Weekend In Review: Lonestar Series Win, Yu Struggles

I know what you’re thinking. Why a weekend-in-review on Tuesday, well I’m in Canada and this past weekend was our long weekend (one week before the American long weekend for Memorial Day). So, after not being around a computer for a few days after a last minute vacation, here is a quick roundup.

So, I know that I have missed a bit since the last post and so here is my attempt to catch up and touch on the key things that happened this weekend.

• David Murphy hit an inside the park homerun. I think he would have been one of the least likely Rangers to hit a inside the park homerun. I also think it’s weird that 95% percent of inside the park homeruns were because of a misplay in the outfield where an error could not be called because the outfielder didn’t actually touch the ball. That’s essentially what happened here. An Astros player dove, missed the ball and by the time they recovered to get the ball in, Murphy was rounding third.
• Derek Holland continued his up and down season with another down, blowing an early 4-0 lead and giving the Astros their only win in the three game series.
• Colby Lewis pushed away the critics and pitched his best game in May with a commanding 8 shutout innings before allowing a lead off homerun in the ninth.
• The Rangers made their first roster move of the season yesterday before the game with the Mariners. Neftali Felix was put on the disabled list with elbow inflammation and should be out a month. For now, Scott Feldman will take his place in the rotation for Wednesday’s start but it will be re-evaluated after that. Yoshinori Tateyama was recalled to fill Feldman’s spot in the bullpen and the 36 year old made his Major League debut yesterday pitching two innings and allowing a run.
• Yesterday’s game against the Seattle Mariners was disappointing. What was supposed to be a pitching duel between Felix Hernandez and Yu Darvish turned out to be a one-sided affair with Darvish struggling again against the Mariners and the Rangers unable to muster much of anything against Felix Hernandez who made it clear he is not Hector Noesi. I don’t know if Darvish’s struggles against Seattle mean anything, except for the fact that maybe the Mariners have really good advance scouts in Japan…

Tonight at 9:05 CST, the second game of the series where the aforementioned Noesi goes for Seattle (2-4, 5.61 ERA/5.22 FIP) while the Rangers counter with southpaw Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.21 ERA/4.14 FIP) in a matchup that has about the opposite anticipation as last night’s game.