Nick Tepesch pitched a heck of a game today allowing only one unearned run to cross the plate in his 6 plus innings. It is a shame that it all blew up on Robbie Ross in the 10th. Robbie has been nothing short of spectacular during the 2013 campaign, and today was bound to happen at some point. Robbie had runners on second and third with no one out, so he intentionally loaded the bases. After getting two straight puts, he wound up hitting the next batter on the arm with a pitch he lost control of, and then (after some suspect umpiring) he gave up a two run double to make the score 4-1 KC. The Rangers went quietly in the bottom of the tenth.
I am not worried about Robbie, it is a long season and those things happen. A few things I took away from today’s game: Elvis doesn’t seem to hustle to first anymore. In his younger days, Elvis used to get down to first in a flash, but now all he seems to do is jog. That really bothers me. The umpire made himself part of the game. From ejecting Berkman in the first inning to having what I can only describe as an erratic strike zone, the umpire was a part of the story today. I don’t like it when that happens, and it seems to be happening quite frequently in 2013. The Rangers miss Iam Kinsler. I know Jurickson Profar is doing good, but the team seems to be lacking something during Ian’s absence. I can’t pin point it, but I looking forward to him returning. Leonys Martin is looking good. Craig Gentry is a fan favorite but I am afraid heat be headed elsewhere at some point. He is slowly being fazed out of this lineup by Martin. Martin is still a little rough around the edges, but he sure is fun to watch, and he can hit more home-runs that Craig.
The Rangers cannot afford to lose Adrian Beltre. Right now what he has is being called tightness in his hamstring, and I really hope that is all that it is. Adrian has been on a tear both offensively and defensively of late, and I would hate to see the team go without him for any period of time. I bet he gets tomorrow off no matter what.
The Rangers go to win the series against the Royals tomorrow, with Uu Darvish on the mound. Hopefully they will find enough offense to take the game and the home series.
