Game 82: Rangers Get Youk’d

On July 4th, 2010, I went to The Ballpark to watch Scott Feldman face off against the Chicago White Sox. Back then we were still hoping that Feldman could reclaim the title of de facto ace after winning 17 games the year before.

Feldman pitched 6 innings of 4-run ball and lost the game. Rather than sticking around for the post-game fireworks, my friend, my friend’s dad, my other friend, and I headed for the car as soon as the 9th inning was over.

As we were walking back, my friend’s dad made the comment that, instead of spending money on fireworks, the Rangers should have spent it on better pitching. Less than a week later Jon Daniels traded for Cliff Lee, which makes it funny in retrospect.

That game really has nothing to do with what happened tonight, except that it was exactly 2 years ago and that on both occasions Scott Feldman gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings in a game that the White Sox won.

There’s also probably some lesson in there about things never being as bad as they seem……..or something.

Also of note…

• Tonight’s pitching effort was about what you would have expected. Pretty ho-hum. Not terrible, but hardly dominant. The first 4 White Sox runs scored after Alex Rios doubled with one out in the 2nd inning. Feldman hit A.J. Pierzynski on an 0-2 count, then gave up two singles and a double.
• Some Ranger offense came in the 1st with runners on the corners and two out. Michael Young came through with a double in the gap, which scored Josh Hamilton and Adrian Beltre. Nelson Cruz followed with an RBI single.
  Jamilton hit a homerun in the 3rd, which tied the score at 4 runs apiece. Neither team would score again until the bottom of the 10th.
• MY came up again with Jamilton on 3rd, Beltre at 1st, and two out, this time in the 7th. Rather than displaying a smart person approach at the plate, Young leadership’d a soft ground ball to 2nd. That would prove to be the Rangers’ last shot at winning the game, as they would go down 1-2-3 in the 8th, 9th, and 10th.
• Tanner Scheppers relieved Feldman in the 7th and gave up a single deep in the hole at short. Chicago gifted an out on a sac bunt and Robbie Ross came into the game. It was another 1.2 innings of shutout ball for Ross, whose ERA is now a sterling 0.99.
• Mike Adams struck out 2 in a 1-2-3 9th, then lost the game in the 10th.
  He got up 0-2 on the first hitter, then walked him and let him steal 2nd. Kevin Youkilis battled in a 9-pitch at-bat before walking-off with a single to left.
  The tragic irony was that Adams threw the ball really well in the 9th, about as well as I’ve seen this year. Everything had sharp movement and the only real contact was a weak ground ball back to the mound. Nothing worked in the 10th, which further proves that Adams is just a one inning guy.
• One of the White Sox’ runs came on a play at the plate between Pierzynski and Mike Napoli. Pierzynski came around from 2nd on a single to left and arrived at the same moment as the ball. Napoli never really had it in his glove and Pierzynski ran him over.
  In other news, Pierzynski is still not an All-Star.

Texas and Chicago turn it around tomorrow at 1:10 Arlington time. Tune into FSSW to watch Matt Harrison (hopefully) avoid the sweep by being awesome.

Press on, Rangers fans.

(Leave a comment or find me on Twitter @twbbg. Per usual, thanks to Baseball Reference for their invaluable resources.)