Rangers vs Mariners 7-11-09

9:25 - I'm a litte late tonight...I was in Hollywood all day. Also had my first experience a the In-n-Out Burger...not too bad. Can anyone fill me on the top of the first??

9:28 - I hate that train

9:31 - Whata play by Mike, I thought that was a hit and a run for sure.

9:42 - I really want to see Millwood have a good start tonight. His last two have been rough, especially his last start against Anaheim where he gave up 9 runs. I do not want to see a negative trend with Milly going into the All-Star break. Also, with Washburn pitching for Seattle, Millwood will need his good stuff for the Rangers to compete tonight. I don't see how the lefties are possibly going to lay off that slider from Washburn....the Rangers are going to have to wait for him to make mistakes, hopefully they will come. It might be another one of those nights where it will take a couple times through the line up for the Rangers to be able to adjust.

9:50 - That slider is tough. I don't see how any Ranger lefty is going to touch Washburn tonight. Ian Kinsler did make Washburn pay for a fastball right down the middle....it was set up by Andrus having a great leadoff style at bat.....

10:03 - Branyon is an easy strikeout if you make your pitches, but he'll kill a belt high fastball just on the inside part of the plate. Millwood still looking good though.

One thing I really like from the Rangers is every hitter runs hard to first on groundballs. That a sign of where this team's effort level is. Hustle is the only thing in baseball that a player can always control. I wonder if that is to the credit of Wash....

10:24 - Good things about the top of the 5th: Nelly and Salty drove Washburn pitches hard the opposite way, Salty's for a double. Also, Andrus drawing another walk....don't you think he HAS to be the leadoff hitter after the break?

Bad things: Your 1 and 2 hitters not coming through with runners in scoring position...if the Rangers go on to lose, you have to look at this inning as a huge missed opportunity to win.

10:59 - First of all, Marlon Byrd just showed what I was talking about with the hustle...if he's not running hard all the way, he's out at first. But then, a crazy play. I don't know what the rule is but it doesn't matter. It was a base running error by Byrd, I don't know why he didn't see that ball fall.

11:09 - That is another sickening homerun given up by Millwood...that is Johnson's 1st of the season....a lot like Mathis' homerun in Millwood's last start when he was hitting .209....why is Guardado up in the pen and not O'Day or Wilson?? A double by Hannahan....Millwood is done in this one, time to get him out. He's been great, but Washburn has been better.

The rule is out on the Byrd play: "if the player retreats for any reason to the base he came from, the force play is reinstated." So there you have it, the fault is all on Byrd. He needs some new cleats, that is the second costly slip by him tonight.

11:38 - Looks like our goose is cooked tonight. Washburn owned Texas hitters and thanks to the sorry Yankees, we are about to lose first place.