Thursday, April 3, 2014

Newsflash...Your Texas Rangers will NOT finish 0-162

SHUT UP IAN!
This guy.  Haha.  It's okay, he just misses us.  And no, this whole post is not going to be about Ian Kinsler, big mouth baseball players, stupid interviews, or any combination therein.  I just like laughing at Kins at this point.  

So, what is this post about you ask?  It's about our (still on the team) 2-1 start and everything that encompasses:  Tanner Scheppers (what was that start?), Martin Perez, and obviously, Shin-Soo Choo's walk-up music (Lil Jon...who knew?)

So...Schepp had a HORRIBLE outing.  He really did.  4 innings, 7 earned runs, 8 hits, and 3 walks were not what he planned to do I wouldn't think.  The question is, do we chalk this up to nerves or his stuff?  I'm sure nerves played a huge role.  He was just SO EXCITED.


And who knows how many caffeine pills he popped?  Kidding.

What we do know is that Scheppers had a good spring.  So good that he catapulted himself into the rotation before anyone else could (anyone that wasn't a regular that is).  I'm sure he'll be fine moving forward if he just attacks the plate and doesn't try to be too fine with his location like he was on Opening Day.  Of course, the other thing to consider is that, with Yu Darvish's return on Sunday (Thank you Baseball Jesus!), and Matt Harrison expected to return at month's end (the earliest would be April 23rd), how long will Wash give Schepp and Robbie Ross to establish themselves before pulling the plug?  Do they even have a shot at staying in the rotation when those guys are back?

Robbie had an okay, if not long, start last night.  3 runs (only 2 were earned) in 5 innings isn't bad at all.  But it's also not even as good as it sounds because Ross gave up 7 hits and 2 walks in there as well.  And that's an awful lot of base runners for only 5 innings.  Granted, he worked out of most of the jams he got himself into.  But, 96 pitches definitely needs to buy you more than 5 innings; if it doesn't, we're gonna have one tired bullpen come July.

But Ross did well enough, especially compared to Scheppers' start.  The funny thing is, Opening Day looked like the 1996 Texas Rangers all over again.

What?  What'd we do?
10 runs scored...and a loss.  BOO.  And then Tuesday's and Wednesday's game looked like last year's offense.

Yeah, I'm talking to y'all.  
Couldn't buy a hit.  But, it's important to note that both AJ Burnett and Kyle Kendrick were throwing good games for the Phillies.  I think Opening Day was a better indication of what's in store for us offensively. Not that we'll score 10 runs most games, but 5 or 6 is definitely doable with the additions we've made.  And 5 or 6 runs were really hard to come by last season.

I'd also like to add that the pitching we've seen early in the season is also probably indicative of what we'll get:  a crap shoot.  At least until we get some guys healthy.  Guys named Yu, Matty, and jackass...er, Holland, of course.

What is great is that Martin Perez seems to have picked up where he left off in his development, and maybe even took a step forward.  He looked really good on Tuesday, holding his own against Burnett with 5.2 innings pitched, 2 earned runs, and NO WALKS (that's my favorite part).

So where does that leave us?  It leaves us with Joe Saunders pitching tomorrow and the youngin' Nick Martinez pitching Saturday; both against the Devil Rays.



But don't freak out just yet.  The bullpen might be able to get us out of one of those.  And we only really need one there to win the series, because Yu is back on the hill on Sunday as we discussed.  And NO, that was not a jinx.

And before you correct me on the "Devil Rays" thing, know that I don't believe in name changes. Just ask Mike Stanton.

So...about Choo's walk-up music. Have you noticed it yet?  If not, it's this:


YEAH!!!  *Lil Jon voice*

And I gotta tell ya, I really thought maybe there was a musical interlude before his at-bat when I was at the game on Tuesday.  I didn't expect that to be Choo's music AT ALL.  But maybe I should have known that he likes to let his hair down occasionally.  

Or should I say "Let his hair OUT"
I'm convinced he let Elvis picked it for him.  He's the one that gave Yu the Soulja Boy to warm up to.  And now, apparently, Choo is Lil Jon.  I'm okay with this.  Just wanted you to be aware.  Haha

Well that's all I got folks.  

Today is an off-day.  ALREADY.  Don't they know we've been waiting for these games for six dang months?

Tomorrow's game is in Tampa Bay; game time is 6:05 PM.

3 down, 159 to go.  

1 comment:

  1. Shoo's music definitely got my hype every time it played. I dig it :)

    ReplyDelete