranger Ruben Sierra...so now I am officially OLD!!!

[mkat]

i think if Justin Smoak was healthy, they'd have sent Davis down for a few weeks.

[Just211]

Rain Rain go the F*ck away...........
oh and we got el dookie (spell), hope theres something in that tank

[Five-ofan]

yes chum we did. Tanner scheppers with the number 44 overall pick has the best arm of anyone in this draft other than strasburg. He also has the best arm in the system now and that includes feliz and holland. His fastball sits 95 and touches 98.(its touched 101 in his last start) He has an injury history and a high price tag which is why he was available at 44 but this pick reminds me alot of the joba chamberlain pick when the yankees drafted him. Flat out hes too good to have lasted that long. Man im pumped about our first two picks. Matt purke also whom we drafted with the 14th pick has tremendous upside. Theres a legit argument we got the 2 best pitchers in this draft other than SS. Purkes a big projectable guy with an advanced breaking ball. Both were clearly top ten prospects in this draft.

And actually Scheppers has a better delivery than strasburg. I dont really care for the 2nd round pick because i think it was purely a need pick but sickels said hes basically davis with a good glove at 3rd so maybe it could work out.

Dont get me wrong, this draft could blow up in our faces because we did go fairly high risk but it also gives us two more guys with legit number 1 potential and there just arent that many of those guys around.

[mavspwnage]

Millwood gave exactly the start we needed. 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball. Our offense is still struggling, so Millwood started on the perfect night. Don't see too many 1-0 Rangers games. Three outs left!

[mavspwnage]

1-0 win, in Arlington too. Wow.

[alby]

1-0 wins are what championship teams do

:X

[92bDad]

They showed a stat last night that the Rangers have only had four games in which they have won with a score of 1-0 at the Ballpark.

Of those games, 3 are against the Blue Jays.

[alby]

boy do we make the Dodgers look terrible without Manny!!

[mavspwnage]

That was a great win!

[mkat]

two shutouts in a row. verrrry nice.

[ocelot_ark]

Teagarden's offense comes through big tonight. But what's up with is throws to second? Pretty horrible.

[mavspwnage]

Cool pic from the game last night, courtesy of the DMN.

[alby]

great picture

[Kirobaito]

Originally Posted by mavspwnage

Cool pic from the game last night, courtesy of the DMN.

The first time I looked at this I completely missed the lightning, and just thought, That's not really that cool of a picture.

[ocelot_ark]

Holland covers 1st like Ian runs out grounders. And Holland is gonna get rocked consistently if he can't throw anything other than fastballs for strikes.

[mkat]

he shouldn't be in the majors right now. it's a mistake. send him to Frisco or OKC.

[92bDad]

Holland is in the right place at the right time...it's about development.

2009, as much as we want a champion is about learning how to win. Holland is not going to learn to dominate at the Majors without facing the Majors.

If we want to gripe...how about the hitting slump this team is on...they struggle against strong pitching teams, and we just faced 4 of the best in the Majors, so now this team is pressing and swinging at bad pitches.

As for Holland, he will be fine and given this year as a developmental season, he will find his groove and come 2010 will begin to emerge as one of the bright young arms of the ML Staff of the Rangers.

[alexamenos]

I'm on board the Holland back to Frisco train. Forgettin' that last mistake is a big part of pitching, and right now he's having to do that way too often for a 20 year old kid that was pitching A ball last year.

They miss a big bat in the middle of their line-up, that's about it.

[GermanDunk]

*OT*

Evan Longoria

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Not to be confused with Eva Longoria.

LOL

[tcat075]

Sending Holland down to the minors is not the answer. He's been going up against some really good offensive teams. I want to see what he can do against mediocre teams (he had a very good start against Houston, just left thta one pitch up to Berkman which ruined his line).

Holland, right now, is not using his breaking pitches. I don't know the percentages (anyone know of a site which would show this...baseball reference doesn't have it), but he's throwing like 70% fastballs and 30% other stuff. For a pitcher who is supposed to have really good breaking stuff, he should throw more changes, throw more curves and throw more sliders. Especially his change, he's basically not thrown it while up in the Majors, despite it being considered a very good pitch.

[tcat075]

The offense is in a major slump, that's obvious. What if we shook up the batting lineup with something like this:

1. SS Andrus
2. 3B Young
3. 2B Kinsler
4. RF Cruz
5. (vs righties) DH Jones (vs lefties) LF Jones
6. (vs righties) CF Byrd (vs lefties) DH Blalock
7. (vs righties) LF Murphy (vs lefties) CF Byrd
8. C Saltalamacchia/Teagarden
9. 1B Davis

Andrus has handled everything we've thrown at him so far. Batting leadoff, I think he would see better pitches and raise his batting average 20 points or so. With Kinsler 3rd, he's in the spot he really should be in. Cruz is protected by Jones (who is more of a threat than Blalock) so he can stop pressing. Murphy can't hit lefties, so he's out. Obviously, Blalock is getting the short end of the stick here, so he plays occasionally at 1st, and plays occasionally at DH against righties instead of Jones. Davis is put 9th, a less stressful place. Maybe he reacts, maybe not.


Or...what would happen if we switched Kinsler and Young, with Young batting leadoff and Kinsler batting 2nd? Keep the rest of the guys the same, basically. But Young gives this team a patient, better approach, and he gets on base.

[tcat075]

Oh, and I think Teagarden needs to play a little more. For every 3 Salty starts, Teagarden needs 2 starts.

[ocelot_ark]

Originally Posted by tcat075

Oh, and I think Teagarden needs to play a little more. For every 3 Salty starts, Teagarden needs 2 starts.

Do NOT agree with this at all. I would be okay with a 3:1 ratio, but no way on 3:2. They're probably closer to 4/5:1 now, but I think TT has earned a little more PT.

I agree that the offense has been a big issue. It's disgusting to watch just how little plate discipline this team has. None of them know how to work a walk. I'll give David Murphy credit because he seems to work the count every at bat. The Rangers need more guys focused on getting on base and less guys worried about getting homers. Kinsler has been PATHETIC. It's as if no one in the franchise has the balls to tell him that we'd rather see him hit 20 hr's and bat .315 than him hit 45 hr's and him bat .240.

[mmmfast]

PLEASE WAKE UP!!!

[mavspwnage]

The Astros are our whipping boys this season. We'll take that Silver Boot, thanks.

[dalmations202]

Congrats Pudge, good job Rangers, and for an off night for Millwood, GREAT JOB.

[mmmfast]

Good to see some life from a few bats tonight.
Leadoff!

[alby]

just like with anything in life, when you need a W... play a team from Houston.

[tcat075]

I like playing the Lastros.

[mmmfast]

Harrison against a team with a losing record...guaranteed win?

[Flacolaco]

Easy there, pal. Easy.

[mmmfast]

HA, not counting on it but given his history it makes me almost as fuzzy as a Millwood start when he faces a loser this year.
Would love to see him compete against a solid slugging lineup sometime but youth is on our side these days.

[Flacolaco]

The frakking Angels just refuse to lose.

[mavspwnage]

Leadoff double for Byrd in the 9th, tied 4-4. Time for a walk-off!

[alby]

WALKOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

[chumdawg]

Great game. Gotta love this team. I love watching them celebrate walkoffs!

[tcat075]

boom. hell yeah. walkoff. suck it haters.