Rangers 9, Padres 4
- Brandon McCarthy finally looks like the pitcher we traded for back in the winter of 2006. I know all the John Danks homers are probably never going to truly let that one go, but maybe, just maybe B-Mac will at least make us forget about 2008 this year. After drawing rave reviews in his first outing of the spring last week, McCarthy pulled a near-repeat performance against the Padres today, going 4 innings without allowing a hit and racking up 3 K's and a 5-3 groundout/flyout ratio in the process. Two walks where the only blemish to his line. As Evan Grant notes, two of the major factors in his success this afternoon where his ability to stay ahead in the count, and throw his new "slurve" for strikes when he needed to - a major confidence booster, even though McCarthy himself admitted he didn't have his best stuff.
“I feel happy about where I’m at right now, but what I feel best about today was that I didn’t feel I had my best stuff and still got results,” McCarthy said. “I fought through it. The [slurve] still isn’t consistent on every pitch, but I was able to use it late in counts and get outs.”
ESPN scouting guru Keith Law also offered an assessment of McCarthy's latest outing on his blog, which wasn't quite as glittering as Grant's, but still definitely encouraging:
McCarthy showed an average fastball on Thursday, topping out at 91 mph, not quite what he showed in his last outing but good enough when he commands it, which he did. He has a hard slurve around 82-83 mph that's unusual for an in-between breaking ball in that it has power and an accelerating break.
...
[The slurve] is not a finished pitch -- he threw at least two at the same velocity with a weaker break and no angle -- but the above-average pitch is in there.
He showed good arm speed on his changeup, which was his best pitch before his arm trouble, and it had okay but not great fade. If this is what he is, he's a back-end starter, throwing strikes with average stuff. If he's still regaining arm strength, or the breaking ball becomes a lot more consistent (consistently good, that is), he can still come closer to meeting the industry's expectations for him from before he got hurt.
- Josh Hamilton on the other hand scared me today. No, he didn't tweak anything or look horribly bad at the plate - he beat out a bunt single during the Rangers 4-run first inning, and worse yet, according to TR Sullivan supposedly is considering it a viable strategy for the regular season.
"I'll do it as many times as they play me back," Hamilton said. "Maybe not in a situation where it's a tie game but if we're a couple of runs down and we need to get something started. I've been working on it in practice. ... I'm a pretty good bunter.
"The last time I did that in the Minor Leagues, I got fined $50."
As well you should have been, Josh. You OBP'd .371 last season, man. Your OPB actually went up in your first full season in the majors as opposed to your 90 games in Cincy in '07. You also slugged .530 (which was actually a drop, but still pretty freaky-good). Oh yeah, and you didn't lay down a single bunt, either. You don't really need any more help getting on base - if we're a couple runs down and we need to get something started, a hitter of your ilk is better off standing in the box and working the count.
As Evan Grant pointed out in his take on the subject, however, there are certain benefits to having Hamilton add an ability to bunt to his resume, as long as he doesn't overuse it - indeed, if it prevents teams from throwing a shift on him it could actually prove useful:
With Hamilton, the value is not in him actually bunting, but in making opponents think he’s willing to do so.
If Hamilton displays a willingness to bunt this spring, perhaps it finds its way into advance scouting reports, which might force teams to play him honestly and straight up. No shifting or cheating.
If that's the case, I'm all for it. But the way Josh is talking, he's either a really good actor, or he's caught what I believe is officially known as "Dusty Baker syndrome":
Asked if he planned to break out his new tool - perhaps making him the first six-tool guy in history - a couple of times this season, Hamilton looked aghast.
“A couple of times?” he asked rhetorically. “How about as many times as they play back and we need to get something started? I’m going to do whatever it takes. I’ve been playing around with it for a while and I figured out I’m a pretty good bunter. The object is to win games and if this helps us win some games, then so be it. Who cares how you get on base? Why can’t I be different? Why can’t I be a trend-setter?”
Well... I'll just let another blockquote from Evan answer that question:
Beyond announcing the threat, though, there really is no point in having a player like Hamilton bunt. If there are men on base, who better to drive them in than the guy that led the AL in RBIs last year? If it’s a tie or one-run game, Hamilton is much more likely to give the Rangers the run they need by himself than by bunting and relying on two more hits to get him home. If the club is down by a bunch of runs, he’d be just as well-served to start a rally by trying to work his way to a walk rather than laying one down.
Can I get an Amen?
- Aside from McCarthy looking sharp and Hamilton's bunt driving me bat-guano crazy, some of the other highlights of the day included Nelson Cruz, who went 1-2 with the big 3-run HR in the first inning and a walk, and Ian Kinsler who was 3-3. Basically, the Texas offense is on fire right now - hopefully they'll keep it going into the regular season.
Neftali Feliz also tossed two innings, finishing the game out in the 8th and the 9th. His line wasn't great, as he allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk in two innings, but his developing breaking ball provided some cause for excitement as he dropped it on a pair of San Diego hitters for punchouts. The development of Feliz's curve (well, actually it's another curve/slurve, from what I understand) and changeup, as Baseball Prospectus guru Kevin Goldstein explained in Mike Hindman's Q&A back on March 10th, is going to be paramount for the young right-handers career, and by all the signs coming out of Arizona right now he's on the right track.
- And finally, a couple injury updates: Hank Blalock has sat the last two days with his sore quad and is still day-to-day, but has been taking grounders at third, while CJ Wilson is scheduled to throw a bullpen session today (Thursday). Also, Eddie Guardado still has a sore shoulder and is receiving treatment, while our left handed "walk specialist" Joe Torres has been examined for his back pain.
Which leads me to a random question: consindering the current dismal health of our left-handed relief candidates, is anyone interested in former LOOGY Jimmy Gobble, who has landed on the scrap pile after being cut by Kansas City (or even better yet, free agent lefty Will Ohman)?
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