No No-No, At Least

Francisco Liriano has had a bad season thus far, but he has also had a good career when he has been healthy, and has some incredible stuff. Amusingly, in the midst of a bad season, he threw his first career no-hitter on a day when his stuff was not quite there for him.

Today, his stuff was there for him, and that was a Rangers nightmare. Without lefty-killer Mike Napoli, the Rangers threw out a heavy LHH lineup against Liriano, and the combination was a disaster. Most of the game was simply the terror of a potential no-hitter, or worse, as Liriano was perfect through six innings, making the Rangers look completely foolish at the plate. This was no lucky perfect start -- though there was some good Twins defense -- this was simply a combination of a very good pitcher and a very out of it lineup.

In the seventh, Elvis Andrus reached on an error, and the perfect game was broken up, but Liriano still finished the inning with a no-hit bid. At that point, it was still a one run game, but the way Liriano was pitching it felt over. The eighth, however, saw the no-hitter quickly broken up by an Adrian Beltre single, and then even the shutout broken up Yorvit Torrealba singled him home.

Unfortunately, the Liriano "melt down," likely, to how long Liriano had to sit during the bottom of the seventh, where everything fell apart for the Rangers. Thanks to some good luck, Matt Harrison had managed to keep the Twins off the board outside of one run in the first, but he was nailed by a Danny Valencia b-line to start the seventh, and had to leave the game while Valencia reached first. Mark Lowe replaced him, and was not as lucky (or as good).

Lowe has actually been a pretty good reliever this year, especially for someone who is just supposed to be bullpen filler and not getting the big leverage. Sunday, though, he was really bad. Nearly every plate appearance resulted in solid contact, and with a couple of balls just past Andrus and his first homerun allowed on the season, he allowed five runs (including Valencia) against just two outs.Though we should be careful about taking Lowe's good season at face value -- since it was just over 16 innings pitched prior to today -- we should be even more careful about taking this one game as a sign that he is suddenly bad. Regardless, he was very bad and took a close game and put it out of reach.

Maybe the way it ended felt better than a 6-1 game normally would, because the Rangers at least managed to carve out a couple of hits and a run when a perfect game seemed imminent. Maybe Mark Lowe had trouble getting ready on short notice. Maybe (likely) this was a game the Rangers were going to lose more often than not, anyway. It was still the ugly end to a very ugly series. Buried inside was a dominant Rangers victory, but otherwise it was an overall one-sided 1-3 performance in Minnesota, which has seemingly become a house of horrors for Texas.

This 20 game stretch which is the hardest of the year most likely is still going well, though now just barely. Thanks to this awful series, and the poor performance against Detroit, a lot of the good done by beating up on Tampa Bay and Cleveland has been undone. It is still far from time to panic, of course, but it is frustrating how quickly a feel-good stretch can turn in to something that is merely OK.

Good riddance, Target Field. We hate you.

GAME CHARTS

FanGraphs Win Expectancy

Biggest Failures

1. Mark Lowe -17%
2. Michael Young -12%
3. Ian Kinsler -10%

Doug Eddings's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball

Rangers Look To Salvage Series Against Twins

The Texas Rangers have lost two of their first three games in a four game set against the Minnesota Twins. On Sunday, Matt Harrison and the Rangers will look to salvage a split in Minnesota.

Harrison received his first loss since May 6 in his latest start. Harrison lasted just four innings against the Tigers, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks. The runs were the first Harrison had given up since May 17 against the White Sox, as Harrison hadn't allowed a run to score against either the Phillies or Royals prior to getting shellacked by the Tigers.

Francisco Liriano will make the start for Minnesota. Liriano has been awful on the whole this season, going 3-6 with a 5.20 ERA and 1.43 WHIP. Liriano's control has been absent as well, walking 35 in 53.2 innings of work this year. Liriano has been great at times, though, as he's got a no hitter to his credit this year.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CDT.

Colby Lewis Stokes The Fires Of Panic

It was over as quickly as it began.

Colby Lewis began the year with a few bad starts, looking like something might be wrong and the rotation might be in trouble. Then settled down, looking more like his 2010 TORP self from the end of April to the start of June, and fans had reason to think everything would be okay going forward.

Now, Lewis has strung together two games that are not just bad but horrendous in a row, and panic is probably going to hit a new high. This was awful.

That was Colby Lewis today. His velocity was actually not particularly alarming, and the slider continued to make guys miss, but the command was terrifying. Through his fifty pitches, he struggled to find the strikezone, and when he did found it -- as those bright blue squares tell you -- he found a lot of it, and the Twins turned those fat pitches in to hard base hits. He allowed five runs to start the first, another run in the second, and he -- and the Rangers -- were done quickly on national television.

The offense was nearly equally pathetic, doing nothing against Scott Baker, allowing him to throw a complete game with just one run scored. The offense will have a bad day now and then, and this was one of them. They've had more than enough good days to make this a blip on the radar. For Lewis, though, this was a very bad sign. He's still been very good very recently, and showed that for a while this season, but for two games in a row now he hasn't even been good enough to be the last man in a Major League bullpen, let alone a top starter for a team with at least aspirations of making the playoffs. Few outside of the Rangers likely know what's wrong, how to fix it, or if it even can be fixed, but this is scary until we hear or see something.

A bad game all around, and not much to say about it other than the Rangers were awful. If they can manage to win tomorrow, they get a split on the road, which -- even against a hobbled Twins team -- is never a bad thing, but it will be hard to feel good about merely getting a split in Minnesota with a game this ugly on the record.

One more note for Fox on their national broadcasts: Get someone who actually does their homework before the games. Mark Grace had snarky comments about how the Rangers prefer to slug the ball but play awful defense, which is so off the mark it would be hilarious if it wasn't being spouted by the color man to a national audience. He coupled that with great insights, such as saying Scott Baker is good because he "just takes the ball," or how the Rangers' key to the game was "stay the course," while the Twins' key to the game was "just keep playing." Perhaps he was just too busy with other things this week to be on top of the teams he was supposed to cover, but he was awful and unprepared, and he chose to mask that inanity with snark and bad jokes. The game was bad enough to watch, but Fox made it even worse with a horribly inadequate analyst in the booth.

Hopefully you enjoyed your Saturday. Better days ahead.

GAME CHARTS

FanGraphs Win Expectancy

Biggest Failures (What is this, I don't even. . . ?)

1. Colby Lewis -38%
2. Ian Kinsler -3%
3. Elvis Andrus -3%

Paul Nauert's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball

Rangers Vs. Twins: Saturday Lineups

Per RotoInfo.

Texas vs. RHP Scott Baker

1. 2B Ian Kinsler
2. SS Elvis Andrus
3. DH Josh Hamilton
4. 3B Adrian Beltre
5. RF Nelson Cruz
6. 1B Mitch Moreland
7. C Mike Napoli
8. LF David Murphy
9. CF Endy Chavez

Minnesota vs. RHP Colby Lewis

1. CF Ben Revere
2. SS Alexi Casilla
3. 1B Michael Cuddyer
4. LF Delmon Young
5. DH Rene Tosoni
6. 3B Danny Valencia
7. RF Brian Dinkleman
8. C Rene Rivera
9. 2B Matt Tolbert

Ian Kinsler returns from paternity leave, Josh Hamilton gets a DH day, and Michael Young gets a day off.

Colby Lewis Looks To Rebound Against Twins

The last time Colby Lewis took the mound for the Rangers, he was beat around like a red headed step child by the Detroit Tigers. On Saturday afternoon, Lewis will look to rebound as the Rangers continue their series in Minnesota against the Twins.

Lewis started on Monday for the Rangers at home in Arlington against the Tigers. Lewis couldn't escape the fourth inning, lasting just three and a third innings, giving up nine earned runs on 10 hits and a walk. Lewis allowed four home runs in the brief start as well. 

The poor outing moved Lewis' ERA up nearly a whole run from 3.48 to 4.37. 

Lewis will be opposed by Scott Baker for the Twins. Baker owns only a 3-4 record, but has pitched better than the losing record indicates. Baker has struck out 71 in 74.2 innings to go along with a 3.86 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and .259 batting average against.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CDT as the Rangers look to make it two in a row against the Twins.

What Finishing A 7-0 Rain Game Looks Like

The Rangers scored seven runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead in a game threatened my inclement weather. Familiar script, right?

Except, this time, the Rangers got to keep playing, and, as they likely would have the last time, coasted to an easy victory. Their first win ever in Target Field, in fact.

It was a day that was all about how awesome the Rangers position players were. Every Rangers starter but Andres Blanco and Nelson Cruz had a hit. In fact, every Ranger but those two, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton (who had a double) slapped multiple, and Michael Young showed good signs of breaking out of his slump with three hits to lead the team. It wasn't just the offense, though, it was the defense, highlighted by an incredible assist to third by Cruz and amazing infield stops by Adrian Beltre and Andrus.

What was unusual was the Rangers scoring nine runs with only two extra base hits the whole game. Every other hit was a single, they just mostly came in the second inning. Beltre opened the inning with the Rangers' only walk of the game (against just three strikeouts), and ended the scoring with a double for the only extra base hit of the inning. In between, there were six singles -- Hamilton making the only out -- and a reached-on-error. Beltre added another RBI single in the fourth, and Young did so in the sixth to give the Rangers nine runs with almost no power. For one day, the Rangers were an early 20th century baseball team, excelling on putting everything in play they could and hoping to string together enough singles to score runs. It was nothing if not exciting, and put the game out of reach early.

The strangeness of the game may just have been influenced by the umpires' decision to keep playing through the rain, which was particularly heavy in the second. Brian Duensing is better than a seven runs in two innings pitcher, and the weather at least had a small part in that, maybe a larger part. The Twins pair of errors in the inning came when Jason Repko slipped in the wet outfield and Alexi Casilla couldn't handle a strange hop on the infield grass. Those directly lead to runs and baserunners, and who knows how much trouble Duensing had hitting his spots in the rain.

On the other side, C.J. Wilson's performance -- outside of runs allowed -- was not necessarily his best, either. With three walks and a hit batter to just one strikeout on three swinging strikes, he was probably a tad lucky to have gone seven innings with three runs allowed. With the weather the way it was, it's not hard to believe that was the reason Wilson had trouble missing bats or finding the zone Friday (Dana DeMuth's small zone didn't help, either). We know he's better, and one game in the rain probably means even less than one game normally does.

Regardless, even without some good luck and defensive help, Wilson still pitched well enough to win handily simply because the Rangers did a better job than the Twins of punishing a pitcher battling the elements. For the ninth time in 15 games, they've delivered cheap Papa John's pizza to the people of the Metroplex, and, after an 8-0 Cardinals loss, it gives Texas the second best run differential in baseball.

GAME CHARTS

FanGraphs Win Expectancy

Biggest Contributions (What is this, I don't even. . . ?)

1. Mike Napoli 12%
2. C.J. Wilson 9%
3. Adrian Beltre 8%

Dan DeMuth's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball

VOTE FOR THE PLAYER OF THE GAME

C.J. Wilson Looks To Prevent Rangers From Losing Two In A Row

The Texas Rangers look to avoid a losing streak on Friday night as they take on the Minnesota Twins on the second game of their road trip. 

C.J. Wilson gets the start on the mound for Texas, who are looking to rebound from a walk-off loss to the Twins last night. 

Wilson is coming off one of his better outings this year. Against the Indians, Wilson allowed just three hits and issued two walks while striking out seven in seven and two thirds innings of shut out ball en route to his sixth victory of the season. The fine outing lowered Wilson's ERA to 3.03 and his WHIP to 1.17. He's also struck out 82 batters on the season in 89 innings of work.

Texas will face off against Brian Duensing, who is 3-5 with a 4.73 ERA and 1.46 WHIP on the year. 

Let's hope Texas' bats can give Wilson a cushion and the Rangers can snap out of this mini-funk as they've lost three of their last four games.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CDT.

Rangers Vs. Twins: Texas Starts Up Another Road Trip In Minnesota

After returning home for a three game series with the Detroit Tigers, the Texas Rangers are headed back out on the road for a 10 game road trip, starting on Thursday night when the Rangers take on the Twins in Minnesota.

Texas had won five in a row - all on the road - against Tampa Bay and Cleveland before returning home to Arlington where the Rangers lost their first two games to the Tigers. On Wednesday night, Alexi Ogadno picked up his seventh win of the season, ending Texas' brief losing streak. 

On Thursday night, Derek Holland will look to continue Texas' winning ways and extend their winning streak to a modest two games. 

Holland is coming off the best start of his season, a complete game shutout against the Cleveland Indians. Holland allowed just five fits and a walk while striking out five en route to the shutout, improving his record to 5-1 and lowering his ERA and WHIP to 4.36 and 1.44. 

The Twins will be sending Nick Blackbrun to the mound against the Rangers. Blackburn is 5-4 on the season with a 3.57 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Much like many of the pitchers Texas has faced lately, Blackburn doesn't miss many bats - he's struck out only 40 in 75.2 innings of work on the season. 

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CDT.