May 22 – Doing the Math: .666 / 18-9 / June 22nd

A nice weekend in Houston and good start to the Twins series – is this the turnaround week? 

Looking at the numbers – the Rangers and Astros meet again on June 22nd  - one month spanning 27 games.  There is some stiff opposition in those 27 games like the division leading Red Sox, Tigers and Doug Melvin’s Brewers as well as games with AL West division mates Seattle and Oakland. Just to get back to .500 the Rangers will have to go 18-9, that is a .666 winning percentage. Is this injury laden – pitching inconsistent team capable of playing that kind of baseball? Get your rally hats on, your calculators out and hope for the best.

In the meantime, some minor league baseball game reports.

My baseball Mom and I headed to Oklahoma City this weekend where we experienced perfect weather, an excellent Tex-Mex dinner and heavenly Cinnamon Crunch Bagels - oh yeah we also watched a couple of Oklahoma Redhawks games. 

May 19 – Iowa (Cubs) at Oklahoma – Saturday night’s game was a nail biter through 7 innings.  Both teams scored 3 runs in the 1st, and 1 run each in the 3rd  - the score remained tied 4-4 until the bottom of the 8th with 2 outs when the Redhawks broke it open to win 8-4.

Bruce Chen lasted just 3 innings giving up all 4 Iowa runs – he subsequently went on the DL with a sore elbow.   Michael Bumstead and Randy Williams breezed through next 4 innings – then Ezequeil Astacio nailed down a 2 inning save.  Astaico started out a little shaky in the 8th with score still tied – he allowed an inherited runner to reach second on a wild pitch – but then settled down to get all 6 batters he faced out, including 3 K’s.   PCL Player of the week Jason Botts had 2 hits, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI and two very nice running catches in LF.  Rehabbing Frank Catalonotto also had 2 hits and 2 runs scored.  2 hits were the theme of the night as Nate Gold, Marlon Byrd and Guillermo Quiroz also had 2 each.

May 20 – Cubs at Redhawks – Sunday afternoon’s contest started out badly for the Redhawks.  Miguel Ojeda left the game in 1st inning in obvious pain after attempting to tag out Cubs uber-prospect Felix Pie at the plate - turns our Miguel broke a finger and is out indefinintely.  The Redhawks were down 6-1 by the 4th inning – but they mounted a comeback scoring 3 runs in the 5th, 1 each in the 7th and 8th – with the score 8-7 in the 9th they gave up a run and wound up losing 9-7.

Jason Botts - who has raised his batting average 70 points from .200 on May 1st to .273 on May 20th - had 3 hits, and 2 RBI’s. Marlon Byrd also had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s. Alfredo Simon was beaten up in 4 IP for 10 hits and 6 runs – Scott Shoemaker wasn’t much better giving up 2 runs in his 2 IP.  AJ Murray, returning from his abbreviated trip to the big leagues, pitched 2 perfect innings while ample citizen Franklyn German gave up 1 run in his 1 IP.

Pictures from the Redhawks/I-Cubs games are in the Photo Gallery.

Random Thoughts:

Duly noted -- The Rangers 2006 first round draft choice 19 year old LHP Kasey Kiker had a very nice debut at Class A Clinton on Monday  – pitching 5 innings, giving up 1 hit, 2 walks and 9 K’s.

Gone and Best Forgotten – a few “key” players acquired by Rangers in trades that you can’t blame on Jon Daniels.

Catcher - Einar Diaz with hair on fire, or maybe just smoldering now at AAA Indianapolis (Pittsburgh) hitting .244

Mario Ramos – LHP – with AA Midland (Oakland) on the DL and sporting a 5.40 ERA

OF Gabe Kapler – retired – at age 31 – now managing the Class A Greenville Drive (Boston).

This shouldn’t be a surprise – for those who keep an eye on the minor leagues – the success Victor Diaz is having is not startling.  Diaz was ranked by Baseball America as one of the Mets top 10 prospects in 2004 and 2005.  He was an All-Star in the Sally League and at AA.  His overall minor league batting average is .295.  What might be surprising is that the Mets gave up on him after only 340 major league AB’s.  By the way – the player the Rangers traded to the Mets, catcher Mike Nickeas, is at AA Binghamton hitting .219

What to do on Thursday? – it’s an off day for the Rangers – here are a couple of suggestions on how to fill up your time that evening:

The Frisco Roughriders are at home playing the Wichita Wranglers (Kansas City) with former Texas League Pitcher of the Week Doug Mathis pitching for Frisco.

If you'd rather take a break from baseball and don’t want to leave the house - tune into Turner Classic Movies (and I’m surprised Poor Toby didn’t mention this birthday in his Sunday Almanac) TCM is celebrating John Wayne’s 100th birthday - which is May 26th. I recommend these movies staring The Duke:  “Stagecoach”, “Red River”, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “The Cowboys” – here’s the link to Turner Classic Movies website – http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/index/

Double checking my addition, subtraction and long division, counting the days, still hoping for a baseball miracle -– Marla Hooch