The Ranger Reporter

Hank Blalock is going to be out anywhere from two to three months because he needs to have a rib removed.  It sounds crazy but Will Carroll talks about the procedure in today’s Under the Knife.  The downer, is that Blalock looked like he was primed for a good season and his .285 batting average, had he kept it up there, would have been his best since he hit .300 in his first full season.

In the meantime, the Rangers have still had a rough time.  They’re up 1-0 this afternoon but they’ve lost seven of their last ten and the only thing keeping them from having the worst record in the American League is one more loss by the Royals.

And the John Danks trade is looking worse and worse.  I know it’s hard to pass judgement after only one year, but Danks has done a nice job in the White Sox rotation while Brandon McCarthy has been pummelled this year.  He’s been particularly hit hard by lefties, who have an .888 OPS against.  And his strikeout to walk ratio (23/19) is downright horrible.  And this is pretty intuitive, but according to his splits page, opponents are hitting .339 with a .969 OPS against when he goes down 1-0 after the first pitch.

At least he’s starting to turn things around.  In his last two starts, he’s 1-0 with 10 strikeouts and five walks with a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings.  Now he just has to keep it going and so far, at least through the first inning, he’s gotten it done today.

It’s been a few weeks but I’m back.  I wish I could say the same about the Rangers though.  The network I write for had some system wide problems that kept me from posting but from keeping tabs on the Rangers, I haven’t missed much as far as writing.

Every year, the Rangers look like they could go either way.  The offense is always in place, but the pitching is always a question mark.  At the time, I liked the moves the Rangers made but in hind sight, it doesn’t look like it was enough because the Rangers have just one more win then the Royals do.  The hitting hasn’t been there (.244 team batting average) nor has the pitching (5.20 ERA, only the Devil Rays are worse).  And if the Rangers don’t do something quick, it’s going to be season where the last three months have little meaning to anyone other then who they’re playing.

Of course the big surprises have been Ian Kinsler and Sammy Sosa.  Sosa leads the team with 30 RBIs and he’s right behind Kinsler with nine homeruns.  He’s also put the Rangers in the spotlight because he now sits just three homeruns short of 600.  Not too shabby for a non-roster invitee.  Kinsler has the ten homeruns, but he’s done it with a .226 batting averag.  While Mark Teixaira has the batting average (.291) but just six homeruns.

And the pitching has been downright bad.  Robinson Tejada leads the starters with a 4.87 ERA and Brandon McCarthy leads the team with three wins despite a 6.51 ERA.  Looks like all of the talk about him moving to a hitters park and being a fly ball pitchers warranted some consideration.  Akinori Otsuka has done a nice job as the closer, he just hasn’t had a lot of chances.

Right now, the Rangers have to win today just to avoid a sweep at the hands of the, gulp, Devil Rays.  Then it’s a trip to Houston for the battle of Texas as interleague play fires up.  The Rangers need to do it now, or it’s going to be a very long season.