Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill
Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where we drink a toast to Jeff Idelson, the new President of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
* Gary Matthews Jr. on getting booed at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington: "Yeah, that seemed a little odd. I played well here, and I played hard for these people. I don't know what to make of it. But it was ... really odd."
* Cal Ripken Jr.: "It's unfortunate, but the stopwatch and radar gun seem to overly excite scouts. In terms of raw ability, speed and a strong arm tend to grab a scout's attention. That's kind of sad to me, because the most important attributes in my mind are the ability to hit, throw and catch, and sometimes I feel like scouts get too excited in how they describe a player when it comes to the "five tools."
* Sad news: Joan Shafer passed away on Monday. She was 80. She was the mayor of Surprise when the Rangers arrived in 2003, the one who led the town from obscurity to a thriving suburb. A great colorful lady who was always around and also was a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Korean War.
* The Rangers 5.38 ERA at Fenway Park is their highest ever for any American League park. Next is Safeco Field (5.11) and Camden Yards (5.10) among current American League parks. Lowest is Angels Stadium at 4.32.
* Think a Rangers pitcher will throw a complete-game shutout this weekend at Fenway? Kameron Loe did it in 2006 but it was just five innings because of rain. The last Rangers pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete-game shutout at Fenway Park was Gaylord Perry in 1980. Only two other Rangers pitchers have done it: Doc Medich in 1979 and Ferguson Jenkins in 1974.
* They've only had three at Yankee Stadium as well: Kevin Brown (1993), Edwin Correa (1986) and Jim Bibby (1974).
* Oh yes, the last Rangers pitcher to throw a complete game shutout of any kind over nine innings was Kenny Rogers on May 14, 2005 against the Minnesota Twins.
* Just for the heck of it: Ken Hill
* If you've noticed Hank Blalock trying to go the other way more often, here's how he put it in Spring Training: "Tony Gwynn in a linebacker's body. Not a bad combination."
* Those maple bats that players use can cost up to $60
* Former Rangers manager Billy Martin: "Another club can be beating you for six innings, but for some reason the good ball clubs get tough and win in the last three."
* Yankee Stadium opened up on this date in 1923. Cost $2.5 million. First ballpark to have a third deck. Babe Ruth hit a two-run home run and the Yankees beat the Red Sox.
* If you're tracking Milton Bradley's 12-game hitting streak, he's hitting .383 (18-for-47) with a .453 on-base percentage. What's curious he is just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position during the streak.
* Kevin Millwood will be trying to snap a nine-game road losing streak when he pitches against the Red Sox on Sunday. He is 0-9 with a 4.02 ERA in his last 11 starts on the road. That's right: 4.02 ERA. Six of the 11 outings have been official quality starts . The Rangers are scoring 1.80 runs per nine innings for Millwood in that stretch and are 0-11 in those games
* Compare that to Vicente Padilla. He is 4-2 with a 5.10 ERA in his last nine road starts. Rangers are scoring 6.61 runs per nine innings for him and are 6-3 in that stretch.
* When the Triple A Oklahoma RedHawks finished beating up on Round Rock on Thursday night, seven of their nine starters were hitting over .300: Jason Ellison (.340), Ryan Roberts (.306), Nelson Cruz (.314), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (.326), Brandon Boggs (.333), Joaquin Arias (.311) and Casey Benjamin (.318). The exceptions were Nate Gold and Kevin Mench.
* German Duran is the 27th player from TCU to play in the Major Leagues. From the Lone Star State, UT is first with 95, then Texas A&M with 48 and Baylor with 36.
* Starting lineup for the All-Texas Four-Year College Team: 2B Chuck Knoblauch (A&M), DH Freddy Sanchez (Dallas Baptist), CF Tris Speaker (Texas Wesleyan), RF Lance Berkman (Rice), 1B Norm Cash (Sul Ross), LF Bibb Falk (UT), 3B Pinky Higgins (UT), C Jerry Grote (UT).
* Rotation: Roger Clemens (UT), Ted Lyons (Baylor), Doug Drabek (Houston), Pete Donohue (TCU), Burt Hooten (UT). Closer: Norm Charlton (Rice).
Exceptional Happy Hour today. Gary took the money and ran and doesn't understand why people don't appreciate that? Oh well, we got the best season out of him that he's ever going to have, in all likelihood.
I don't really understand Ripken's comment either. Aren't hitting, throwing and feilding three of the "five tools?"
Millwood should be used to low run support, the way his last year in Cleveland went.
How about Padilla last night? He's really fun to watch when he's on his game, now if he could just speed it up a bit. He and most of the guys in the bullpen act like they're getting paid by the hour.
Report any abuse or spam
Hefe, right on about GMJ. Taking the money and running to a division rival no less. For that demonstration of "loyalty" on his part, the fans are just returning the favor.
Ask Jamey Newberg how much some his or his teamates softball bats cost...ganted they last a lot longer but probably average about twice that.
Here's to a continuation of the starting pitching trend...although can we buy Jennings some arm strength?
Report any abuse or spam
I'm very surprised that Jennings is getting another start, especially with the way Feldman looked in his call up. Jennings in Fenway could get scary.
Report any abuse or spam
I agree on Jennings, based on last night's game it might be a hard hat requirement for the fans in the Monster seats with Jennings going. 85 and up in the zone could get down right dangerous. Those guy's know how to use that home field advantage. Ortiz's slam was an out in the Ballpark.
Really disappointed with that bases loaded AB Gerald had. Didn't he learn anything from the Boston hitters 3 feet from him about laying off the pitches down and out of the zone and make the guy get the ball up?
Feldman's call up may have been a second audition since he beat the big club in that game at Frisco. Based on Jennings performance today, this may be his last start before the "Injury" that sends him to the DL.
Report any abuse or spam
A bad at bat, a young pitcher without much experience, a miscue by Botts on a play that I'm sure he hasn't made many times but not a bad game. It's no embarassment to lose to a superior pitcher and "Big Poppy." Mendoza will do better next time...remember we rushed him...this is really his AAA year.
And speaking of the minors are you following AA and AAA? Awesome. (That evidently is a very sophisticated compliment since it's what the President said to the Pope after his introduction speech)
On a side note did you see Nippert's first pitch? Hit the dirt and then darn near knocked Gerald Laird's head off. There's one for the highlight reels. They're going to have to play "Wild Thang" when this kid comes on the mound but can he ever bring it I'm still not a fan of his but he is interesting and he didn't really cost us anything.
Report any abuse or spam
TR, I think you forgot to name the starting shortstop of your all-Texas colleges team. Perhaps making Freddy Sanchez the DH threw you off, since he's primarily a 2B but has also started 36 games at SS and 96 games at 3B. In fact he started more times at 3B (92 times) than any other position in his breakout 2006 season. I looked through baseball-reference.com and couldn't find any noteable shortstops so perhaps it was an omission due to lack of candidates.
And Jerry Grote actually went to TU rather than UT, that is to say he attended Trinity University in his native San Antonio.
Make that list again in 5 years and you'll have to replace one of those pitchers with John Lackey (UTA).
Can I nominate Jeff Zimmerman (TCU) for the relief/setup role and Bill Henry (Houston) for the lefthanded relief role? Scott Linebrink (played at Concordia and SW Texas State), Mike Timlin and Mike Stanton (both of Southwestern) would also fill out an all-Texas colleges bullpen quite nicely. If you wanted a bench, wouldn't Randy Velarde (Lubbock Christian) have to be your utility man, since he played 9 innings or more at every position except catcher?
Report any abuse or spam