Through the Alfonso Soriano HR in the 5th, Rangers have 75 Home Runs. Only the Orioles have more than 60. They have allowed only 32. Only the Marlins and the Nationals have allowed fewer. That differential of 75 HR’s for and 32 against is a +43, which is easily the best in baseball. I have no theories as to why this differential exists. Most of the time, when we look at the Rangers numbers, we blame the weather, the park, and other elements that cannot be controlled. But in this case, it is obvious that you can not do that. The weather is the same. The park is the same. Somehow, the Rangers, at least through nearly 2 months, have managed to murder the ball without allowing their opponents to do the same. What a start to the season.
Young with a gem to beat ChiSox …
In eight innings, which tied his longest outing this season, Young threw an economical 102 pitches. By contrast, he threw 96 and 93 in his last two starts when he lasted five innings each. He is on pace to throw 180 innings, uncharted territory for him, and the Rangers need him to be this good in the heat of August and in a potential playoff chase in September.
This is from the May 10th Blog entry:
Bob’s Blog Exclusive Research Project of the Day: The Rangers had 61 quality starts in 2004, according to Rangers’ PR guru Gregg Elkin. That comes out to about 37.6%. With Chris Young’s start last night (May 9th) that did in fact end up a loss, that was quality start #18 out of 33 games for 54.4%. This projects to 88 quality starts this season. If they get to 88, they may squeeze into the postseason, and they also should nominate Orel Hershiser into the HOF as a pitching coach. That is just amazing if it holds up.
Since that day, the Rangers have run off 8 quality starts of the next 15 games, bringing the season total to 26 of 48 for 54.1%. Again, we are not out of May, but they are still maintaining this pace of nearly 90 quality starts! Also, we should not overlook the fact that no starter has missed a start yet. The same rotation that left Surprise in late March is still going to work every 5th day. Bravo!
Here is the breakdown of the Quality Starts:
Rogers: 10 starts, 9 quality starts (4/6, 4/11, 4/21, 4/27, 5/2, 5/8, 5/14, 5/20, 5/26)
Drese: 10 starts, 4 quality starts (4/5, 4/15, 5/7, 5/24)
Young: 10 starts, 4 quality starts (4/28, 5/3, 5/9, 5/27)
Park: 9 starts, 4 quality starts (4/13, 4/23, 4/29, 5/22)
Astacio: 9 starts, 5 quality starts (4/9, 4/14, 4/19, 5/11, 5/25)
Barry Horn cracks on the Rangers TV broadcast …
To: Rangers TV
Re: You reap what you don't show
Guys:
It wouldn't take Oliver Stone to create suspicions about your failure to show the between-innings Rod Barajas-Ryan Drese dugout fight the other night. Remember, you are the same guys who wouldn't show replays of the Frankie Francisco fiasco in Oakland last season.
You say you didn't know about Barajas-Drese until later in the game, when you learned Kansas City television had shots of the skirmish. You didn't feel it would be professional for Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve to speculate on what had taken place.
Why not dispatch man-in-the-stands Jim Knox to try to find out? Or was he too busy preparing questions for some feature about nacho vendors? Or why not ask the Royals broadcasters for their take?
The count is now 0-2 in tight situations.
Revo on the Rangers big weekend …
Podsednik comes home …
Prior out 6 to 8 weeks at least …
Helling with scary incident …
England versus U.S. today! …I am fired up, but without Beckham, Owen, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Rooney, and others, is it really England?
Owen answers the jealousy question …
Grapevine Blog with a fine college football point …
Now what for Star Wars Nerds? …
Bucks debate #1 pick …I know, they will take the big white guy…
Paris Hilton strikes back …
Interview with Pedro …Hello?
6 comments:
Bob,
Thanks for the Sturmalanche about my post on Trev Alberts and the rest of the spares at ESPN.
What a gutsy move to go with Napoleon Dynamite instead of the Alamo. Pedro sounds like a good interview.
The Alamo:
Budget $95,000,000
Gross $22,406,362
Napoleon Dynamite:
Budget $400,000
Gross $44,540,956
Damn straight. Trev Alberts was a spare player and he's an even bigger spare as a broadcaster. It's obvious who is truly biased as Texas proved it on the field at the Rose Bowl, while Cal wilted in San Diego...
Frikkin' Angels. How can they beat the Royals 9-8 after being down 8-3 in the ninth and then come back and beat them again 7-6 on Sunday.
The Rangers came up HUGE against the Sox this weekend (and the rainout was almost as good as the win, because it rested our starters, pushed Drese and Astacio back, and pushed the White Sox' Buehrle back to pitch against the Angels), and they're still a half-game out. During the coming week, though, we get to play the Tigers and the Royals, and the Angels get to play the White Sox and Boston.
The Angels have to come back to Earth sooner or later while the Rangers seem to be playing about to their potential overall. Maybe that's just the homer in me.
Oh, and, uh, with the Suns about to be swept (with ease) by the Spurs and Nash starting to wear down (apparently), are people still thinking the Suns made a smart move overpaying the guy so much?
Makes you wonder how the Mavs would've fared if they made it that far. I think they would've given the Spurs more of a fight, maybe six games, just because they're built more like the Spurs. But with Duncan at full strength, yikes.
With Duncan at full strength, the Spurs are easily the best team in the NBA. And in think with this series, Suns fans are quickly learning to take the good (Nash's terrific passing skills) with the bad (Nash's atrocious defense).
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