Series Preview: Texas Rangers (40-36) @ San Francisco Giants (37-38)
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Business First: I am now 100% focused on the Rangers. After giving up three grand slams in three days, blowing two leads and coming one swing of the bat short of getting swept in Chicago, the Astros are dead to me. With the exception of the game I’m going to with Jon this Friday, I refuse to watch any more regular season Astros games this year. I refuse to let that team give me ulcers anymore. It’s called being proactive.
The Lowdown: The Rangers continue interleague play tonight against the Giants. The American League has been totally dominating the National League this year, but the Rangers haven’t really joined in the fun. Against the Diamondbacks, Astros and Rockies, the Rangers have compiled just a 6-6 record. And they are just 3-6 against NL teams not named the Diamondbacks. Thanks to the fact that the Athletics are playing disgustingly well right now, as they are prone to do in June and July, the Rangers have fallen to 1.5 games back in the AL West. It also hasn’t helped that the Rangers have a .500 record in their last 10 games. Forunately, that’s one game better than their next opponents, who have won just 4 out of their last 10. Even better news may be that the Giants are 5-7 in interleague play, including a sweep at the hands of the lowly Mariners. The Giants have particularly struggled this month. After a strong start that saw them win 4 out of their first 5 June games, the Giants are 6-11. Also promising is the fact that the Rangers are taking a 20-15 road record to a team that is just 20-20 at home.
Players to Watch:
Giants Outfield - Their numbers are down a bit this year, but the combo of Barry Bonds, Moises Alou, Steve Finley and Randy Winn still makes up one of the best offensive outfields in the National League. Those four are combined for a .266 batting average, 32 home runs, 128 RBIs (each one has more than 30) and 139 runs. It also doesn’t hurt that that group is comprised of two leftys, one righty and a switch hitter. Makes them awfully hard to pitch around. Fortunately, stealing isn’t a huge issue, because it’s also the oldest outfield in baseball, with an average age of 38.
Pedro Feliz - His numbers are deceiving. I’ve seen this guy play a lot, and he’s a better hitter than he’s shown this year. He also has a tendency to take advantage of the kind of pitching the Rangers have. His 10 homeruns are second-most on the team, and he leads the Giants in RBIs with 48. He bats .295 in San Fran, and since a dreadfully slow start in April (.270 batting average and one strikeout every 0.22 at-bats) he has come on strong, batting .299 and striking out just once every 0.17 at-bats. He is a really dangerous hitter. Don’t relax just because a Ranger pitcher has gotten past Bonds and Alou without any damage. You can’t relax on Feliz.
Gary Matthews - The Rangers need their leadoff batter to get back on track if they want to have any hopes of winning. Since Matthews had his 8-game hitting streak broken in the first game against the Padres, he’s batting just .208, and the Rangers have a record of 2-4. Having him on base puts a lot of pressure on the opposing pitchers, and really helps out the production of Mark DeRosa, Michael Young, and the rest of the middle of the lineup. The good news is that Matthews has been incredibly good on the road this year. Away from Arlington, he’s batting .338, has picked up 28 of his 40 RBIs, has 3 of his 4 triples, 17 of his 25 doubles, AND has three stolen bases in three attempts. His on-base percentage is ten points lower on the road than it is at home (.376 versus .386), but his slugging percentage is 89 points higher (.585 versus .496).
Mark DeRosa - DeRo’s one of the few guys that’s been bringing his bat to work lately. During the current stretch of interleague play, DeRosa is batting .351. He needs to get some help as well as some power into his swing, though. The lack of help has been obvious. Despite batting .351, he has just one RBI in the last nine games. He has also scored just four runs. But, again, he could help himself by getting some extra base hits. In that stretch, he has just two hits that have gone for extra bases - both doubles.
Catchers - Not that the Giants or Rangers were stealing a lot of bases anyway, but don’t expect to see a lot of running (at least, not successfully) in this series. Mike Matheny isn’t at all what he used to be, but Giants catchers have still been pretty successful at catching base stealers (about 35%). But the Rangers (Gerald Laird and Rod Barajas) have been even better, throwing out 44% of would-be basestealers. That’s some solid defense.
Probables:
Tuesday, June 27, 9:15 CST
TEX: RHP Kevin Millwood (8-3, 4.29)
SFG: RHP Matt Morris (5-7, 4.60)
Millwood has been steamrollin’ lately. He has five straight quality starts, and hasn’t lost a decision since May 9. This month, he’s 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA. What would be nice would be a little help from the bats and the bullpen. In his last outing, he pitched 8 innings and allowed just two runs, but took the loss because the Rangers mustered just two runs against the Padres (although it should have been three - that was the game with the Michael Young slide at home). Otsuka went on to take the loss in the ninth inning on that wild pitch and then wild throw to third by Laird. Tough loss. Millwood’s other ND this month came in Boston, when Ortiz hit that three-run homer in the ninth off Otsuka. Millwood still has not lost a decision in a road game this season.
Wednesday, June 28, 9:15 CST
TEX: LHP John Rheinecker (3-1, 3.57)
SFG: LHP Noah Lowry (2-5, 4.23)
Can I just say that I hate seeing leftys pitch against leftys? Too often, both starting pitchers are gone before the 7th, because the manager pulls them for a righty-on-righty matchup, or something. I’m just not wild about these. But, Rheinecker’s got something to prove as he tries to rebound from three straight starts that have ranged from mediocre to awful in performance.
Thursday, June 29, 2:35 CST
TEX: LHP John Koronka (6-4, 5.02)
SFG: RHP Jason Schmidt (6-3, 2.82)
I’m tired of saying Koronka is trying to find his stuff. He’s not going to win this game. Schmidt has quietly been one of the NL’s best pitchers this year, although he hasn’t been as good as he was in May. Although, I guess when you go 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA in a month, there’s pretty much nowhere to go but down. He is 1-1 in June with a 3.18 ERA. His stats are marred by just one bad start this month against Seattle. If you negate that start, his ERA is 1.64 this month. He has run into similar problems to those of Millwood. In his only win this month, he pitched a complete game, allowing just one run. His last start, a 7-inning performance in which he allowed just two runs against Oakland, was only good enough for a no-decision. But don’t bet on him losing at home. He is 4-0 with a 2.14 ERA at home.
Source
Date
Tue 06/27/06, 4:07 pm EST
