Rangers at Twin's Town July 5-7

[WastinSomeTime]

Still not sure how Buxton hit that 0-2 waste pitch from Chavez.

 

[donaldson79]

FWIW......I am getting the Twins announcing team and they are 'very good' in every aspect of the game, and how to present it.......Gzee, if only we had those guys; wait, one of those guys might work. ha

 

[Duane1952]

FWIW......I am getting the Twins announcing team and they are 'very good' in every aspect of the game, and how to present it.......Gzee, if only we had those guys; wait, one of those guys might work. ha

I'd take one of those two in the booth, over what they have now.

 

[Nightcrawler]

FWIW......I am getting the Twins announcing team and they are 'very good' in every aspect of the game, and how to present it.......Gzee, if only we had those guys; wait, one of those guys might work. ha

I’ve had the privilege of hearing them before. They’re one of the other teams broadcast crews who stick out as “very good” to me.

I used to watch the rangers on mlb at bat because I hated Jim Knox and the announcers so much. The rangers broadcast really used to be a god awful product. It’s still bad now, but it used to be worse with all of knox’s carnival segments.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Good inning José

 

[PhantomWarrior]

Alright Willie!

That was nice.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

FWIW......I am getting the Twins announcing team and they are 'very good' in every aspect of the game, and how to present it.......Gzee, if only we had those guys; wait, one of those guys might work. ha

Maybe our announcing team is best suited to go back to raving over the baked goods from fans.

 

[Senator_fan]

Good inning José

83 slider, 90 changeup, 99 fastball. There is nothing wrong with him. It’s location and pitch selection refinement and he will be back to the old Leclerc.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

My son’s team in district playoffs 12 errors last night.

I guess we can go on summer vacation now.

 

[donaldson79]

I’ve had the privilege of hearing them before. They’re one of the other teams broadcast crews who stick out as “very good” to me.

I used to watch the rangers on mlb at bat because I hated Jim Knox and the announcers so much. The rangers broadcast really used to be a god awful product. It’s still bad now, but it used to be worse with all of knox’s carnival segments.

But doesn't this reflect more on the front office than anything......We're presenting a 'supposedly family friendly atmosphere' but in reality, it's somewhere between horseshit and nonsense........You hire a clown, the clown plays a clown, and now the clown is being skrewed.

 

[donaldson79]

Nice FAT pitch from Mr Kelley........He seems like more and more to be a middle of the gamer than a key pitcher.

And I'll grant ya, one-and-all, relief pitching is really a tough road-to-toe.

I 'suspect' we're witnessesing why we weren't considered challengers of anything of substance when the season began........The Twins have a really nice team.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

FWIW......I am getting the Twins announcing team and they are 'very good' in every aspect of the game, and how to present it.......Gzee, if only we had those guys; wait, one of those guys might work. ha

I have been watching Fox Sports North so I am watching them as well. I watch the other teams broadcasts instead of ours.

 

[WastinSomeTime]

Nice FAT pitch from Mr Kelley........He seems like more and more to be a middle of the gamer than a key pitcher.

And I'll grant ya, one-and-all, relief pitching is really a tough road-to-toe.

I 'suspect' we're witnessesing why we weren't considered challengers of anything of substance when the season began........The Twins have a really nice team.

They made some nice additions with Cruz, Schoop and Marwin.

 

[Duane1952]

But doesn't this reflect more on the front office than anything......We're presenting a 'supposedly family friendly atmosphere' but in reality, it's somewhere between horseshit and nonsense........You hire a clown, the clown plays a clown, and now the clown is being skrewed.

Definitely more of a reflection on the front office.

 

[Nightcrawler]

But doesn't this reflect more on the front office than anything......We're presenting a 'supposedly family friendly atmosphere' but in reality, it's somewhere between horseshit and nonsense........You hire a clown, the clown plays a clown, and now the clown is being skrewed.

I could give 2 shits about the family friendly atmosphere. Fenway and wrigley field are both rowdy as hell stadiums and families still bring their kids to those parks.

The family friendly or as I like to call it “Walt Disney” atmosphere might get worse next year when tickets are more expensive, not as many seats, and it’s air conditioned so attendance should be up. I feel like the rangers should include kids and families, not cater exclusively to them.

If I want to see Walt Disney, I’ll go to a damn theater with all the remakes they’re spitting out lately.

 

[PhantomWarrior]

I could give 2 shits about the family friendly atmosphere. Fenway and wrigley field are both rowdy as hell stadiums and families still bring their kids to those parks.

The family friendly or as I like to call it “Walt Disney” atmosphere might get worse next year when tickets are more expensive, not as many seats, and it’s air conditioned so attendance should be up. I feel like the rangers should include kids and families, not cater exclusively to them.

If I want to see Walt Disney, I’ll go to a damn theater with all the remakes they’re spitting out lately.

Have to agree a bit. I grew up in NY and the family friendly version was my dad and uncles being rowdy fans at Shea Stadium and since two uncles were mutant Yankees fans we also joined them in the cheap bleacher seats in the old Yankees stadium. Rowdy and family worked fine together. People kept the language clean but still called umps and players bums etc.

My first baseball game out of the NY area was a Kansas City Royals game. I was at an Army school at Leavenworth KS, buddy was a big KC fan. We went to a game against Toronto when Canseco played for them. We were 12
Rows behind home plate and I heckled Canseco like I did at Yankee stadium. Yeah I was loud. Two minutes later two dudes in royal blue jackets came down and told me “this is a family environment please keep it down.”

 

[saddles]

If the Rangers want to keep Mike Minor long-term, they need to make sure this 'weird situation' doesn't get any weirder

 

[Duane1952]

If the Rangers want to keep Mike Minor long-term, they need to make sure this 'weird situation' doesn't get any weirder

Cant read it, not a subscriber.

 

[DT LUNA]

Cant read it, not a subscriber.

Same here

 

[saddles]

Cant read it, not a subscriber.

Not only will Mike Minor miss what would have been his first turn in an All-Star Game, a prospect he says isn't much fun to think about, he won't pitch Sunday against the Twins. Which was supposed to be the start that would make him unavailable for the All-Star Game in the first place.

As Minor put it Saturday, "It's a weird situation."

Yes. Weird.

Now the Rangers, who lost Saturday to the Twins, 7-4, in front of 36,969 at Target Field, must make sure it doesn't get any weirder. Especially if they'd like to keep their best pitcher around past next season, as they probably should.

For the record, the Rangers insist they're not giving Minor a 10-day hiatus because there's anything wrong with him. He's not even tired. No diminishing returns on radar guns, anyway. The idea, Chris Woodward said, is to give Minor a "recharge" after the most labor-intensive first half of his career. With 117 innings in the books already, he's on pace for more than 200 for just the second time in his eight-year career. He's also coming off a 157-inning season in which the Rangers eased him back into his role as a starter. In doing so, he became one of this administration's greatest pitching success stories, a genre in short supply.

The Rangers have talked about the possibilities with Minor all season, going back to spring training. So it's not exactly a surprise. And it beats another year of short leashes.

"I like pitching until I'm pretty much done," he said. "Either I'm tired or not throwing strikes or they're hitting the ball around on me.

"I'd rather do this."

Even if he doesn't like it.

"For me it still sucks not going out there," he said. "Not taking the ball. But I guess it is what it is."

What it is, according to Woodward, is a no-brainer. They either rest him now or in September.

"If we are in the thick of things," he said, "there is no way we can do it later.

"We felt we can do it now and get away with it."

BTW: Neither Woodward nor Minor sees this move as any kind of concession in the standings, even as they go into Sunday having lost six of their last seven games.

So those are the arguments for the Minor move makes sense. Here's where it gets a little sticky.

The decision for him to skip Sunday's start came Saturday, Minor said. Or at least that's when he heard the decision was final.

If they were going to give him Sunday off anyway, why not make the call sooner, so he'd be available for the All-Star Game?

"If he was going to pitch," Woodward said, "he was going to pitch for us, not in the All-Star Game."

Just to be clear: If Minor were given the chance to actually pitch in the All-Star Game, he'd go an inning. Two at the most.

The Rangers would have needed a lot more than that from him Sunday. The Twins beat up the Rangers for 15 runs Friday, then cuffed them around for another seven Saturday. Woodward needs someone who could stop the pounding going into the break, which is what No. 1 pitchers are for. This series against the Twins is pretty important, too. Last I checked, losses count just as much in July as September.

For a series against one of the league's top three teams, not to mention the game's most explosive lineup, the Rangers have countered with Adrian Sampson and Jesse Chavez.

On deck for Sunday: Joe Palumbo. At this rate, the Rangers could be out of the wild-card race before they get back from vacation.

As you may know, the Rangers are more than a little short on pitching, a chronic condition. Pedro Payano, who followed up Chavez on Saturday, became the 10th pitcher to make his major league debut this season. He probably won't be the last. The next rookies won't alter the Rangers' fortunes much.

Minor, on the other hand, is a difference maker. He and Lance Lynn have combined for a formidable one-two punch. Jon Daniels, in fact, should do everything in his power to preserve it.

First, however, Daniels must decide before the deadline if the Rangers are players or not. If he's in, he needs all the pitching he can get.