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.