Just What the Doctor Ordered

by user ASwaff

Rangers 5
Blue Jays 4
49-46 (-1.0)

This is exactly what the Rangers needed - a series win. It’s really what they needed in their last series, when they won the first two games against the Orioles. But I’ll take a victory from Toronto. The Rangers won a tight one tonight to take the series and improve their current road trip record to 4-3.

As John and I have said repeatedly, they have a very rough road ahead of them. So, if they can escape this road trip with just a .500 record, they’ll be sitting in a pretty good spot. Tonight was a good step towards that goal.

Kevin Millwood was just good enough. The offense was just good enough. The bullpen was just good enough. Mix that with a timely throwing error by Aaron Hill, and you got yourself a victory.

The Blue Jays’ Casey Janssen was much more effective tonight than in his previous outing against the Rangers, and seemed to be in good position for the win through the first six innings. But, as with last night’s game, the Rangers did in the Jays with one big inning late in the game. Tonight it was the seventh.

Through six innings, Janssen allowed just two hits. The Rangers had scored only one run, and that run was unearned. With Gerald Laird at third base with two outs in the third inning, second baseman Aaron Hill mishandled a ground ball by Ian Kinsler, allowing Laird to score.

But the Jays again failed to hold the lead in the late innings. Mark DeRosa tied the game at three with a one-out, two-run homer in the seventh. Gary Matthews then hit in what would turn out to be the game-winning run with a double that scored Laird and Brad Wilkerson.

Toronto kept things interesting, scoring a run off Francisco Cordero in the 8th to cut Texas’ lead to 5-4. But Coco managed to work out of trouble, and Aki-O slammed the door in the 9th for his sixth consecutive save.

If the Rangers hope to stand a chance in their makeup game tomorrow in Boston, or in their next two series against the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, they need to get their offense going. Despite scoring five runs, their offense battled tonight for the sixth game in a row. Their 2-4 hitters went 0-11 with a GIDP by Kinsler. Everyone has hit the skids lately, but Kinsler and Mark Teixeira have been particularly bad. In the six game they’ve played since the 15-1 win against Baltimore, Kinsler is just 4-22 (.182) with one RBI, one extra base hit (a double) and zero runs scored. In the seven games since the All-Star break, even with his three homerun performance against the Orioles, Teixeira is batting just .227 (5-22).

And don’t even get me started on Kevin Mench. Okay, I’ll get started, but I won’t go in depth, because it will only result in a rant and probably a brain annurism. With his 0-4 performance tonight, Mench is batting .143 (3-21) since the All-Star break. Rangers fans hoped he had hit his season low in June when his BA for the month was .219 and he hit just one homerun in 73 at-bats. But July has been even worse, as he is currently batting .200 for the month. The good news is that his four doubles already tops his total for June.

For now, however, it is sufficient. The Rangers are finding ways to win, and as I always say, fake it ’til you make it. We’ll see if the Rangers can make it tomorrow afternoon when they take on the Red Sox at 1:05 CST. ESPN.com says that ESPN is carrying the game, but my viewing guide is showing the Tigers-White Sox game. Hopefully you have more luck in your viewing areas, because Fox SW is showing the Astros-Cubs game at the same time. The Rangers will have to face Curt Schilling, but who knows what could happen? The Sox are coming off a series sweep of the Royals in which they scored just seven runs in three games.

UPDATE

By way of update, it should also be noted that the Rangers recalled left-handed reliever C.J. Wilson from Triple-A Oklahoma on Tuesday and demoted right-handed reliever Scott Feldman. Wilson was 1-0 with two saves and a 2.45 ERA in nine appearances for the Oklahoma RedHawks.

And, in my favorite story of the day, the Blue Jays cut first baseman/designated hitter Shea Hillenbrand today for criticizing Toronto’s front office and refusing to sit in the dugout during Wednesday’s game. As is so often the case, it’s a he-said-he-said story. Hillenbrand felt the team wasn’t showing him enough love, and the team felt he was not being a team player because he was complaining about not getting enough playing time. Hillenbrand accused the team of keeping him out of the lineup at times with “no justifiable excuse.”

I can’t speak for when the team was holding him out of the lineup, but it may home something to do with the fact that he bats 51 points lower against right-handers than left-handers. Or that he bats 36 points lower on the road. Or possibly even that his batting average at the end of May was .337, and it’s just .253 since then.

Whatever the case, this was my favorite part. On the dismissal of Hillenbrand, manager John Gibbons said, “It will do wonders for the clubhouse.” Ouch!

Date

Wed 07/19/06, 9:45 pm EST