Hits
Esmil Rogers
Rogers is figuring some things out. He had a bit of a setback in his previous outing, but the one before that he was nearly untouchable against the Chicago Cubs. His outing tonight may have been even a little more impressive than that one because he owned the Texas Rangers opening day lineup minus the DH.
One at-bat that stands out was the education he gave Michael Young his first time up. Young really is about as good a pure hitter as you'll find. One that's pretty difficult to strikeout, but Rogers changed speeds and punched him on four pitches. The last a changeup Young was a foot in front of. It was a beauty.
You know what else? The ball makes a nice sound off Esmil's bat. He hit the ball very hard twice with a single to show for it. Terrific athlete/all around baseball player.
Eric Young/Johnny Herrera
Great job by the top of the order tonight. These guys combined to go 4-for-8 with 1 BB, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 3 R, 1 sac bunt and 1 sac fly. It's no wonder the Rockies broke double digits.
Misses
Rex Brothers
Well, he's human after all. His two runs allowed tonight will probably give the Rockies their excuse to start him at AAA. It would have been nearly impossible to do so if his ERA stayed at 0.00.
Foul Tips
Jose Lopez
Some good and some bad tonight.
The good was his defense, which has been sensational at third base and good enough at second base to possibly squeeze Eric Young out of the mix. He made one really good play going to his right and then made a spectacular play going to his right, punctuated by a jump throw across the diamond for the out.
The bad was his strange approach at the plate and lack of focus on the bases.
Yes, he did record a triple, but that came on a flyball Josh Hamilton lost in the lights or sky or twilight or something. Next time up he swings at the first pitch (after a classic grind it out Helton at-bat that resulted in a single) and hits into a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play, only Ian Kinsler couldn't turn it. That was okay for Texas, because Lopez got picked off two batters later.
He did add a single later. So that was good.
Again, if his offense comes around even a little, he'll probably be a nice addition. I'm just not convinced that will happen or that he does enough elsewhere to maintain his value. I'm willing to give him a chance to prove me wrong, but that's where I stand on Lopez at the moment. Which means little, obviously.
Rangers announcers
These guys were pretty difficult to listen to, but I appreciate them doing the game tonight. I also enjoyed the little bit where they thanked the Oakland A's for trading Carlos Gonzalez out of the division. Very funny.
3 comments:
I tend to agree with Troy Renck's tweet, that the Rockies are showcasing EY Jr. I think a trade is coming pretty soon actually.
That will make a lot of Rockies fans upset, but I have a feeling you're right. This is going to be an interesting 4-5 days.
Dallas isn't too happy with the Ranger's announcers either. Radigan is new to it this year, so hopefully its just learning the craft. But it could be long season for Ranger fans.
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