Poor Toby's Almanac...the long road home
This dog is ready to go home:
The Week That is: The Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 12-4, on Sept. 22, 2006, at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Adam Eaton - remember him? - was the winning pitcher.
The victory gave the Rangers a record of 78-76. They proceeded to lose their next three games and six of their final eight. They finished 80-82 and Buck Showalter was let go as manager after the season.
The Rangers haven't been over .500 since then. They missed a chance on Saturday night when they lost to the Angels, 2-1. A victory and they would have had a winning record for the first time under manager Ron Washington.
They were 4-4 and 5-5 last season but lost both times and never got back to .500. They go into today's game at 2-3. A victory today would send them into the first home stand with a chance for a winning record.
The Oracle of the Elysian Fields: "Every day they take the mound I'm looking for that one guy. Why can't we have a guy who can stick it to the other team for nine innings?"
Ron Washington, on the dearth of complete games from one of his starting pitchers.
Toby's Top Five:
1. Eric Nadel - Throwing out the first pitch on Tuesday to celebrate 30 years as a Rangers broadcaster.
2. Rangers starting pitching - The Rangers just need to score some runs for Kevin Millwood
3. A.L. East - Look who is on top after a week: the Orioles and the Blue Jays.
4. Scott Feldman - Former Rangers reliever is now a starter and had a no-hitter through six innings in his first start for Double A Frisco. He ended up as the winning pitcher in a 2-1 victory over Springfield.
5. Ben Broussard - His 6.98 grand slams per home run is the second highest rate among active players with a minimum of 50 career home runs.
Ex-Ranger of the Week:
Chan Ho Park is back in the Major Leagues. He was sent down at the end of Spring Training and was supposed to pitch the first game for Triple A Las Vegas on Thursday. But the Dodgers needed a pitcher and called him back to the Majors on Wednesday.
Pitching matchup of the Week: Edinson Volquez makes his first start of the season for the Reds today. He faces Brett Myers and the Phillies. Doug Davis makes his second and last start for the Diamondbacks on Tuesday before undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer.
Birthdays: Kason Gabbard and Brian Burres share the same birthday. Burres turns 27 on Tuesday and Gabbard turns 26. Burres is the Orioles left-hander who gets to celebrate the day by making his first start of the season against the Rangers in their home opener at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Bert Blyleven turns 57 today while Jose Guzman turns 45 on Wednesday. Chuck Connors, who was the Rifleman but also played for the Cubs, would have been 87 on Thursday but he died in 1992. Hal Morris turns 43 on Wednesday. So? The former Reds first baseman was born in Fort Rucker, the Army Aviation Center in south Alabama. Rusty Greer was born there too.
Anniversary: Yes it was 35 years ago today that Ron Bloomberg became the first designated hitter in Major League history. In his first plate appearance, he drew a walk off of Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant.
Top Six Rangers DH by at-bats
Player AB Runs HR RBI Avg.
Larry Parrish 1,439 174 65 231 .259
Rafael Palmeiro 1,399 221 100 291 .281
Juan Gonzalez 1,183 192 91 269 .291
Tom Grieve 709 74 22 101 .255
Brian Downing 702 128 27 83 .278
Mickey Tettleton 642 105 35 106 .240
Last call
"My only choices were to retire or go to Las Vegas. I chose to go to Vegas."
Chan Ho Park
While my point is somewhat mooted (since Chan Ho has been recalled) he should have given some thought to the Vegas slogagn which is "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"...or better yet considering his last 5 years or so maybe that's just what he did.
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Hey TR, Was there more that would add context to the RW quote on complete games? Just sounds a bit politically incorrect to start the season. Although statistically Millwod has taken care of the streak. But, in last nights game, Padilla was at his best late so I would have trotted him back out there at least for the eighth. Can't get complete games if you go to the 'pen when you're up by four and the starter is getting it done...
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Danger Will Robinson. Danger. Volquez has 8 strikeouts and pitches great in one game small sample. Would Volquez, Danks, Millwood, Padilla and Mendoza look good right now? Complete games are over rated. The game has changed this isn't 1970. Besides, Padilla, Millwood and Gabbard are all injury prone. I would have them all on pitch counts to get those needed starts out of them. It is looking like i should have invested in some "fools gold". Hey it is about time that Millstone and Paidwella earn that money. It is good to hear that Paidwella said he was embarassed by what happened last year. At least that guy has some pride in his work.
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Well D'god we finally agree on something else. The game has changed...for better or worse... starters don't go all the way any more and it is I think a false issue. I'd like to know what the sabermaticians say about it.
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