Battle for First Tonight....
Well, it most likely won't come down to blows, but I would expect to see a lot of intensity in this game tonight. Both of these teams have a lot of pride and want to hold that number 1 spot.
Vicente Padilla - This will be his first start since June 29th, also against Anaheim, where he was cruising along in that game until the 5th inning where I believe he suffered his injury and began to get hit around in that game. All in all, it's been a solid season for Vicente who has been dubbed one of Wash's "horses." Padilla also had another start against the Angels on May 16th where he went 8 innings only giving up 3 runs. We will get a good idea about how Padilla is feeling by gauging his fastball. When Padilla has his good stuff, his fastball is anywhere from 94-96. Another thing to keep an eye on is the location of his breaking pitches, he must keep from leaving them up and over the plate.,
Ervin Santana - The Rangers will take their swings against another who is coming off of injury in Ervin Santana. Santana normally has electric stuff but is only making his second start since coming off the DL. His start on July 3rd against Baltimore did not go so well. He pitched 5 innings giving up six runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Santana has electric stuff when he's on, sporting a mid 90's fastball and an electric slider. Look for him to challenge the Rangers with fastballs early, and then dishing a steady diet of sliders later on.
Keys to the game tonight:
Vicente Padilla - This will be his first start since June 29th, also against Anaheim, where he was cruising along in that game until the 5th inning where I believe he suffered his injury and began to get hit around in that game. All in all, it's been a solid season for Vicente who has been dubbed one of Wash's "horses." Padilla also had another start against the Angels on May 16th where he went 8 innings only giving up 3 runs. We will get a good idea about how Padilla is feeling by gauging his fastball. When Padilla has his good stuff, his fastball is anywhere from 94-96. Another thing to keep an eye on is the location of his breaking pitches, he must keep from leaving them up and over the plate.,
Ervin Santana - The Rangers will take their swings against another who is coming off of injury in Ervin Santana. Santana normally has electric stuff but is only making his second start since coming off the DL. His start on July 3rd against Baltimore did not go so well. He pitched 5 innings giving up six runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts. Santana has electric stuff when he's on, sporting a mid 90's fastball and an electric slider. Look for him to challenge the Rangers with fastballs early, and then dishing a steady diet of sliders later on.
Keys to the game tonight:
- Padilla. Of course your starting pitcher is going to be a key every night, but tonight especially. The bullpen was taxed for 5 innings last night and the Rangers need their "horse."
- Plate discipline. The Rangers have been doing an increasingly better job of working counts, drawing walks, and hitting the pitches over the plate. If the Rangers start chasing Santana's slider and striking out a lot, they'll give Santana confidence and will be in for a long night.
- Juan Rivera. Like I said last night, welcome to the "Ranger Killer Club," Juan. Check out these stats in 31 at bats: AVG: .419 Homeruns: 4 OBP: .438 SLG: .806 gawww leee! We have to get this guy out tonight.
posted by Jacob Sailors at
2:51 PM
8 Comments:
I am so amped for tonight. The thing that I am nervous about is that when Vicente gets that adrenaline pumping he can lose it and start throwing at hitters i.e. Juan Rivera.
The Angels touched Padilla up in his last start I think so he's got to have his game face on.
Let's go Kinsler! Let's go Rangers!
If he can channel that energy, he can be very affective. Also, he has 12 very good innings against the Angels and only 1 bad one....if he's healthy, I think he'll do well tonight.
Yea, Padilla is a hothead. I can see an explosion happening tonight. Of course, he usually only gets out of hand whenever he is pitching bad or the rangers are losing. So hopefully we won't see any Padilla-Rage tonight.
--Of course, he has been behaving much better ever since the Rangers tried to get rid of him.. Has he been tamed?
As long as our defense keeps up behind Padilla, he will throw hard and deliberate. But is not tamed
All right andrew and marlon the rangers version of the bash brothers
Hello, guys. I'm a big Rangers fan since Pete O'Brien and Inky days. Hopefully, I can add some HSO's here.
So far things I've noticed from tonight's game:
Andruw Jones... Wow. Is this a mirage of his Braves' days or is he really back? I think he's on a team he likes and feels comfortable with. He's matured to the point where he doesn't have to be the guy. I think all of this results in what we are seeing now. I think he's back.
Padilla... Great stuff. He had command of his fastball and his off speed stuff was keeping the Angels off balance. I hope he isn't too badly injured.
Random:
Is it faux pau for the opposing bullpen to catch a homerun? Someone please give those Angels relievers out there some helmets. They were running around like roaches when you turn on the lights. What a barage of bombs.
Has anyone noticed that Andruw Jones bats with a smile? It's not just tonight, either. He might not be smiling and just making a face of concentration, but it looks like a smile. It cracks me up.
Bruised right hand for Padilla. I guess it could be worse. He'll probably miss a start, though.
This isn't really baseball related, but it seems the director sure is finding and showing a lot of hot girls in the stands this series. Hubba bubba.
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