- On the worst team in baseball, is there a more useless player than Vicente Padilla? This guy makes me sick. 5 run lead going into the 5th inning and promptly gives up 6 straight hits and 4 runs without recording an out. Sick of seeing this guy. Rangers do win though, 6-5
After sitting on the bench for three hours, Catalanotto lined a one-out fastball into the right-field corner to score Kenny Lofton from second and give the Rangers a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Catalanotto's liner sent what remained of a crowd worn down by a big blown lead and a nearly-wasted ninth-inning rally into histrionics. His teammates piled out of the dugout to mob Catalanotto with even more fervor than Sosa received Wednesday.
For the Rangers, though, uncomfortable was a feeling they were all too familiar with throughout the game.
Mostly the feeling came from watching Vicente Padilla blow a five-run lead, continuing to raise the question of whether he is healthy. Rangers officials said Padilla assured them more than a week ago that he was fine.
Padilla, who had one start skipped earlier this month because of some forearm tenderness, said the same thing after allowing 14 base runners in four-plus innings Thursday.
"I felt bad, but only because if I can't win with a five-run lead, then I don't deserve to win," he said through a translator. "I'm doing my regular thing, and I feel fine."
Those comments, however, were distinctly different from ones attributed to him on the Web site mlb.com. In a report published Wednesday, Padilla was quoted as saying that a "dolorcito" (Spanish for "little pain") has been bothering him all year.
"It affects my control sometimes," the report quoted Padilla. "It's just a little pain, but it is enough that I notice it. I'm pitching high in the strike zone and am getting hit hard. My control is not where it was last year."
Scouts at Thursday's game wondered why Padilla was timid about throwing his hard slider and why he couldn't get his fastball to sink. Padilla used a very slow breaking ball and a change-up for secondary pitches Thursday.
When asked after Thursday's game about the comments attributed to him, however, he denied saying them.
Whatever his physical state, something is clearly not right with Padilla's pitching. In seven starts over the last five weeks, he's allowed opponents a .405 batting average and has failed to get through six innings. He somehow managed to shut out Chicago for four innings Thursday, then allowed the first six hitters in the fifth inning to reach base.
- Now this is a real pitcher
- He fought with Buck. He fought with Washington. He bitches about trading away his butt buddy (Dellucci). The guy is cancer, is a prick, and thinks it's his God-given right to play baseball. But he hates Dan McDowell, so maybe he's not that bad. Still, he better be gone and there better be 3 players in return, with a major league-ready arm included. From Jayson Stark (ESPN.com):
• Other clubs are interpreting the contract extension for Rangers general manager Jon Daniels as owner Tom Hicks' way of telling his GM: Go trade Mark Teixeira or anyone you want to trade. But even teams looking for a bat are wary of how the Teixeira auction is shaping up. "The guy isn't even coming off the DL until after the break," said one GM. "So that's going to be a two-week [roller-coaster ride]. They're going to want a ton back. The line will be long. The time to do it will be short. It's going to turn into a demolition derby."
- I don't get the point of this
Lone star state of mind?
Jun 21 - The Cubs have talked with the Rangers and several other teams about deals involving outfielder Jacque Jones, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Jones has another year left on a contract that pays him $4 million this year and $5 million next season, which could make it tougher to deal him to a would-be seller such as Texas.
- Sosa this team's All-Star? Man this year has sucked.
If there's a lone Ranger All-Star, make it Sosa
10:01 PM CDT on Thursday, June 21, 2007
The fall has been so precipitous that the Rangers have become one of those teams.
You know. One of those teams that forces the All-Star Game manager to extend an invitation to a token player who probably is undeserving.
Look around the dugout. Look out to the bullpen.
See any real All-Stars?
As recently as 2004, this team sent five to the game, all very deserving. Starter Kenny Rogers and reliever Francisco Cordero represented the pitchers. Infielders Alfonso Soriano, Michael Young and Hank Blalock left only Mark Teixeira behind in Arlington.
Four Rangers made it in 2005.
The roll call had dwindled to Gary Matthews Jr. and Young last July.
This year?
Young, the MVP of last year's game in Pittsburgh, is hitting a soft .289. He doesn't walk much. He has only four home runs. I don't think the weight of a new contract has burdened him so much as the sense that he has to be the one to carry this team, because with Teixeira on the disabled list, no one else is likely to.
Blalock is out for months, and he has fallen from All-Star status, anyway.
The other three? In exchange for Rogers, Cordero and Soriano, the Rangers can show you Brad Wilkerson and Nelson Cruz.
Technically, you have to go to Oklahoma to find Cruz these days.
I used to defend the Soriano trade to Washington because it freed up the money to sign last year's 15-game winner, Kevin Millwood. I will hold off on that argument until Millwood puts together a string of starts that resemble Sunday's in Cincinnati.
You can still make an All-Star case for Young based on the reputation he has earned. And I've never been one to base All-Star selections solely on the stats of less than a half-season.
However, the deserving shortstop field is overly crowded in the AL. The Yankees' Derek Jeter, Angels' Orlando Cabrera, Tigers' Carlos Guillen and the Orioles' Miguel Tejada all are hitting over. 300, some with considerable power. Leaving off any one of those to extend another invitation to Young would be unfair.
If Young doesn't get the call from Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who does?
It can't be anyone from the starting pitching staff, and we don't need to spend too much time arguing that.
From the bullpen, Eric Gagne has been perfect. But on this team, he has been almost perfectly useless.
Seven-for-seven in save opportunities was an average month for Gagne when he was a Dodger. Seven-for-seven nearing the season's midpoint illustrates the depths of the Rangers' futility.
It's hard to rank 15th in saves in a 14-team league but that's where Gagne stands.
As good as C.J. Wilson and Aki Otsuka have been in the seventh and eighth innings, set-up men rarely get All-Star love. Usually, seven or eight starters and three or four closers comprise the staff.
So where does that lead Leyland?
I think the most logical choice is Sammy Sosa. He wouldn't be the first slugger named to the team for something close to a lifetime achievement award.
Sosa's comeback, capped by his 600th home run Wednesday night, has him on pace to drive in well over 100 runs. That's far better than what the Rangers thought they were getting when they rolled the dice on a low-risk gamble.
Forget the low walk total and the high strikeout numbers. Letting Sosa swing the bat one final time in the All-Star Game wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to the summer showcase, regardless of the circumstantial evidence of cheating that follows him around.
That stuff is always going to be there with Sosa. But given the absence of a failed drug test or sworn testimony against him, he is regarded only with suspicion.
Baseball fans being a fairly forgiving bunch, they are quickly taken in by Sosa's smile.
So send him to San Francisco, where he can play opposite Barry Bonds in the All-Star Game.
But it might be a good idea to leave both out of the Home Run Derby.
- Glad to see Rusty Greer get into the Ranger Hall of Fame, as spare of an honor as it may be, it's still good to see. Probably my favorite Ranger of all time. Played balls to the wall, always could count on for .300 BA, 80-100 RBI's, and spectacular plays in the field. Those were some good days in the mid to late 90's.
ARLINGTON – Rusty Greer's reckless, team-first passion for the game embodies the winning Rangers teams of the 1990s.
Thursday, Greer's accomplishments in a decade with the Rangers were recognized. He will be inducted on Aug. 11 before the Rangers play Tampa Bay. He was the only player elected to the Rangers Hall of Fame for 2007.
"This is really overwhelming for me," said Greer, who will become the seventh player to join the hall and the 10th overall member. "It reinforces in my mind that I did something right for an eight- to 10-year period and that my teammates and the fans felt the same way."
Greer played 1,027 games for the Rangers from 1994 to 2002 and ranks among the franchise's all-time leaders in games played (seventh), batting average (.305, sixth) and RBIs (614, fifth).
While Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez won AL MVP awards during the Rangers' three AL West titles from 1996 to '99, Greer was considered the club's best clutch hitter. And his penchant for going all out for fly balls in left field earned him enormous popularity with Rangers fans.
The style of play, however, also took a toll on his body, and he did not play again after 2002. He was just 33 when he played his last game.
"I just wasn't very smart," Greer said of his style. "It was the only way I knew how to play the game. That was just my style, and I wouldn't change anything even if I could."
Greer is managing in the Texas Collegiate League and said he'd like to get into coaching on the college level.
All-Star news: Minor league infielders Johnny Whittleman and German Duran will be heading to San Francisco to play in the All-Star Futures Game on July 8.
Whittleman, who is hitting .320 at Class A Clinton, will be the Rangers' representative on the U.S. team that will face a group of prospects from around the world. Duran, who is hitting .325 at Double-A Frisco, is originally from Mexico and will play on the World team.
Also, following up on his March invitation, AL All-Star manager Jim Leyland of Detroit officially added Rangers manager Ron Washington to the AL coaching staff for the All-Star Game. Washington spent 11 years coaching in Oakland before joining the Rangers.
- This makes me very happy excited, I hope this A-hole tanks.
• Summary: Unable to hold a 2-0 lead, Roger Clemens failed in his bid for his 350th career win, allowing four earned runs and seven hits as the Yankees lost to the Rockies. Colorado's win gave them a three-game sweep over New York.
- The ugliest basketball player this side of Tayshaun Prince is the new object of Little Nellie's affection? They'd give up on Terry for this guy? They better have something up their sleeve for his replacement (Desmond Mason?), or else there's no way I sign off on this. You give up a starter for a rookie back-up to Dirk? I agree Dirk needs a back up and Noah fits the bill, but he's still a rookie and you would have lost your 3rd leading scorer and one of the few on this team with nuts. If they can re-sign Stack and sign Mason, then I'd say explore it.
Rumors Floating Around the League
-Dallas is inquiring about the possibility of making a move into the top 10, likely in hopes of landing Joakim Noah. Their main trade bait is Jason Terry. Boston and Minnesota are two teams in particular who could have some use for a very efficient 17 ppg scorer.
- World's biggest Shocker
- Picks O' the day:
Yesterday's record - 3-1
YTD - 9-5
As always, in addition to taking all the home underdogs, the picks today are:
White Sox -115 - at home, Buerhle pitching great last 3 starts, Cubs 6-11 vs. LHP
Oakland +140 - OAK 15-8 vs. LHP, Glavine sucks and is 50 yrs old
LA Dodgers -140 - Derek Lowe on mound, TB sucks
