SB Nation Dallas - Rangers Waste Strong Performance From Colby Lewis, Fall 3-1https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48887/dallas-fave.png2011-05-06T17:00:33-05:00http://dallas.sbnation.com/rss/stream/19154162011-05-06T17:00:33-05:002011-05-06T17:00:33-05:00MLB Standings Update
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<p>x</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/6/2156963/mlb-scores-baseball-standings-2011Brett Perryman2011-05-06T00:28:34-05:002011-05-06T00:28:34-05:00Justin Smoaks Rangers
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<th class="td-left"> <span>Final - 5.5.2011 </span> </th> <th> 1 </th> <th> 2 </th> <th> 3 </th> <th> 4 </th> <th> 5 </th> <th> 6 </th> <th> 7 </th> <th> 8 </th> <th> 9 </th> <th>R</th> <th>H</th> <th>E</th>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="loss"> <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a> </span></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td class="highlight">1</td>
<td class="highlight">6</td>
<td class="highlight">1</td>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="win"> <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> </span></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>X</td>
<td class="highlight">3</td>
<td class="highlight">8</td>
<td class="highlight">0</td>
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<td colspan="13">WP: Jason Vargas (2 - 2) <br> SV: <span>Brandon League</span> (9) <br> LP: <span>Colby Lewis</span> (2 - 4)</td>
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<p>Tonight, the Mariners did not dramatically outplay the Rangers. Seattle didn't make much better contact. They had two more hits, but two fewer walks (and six fewer strikeouts). The difference was one player who you've met before: <span>Justin Smoak</span>.</p>
<p>Almost as though he holds a grudge for the <span>Cliff Lee</span> trade, Smoak was a one man wrecking crew for the Mariners tonight. Of those eight Seattle hits, three were from Justin Smoak, including a double and the game's only home run.</p>
<p>Okay, giving it all to Smoak is a bit much, as he never scored or knocked in another run after the home run, but without his two other hits, perhaps Colby Lewis handles <span>Luis Rodriguez</span> (whose RBI double proved the winning run) a little more crisply. And perhaps he doesn't fall behind 3-0 to <span>Ichiro Suzuki</span> in the seventh with two outs and a runner on second.</p>
<p>Alright, fine, it's a stretch. Smoak did not really alter the game by himself. But he was really aggravating to watch.</p>
<p>Also aggravating was the way Colby Lewis started the game, with his fastball velocity once again missing, and without the velocity he cannot get away with pitches over the plate. A fastball ended up being launched in to the seats by Smoak, and a change-up right in the middle was turned in to a ground rule double by Rodriguez.</p>
<p>Let, despite that start, Lewis ended up battling back to have another decent start in a row. Even with the poor velocity at the start, he managed to average over 89 miles per hour on his fastball, topped 90 several times, and did so consistently over the last half of his start. He managed 11 strikeouts against just one walk, a complete (shortened) game to once give the bullpen a second night off, and even garnered a whopping 16 swinging strikes. After Rodriguez, the only run came on a weak hit by Suzuki, and three runs surrendered on the road in a complete game is pretty good.</p>
<p>It might behoove you to shrug the start off as being a result of facing the Mariners. You'd be right to say the Mariners helped, but you'd be wrong to make that excuse for Lewis's numbers entirely. Seattle walks around 10% of the time, not the 3% of the time they did tonight. They strike out 22% of the time, not the 34% of the time they did tonight. On top of that being in a home performance. Lewis benefited from facing a bad offense, but he made that bad offense look even worse than they actually are. Thanks to the start, which continued some of the troubling signs he's shown this year, it was yet another game where he wasn't up to the standard he showed he can reach last season, but it was the third game in a row from Colby Lewis that you should be fine with.</p>
<p>The problem tonight was the offense. I don't know why they decided to take the night off against <span>Doug Fister</span>, but they did. <span>Ian Kinsler</span> had the only extra base hit, a double. <i><span>Michael Young</span></i> had two of the three walks. There was undoubtedly some bad luck in there, as well as a Kinsler rocket that I'm pretty sure carries out in most parks, but that doesn't completely excuse the weak contact, or the complete disinterest in taking pitches. Vargas was throwing strikes, but either they weren't hittable and the Rangers were swinging anyway instead of working the count, or they were hittable and everyone just had an off night. I'm not a scout so I can't tell you which one it was, but, either way, it was really annoying. Kinsler is probably exempt for making some good contact. Young is probably exempt for getting himself on base three times against a pitcher who was hitting the zone pretty consistently. The rest of the offense, though, had a really bad performance against a not really good pitcher, the same kind of thing that always ended up getting Lewis losses last year.</p>
<p>Yet again, this was just another game. Unlike the first game in this series, it managed to not have an emotionally devastating finish, and losing a series on the road is never a huge problem, not even in Seattle. The problem is not this game individually, it's that these unremarkable losses -- games and series -- are continually adding up. They're not bad in isolation, but they're really bad when they just keep getting strung together. There are still no signs that we should be panicking about the Rangers' just not having the talent we expected, but you don't get a second chance on losses. The losses need to stop sooner, rather than later, or the pennant race will be less than comfortable.</p>
<p>If it matters at all. . .</p>
<h4><b>GAME CHARTS</b></h4>
<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2011-05-05&team=Mariners&dh=0&season=2011">FanGraphs Win Expectancy</a></b></p>
<h4><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/606244/wpa.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Wpa_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/606244/wpa_medium.png"></a></h4>
<p><b>Biggest Failures</b> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/wpa/">What is this, I don't even. . . ?</a>)</p>
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<span>Adrian Beltre</span> -20%</li>
<li>
<span>David Murphy</span> -15%</li>
<li>Colby Lewis -10%</li>
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<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=5&day=5&year=2011&game=gid_2011_05_05_texmlb_seamlb_1%2F&prevDate=55">Larry Vanover's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball</a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/606248/strikezone.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Strikezone_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/606248/strikezone_medium.png"></a> <br id="1304659482597"></p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/6/2156775/justin-smoaks-rangersRobbie Griffin2011-05-05T16:22:28-05:002011-05-05T16:22:28-05:00Rangers Vs. Mariners: Texas Looks To Take Series From Seattle
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<p>(Sports Network) – The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a> will close out a three-game series against the AL West-rival <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> tonight from Safeco Field.</p>
<p>Texas ended a three-game slide and rebounded from Tuesday’s series-opening loss to Seattle with last night’s 5-2 triumph thanks to <span>C.J. Wilson</span>’s first complete game of the season and fourth of his career. The left-hander allowed two runs — one earned — on six hits with 12 strikeouts and one walk.</p>
<p>“For me, it’s more surgical, that’s the way I try to pitch,” said Wilson. “My changeup, the first four innings tonight, was barely missing, but it was missing. Once I started to throw it for strikes then I felt like they had no chance.”</p>
<p><span>Mitch Moreland</span> and <span>Chris Davis</span> both clubbed home runs for the Rangers, who won for only the second time in seven attempts. After this seven-game road trip concludes this evening, Texas will return to Arlington for a nine-game homestand versus the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a>, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.athleticsnation.com/">Athletics</a> and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.halosheaven.com/">Angels</a>.</p>
<p><span>Colby Lewis</span> has the honor of following Wilson’s performance when he takes the mound in Thursday’s series finale. Lewis ended a personal three-start losing streak in Saturday’s 11-2 win at Oakland, as he tossed eight innings of two- run ball with a season-best six K’s.</p>
<p>Lewis, a righty, has faced the Mariners plenty of times in his career as evidenced by his 4-3 mark and 3.73 earned run average in 14 games (10 starts) in the series. Lewis lost his last start against Seattle on August 3, when he was reached for three runs and nine hits in six innings of a 3-2 decision.</p>
<p>The Mariners have dropped two of three games since a five-game winning streak and received a rocky outing from starting pitcher <span>Michael Pineda</span>. Pineda permitted four runs and seven hits with nine strikeouts and no walks through seven innings for his second loss of the season (4-2).</p>
<p>“Michael threw the ball well again today, a couple fastballs that they got to and turned around, but he still pitched well, gave us a chance to win the ballgame,” said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. “Their guy was real good and he took it the whole way, made pitches, kept the ball down all day. But, every time Michael goes out there he’s going to get a little bit better, he’s going to be a little bit wiser, a little bit more experienced.”</p>
<p><span>Miguel Olivo</span> had two <span class="caps">RBI</span> and <span>Chone Figgins</span> finished with two hits and a pair of runs scored for Seattle, which got two hits from <span>Milton Bradley</span>.</p>
<p>Seattle, which will host the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> for three games in the Emerald City over the weekend, hands the ball to Jason Vargas tonight. Vargas picked up his first win of the season in last Friday’s 5-4 victory at Boston, as he lasted seven innings and yielded four runs and eight hits.</p>
<p>Vargas, who is 1-2 with a 5.45 earned run average in six starts, has given up a total of 12 runs over the past three trips to the hill. The lefty hasn’t enjoyed much success against Texas in his career and is 1-3 in eight games, six of which have been starts.</p>
<p>Texas swept a three-game series from the Mariners in Arlington in early April and has won four of the past five matchups between the two ballclubs.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/5/2156158/rangers-vs-mariners-texas-looks-to-take-series-from-seattleJP Starkey2011-05-05T00:15:35-05:002011-05-05T00:15:35-05:00C.J. Wilson Announces Presence With Authority
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<th class="td-left"> <span>Final - 5.4.2011 </span> </th> <th> 1 </th> <th> 2 </th> <th> 3 </th> <th> 4 </th> <th> 5 </th> <th> 6 </th> <th> 7 </th> <th> 8 </th> <th> 9 </th> <th>R</th> <th>H</th> <th>E</th>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="win"> <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a> </span></td>
<td>2</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td class="highlight">5</td>
<td class="highlight">7</td>
<td class="highlight">2</td>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="loss"> <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> </span></td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td class="highlight">2</td>
<td class="highlight">6</td>
<td class="highlight">0</td>
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<td colspan="13">WP: <span>C.J. Wilson</span> (4 - 1) <br> LP: <span>Michael Pineda</span> (4 - 2)</td>
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<p>Christopher. John. Wilson.</p>
<p>I did not get to watch much of tonight's game, so there wasn't going to really be a recap, but what Wilson did tonight deserves some words.</p>
<p>Prior to tonight's game, FanGraphs' estimated Wilson's true-talent performance this season as having been worth 1.1 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=al&qual=y&type=8&season=2011&month=0&season1=2011&ind=0">wins above a replacement-level baseball player</a>. In the American League, that's good enough for seventh. Only two players with six or fewer starts had more WAR: <span>Brandon McCarthy</span> (1.3) and <span>James Shields</span> (1.2). So, even before tonight, he looked like one of the best pitchers period in the young 2011 season. At least according to one popular source.</p>
<p>The main ways for a pitcher to inflate his WAR are maximize strikeouts, minimize walks, keep the ball in the yard, and pitch a lot of innings. Wilson covered all of those bases and then some tonight. To the first, how does 12 strikeouts sound? If it sounds dominant, that's because it is, as are the nine swinging strikes he got.</p>
<p>He matched that with just one single walk, too, which continues an encouraging sign from Wilson. Last season, his biggest weakness was his walk rate, but prior to tonight he had already nearly halved his BB/9 so far through the season, and was getting the ball in the zone more often to back it up. Another night of few walks and 65% of his pitches thrown in the zone just reinforces the confidence that the nibbling is decreasing.</p>
<p>Of course, you can't do any better than no home runs allowed or a complete game. It was the Rangers' first complete game of the year, and it came just one night after yet another horrific bullpen melt down. What better way to keep the pen out of the game than pitch all nine innings? Going the distance and dominating a lineup that way (ON THE ROAD!) will certainly serve to increase his WAR when it updates Thursday morning, but more important it came when the Rangers had two emotionally demoralizing losses in a row to division opponents. The Mariners eked out some runs, but Wilson reminded the fans that there are very good players on this roster, and because of the C.J. Wilson's of Arlington, a slump is likely just a slump.</p>
<p>Mr. Wilson, please humbly accept my apologies. When you asked to start, I was convinced there was little way you would be even a mediocre starter. Instead, you were more like an All-Star and a top-of-the-rotation talent. After that, I was concerned you might struggle to repeat that performance. Instead, it looks like you've only improved.</p>
<p>You have proven me very, very wrong. And I love you for it.</p>
<h4><b>GAME CHARTS</b></h4>
<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2011-05-04&team=Mariners&dh=0&season=2011">FanGraphs Win Expectancy</a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/605385/wpa.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Wpa_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/605385/wpa_medium.png"></a></p>
<p><b>Biggest Contributions</b> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/wpa/">What is this, I don't even. . . ?</a>)</p>
<ol>
<li>C.J. Wilson 20%</li>
<li>
<span>Mitch Moreland</span> 14%</li>
<li>
<span>Chris Davis</span> 10%</li>
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<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=5&day=4&year=2011&game=gid_2011_05_04_texmlb_seamlb_1%2F&prevDate=54">Brian Gorman's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball</a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/605393/strikezone.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Strikezone_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/605393/strikezone_medium.png"></a> <br id="1304572385979"></p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/5/2154759/c-j-wilson-announces-presence-with-authorityRobbie Griffin2011-05-04T16:46:46-05:002011-05-04T16:46:46-05:00Rangers Vs. Mariners: Texas Offense Gets Second Crack At Michael Pineda
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<p>(Sports Network) – <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> rookie <span>Michael Pineda</span>’s career may have started with a loss to Texas a month ago, but he has been unbeatable since. He’ll seek revenge against the only team to best him so far as he hopes to extend the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Rangers</a>’ season-worst losing streak to four straight games this evening at Safeco Field.</p>
<p>Seattle unveiled the 6-foot-7 Pineda to the baseball world on April 5 and the 22-year-old pitched well in his debut, giving up three runs on five hits over six innings before taking a close 3-2 setback to Texas.</p>
<p>“He has pretty good stuff for a young kid,” Rangers manager Ron Washington told Seattle’s website after that meeting. “He had a good fastball and a nice rhythm going out there, especially with runners on base. He threw some good changeups, some good splits. He was very impressive.”</p>
<p>The few teams to see Pineda since might agree. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 1.42 earned run average in his four starts since, striking out 26 batters over 25 1/3 innings in that span. He has also yet to allow a home run in any of his five starts, including his latest victory on Thursday versus the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.blessyouboys.com/">Tigers</a>. Pineda held Detroit to a pair of runs on four hits and three walks over six innings, striking out a career-best nine.</p>
<p>“Great job of controlling the ballgame. Mixed his pitches well,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said of his starting pitcher.</p>
<p>The Mariners took the opener of this three-game series on Tuesday, 4-3. <span>Justin Smoak</span> had three hits and drove in two runs, while <span>Jack Cust</span> singled through a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning to bring home <span>Miguel Olivo</span> for the game- winning run.</p>
<p>“That was big for [Cust], obviously big for us,” Wedge said. “Prior to that, he had some hard outs. Great to see him step up for us.”</p>
<p><span>David Pauley</span> was in line for the loss before the Mariners rallied for two in the home eighth to vulture a win, Seattle’s sixth in seven games.</p>
<p>Texas, which has lost seven of its last nine overall, had the tying run on second in the ninth, but <span>Brandon League</span> got <span>David Murphy</span> to bounce out sharply to short to finish off his eighth save.</p>
<p><span>Elvis Andrus</span>, <span>Michael Young</span> and <span>Adrian Beltre</span> all drove in runs for the Rangers, who had swept the Mariners in three-games at home a month ago and had a four-game series winning streak end.</p>
<p>Outfielder Nelson Cruz left the game early for Texas with tightness in his right quad.</p>
<p><span>C.J. Wilson</span> will try to get back on track tonight when he takes the hill for the Rangers.</p>
<p>The 30-year-old won his first three decisions of the season before suffering a loss in Oakland on Friday. Wilson didn’t pitch poorly, giving up three runs — two earned — on nine hits and three walks over seven innings, but didn’t get much support on offense and defense in a 3-1 loss.</p>
<p>“I thought he did a great job, we just couldn’t support him,” Washington told Texas’ official website.</p>
<p>A 15-game winner last year, Wilson is 3-1 with a 3.35 <span class="caps">ERA</span> in six starts this year. The former reliever went 1-2 with a 4.50 <span class="caps">ERA</span> in five starts versus Seattle a season ago.</p>
<p>Cust is 5-for-11 in his career versus Wilson with three <span class="caps">RBI</span>.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/4/2154105/rangers-vs-mariners-texas-offense-gets-second-crack-at-michael-pinedaJP Starkey2011-05-04T00:51:56-05:002011-05-04T00:51:56-05:00Nelson Cruz, Alexi Ogando Sustain Minor Injuries In Rangers Loss
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<p>Nelson Cruz sustained a quad injury that will keep him out for at least one day, and <span>Alexi Ogando</span> saw his blister problem return in the <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Rangers</a>’ 4-3 loss to the <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Mariners</a> in their series opener in Seattle.</p>
<p>Cruz told reporters after the game that his injury didn’t appear to be as serious as his hamstring problems last season and that he will be able to avoid the disabled list, possibly only missing one game. He missed 54 games in 2010, most of them a result of hamstring pulls and tweaks.</p>
<p>Ogando said that his blister issue began to crop up again in the fifth inning. He managed to complete six innings and had a 102 pitch count when he left the game, but he said that the blister was the primary reason he exited then. He has completed at least six innings in all six of his starts, but has seen fluid collect in his pitching finger that has caused him to leave half of those starts.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/4/2152825/nelson-cruz-alexi-ogando-sustain-minor-injuries-in-rangers-lossBrett Perryman2011-05-04T00:29:57-05:002011-05-04T00:29:57-05:00This Is Getting Bad
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<th class="td-left"> <span>Final - 5.3.2011 </span> </th> <th> 1 </th> <th> 2 </th> <th> 3 </th> <th> 4 </th> <th> 5 </th> <th> 6 </th> <th> 7 </th> <th> 8 </th> <th> 9 </th> <th>R</th> <th>H</th> <th>E</th>
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<td class="td-name"><span class="loss"> <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Texas Rangers</a> </span></td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td class="highlight">3</td>
<td class="highlight">5</td>
<td class="highlight">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="td-name"><span class="win"> <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> </span></td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>X</td>
<td class="highlight">4</td>
<td class="highlight">10</td>
<td class="highlight">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="13">WP: <span>David Pauley</span> (1 - 0) <br> SV: <span>Brandon League</span> (8) <br> LP: <span>Pedro Strop</span> (0 - 1)</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
<p class="foot clearfix"><span class="link-more"><span>Complete Coverage ></span></span></p>
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<p> </p>
<p>For the second straight day, the Rangers lost a game that was unremarkable on paper. For the second straight game, it was an infuriating game to watch as a Rangers fan.</p>
<p>The bullpen is awful right now. That doesn't mean it will be awful in June, let alone October, but over the recent stretch of the season, it has been bad enough to sink the Rangers who are otherwise okay-to-good. While the bullpen is just one cog on the team, and not even the most important cog, losing because of a bad bullpen is the worst way to lose. Things aren't any better if your starters are getting knocked around and the game is over early (in fact, they're probably worse), but it's much less painful to watch.</p>
<p><span>Darren Oliver</span>, for the second straight day, served a meatball on his first pitch to give up the winning run. This was after Pedro Strop, <i>in consecutive innings</i>, gave up the lead. Either the Rangers' offense was off, or <span>Erik Bedard</span> was on, or Safeco was extra Safeco-ey today (or probably a combination of all three), and <span>Alexi Ogando</span> was once again lucky to only give up as many runs as he did, but all that was going to be enough until the Rangers' bullpen stepped in and ruined it.</p>
<p>Again.</p>
<p>Also, let me show you <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tangotiger.net/RE9902.html">this</a>. That's a chart showing you how many runs you can expect to score in a given situation. So, for instance, with an average hitter up with a runner on first and no outs, you can expect to get, on average, just under one run; 0.953 runs to be exact. Now, this is from 1999-2002, so that number might be lower today, but that's beside the coming point.</p>
<p>The Rangers found themselves in that very position in the 8th, except they didn't have an average hitter up. They had <span>Ian Kinsler</span> up, an above average hitter. The odds of scoring at least a run are very good, in fact, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tangotiger.net/RE9902score.html">a quarter of the time</a>, you can expect to score multiple runs with someone who isn't even as good as Kinsler up.</p>
<p>However, Ron Washington elected not to have Ian Kinsler hit in that situation. Instead, he chose to take the bat out of Kinsler's hands by having him bunt over Borbon, thus bringing up <span>Elvis Andrus</span> (who pinch hit) with a runner on second and one out. As you can see, the expectancy in that situation is .725 runs. You have lowered your expected runs, by choice. Plus, you have chosen to now have Andrus, a below average hitter, bat, so it's really even lower than .7 runs.</p>
<p>Now, sure, Borbon stole third (which was pretty exciting), and Andrus brought him in with another bunt, and the Rangers had the lead. It worked to get in a run. The Kinsler bunt, in fact, did raise the odds of scoring exactly one run, from just under 18% to 23%. But that's before considering the fact that you have given the base runner situation to a lesser hitter, and we saw the problem with playing for just one run immediately courtesy of Strop and Oliver. It is not a good idea to play for just one run, especially when you don't have a reliable bullpen.</p>
<p>Now, from a win probability standpoint, the Kinsler bunt only dropped the Rangers about 2%, from a 57% chance of winning to 55% chance of winning. Not a lot, and there is an argument for bunting now and then just to keep defenses honest. But it did drop, and that, again, ignores the fact that you dropped in quality of hitter quite a bit, and you don't have a bullpen you can really trust. This was not a decision that deserves a whole lot of screaming and yelling, but it was probably one that deserves questioning. And it was probably one that hurt the Rangers on a night they ended up losing for a nebulous potential gain.</p>
<p>Not to blame Wash for the loss entirely, of course. It was mostly Strop and his inability to be a good Major League closer yet, if he ever will. You'll notice below he has a -80% WPA.</p>
<p>-50% is costing your team an entire game. Think about that.</p>
<h4>GAME CHARTS<br>
</h4>
<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2011-05-03&team=Mariners&dh=0&season=2011">FanGraphs Win Expectancy</a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/604543/wpa.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Wpa_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/604543/wpa_medium.png"></a></p>
<p><b>Biggest Failures</b> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/wpa/">What is this, I don't even. . . ?</a>)</p>
<ol>
<li>Pedro Strop -80%</li>
<li>
<span>David Murphy</span> -16%</li>
<li>
<span>Mike Napoli</span> -15%</li>
</ol>
<p><b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=5&day=3&year=2011&game=gid_2011_05_03_texmlb_seamlb_1%2F&prevDate=53">Dan Bellino's Strikezone from Brooks Baseball</a></b></p>
<p><a href="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/604547/strikezone.png" target="_blank"><img alt="Strikezone_medium" class="photo" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/604547/strikezone_medium.png"></a> <br id="1304486735137"></p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/texas-rangers/2011/5/4/2152776/this-is-getting-badRobbie Griffin2011-05-03T11:16:07-05:002011-05-03T11:16:07-05:00Texas Rangers Vs. Seattle Mariners: Alexi Ogando Takes On Erik Bedard, Mariners
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<p><a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Texas Rangers</a> (16-13) at <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Seattle Mariners</a> (13-16)<br>Probable Starting Pitchers: <span>Alexi Ogando</span> (3-0, 2.30 ERA), <span>Erik Bedard</span> (1-4, 5.96 ERA)</p>
<p>The Texas Rangers look to turn their fortunes around on their current road trip tonight in Seattle as they take on the Mariners. Texas lost yesterday in extra innings to Oakland, dropping three of four to the A's to start off their seven game road trip. Now, the Rangers head to Seattle to try to end their road trip on a better note and reclaim first place in the AL West.</p>
<p>Alexi Ogando draws the start for the Rangers in Seattle. Ogando, who was Texas' best starter in April, has posted a 3-0 record to go along with a 2.30 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. The converted relief pitcher has exceeded all expectations and will look to continue pitching well into May.</p>
<p>Ogando will be opposed by oft injured lefty Erik Bedard. Bedard has struggled this year as he owns a 1-4 record to go along with a 5.96 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. Further, Bedard has struck out just 20 batters and has walked 11 - not a good ratio whatsoever. </p>
<p>The Ogando v. Bedard matchup could be just what Texas needs to return to their winning ways.</p>
<p>First pitch is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. CDT, 7:10 p.m. PDT.</p>
https://dallas.sbnation.com/2011/5/3/2334577/texas-rangers-vs-seattle-mariners-alexi-ogando-takes-on-erik-bedardJP Starkey