| Top 8th | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
| Rangers | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 4 |
| Mariners | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 2 |
8:16: Pool remains open until 9:10 p.m. The Rangers lineup vs. RHP Brandon Morrow: 2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, CF Josh Hamilton, DH Andruw Jones, 1B Hank Blalock (3-for-4, HR vs. Morrow), LF Marlon Byrd, RF Nelson Cruz, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Omar Vizquel and pitching for the Rangers. … RHP Scott Feldman.
8:19: David Murphy is not in the lineup tonight because of what appears to be a slight strain on his right index finger. He bent the finger back while trying to make a sliding catch on Ichiro Suzuki in the eighth inning last night. Manager Ron Washington opted to sit him down even before batting practice began. Washington had planned on sitting Nelson Cruz, the All-Star, for a fourth consecutive day because he is going with the hot hands right now and Murphy has been the hottest among the outfielders. … There is nothing wrong with SS Elvis Andrus. Washington just wanted to get INF Omar Vizquel a start in this series and tonight seemed to be the best fit.
8:31: As I go off to eat dinner, I leave you with this and I’m not sure if it’s a Gay/Not Gay Question or Old/Very Old Question: I was on the way to Safeco Park today and tuned the XM radio in my rental car (Thanks Wick!) to the 80’s station (because Margaritaville Radio was playing something I wasn’t interested in). Anyway, this came on.
And I got happy. What’s the verdict?
9:31: If you are watching at home, did you think Nelson Cruz should have been able to cut that ball off?
9:36: Hank Blalock’s last three at-bats against Brandon Morrow: A walkoff double on May 13, a homer to lead off the ninth inning on May 14 (preceding Chris Davis’ walkoff homer) and a homer to start the second inning tonight. Blalock is 9-for-16 (.563) on the road trip.
9:45: Congrats to Longhorn Matt who won the homer pool tonight with his pick of Hank Blalock to hit a bases-empty homer in the second. Free Stuff coming your way, Matt.
9:48: Scott Feldman has pitched no less than five and no more than seven innings in his last 16 starts, dating back to last year. This amazing run of consistency is the highest number of these kinds of starts by an AL pitcher in more than 50 years. In all of baseball, only Tim Redding, who went 18 such starts in a row for Washington last year, has had a longer streak. Feldman needed 23 pitches in the first inning, but threw 13 in the second. For him to see the 8th for the first time in his career as a starter, he’s going to have to keep it at about 13 pitches per inning the rest of the way.
9:57: Michael Young’s three run homer was the Rangers first at-bat with runners in scoring position this series. Last night, the Rangers did not have an official at-bat with RISP (there was a walk and a caught stealing on the two occasions the Rangers had a runner advance past first). It was the first time since 1973, the Rangers have not had an at-bat with RISP in a game. In five ABs with RISP this month, Young has three hits and has produced eight RBIs.
11:01: Scott Feldman going to the mound for the seventh with 88 pitches, which means he’s thrown 65 in the last five (a 13-pitch-per-inning pace). I believe you may recall I said something about that 13 pitch-per-inning-pace earlier tonight - if Feldman wants to complete the seventh for the first time in his last 17 starts. He’s got the bottom third of the order. And if he does that quickly, I wonder if Ron Washington will let him start the eighth. He did throw 116 pitches on June 30. He could go another 20-25 past where he’s at right now.
11:13: Though I didn’t report it earlioer like I should have, Derek Holland’s appearance in the bottom of the seventh does nothing to kill his chances to start on Sunday. They were dead before the game ever began. Manager Ron Washington said Dustin Nippert will start that game.
Comments on this entry are closed.