Series Thread: Rangers host the Astros 6/2-6/4, Heaven help us

[PDay8810]

I agree with that with the exception of the three guys involved in the three headed monster experiment in LF to start the season. I blame Banny for those guys starting off so badly.

Some will....I don't
Guys platoon all the time. I'm still waiting for Rua to show he's a big league player

 

[DT LUNA]

Perfect pitching match up tonight. Everyone should be excited and ready to play their best. If Yu is on I'm going out on the ole limb and say we win.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

does this delay count as Heaven helping us?

 

[donaldson79]

Jeffress was not good before Banister had a chance to wear him out.

Whatever...............

 

[donaldson79]

Some will....I don't
Guys platoon all the time. I'm still waiting for Rua to show he's a big league player

Give us an example of the last "3 headed platoon" please; failed or else.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

does this delay count as Heaven helping us?

Obviously not. But good to see the Captain AB leading the way. First hit first run.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I know the playoffs are probably not in the cards this year, but it sure would be nice to win the silver boot and beat the jays asses when they come to town. We can lose everything else and trade lots of guys away. Is that too much to ask for?!?!?

Beating both would be a nice consolation prize.

 

[donaldson79]

ARLINGTON -- Yu Darvish's pitch count mounts.

A chain reaction seems to follow: High pitch counts lead to shorter outings and, most alarmingly, a penchant for big homers in big situations on what should be his best pitch. For the second time in as many starts, Darvish, perhaps under the weight of a high pitch count left a slider hanging at a most inopportune moment and watched a shutout dissolve into a game-changing three run homer.

On Friday, it was Carlos Correa who delivered the blow with two outs in the fifth of the Astros’ eventual 7-1 rout. The only difference in the slider that he hit and the one Jose Bautista crushed on Saturday was that this one was a little bit further away in the zone. Both, however, were up.

“To be honest, I’ve got no excuses,” Darvish said. “I felt going into the game. ... I think [Houston] had a different approach. In the past, they’ve been very aggressive from the first pitch. But after two strikes, they did a very good job of just battling with two pitches. It got my pitch count way up and it cost me.”

Said catcher Robinson Chirinos, who also caught the last start at Toronto: “It was one of those sliders that stayed kind of up, middle. I was telling him, we're getting beat with his best pitch. We're not executing the pitch. I think if we throw that pitch down and away we probably get [Correa] to roll over or get a fly ball. It's something we're going to be working to get better.”

Now, before we go any further, we should mention that the Rangers did nothing against Dallas Keuchel, which doesn’t necessarily qualify as news. Nobody has done anything against Keuchel this year. So, it may not have mattered how or when Darvish departed, because it meant the game was eventually going to be handed to the Rangers’ struggling bullpen and that’s rarely been good news.

But the bullpen has struggled all year. And, really, so has the offense. So nothing new there.

Darvish struggling: That’s a recent development.

Over his last three starts, Darvish has averaged 19.9 pitches per inning, which has led to starts of five, six and five innings. His average pitches per inning has crept up to 16.6 for the season, in the bottom half of AL qualifiers. And it’s only the first week of June. If the Rangers harbor playoff hopes - they still do, but the wild card is going to become more and more of a focus with them now trailing in the AL West by 13 games - Darvish is going to have to pitch lots of innings in the second half.

“This was probably not the best command that he’s had,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “He worked into a lot of deep counts and you look at the pitch count per inning and he averaged 20 pitches per inning. You look at the fifth and there were more pitches up in the zone.”

High pitch counts now are troublesome enough.

They become exponentially more troublesome as the heat arrives, fatigue sets in and the innings count grows.

 

[DT LUNA]

Perfect pitching match up tonight. Everyone should be excited and ready to play their best. If Yu is on I'm going out on the ole limb and say we win.

What? DT you dummy this is fake news.

 

[BULLPEN FAILURE]

I know the playoffs are probably not in the cards this year, but it sure would be nice to win the silver boot and beat the jays asses when they come to town. We can lose everything else and trade lots of guys away. Is that too much to ask for?!?!?

Beating both would be a nice consolation prize.

I don't understand your fascination with beating the Astros and Jays. Neither of those teams are a "natural rival" of the Rangers. Winning those series in a lost year would give me zero satisfaction, personally.

 

[DT LUNA]

I don't understand your fascination with beating the Astros and Jays. Neither of those teams are a "natural rival" of the Rangers. Winning those series in a lost year would give me zero satisfaction, personally.

Don't try to understand. Waste of time.

 

[PDay8810]

Give us an example of the last "3 headed platoon" please; failed or else.

That's not the point. Players play and perform when given the opportunity, OR...they don't. What part of Profar's 37 total AB's stunted the growth of Rua would be the better question...AND how is the manager to blame for a player not getting it done? I don't think the players themselves would blame Banny.

I understand this board doesn't like an opinion that goes against the grain of the majority. That's cool, but Rua hasn't shown he belongs at this level. Deshilds has shown he's a marginal big league player at best. Why should the manager run these guys out there every day for 4 or 5 AB's when the objective is to win?

Bottom line....the position players have underperformed with the exception of Elvis. That's not on the manager.

 

[donaldson79]

That's not the point. Players play and perform when given the opportunity, OR...they don't. What part of Profar's 37 total AB's stunted the growth of Rua would be the better question...AND how is the manager to blame for a player not getting it done? I don't think the players themselves would blame Banny.

I understand this board doesn't like an opinion that goes against the grain of the majority. That's cool, but Rua hasn't shown he belongs at this level. Deshilds has shown he's a marginal big league player at best. Why should the manager run these guys out there every day for 4 or 5 AB's when the objective is to win?

Bottom line....the position players have underperformed with the exception of Elvis. That's not on the manager.

It was preciously my point actually. But no, Profar's 37 AB didn't have any major effect on Rua. That's not the point either.

How is any player suppose to get into any type of rhythm when playing 2 games and then sitting 3? It, IMO, is collective unproductive to try this.

I have no idea of what your referring to in "this board doesn't like opinions that goes against the grain". Where'd this come from anyway?

And for whatever it's worth, I agree with you on both Rua and DeShields.

 

[DT LUNA]

It's time to find out what we have in Profar. Send Odor down and give Profar ample time at 2nd base to prove or disprove his ability to succeed at the MLB level. Oder can use the time to improve his game. Seems like a perfect time to evaluate two players and what we can expect for the future. Rua would gain more time in LF while Delino is in CF for Gomez. Thoughts?

 

[PDay8810]

It was preciously my point actually. But no, Profar's 37 AB didn't have any major effect on Rua. That's not the point either.

How is any player suppose to get into any type of rhythm when playing 2 games and then sitting 3? It, IMO, is collective unproductive to try this.

I have no idea of what your referring to in "this board doesn't like opinions that goes against the grain". Where'd this come from anyway?

And for whatever it's worth, I agree with you on both Rua and DeShields.

Well Sir....having played this game and managed for over 20 years, I can tell you that's how it works in high school, select summer leagues and college. Players get an opportunity and must perform in a short amount of time or another player gets his opportunity. If one performs, the other gets limited time. That is how it works and I think the players have dealt with that for years and fully understand the lay of the land with regards to extended playing time.

with regards to MY opinion of how this board treats a different opinion.....Lets call it experience and leave it at that. There are a certain few (present company most included) that has shown that for 4 years running and frankly....not worth much of my time here. Now the most important part to me is, it's all opinions, and not one is more valuable than the other. I think it's a cop out to blame the manager cause a player hasn't been able to get it done when given the opportunities. These guys are professionals and hit hundreds of balls daily but it only matters what you do between the lines....most of our guys just aren't getting it done. GROUP EFFORT and hardly on Banny.

 

[PDay8810]

It's time to find out what we have in Profar. Send Odor down and give Profar ample time at 2nd base to prove or disprove his ability to succeed at the MLB level. Oder can use the time to improve his game. Seems like a perfect time to evaluate two players and what we can expect for the future. Rua would gain more time in LF while Delino is in CF for Gomez. Thoughts?

with all due respect....why does Rua deserve extended time? He hasn't earned it and has shown very little when given the opportunities.

I am so sick and tired of Odor and would welcome anyone getting his AB's. Most disappointing to see the same thing every time. The league knows he gets himself out and there is no need to throw him strikes. He's killing this team and needs to be buried. A message most certainly needs to be sent

 

[DT LUNA]

with all due respect....why does Rua deserve extended time? He hasn't earned it and has shown very little when given the opportunities.

I am so sick and tired of Odor and would welcome anyone getting his AB's. Most disappointing to see the same thing every time. The league knows he gets himself out and there is no need to throw him strikes. He's killing this team and needs to be buried. A message most certainly needs to be sent

Rua is Banister's problem for the moment. He doesn't deserve extended time. Point is...... he is there. Find out if he is in our future or not. I don't expect he his but there will not be a better time than now to find out and act on the finding which is on Banister. Not blaming the mgr or player just pointing out we need to finalize the situation and move on. Time is now.

 

[PDay8810]

Rua is Banister's problem for the moment. He doesn't deserve extended time. Point is...... he is there. Find out if he is in our future or not. I don't expect he his but there will not be a better time than now to find out and act on the finding which is on Banister. Not blaming the mgr or player just pointing out we need to finalize the situation and move on. Time is now.

I agree. This team will continue to fad and becomes sellers at the deadline. We need to find out what we have with many of our younger guys. I think we're stuck with many of um.

 

[donaldson79]

It's time to find out what we have in Profar. Send Odor down and give Profar ample time at 2nd base to prove or disprove his ability to succeed at the MLB level. Oder can use the time to improve his game. Seems like a perfect time to evaluate two players and what we can expect for the future. Rua would gain more time in LF while Delino is in CF for Gomez. Thoughts?

I'd like to see Gallo & Rua work at both 1st and LF for the foreseeable future, which would mean we have to bury, move or release Napoli.

I'm all in on sending Odor back to AAA, and bringing up Profar. Frankly, it's very obvious to me Odor's baseball IQ is moronic at best, and he doesn't seem to have any notion of wanting to improve, which is the most concerning point of all.

But with DDJ, I've seen all I want of him really. I'd still play Gomez and hope he shows something between now and the trade deadline. But again, I feel like we know what we've got, or don't in DeShields, and he's not an everyday player.

 

[saddles]

Some will....I don't
Guys platoon all the time. I'm still waiting for Rua to show he's a big league player

Just about everyone of our young players who have had success in the majors were bot required to begin by platooning. Older, more experienced guys platoon all the time. Think about the young gus from the past who have had success for at least awhile. Young, Andrus, Kinsler, Blalock, Palmer, Mazara, and Odor never were made to succeed while platooning.