Texas Rangers Thread

[cowboyeric8]

a few photos I took at Rangers Ballpark last night. I was in the right field upper deck. A few thoughts:

* Pretty easy to drive to. Was able to park for $9, just a two block walk away

* Over 100 F...went all the way down to 94 F by end of game!

* Not a single beer man served the upper deck from what I saw. Everything BUT beer. Had to go to concourse for beer....but...

* Only like one concession open a walk away in our part of the upper deck...many closed

* I liked the girls twirling the Texas flags after every score

* I got carded for the first time in like 20 years! I gave the guy a nice tip

I absolutely love going to games in Arlington. I went to 10 games last year, including ALDS and WS. I have only been able to make one game this year, and that was on July 4th, great atmosphere.

There is just something about being there. The fireworks, the "The Natural" song during homeruns, the dot race, and Rangers baseball. Its a really a team someone can get behind, its a classy club.

Games are hot though, I'm not sure how some people make it through day games.

Not sure why they wouldn't have served you guys beer, I think its been a weird transition this year having the upper deck well populated. People are really taking a shine to a winning team. So they may have plans to improve the game for the upper deck.

Just a heads up, I think the flag girls and all the other girls are in high school. Not positive on that, just something I heard, some look young, others look of age, so who knows. Haha.

I hope you enjoyed it.

 

[cowboyeric8]

Josh Hamilton with the walk off blast to win 7-6. What a great game.

 

[gmoney112]

Josh Hamilton with the walk off blast to win 7-6. What a great game.

I got home and missed the walk off by about 30 seconds. Doh.

 

[Dawgs0916]

Holland and Harrison are just so hit and miss sometimes. I believe both have huge potential, just waiting for them to be consistent.

Are you stuck in the past bro? Harrison has a 3.04 ERA. He consistently throws quality starts...I'm not really understanding you lumping him in with that two faced pitcher Holland lol

 

[cowboyeric8]

Are you stuck in the past bro? Harrison has a 3.04 ERA. He consistently throws quality starts...I'm not really understanding you lumping him in with that two faced pitcher Holland lol

Haha very true. I guess it just takes me awhile to trust the Rangers' pitching. Way to many years of disappointment backed up in there, haha.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Winners of seven straight!

 

[cowboyeric8]

Winners of seven straight!

Now our 5 guys and coaching staff need to win another so we can get home field advantage

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Now our 5 guys and coaching staff need to win another so we can get home field advantage

After the break, the Rangers have a really easy July. They have 4 with the Ms, 3 with LA, 3 with the Jays, 4 with the Twins and 3 with the Jays again. Other then LA, they don't play a team that is better then 4th in their division. None of them playing .500 ball. The Rangers really need to take advantage of this and create some space between them and the Angels.

Angels have it a little bit tougher. They have 3 with the A's (easy), 3 with the Rangers (tough), 3 with Baltimore (easy), 3 with the Tribe (tough) and 4 with Detroit (tough). Rangers have to surge right now.

 

[Stautner]

Are you stuck in the past bro? Harrison has a 3.04 ERA. He consistently throws quality starts...I'm not really understanding you lumping him in with that two faced pitcher Holland lol

Harrison has taken some pretty good lumps, but overall they have been very few. Same for Ogando. Those that insisted months ago that these two were certain to implode or that every bump along the way was an omen that the collapse was starting have found that they are just going through the same things that even quality starting pitchers go through. No, they aren't among the elite pitchers in the game, but they have been damn solid starting pitchers that far and away the bulk of the time give us a great chance to win.

Holland has been the most up and down of the group, but the ups are so good it's hard to pull him from the rotation. Even so, if any of the pitchers start to struggle Hunter is back and should be able to fill in nicely. Ogando is going to be pitching a lot more innings than he is used to, so he's probably the one to watch the closest as the long season wears on.

 

[DIAF]

Harrison has taken some pretty good lumps, but overall they have been very few. Same for Ogando. Those that insisted months ago that these two were certain to implode or that every bump along the way was an omen that the collapse was starting have found that they are just going through the same things that even quality starting pitchers go through. No, they aren't among the elite pitchers in the game, but they have been damn solid starting pitchers that far and away the bulk of the time give us a great chance to win.

Holland has been the most up and down of the group, but the ups are so good it's hard to pull him from the rotation. Even so, if any of the pitchers start to struggle Hunter is back and should be able to fill in nicely. Ogando is going to be pitching a lot more innings than he is used to, so he's probably the one to watch the closest as the long season wears on.

I have no idea how Matt Harrison is doing it. Oh yes I do, luck. But I have no explanation as to why its lasted this long. His FIP and xFIP are a full run higher than his ERA, his BABIP is extremely low for a guy that doesnt strike out a lot of guys. Basically all statistcal indicators point one way, but results point another. Whatever. Pray it lasts.

Derek Holland though ought to be yanked out of the rotation. He's brilliant one day, and garbage the next two.

 

[Stautner]

I have no idea how Matt Harrison is doing it. Oh yes I do, luck. But I have no explanation as to why its lasted this long. His FIP and xFIP are a full run higher than his ERA, his BABIP is extremely low for a guy that doesnt strike out a lot of guys. Basically all statistcal indicators point one way, but results point another. Whatever. Pray it lasts.

Derek Holland though ought to be yanked out of the rotation. He's brilliant one day, and garbage the next two.

Luck is short term, you can't just explain away 3 1/2 months by calling it luck. That's just being stubborn.

That said, of course there are no guarantees that it will continue. Baseball is a funny game. A guy can be a 20 game winner one season and a 10 game winner the next. A guy can hit .320 with 35 HR's one year, and hit .270 with 22 HR's the next. Things fluctuate.

And of course there is luck involved - that is a factor in every aspect of baseball. Some balls get crushed by hitters and they get caught and others are hit weakly but happen to fall out of the reach of a defender. Still, the odds of a well struck ball become a hit far outweigh the odds of a poorly struck ball becoming a hit. It's the nature of the game, but overall, continued success over a significant period of time means a person is doing things right more often than not, and continued failure over a significant period of time means they are doing things wrong more often than not.

But to act as if 3 1/2 months of success has nothing to do with Harrison doing something right is ridiculous.

Hell, you even hung your hat on a one time projectin that Harrison said could possibly reach the level of a No. 3 starter, yet even as he pitches to that level you claim the very thing you hung your hat on doesn't apply, and that he really isn't capable of it. Or even of being a No. 4 or No, 5 starter.

Where is the logic in that - claiming alternately that the projection supports your claim and then that it doesn't apply?

 

[DIAF]

Luck is short term, you can't just explain away 3 1/2 months by calling it luck. That's just being stubborn.

That said, of course there are no guarantees that it will continue. Baseball is a funny game. A guy can be a 20 game winner one season and a 10 game winner the next. A guy can hit .320 with 35 HR's one year, and hit .270 with 22 HR's the next. Things fluctuate.

And of course there is luck involved - that is a factor in every aspect of baseball. Some balls get crushed by hitters and they get caught and others are hit weakly but happen to fall out of the reach of a defender. Still, the odds of a well struck ball become a hit far outweigh the odds of a poorly struck ball becoming a hit. It's the nature of the game, but overall, continued success over a significant period of time means a person is doing things right more often than not, and continued failure over a significant period of time means they are doing things wrong more often than not.

But to act as if 3 1/2 months of success has nothing to do with Harrison doing something right is ridiculous.

Hell, you even hung your hat on a one time projectin that Harrison said could possibly reach the level of a No. 3 starter, yet even as he pitches to that level you claim the very thing you hung your hat on doesn't apply, and that he really isn't capable of it. Or even of being a No. 4 or No, 5 starter.

Where is the logic in that - claiming alternately that the projection supports your claim and then that it doesn't apply?

I can explain it away with fielding-independent stats and batting average on balls-in-play, all of which point to a healthy dose of luck.

This isn't the level of a #3 starter. You look at his game log, and it looks like an ace pitcher without the strikeouts. Except for the peripherals, which makes you flinch harder because you know the correction is coming at some point. But whatever. Hopefully he keeps it up because god knows Holland is trying his best to give all those runs back.

 

[Stautner]

I can explain it away with fielding-independent stats and batting average on balls-in-play, all of which point to a healthy dose of luck.

This isn't the level of a #3 starter. You look at his game log, and it looks like an ace pitcher without the strikeouts. Except for the peripherals, which makes you flinch harder because you know the correction is coming at some point. But whatever. Hopefully he keeps it up because god knows Holland is trying his best to give all those runs back.

It probably actually is the level of a No. 3 starter - typical No. 3 starters don't have ERA's as high as Harrisons. He has the 22nd best ERA among starting pitchers in MLB, so given that there are 30 teams his era puts him at a No. 1 level.

Now we all know Harrison is not a No. 1, and I accept that at this point it's still debatable that he is even going to be a No. 3, but your arguments about Harrison have always take the tone that in order to qualify as a quality starting picher he has to perform in all areas as front line starter would perform. That's a ridiculously unrealistic standard, because the question is not and never has been about him being a front line guy. The question is whether he can be a quality fit in a major league rotations, and while he may have some areas that suggest that he isn't as good a pitcher as his current results suggest, that doesn't mean he isn't performing at a level that would suggest he is a good fit somewhere in the rotatation. That's the standard you have to look at. I certainly have no expectation that he is going to be a perennial 20 game winner, but he has done plenty to suggest he has a very real chance to put up at least 12-14 wins a season, and there is clearly a solid spot in a major league rotation for a guy like that.

 

[Stautner]

It probably actually is the level of a No. 3 starter - typical No. 3 starters don't have ERA's as high as Harrisons. He has the 22nd best ERA among starting pitchers in MLB, so given that there are 30 teams his era puts him at a No. 1 level.

Now we all know Harrison is not a No. 1, and I accept that at this point it's still debatable that he is even going to be a No. 3, but your arguments about Harrison have always take the tone that in order to qualify as a quality starting picher he has to perform in all areas as front line starter would perform. That's a ridiculously unrealistic standard, because the question is not and never has been about him being a front line guy. The question is whether he can be a quality fit in a major league rotations, and while he may have some areas that suggest that he isn't as good a pitcher as his current results suggest, that doesn't mean he isn't performing at a level that would suggest he is a good fit somewhere in the rotatation. That's the standard you have to look at. I certainly have no expectation that he is going to be a perennial 20 game winner, but he has done plenty to suggest he has a very real chance to put up at least 12-14 wins a season, and there is clearly a solid spot in a major league rotation for a guy like that.

I meant as low.

 

[cowboyeric8]

Holland was amazing tonight in a 5-0 win, and the bats stay hot.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Holland with two straight complete game shutouts! Winning streak at eight!

 

[dback]

Holland with another gem!!

 

[dback]

For those watching, Colby did a hell of a job getting out of a lead off double. 2-0 Rangers through 5.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

July 27th is fast approaching! My second trip to a Rangers game. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Mrdude108]

I just went last Friday, saw my first live grand slam, it was awesome!

Holland was just incredible last night, I'm glad he has done what everybody thought he could do.

I guess Colby is pitching because CJ and Ogando went to the allstar game but CJ pitched an inning and Ogando only got two outs. Wont this mess up the pitching order?