By Martin Iheke
The injury bug continues to bite your Texas Rangers in 2014. Ace pitcher Yu Darvish is the latest victim. He has mild inflammation to his elbow and was put on the disabled list. The good news is he does not need surgery. “I want to go out there and compete, but I also think about the long-term situation,” Darvish said according to dallasnews.com. “I don’t want to go out there and risk my future. I don’t want my elbow to be aggravated,” as he continued. Since the season is lost, there really is no point in having him continue to pitch the rest of the season risking a chance that he could re-aggravate it. I am thinking the Rangers will probably go ahead and shut him down and have him ready for next season.
One pitcher we might see before the season ends is Derek Holland. Before spring training, Holland had to have knee surgery that would have him out for most of the season. Now he is in the process of completing his rehab assignment not suffering any setbacks to his knee. He nearly went four innings in his last rehab start giving up three runs with one of them earned in his longest start yet according to dallasnews.com.
In other baseball news, it looks like Major League Baseball has selected their new commissioner to replace Bud Selig who is set to retire from the position in January. Rob Manfred will be the 10th commissioner in MLB history and ESPN has more info on him here. It will be interesting to see what he brings to the table and some issues he will have to deal with. Will there be a salary cap? How does he improve the popularity of the game amongst the younger audience? I am sure there will be questions out there on whether Manfred will let Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame.
Getting back to the Rangers, they had yet another uneventful week. They returned home after a long nine-game road trip only to go 2-5 on the home stand. They lost three of four to the Tampa Bay Rays, but the one win they had in that series was a memorable one, last Tuesday night. The game went 14 innings before Rangers infielder Adam Rosales, with the bases loaded, walked in the winning run as they beat the Rays, 3-2. “At this point of the season, we’ll take a win any way we can get it,” Rangers reliever Scott Baker said according to mlb.com. “I guess in a way it’s a stat, but regardless as a reliever or a starter, to win a game in the big leagues is something special. I’m very happy, but at the same time I was in the right place at the right time,” as he continued.
The other win on this home stand came against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this past Sunday afternoon. Going into the game, the Rangers had lost nine straight to the Angels including the first two games of the three-game series. They trailed, 2-1, going into the bottom of the 9th inning when Rangers first baseman Mike Carp tied the game with a RBI single then Adam Rosales became the hero again when he delivered his first career walk off hit as the Rangers came back to win, 3-2. “It all started with the pitching,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “It started with Nick Tepesch. That second inning there could have gotten real ugly and in the past it may have but that’s the new Nick Tepesch. He’s able to slow it down, execute pitches all day and he didn’t let traffic bother him. He kept us in the ballgame and gave us a chance,” as he continued. Tepesch was terrific going seven-plus innings giving up two runs off six hits. The Rangers bullpen has been awesome in the last six games with a 0.40 ERA. Despite the win, the Rangers still own the worst record in the American League at 48-76.
The Rangers had a much-needed day off on Monday before traveling down to Miami for a short two-game series against the Marlins. They will have another day off on Thursday before returning home to face the AL Central division-leading Kansas City Royals in a three-game series starting Friday night.
Upcoming Schedule
8/19 @Marlins 6:10 p.m.
8/20 @Marlins 11:40 a.m.
8/22 vs Royals 7:05 p.m.
8/23 vs Royals 7:05 p.m.
8/24 vs Royals 2:05 p.m.
