Long Day's Journey into Night...

Well, TR puts it pretty succintly, Too many errors, too many walks, not enough K's, and a Mendoza Line RISP BA. Way too many freebies to give your opponent before even getting started. All of that combines to put a lot of pressure on everyone since every mistake is now magnified.

I think Hank is pressing with guys on base and going after pitches he lets go in other situations. Plus, the 6 hole behind him (at least in the line up yesterday) isn't providing much protection so he feels it's up to him: trying to carry the team. Maybe Botts will force his way into that 6th spot. His AB's seem to have more quality to them of late. Like that walk he worked last night off the bench. Could give opposing pitchers and managers something to think about since he's a switch-hitter.

That said, I'd really like this team to settle into some kind of stock lineup even if we have one for RHP and LHP. But it looks like we are going to have more changes tonight.

Anybody heard anything on the 'pen situation especially for Rupe? He really took one for the team last night.

"The past is the present, isn't it? It's the future, too."
-- Eugene O'Neill - from "Long Day's Journey Into Night"

Prophetic?

EMC

Here's one for next time TR...the number of hits given up by our starters per inning compared to the league. I also like hits and error out of the first base slot. I think we must be doing pretty bad there too.

I know these guys are better hitters than they've shown us so far this season. Young Murphy and Hamilton are the real thing. Hank, Ian and Michael are too professional to let this go on much longer. Gerald Laird is just getting warmed up...don't forget he led the league when he got hot a couple of years ago. (This was not an opening for the Saltalamachia guys to jump into since he's not hitting much better than Gerald and couldn't throw out his sister) Milton Bradley is better than I thought but he sure isn't ready for left field. I swa him think about going after an ump on a called third strike last week and thought "oh brother, here we go again)

The thing I'm not sure if we can overcome is the pitching. Your starter might give you innings and even have a couple of quality starts but the hit and walk totals show something is really wrong. Right now even the bull pen is letting us down.

For those who blame Ron Washington let me tell you a story from the old times. Bobby Bragan was at the big card show in Arlington 10 or so years ago. Everybody left the area to go get their comic books signed so my friend and I were left to sit at a big table with Bobby Bragan. A nicer baseball guy you couldn't find! I was jabbing at him about some of the trades that had occurred when he was Manager of the Milwaukee Braves. He looked at me like I was nuts. He pointed out that all a manager could do is play the team the GM (in his case "Trader" Lane) and the owner gave him. His remark was that sometimes that wasn't an easy job. All Ron Washington can do is the same thing. Juggle the line up a little, sit a guy down, for a game or so, put him at DH, get a young guy called up if the GM agrees and there's a slot...in the end he has to hope that these guys are professional, prideful, motivated adults. For those who think a different approach might be helpful you would do well to remember why Buck Showalter is no longer with the team. He tried to get under the guy's skins and it wasn't welcome. The manager is not superman...he no longer plays the game but I'm sure he wishes sometimes that he could. Mr. Washington if you read this blog (and I should advise you not to) keep keeping on...It's got to get better and in the meantime keep your powder dry.

Nothing is Ron Washingtons fault. Poor little Ron Washington. I don't like Daniels either, but Ron's record with the Class A Mets is eerily similar to what is happening here. This guy is going to get fired, period end of story. While it may not be entirely his fault, he is going to take the fall. He can take some solace in the fact that Pettis and Howe are really the only two coaches he brought to this team. The manager is accountable for the product along with the GM. Washingtons biggest screw ups this year, playing Broussard every game against left handed pitchers. I think the players like Washington, but probably don't respect him too much. They sure aren't doing anything on the field to keep him around. The only thing that we are doing consistently is losing, making errors, not hitting with runners in scoring position. While i am not a manager, i would think that you would try to hit and run, bunt, move some runners over, MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN. I hope they lose another 10 straight so we can hear the words you are fired and we are REBUILDING. Could it really be any worse? Does Nolan want to be GM? Haven't heard anything recently about Daniels contract extension? Lets hope not, demote him to player personnel director.

You're entitled to your opinion but I won't let you make up facts without question. What's your source for the Ranger players liking Ron Washington but not respecting him? I think that's phony because there's one thing that hasn't happened this year and that is any public dissatisfaction from the players with the team. What now? Have you traffic stopped a couple of players and asked them if they Liked the manager...or did you find another obscure article like yesterday No one's mad just tired of bs.

"I hope they lose another 10 straight..." Says it all Dgod.

1. Wash is a nice enough guy but a manager he ain't! we had the chance to hire a home town guy with a great pedigree but we passed on him and KC got him.
2. I was in Boston for two of the games and watched these kids during BP, there is no sense of urgency, no grueling extra work, the losses don't sting enough, and Jaramillo, am I the only one that can see you've given up?

3. Our owner and GM have dealt us a pretty bad hand as well. They want us to believe JD is so highly regarded in this business but let's set aside the Gagne deal and evaluate this guy. How would Adrian Gonzalez be fitting in right now? Could we use another 15 game winner like Chris Young? What do we have to show for this trade? Eaton and Otsuka are down the road and they got Sledge as a throw in! Carlos Lee? Only the astro's look worse. Could we use the two big league pitchers(Danks,Masset) we gave the white sox for a guy(McCarthy) that couldn't even make their post-season roster? Are we rebuilding or not? One week we are and the next we're shipping out our pitching. I like Hamilton, but Volquez was our future wasn't he? Would Carlos Pena look good in the middle of our line-up?
4. Ben Broussard.... Come on, enough already! He ain't the future!
The bottom line: Our upper management is more to blame than our field manager, but he needs to be replaced too. we need someone with a little fire! What's Rusty Greer doing for the rest of the summer? But I'm sure we'll just fill in with Narron as an interim. Not a bad guy, but drastic times call for something out of the ordinary.