First thing’s first. Joe Torre is not going to get fired, in part because George Steinbrenner is in no condition to fire him. If Joe’s going to be fired, Brian Cashman will have to do it, and that’s not going to happen. Cashman would have to go before Joe, and that’s a far more significant move now that Cashman’s finally executing his own vision for this team, which as poorly as this season has begun, has reaped benefits in the sense that the pitching reinforcements are finally coming in the form of young minor league talent rather than washed up veterans of the Sidney Ponson and Scott Erickson variety. Hell, Cotler Bean is on the 25-man roster. Colter Bean! If that’s not the indication of a significant change in attitude, I don’t know what is.
Further to that, Phil Hughes makes his second big league start tonight in Texas. In his first start, Hughes looked appropriately nervous in the first inning and understandably winded in the fifth, but put together three solid innings in between in which he allowed just a single and a walk while striking out three. Hughes peripherals for his entire 4 1/3 inning debut were excellent (5 K, 1 BB, the majority of his outs coming on the ground, and just one of his seven hits allowed going for extra bases). On the flip side, Hughes didn’t look very good against the experienced major league hitters in the Toronto lineup (Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Frank Thomas, and Lyle Overbay were a combined 6 for 9 with a walk, a double, and no strikeouts against Hughes with two of their three outs coming in the air).
Obviously it will be interesting to see what Hughes can do now that he’s dealt with those debut jitters. That said, I still think he should be swapped out for Darrell Rasner regardless of his performance tonight, if only to keep his innings pitched limited for another month or so, at which point he can be safely loosed up on the American League for the remainder of the year.
On the mound for the Rangers will be Scott Brosius look alike and snake lover Kameron Loe. The Rangers’ fifth starter, Loe started the year in the bullpen, posting a 5.40 ERA after five appearances. He’s since earned his 1-1 record in two starts, throwing 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball at the weak-hitting A’s in the first and getting lit up over the same span by the heavy-hitting Indians in the last.
As for the rest of the Texas squad, sophomore second baseman Ian Kinsler has been tearing the cover off the ball, and reclamation project Sammy Sosa has been depositing mistakes in the seats like a late-career Jose Canseco, but the rest of the team is scuffling, including stars Mark Teixeira (always a slow starter) and Michael Young (a miserable .215/.236/.346). Out in the bullpen, closer Akinori Otsuka has been dominant, and lefties C. J. Wilson and Ron Mahay have been solid, but their cast of supporting right-handers has been a mess, as has most of the starting rotation, particularly high-profile off-season trade target Brandon McCarthy. Still, they’ve won a higher percentage of their games than the Yankees, but then that’s true of every AL team other than the Royals. May Day, indeed.
Texas Rangers
2006 Record: 80-82 (.494)
2006 Pythagorean Record: 86-76 (.531)
Manager: Ron Washington
General Manager: Jon Daniels
Home Ballpark (2006 Park Factors): Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (104/103)
Who’s Replacing Whom?
Kenny Lofton replaces Gary Matthews
Frank Catalanotto replaces Mark DeRosa
Nelson Cruz takes over Kevin Mench’s playing time
Sammy Sosa replaces Carlos Lee and Phil Nevin
Chris Stewart and Gerald Laird divide Rod Barajas’s playing time
Matt Kata replaces D’Angelo Jimenez, Matt Stairs and a few others
Brandon McCarthy replaces John Koronka and Edinson Volquez
Kameron Loe takes over Adam Eaton’s starts
Robinson Tejeda takes over John Rheinecker’s (DL) and John Wasdin’s starts
Willie Eyre replaces Rick Bauer
Frank Francisco takes over Francisco Cordero’s playing time
25-man Roster:
1B – Mark Teixeira (S)
2B – Ian Kinsler (R)
SS – Michael Young (R)
3B – Hank Blalock (L)
C – Gerald Laird (R)
RF – Nelson Cruz (R)
CF – Kenny Lofton (L)
LF – Frank Catalanotto (L)
DH – Sammy Sosa (R)
Bench:
L – Brad Wilkerson (OF)
R – Jerry Hairston Jr. (UT)
S – Matt Kata (IF)
R – Chris Stewart (C)
Rotation:
R – Kevin Millwood
R – Brandon McCarthy
R – Vicente Padilla
R – Kameron Loe
R – Robinson Tejeda
Bullpen:
R – Akinori Otsuka
R – Joaquin Benoit
L – C. J. Wilson
R – Scott Feldman
L – Ron Mahay
R – Willie Eyre
R – Frank Francisco
15-day DL: R – Eric Gagne, L – John Rheinecker, R – Jamey Wright, R – Joaquin Arias (IF)
Typical Lineup
L – Kenny Lofton (CF)
R – Michael Young (SS)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Sammy Sosa (DH)
L – Hank Blalock (3B)
L – Frank Catalanotto (LF)
R – Ian Kinsler (2B)
R – Nelson Cruz (RF)
R – Gerald Laird (C)
