Pregame Stuff

Rangers rely on this guy for a bounce back

TONIGHT......Scott Feldman will take on this Seattle lineup as the Rangers will try to rebound after a tough loss last night. The bad guys will roll out Brandon Morrow...you might remember him from the earlier series in Arlington when the Rangers had back to back walk offs courtesy of Hank Blalock and Chris Davis. That of course was while Morrow was closing games. Since becoming a starter, Morrow has been much better; in his last two starts, he has only given up 4 runs in 10 2/3 innings. He will rely on his fastball, but can also mix in a slider and a change up. Morrow can have control issues, so if the Rangers are patient with him and look to hit the fastballs, they can have success tonight against Morrow. The Morrow-killer in the Texas line up is Hank Blalcok. Hank had a walk off double and a home run against Morrow the last 2 times he has faced him. Over his career, Hank is 3-4 with a home run and 4 RBI. However, I doubt Morrow will give Hank any high fastballs over the middle of the plate tonight.

Feldman will look to stay hot, he is 7-2 as a starter this year with a 3.25 ERA. Whenever I get ready to watch a Feldman start, I have confidence that he will get the job done. He has gone at least 6 innings in 11 of his 14 starts, pitching well in almost all of those starts. Keep an eye on his cut fastball, Joe Morgan was comparing it to Mariano Rivera's cut fastball and it keeps getting better every start.

Here are some things I think you all should keep an eye on tonight:

Rangers' level of play: Though the Rangers have shown no signs of this this season, sometimes a tough loss can linger into the following game. Keep an eye on how Texas is playing in the first 3 innings to guage how last night's loss is affecting them.

Ian Kinsler's at bats: The man is in a serious funk, we all know that. He knows it too, he was on the Bob and Dan Radio show this afternoon on the Ticket and said, "it's kinda hard [to get out of a slump] when you are popping up every freakin' at bat...). Right now what is important is the approach Ian is taking. Last night he had some very good looking swings that he was able to drive to right. None of them fell but like I said this morning, they are promising swings. He will need to continue to take the same approach tonight because no pitcher in baseball is throwing Kinsler inside pitches he can turn on and drive out of the park. For this reason, Kinsler is drawing more walks, which is a good sign, but the Rangers need the guy to hit.

The Outfield: It's crowded right now so pressure will be on Murphy and Byrd to keep swinging a hot bat or they could quickly be replaced by Nelly Cruz. You have to think Wash is under pressure to get Cruz some at-bats after he was named to the All-Star Game this afternoon. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Marlon Byrd was given a night off tonight. Who do you all think should be playing? What would you do if you were Wash?

One other note on Cruz, according to his Facebook he will be participating in the Home Run Derby.

We will be welcoming another contributor - Brad "Madman" Calhoun. Look for his insights coming soon. If anyone else out there is interested in becoming a contributor, let me know.

Join us for the live in game blog tonight. Go Rangers!