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Right on Rangers is where Rangers fans ride the season in real time.
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If you want sterile box-score recaps, this probably isn’t your show. If you want passionate Rangers talk with actual baseball underneath it, welcome in.
Hi and welcome to another edition of Right
on Rangers Live coming at you bottom of
the ninth inning.
The Rangers lead the Brewers 7-4 after
falling behind 2-0 in the first.
Jacob Latz on to close this one out.
He has already recorded an out.
Jackson Chourio up to bat right now.
Rangers have scored in five different innings and
five different hitters have driven in runs today.
Offense doing a little bit of everything.
Refreshing after an abysmal beginning to this three
game set in Milwaukee.
Ezequiel Duran, the centerpiece.
Homer, number 15, two run double, three RBI.
Joc Pederson also goes deep and Diaz, Burger
and Cody Freeman have all delivered runs as
well.
A little bit of everything sprinkled in here.
Love seeing the bottom of the order, guys,
especially Freeman and Diaz come through for Texas
in a game you really need to salvage.
I mean, I know we talked last night.
Did not feel like this was a great
matchup for Kumar Rocker.
I know that it's probably able to be
viewed through two different lenses.
We're going to talk about Rocker's start as
the show goes on.
Three innings today for Rock.
Little uneven did get a lot of swing
and miss.
Not all terrible.
Ultimately, you know, didn't totally melt down or
blow up in this one.
I think you can at least give the
credit for that.
Jacob Latz is going to record the second
out here if you're just joining us.
Rangers leading Milwaukee seven to four.
Christian Yellich, the Brewers' last hope here.
Brewers have already won the series.
We're going for the sweep today.
It was looking like a foregone conclusion early
on.
Texas comes storming back, and for a while
there, scored a number of unanswered runs.
But it's good to be hanging out with
all y'all here at Right on Rangers.
We cover everything Texas sports, but we put
a big emphasis on the Rangers during the
MLB season, and we thank you so much
for choosing Right on Rangers for all of
your Texas Rangers content.
Drop a comment, drop a question.
Clearly, we got mostly post-game show coming
your way.
I'll knock on wood right now.
You know what?
I'm knocking on wood hard right now.
It's definitely a little later than what I
usually go on, but, you know, ninth inning,
it's all good either way.
Just glad to be hanging out with all
you guys.
Hopefully talking.
Rangers winning at least one game in this
series.
We'll take it.
The homestand coming up.
Some fortuitous opponents.
Tampa Bay is going to be tough, but
you at least have a few games against
the A's.
They have not necessarily rolled over for Texas
this year, but at least on paper, as
we like to say on paper, you should
be in for a good series at home
against a pretty bad baseball team.
Let's see in a two, two count now
with Christian Yelich.
He hadn't pitched in a while.
I know some of you guys are commenting
like, man, it's good to see lads.
He hasn't pitched in a while.
It's let's see.
The last outing for him was let's check
it out.
Here's the pitch swing and a miss and
Jacob Latz gets the same.
Hello.
When column QDI like Texas music.
It's been a while.
It has been a while, but Texas gets
the dove mandate.
They hadn't tasted this since Monday night.
And here we are Sunday.
It definitely was feeling a little ominous there.
Glad the Rangers get a win in Milwaukee.
Wasn't counting on this one today.
I'll eat some crow.
Gladly was not counting on a Rangers victory.
Oh, look, we're still here.
Watch the whole game.
Didn't give up.
Didn't bother, you know, not turning on the
TV today.
Don't get me wrong, but didn't have the
best feeling coming into this one.
And I'm just going to say that as
many times as I need to for people
to get it, but it was not a
great start.
Kumar rocker only go in three innings.
Let's focus on the positives.
Let's come back to some of the nitpicky
stuff.
We got to enjoy this.
When you beat one of the best teams,
if not the best team in baseball, I
think you got to relish it for a
little bit.
There's plenty to nitpick, plenty to dissect here,
plenty to attack, but you know what?
Let's first dwell on the things that are
good.
We already talked about some of them.
Ezequiel Duran.
I mean, look, he felt like at times
the only player with a pulse in this
series.
You know, yesterday I talked about how Zeke
should be leading the utility gold glove by
a country mile.
The man has a positive OAA outs above
average at pretty much every position that he
has played this year.
And today he does it with the bat.
You got Zeke Duran hitting in the five
hole, going two for three, two for five,
excuse me, with three RBI.
Zeke was just showing off most of this
series and he did so in a big
way today without him.
Rangers do not salvage this ball game.
He has been such a blessing to the
squad.
You did not anticipate they were talking about
it on the broadcast.
I don't think anybody had him playing center
field at any point this year on their
bingo card, including Skip Schumaker who said as
much before the game today, but he has
just done whatever is needed.
And I think we have got to give
this man as many flowers as we possibly
can.
Zeke Duran, I think he's the player of
the year.
I know Latz might be in the running,
but this guy plays every day.
He's quite clearly player of the year.
I don't think there's really a big debate.
Zeke hitting 273 with a 781 OPS.
I mean, are there guys with higher OPS,
higher RBI, higher home run total?
Sure.
But just the complete package here, the versatility,
you know, the defense, the speed, the bat,
everything all combined.
He's the player of the year for the
Rangers.
No doubt.
Somebody would have to come on very, very
strong to take that title away from him.
Incredibly strong.
All right, let's show some love to a
couple other areas, to a couple other components
of the team as well.
How about the bullpen?
You subtract Jordan Montgomery giving up the bomb.
I mean, you had a lot of zeros
for this pen.
Tyler Alexander, Todd the Painter, two innings, no
earned runs.
Macko comes in, rebounds from his first outing
with the Rangers.
His Rangers debut was not perfect.
We'll put it nicely.
It was not perfect.
Macko though, gets a hold his fifth of
the year strikeout as well.
Jacob Junis was solid, didn't have any strikeouts,
but did limit the opponent, did limit the
Brewers to one hit in a scoreless eighth
inning.
And then Jacob Latz comes in ninth inning,
sits him down one, two, three, clean.
Good to see that from him.
After the all-star break, he felt like
he had kind of been going through a
little spell where there was some traffic being
allowed.
And I mean, it's just a testament to
how good he's been.
At the beginning of the year, you were
just pretty used to Jacob Latz coming in,
sitting them up one, two, three, up and
down.
And it was just like clockwork.
Jacob Latz, maybe a little, you know, mid
-season falter, but still 27th safe of the
year.
That's just me being a little picky.
Jacob Latz has been phenomenal.
And he was so in the ninth inning
to give the Rangers their 67th win of
the season.
67 and 70 are the Rangers going into
the new week.
They will play the A's.
They will play the Rays at home, a
place where they have played much, much better
baseball.
The Rangers are a winning team at home.
They are seven games, I believe, over 500
when they play at Globe Life.
They are nine games under 500 when they
play away from Globe Life.
It is a Jekyll and Hyde night and
day scenario when it comes to Texas and
their ability to play well or play poorly,
whether it's at home or away.
It is night and day.
Polar opposites, it feels like at times.
It wasn't the case today.
The Rangers had a nice game away from
Globe Life Field, away from Arlington.
And we celebrate that, man.
It's good to be back in the win
column.
I always tell you guys, I really do
not like talking about losses.
I know some people out there feel the
account gets a little too negative at times.
My response is always, they're a losing team
right now.
Let's be honest about that.
But for anybody to think I enjoy talking
about the team struggling, I don't.
But to be honest, there would be a
lot of no-post days if the rule
was only post things positive.
There would be a lot of no-post
days if you only were allowed to post
just the most positive things about the team.
When you are a losing team, that's what
happens.
But I love talking about wins.
I love talking about the Rangers after a
game like this.
This is what feels right.
I hope you feel the same as well.
That should be something we can all agree
on.
Was not fun covering Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Excuse me, Thursday was an off day.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.
Four losses in a row.
It's just bad.
Bad for being a fan.
Bad for business and right on Rangers.
Thank goodness they get the win today.
All right.
There's the lead-in player of the game,
Zeke Duran, going with him pretty firmly.
There's a few people that maybe should get
some honorable mentions.
I think Diaz, I think Freeman, but I
just got to give it to Zeke.
The entire series, the home run, the double
to put the Rangers up, I just think
you got to give it to him.
But there's a lot of honorable mentions today
offensively.
And then on the pitching side, it's a
tough one for me, but I'm going to
go with Tyler Alexander.
Really had to do a nice job bridging
to the sixth inning there.
He got the fourth inning, fifth inning taken
care of.
You're going up against a really tough Brewers
lineup.
The game was close at that moment in
time as well.
You had a much thinner margin for error,
did Tyler Alexander coming into that game.
He holds in the fourth inning, keeps it
right at two to two.
The Rangers go ahead and they go through
the order, the heart of the order.
They go up four to two and then
Tyler Alexander gets the shutdown inning in the
fifth.
I think you got to give it to
Tyler Alexander, Todd, the painter.
That's right.
We learned that over the summertime, Todd, the
painter having heard that one thrown around a
lot.
I mean, I do listen to the broadcast
quite a bit, sound down with the kiddos
running around, but Todd, the painter was on
today.
He worked his way out of a jam
too.
You might remember that sequence where Alexander gets
the sign from Diaz Diaz goes glove down.
Alexander spins and throws.
Didn't look like Corey was quite on his
game there.
Ball kind of goes off the gloves into
the outfield.
Brewers have runners on second and third.
That to me, I mean, if you're not
counting offense, that might be the moment of
the game right there where Tyler Alexander strikes
out to free lick and gets out of
that bottom of the fifth inning jam to
secure the shutdown inning.
That might be the moment of the game
from a pitching perspective where he just locks
down Milwaukee back to back frames.
And then the Rangers tack on from there,
right?
In the sixth inning, very next inning, almost
an exact flip of what usually happens with
Texas.
We were talking about this on the show
the other day.
So many times, Texas has runners in scoring
position instantly after it doesn't work out.
Somebody strikes out.
Somebody kills the rally, leaves runners on second
and third.
The opponent goes ahead and scores one or
two.
And you're just getting this extreme flip in
the ball game, right?
That's a big swing.
Today, Texas kind of dished it out.
And I love to see it.
You had Milwaukee in the bottom of the
fifth inning, that Tyler Alexander bad pickoff, Corey
Seager off the gloves scenario.
They leave ducks on the pond immediately in
the next frame.
Texas punishes it.
You're going to leave runners on base.
We're going to go ahead and add on
to the lead.
The Rangers went up five, two.
Then in the seventh inning, they go up
seven to two.
They just continued to tack on today.
And that was a beautiful thing to see
this Rangers team.
One of the standing knocks that I know
I've always brought up about Texas over the
last two or three seasons.
Score early and then score never again.
I mean, that has been this team's MO
so frequently over the last three years since
the 2023 championship.
And today they do score early, but they
continue to tack on.
Only the fourth inning, the eighth inning and
the ninth inning were scoreless for Texas, man.
You scored, excuse me, first inning as well.
Nevertheless, you score in five out of the
nine frames.
That's typically going to go well for you.
Typically going to go very, very well for
you.
So to conclude, to bring this full circle,
Zeke Duran, offensive player of the game, Tyler
Alexander, pitcher of the game, Kumar Rocker.
We're going to get into his start in
just a little bit, but I want to
pause, make sure that we get into some
of the comments right now.
If you're just joining us, Rangers win.
They salvage a game in this three game
set against the best team in baseball, the
Milwaukee Brewers.
Rangers win seven to four.
Numbers, by the way, you had Alexander with
the win.
That's appropriate.
That is appropriate.
Sometimes the pitcher win, it's like, dude, you
didn't even deserve to win this ball game.
Tyler Alexander, I think, deserves a win today.
Junis with the hold, Macko with the hold.
Montgomery technically gets a hold, even though he
gives up the home run.
Jacob Latz with his 27th save of the
year.
All right, y'all, let's go ahead and
let's get into some comments here.
When Jung returns, do you leave Freeman at
second and Duran in the outfield?
Omar, that's going to be a really, really
tough decision, isn't it?
We're just getting into the meaty stuff right
away.
Appreciate you, my guy.
Great, great comment.
Great question from TikTok.
You guys know, and I have been on
this page for a long time.
I'm not a fan of throwing JJ back
into the field.
He has been bad at third base.
Cody Freeman.
I know he, he kind of had a
little bit of a misplay.
It was a tough play either way.
Not sure that Young makes it.
Maybe Zeke makes it, but Cody has played
a pretty good third base and Cody does
have a plus glove.
We're not talking necessarily about Cody playing third.
I think Cody would probably slide in well
playing second base.
I think you could go Zeke Duran third.
You could have Josh Jung potentially as a
DH.
I do think Foscue might be odd man
out.
I don't personally see a lot of value
in, in making sure Foscue has a roster
spot no matter what, or a starting spot,
I should say.
I know that there's definitely some positive numbers.
There are some positive splits.
I just don't think Foscue is irreplaceable.
If you're giving me the option of Josh
Young's bat or Foscue's I'm going to go
with Josh Jung.
So I do think the Rangers should make
Josh Jung their, their guy against lefties in
the DH spot.
Maybe you stomach him out in the field
against righties.
I really don't know what the best scenario
is there.
If we're not going that direction, you're really
talking about Evan Carter potentially riding the bench,
which watching Zeke Duran play today.
I think we have to be honest here.
Evan Carter, lovable guy birthday yesterday.
He's a great dude and he's got some
great skills out there in the outfield, but
watching Zeke Duran fly around this weekend, I
don't know how that might not, or that
didn't get the wheels turning in your mind.
Maybe Zeke Duran can hold this spot down
long-term.
He sure looked pretty good running around out
there yesterday, made a great play going to
his right.
He made a great play going to his
left to get the outfield assist early on
in the game last night.
Zeke Duran looked very competent out in center
field.
And I guess I have to say this,
we, we said Foscue versus Young, right?
Carter versus Duran.
I think you got to throw Duran out
there.
If you want the most complete lineup, it's
going to be an interesting debate.
It really will be.
I think if I had to guess right
now what they're going to do, I think
they send Cody Freeman to the bench.
I mean, I told you what I would
do.
I keep Cody in the lineup.
I think Evan, nice player out in the
field for sure.
He's been really bad at the plate.
I would probably be sitting Evan Carter down
and I really enjoy cheering for Evan.
I know some people think I've got like
something personal against him.
I don't, I actually really enjoy him and
I think he's a great dude.
And I think that the Rangers have given
him a lot of runway.
I feel like at this point I would
ride with Cody.
I would put Cody Freeman probably at second
base.
I would, you know, have maybe Zeke Duran
out there at third.
You can put him in center field as
well.
I think there are some different options, but
I really do not want to see JJ
back at third.
I'm not a big fan of that y
'all.
I think we might have to stomach it
this year.
I want to see his back back in
the lineup.
I just feel like we take an instant
dip defensively.
I really do.
But you guys know this.
I feel like I've had to drive this
point home every single day.
I think the Rangers are probably going to
go back to him at third and he'll
be the everyday third baseman.
I don't think it's a great call.
You have so little margin for error and
Josh has been really bad down there.
I'm not a big fan, but I am
a fan of him being in the lineup.
DHN, I just think at this point you
might have to stomach third base here and
there, but as much as you can get
him away from third base, that'd be great.
Darnell, you might be right.
You might be right, but I think they
should still consider benching Foscu.
Again, Foscu to me isn't making enough of
a difference over the course of a ball
game for me to really feel like I
just can't sit him against lefties.
I really don't care what the splits say
and you know what, maybe that's me not
being consistent, but I'm just not a big
fan.
I don't think there's enough difference make in
Foscu's bat to warrant him just never losing
a spot there.
Agree to disagree.
I think the Rangers are going to have
a higher ceiling with Foscu out.
I do.
I'm not saying JJ needs to ever sit.
Like I said, I think you're going to
have to stomach him against the righties.
I do think against the lefties you could
get him some DH opportunities and that's what
I would do.
We keep going.
What else we got?
Let's see.
Oh shoot.
Zach, what's good man?
I better get to this.
Maco credit.
He could have let it get out of
hand.
A lot of these bullpen guys could have
let it get out of hand.
Thank you for the gift so much, man.
Appreciate you not needed, but much appreciated brother.
And thank you for the comment as well.
It was nice to see Maco rebound.
I mean, he kind of got hit around
a little bit the other night and you
really needed to bridge this game to the
late innings.
You knew you had Junis.
You knew you had a Latz in tow.
Really, really great that they were able to
get it all the way without giving up
the lead.
Maco good for him.
Bounces back as a good outing.
I definitely was pleased.
We continue on man.
Hey Miguel, thank you so much.
Appreciate the gift, man.
Sorry I missed those.
A little late.
You know how it goes.
Just get off talking.
What else we got?
You've been talking about this one question for
10 minutes.
Okay.
If you didn't like it, why are you
still here?
Some of these people, the weirdest comments, man.
If you don't like it, then leave.
I mean, I don't mean to be that
way, but I don't think we need to
be that way either in the comments, man.
Ask a question.
What do you got for me?
Since you didn't like the 10 minute talk
on Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran, what do
you got my guy?
Or are we just being the peanut gallery
today?
Oh my goodness.
Got to laugh sometimes.
Let's keep on rolling.
Do I see the Rangers in the postseason?
I think right now your guess is as
good as mine.
Your guess is as good as mine.
I think the Rangers are a little bit
out of control in terms of their destiny,
their fate here.
I think that they're going to need some
help.
They are not a team that has shown
that they're going to go on some kind
of crazy run.
They're just not.
They're not a team that's going to go
on that is going to win eight or
nine in a row.
So in a way, I think you kind
of have to hope or almost count on
another team ahead of them really dropping out
and whether that happens or not, we'll see.
But I do think that the Rangers are
going to have to get some good fortune
from the teams ahead of them.
I just don't necessarily see a deep, you
know, really awesome long-term winning streak coming
our way.
I think the Rangers may win a few
in a row, then they'll lose one.
This team has just not been consistent enough
for me to really feel like they're going
to take the bull by the horns.
I think they're going to have to win
just enough games and they're going to have
to get some good fortune.
That's just kind of how I feel at
this point.
I mean, look, right or wrong, hate it,
love it.
That's just how I feel about this squad
right now.
I think you are going to need some
breaks.
I don't necessarily think the Rangers are going
to play well enough down the stretch to
overcome Houston or overcome another one of the
top teams vying for that wildcard spot.
I think they're going to need somebody to
take a little bit of a dump here
at the end of the season while the
Rangers keep kind of doing their, you know,
win three out of five or win, you
know, four out of seven or whatever the
normal clip is for them.
We keep on going.
Carter needs to step up.
I totally agree.
I think he is going to be a
guy that gets, continues to get a lot
of rope.
I think I said it well, when they
demoted Alejandro Osuna, if I do say so
myself, I think that he could potentially go
like, oh, for 50 and the Rangers would
probably still play him.
I don't think that Carter is at all
equal to some of the other players on
the roster in terms of treatment.
I think if there was anybody else besides
Evan Carter, anyone not named Carter, they'd be
down in triple A.
I don't know if you agree or disagree
with that.
I know there's a lot of people that
may disagree because the glove is just so
valuable.
You just can't afford to lose it.
You guys know how I feel about that.
You know where I stand.
I don't want to continue to harp on
that.
I think when the bat is this bad,
I'll give you the short version.
When the bat is this bad, I don't
think that the good glove really balances it
out in any meaningful way.
You can have some nice plays out there
in the outfield, but to pretend that, you
know, only Evan Carter can play center field
adequately for Texas and that Evan Carter's defense
is going to be the difference between the
Rangers making the playoffs and not making the
playoffs.
There's really no way that I could get
on board with that.
I think that a valuable bat with good
defense is much more pertinent, much more important
than a really bad bat with elite defense.
I mean that, I guess you could have
Evan Carter be kind of the off the
bench defensive replacement.
Like to me, Evan Carter right now is
Travis Jankowski.
I mean, he is, and look, based on
what Janko did in the world series, Evan
Carter is kind of a light version of
that right now.
I mean, he's a defensive replacement.
He's a defensive replacement and a late inning
base runner at this point with how he's
been playing.
Doesn't mean give up on him.
It just means again, any other player in
the organization, if Osuna was doing this, I
just can't see it.
I think Evan Carter, clearly the organization is
grateful to him for what he did in
2023.
And he's a big reason they won the
championship.
There's no denying that there's also no denying.
I think there's some preferential treatment going on.
A lot of other players would never have
been given this much opportunity.
And Evan Carter has been given plenty of
opportunity to figure it out.
Keep going.
Let's see, what else do we have?
Nate, that'd be fun to have Osuna back.
I mean, that would be a lot of
fun to get Osuna back in the fold.
You already know this.
I would love to see him come back
and really make a meaningful difference for the
Rangers, whether he plays first base, whether he
plays out in the outfield.
I think that bringing Evan Carter back up,
excuse me, bringing Osuna back up, you think
about Evan Carter, maybe he starts seeding some
at-bats, kind of like what they did,
remember way back in whatever it was, the
end of July or beginning of August, whenever
they demoted Osuna.
At some points, you had Osuna actually playing
for Carter and doing the lefty lefty matchups.
We'll see what they decide to do.
But yeah, I would love to have Osuna
back in the fold.
Sugi, what's good?
Has anybody commented, tried to talk to Rocker
about covering first base?
No hustle to get to the bag at
all.
Look, would you believe me if I told
you that I actually had people clapping back
at me for getting on Kumar Rocker?
I had multiple Rangers fans, not a ton,
but multiple.
Dude, he's slow.
What is he supposed to do?
It's a fast runner.
What's he supposed to do in that spot?
What could he have done better?
I'm sorry.
I could easily, if I had more time
on my hands, you guys will have to
trust me on this.
I can remember distinctly late July, the Ray
series, and you're facing Chandler Simpson.
There were multiple PFP plays made, multiple pitcher
get over plays made with Chandler Simpson.
Chandler Simpson, one of, if not the fastest
players in the game, lefty.
And the dude rolled over on multiple baseballs
to first base in that series.
And nobody else on staff had a problem
outrunning Chandler Simpson from the mound to first
base.
Like very distinctly.
I mean, I think I could actually probably
go and pinpoint it quite easily and post
a replay.
So don't give me any nonsense about how
it was a fast runner.
Look, the Rangers found out how to get
over from the mound to first base to
get Chandler Simpson out.
I think Kumar Rocker can figure it out.
There's no excuses to be made when it
comes to not getting over to first base.
It's ridiculous.
And this is a good lead in for
me to talk about Kumar Rocker.
I posted and I'll admit it was a
little bit of an emotional post, but I
don't think there's anything untrue that said, you'll
have to go check it out after the
live is over.
But, you know, after they pull Kumar Rocker,
Mike Baxic is talking about Rocker and the
outing and just ridiculously carrying water for Kumar
Rocker.
Like I think he used the word good.
Like it was a good day for Kumar.
I'll have to go back and look at
the exact quote, but basically Mike Baxic was
with a straight face trying to tell us
that Kumar Rocker had a good day today.
Like he gave his team a chance to
win.
He had a good day today.
What?
Just because he had seven strikeouts, just because
he had seven Ks.
He had a good day today.
The dude was removed in the third inning
after the third inning.
I have no clue how you walk away
from Kumar Rocker start today and say that
was a good outing.
We have a full week of baseball coming
up.
We are going to be playing every single
day this week.
No off days.
You cannot tell me that the team, the
organization is happy that Kumar went three innings
today.
They wanted six or seven out of Kumar
to save the bullpen for this week ahead.
Hopefully they can get some out of DeGrom,
but you got DeGrom throwing tomorrow.
And I don't want to hate on DeGrom
in any way.
Love Jacob DeGrom, but DeGrom hasn't necessarily given
you a lot of length in his outings.
So you have Kumar Rocker going three today
and you're probably going to have Jacob DeGrom
going five, maybe six tomorrow.
Like, I'm sorry.
There's no planet where you say good job
Kumar after that outing.
You're not covering first base.
There was traffic every single inning.
I think every single inning there was runners
on first and second at some point.
You're walking.
Yeah, you're getting some swing and miss.
Great.
You're coming out of the game as a
starting pitcher after the third inning.
There is no planet in which I would
gas up or even pretend that this was
a good start from Kumar.
I wouldn't even say, okay, Matt, I really
wouldn't.
I wouldn't even say, okay, you didn't last
more than three innings.
You gave up two earned runs in three
innings and you're fortunate it wasn't much, much
more.
I cannot even say it was a mid
-average start for him.
Didn't even make it.
Did not even make it to the fourth.
Just not going to be something that comes
out of my mouth.
I'll give a lot of praise today for
the win.
Kumar Rocker, I'm not going to be able
to show a lot of love in that
department.
I'm sorry, y'all.
We can agree to disagree.
I know that the swing and miss gets
people excited.
It helps people feel better about it.
I just cannot praise a three-inning start
from Kumar Rocker.
And a three-inning start at that where
you're walking four and you're giving up four
hits as well.
Eight base runners in three innings.
I'm sorry.
Can't do it.
Can't go there.
And look, could he have maybe gone a
fourth?
I think it's possible.
But you know, Matt, I think you have
to play the devil's advocate here.
He comes out for the fourth and gets
lit up.
Skip's kind of in a no-win situation,
isn't he?
Like, if Kumar Rocker comes out in the
fourth and surrenders the lead, you got it
back.
I think maybe you tell me what the
pulse is here.
Were you good with Kumar getting pulled or
did you want to see him come back
out for the fourth?
For me, I think it was the right
move to pull him.
So yeah, maybe in that regard, you take
a little bit out of his hands when
you're not letting him go past 86.
But at the same time, I bet a
lot of Rangers fans were okay with the
pull.
Because if Rocker comes out and immediately surrenders
the lead in that fourth inning, you know
Skip is just going to be getting ripped
left and right.
There's no way he is not getting ripped
left and right if you have him surrender
that 2-2 tie ball game, man.
Like, it's just for me a lose-lose
for Skip in that way.
In this case though, I think it worked
out very nicely.
It's a lose-lose in that, like, you
know, you pull Rocker.
You're not really letting him struggle through it.
You're not giving him an opportunity.
But it's also a lose-lose because if
you leave him in there, then he gets
lit up.
You're getting blamed.
It worked out well.
I think Skip made the right call.
But it's a call that isn't necessarily going
to be universally accepted by all.
I do think most Rangers fans, if you
ask them, probably okay with the pull.
Oh, Matt, like, totally good, my guy.
Look, by all means, you know I appreciate
you and the comments that you throw out
there at each show.
Comment says, what I meant by okay allowed
less than three runs but way too much
traffic.
Yeah, I think that the best praise I
can give, if we could meet in the
middle here, my guy.
The best praise I could give for Rock
today, if you're really feeling like, and Matt,
I'm not just talking to you, but talking
to anybody that feels like Rocker was okay
today.
The best praise I can give is he
didn't let the game totally blow up, which
he's done in the past, right?
He didn't let the game totally explode today,
where it's a five-run output by Milwaukee
by the third inning.
He kept it at two runs, and I
think that is the best praise you can
give him.
Beyond that, there's not a lot else for
me.
I think he needs to continue to refine
his game.
I've said many times I think he would
do well to get some time down in
AAA, really lock in on the mental side.
I know they've been trying to teach him
different pitches.
That needs to get worked out in AAA,
Matt.
I do think when Evo comes back, it's
going to be interesting to see what they
do.
They've already decided to go with, you know,
Jack Leiter out in the pen.
Jack has been shut down now with a
biceps issue.
So when Evo comes back, you know, right
now you're at DeGrom.
You're at Quantrill.
You have obviously Cody Bradford in the mix.
You have Kumar Rocker.
And look, you've been kind of piecemealing it
together here.
It'll be interesting to see what they decide
to do.
I personally am not a big fan of
Leiter going to the bullpen.
So McJay, I'm with you on that.
McJay says, comment from YouTube here, Leiter to
the pen should get CY fired.
I'm not a fan of Rocker or Leiter
going to the pen.
And I've explained so many times why I
feel that way.
So I'll give you the short version.
Neither one of those guys throws strikes enough.
Neither one of those guys throws strikes enough.
Rocker today walked four.
Do you really want a guy who walks
four and three innings to go out to
the bullpen?
It just doesn't make sense to me.
I'm really not trying to talk down or
be condescending here, but it doesn't make sense
to me why you would look at Rocker
and be like, that's a guy I want
in high leverage in the eighth or ninth
inning.
That's a guy I want in high leverage,
even in the seventh inning.
Yeah, he gets swing and miss.
I mean, so basically he's like some of
the guys we've in AAA, like Teodo.
Teodo's got swing and miss stuff, but he
walks people all the time.
There's no way on earth that I would
want Kumar Rocker late in a ball game,
because you don't know when you're going to
get that implosion.
You don't know when he's going to lose
it.
That's the thing with Rocker.
He can look really bad, but then he
can look like the best pitcher in the
game in the next frame.
And I'm not willing to bet my post
-season or my chances at a post-season
on Kumar Rocker, late inning walking guys and
not being able to find the strike zone.
And I feel the same way about Jack
Leiter.
Jack has had a propensity at times to
lose feel for his pitches and walk people.
His walk rate is not the worst in
a major league baseball, but it's not great.
You want guys out in the pen that
can throw strikes.
You need guys out in the bullpen that
can hit the strike zone and give you
a little bit of consistency too.
You're not wondering, you're not sitting there.
Is this going to be the day that
this guy blows up?
He's had a couple of good days in
a row.
He's due for a bad one.
That to me is something I would like
to avoid.
I don't like Leiter or Rocker out in
the pen.
No, no, no, no.
What I would like in an ideal world,
Evo, you've got DeGrom, you've got Gore, you've
got Cal Q.
And then after that, I'm probably riding with
Cody Bradford, maybe Jack Leiter.
But if I go Jack Leiter in the
five, then I'm probably sending Kumar Rocker to
triple a to get more refined.
I think he needs that.
I really do.
I know there's some people that might be
thinking I'm from a different planet right now,
but he needs to get refined in triple
a.
He needed it at the beginning of this
year.
They should have made him spend a month
or two in triple a.
And they just didn't have the depth at
that point.
And they didn't know Cal Q was going
to become Cal Q had they known Cal
Q was going to be Cal Q.
I think you would have gladly sent Kumar
Rocker to triple a and let everybody else
do their thing from that point on.
Have Leiter be your fifth guy.
Put Cal Q as your number four, Gore
as your three.
I mean, look, I think that Rocker to
triple a would have made a lot more
sense at the beginning of this year.
Dude only had like 40 professional starts to
his name when the season started, both minor
leagues and major leagues.
I think he had even less than that,
like high thirties.
There was no reason Kumar Rocker couldn't have
spent a little bit more time curing in
triple a before coming back up.
I still think that he would benefit from
it.
I don't think the Rangers are in a
great position with Kumar Rocker and I'll explain
why you don't trust him out in the
bullpen and you don't trust him to start
a playoff game.
So what are we doing?
I think it comes down to those two
things.
You don't trust him in a postseason relief
role.
I don't know why you would.
And you don't really trust him to start
a game four in the playoffs either.
That makes the outcome so clear to me,
send him down to triple a and they
don't have the ability to do that right
now because of the Evo injury.
But when they do, that's what I would
do.
Yeah.
Darnell, you might make a good point here.
Maybe you do let him do just middle
relief.
Like he can pitch in a deficit and
you know what, if you lose, you lose.
Or if you're in a humongous lead, go
ahead and throw them in there.
See if he can get you a little
bit of length.
Yeah.
The comment here from YouTube, so sick of
the gaslighting by the org.
Well, it's weird.
It's just a weird thing because it's a
lot of fans too.
I would say it's not a ton of
you guys, which makes sense because I know
a lot of you guys have told me
over the years you come here because for
the most part, we don't always agree, but
at least I'm not sitting here being disingenuous.
Like at least I'm trying to shoot straight.
Like you've got a lot of people, fans,
media, just not shooting straight.
Like again, Mike trying to tell us all
that this was a good start today from
rock.
Come on, baby.
I understand you're trying to sell a product.
I get you want people to stay interested,
but it would have been just fine to
say not rockers best game.
You walked four and you're leaving after three
innings.
That being said, he avoided the big implosion
and the Rangers are still in this ball
game.
That's exactly what I would have said in
back six shoes.
It wasn't a great start today from Kumar.
He couldn't find the strike zone.
He did get seven strikeouts.
So the swing and miss is there.
That's good to see, but it's never a
successful outing when you only go three innings
and your team is playing all seven days
this next week.
Not good.
It's just not great.
Um, agree with this comment from Matt here
on YouTube mindset.
Uh, rocker was rushed to the majors.
He was, if you would have had Cal
Q emerge more strongly at surprise, I think
you could have felt better about sending rocker.
You know, they ultimately ended up going with
rock as their fifth guy.
It was between him and Latz Latz ended
up where he should.
This team needed a lockdown closer, man.
They, they needed one.
It was, it was too painful losing games
over the last season, 25 with the carousel
of Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, and whoever else
they would throw in there at the end
of games.
That was painful.
The Rangers lost a lot of games last
year that they could have won because they
didn't have a good closer.
And so I do think it all worked
out with Latz.
Like it did.
It all worked out with him.
But at the end of the day, I
just think he should have spent a little
bit more time.
He had less than 40 starts Kumar rocker
did.
And I'm talking at every level in the
Rangers organization.
He had less than 40 starts as a
professional.
I mean that that's what a season and
change at the major league level.
Like that, that doesn't sound like a guy
that's gone through a lot of refinement college
or not.
Jack Leiter had way more refinement than Kumar
rocker did in the minor leagues.
Hmm.
Darnell says I've been a fan for 42
years.
Don't like the way the organization is headed.
I will say Darnell, how I can agree.
The Rangers future is very much predicated on
Walcott on Langford and how well those players
pop.
I don't feel great about the Rangers ability
to draw big name, free agents for both
Ray Davis and the penny pension that's been
going on the last two years.
But also I'm not sure how attractive the
Rangers are at this point.
You know, I think the Rangers definitely are
a big brand.
I think they are a big market.
Those things are going for them, but I'm
not sure what the Rangers ability to attract
big free agents is going to be, or
if they're even willing to sign them and
spend the money.
You're really hoping that some of these guys
pop Langford, Walcott, Leiter, rocker.
There's a number of guys.
If they do not show out, if they
do not become above average, consistent, potential all
-star players, you could have some dark years.
You could have some dark years.
And I don't want to see that.
I'm not hoping for that, obviously, but I
am a little bit worried.
And I don't want to start thinking about
that too soon.
Gotta work with what's in front of you,
but the Rangers future is highly dependent on
some of the young stars that are on
the team right now on the 40 man
Walcott.
I think there's going to be a lot
of pressure on him, which sucks.
You don't want to put too much on
his shoulders.
You feel like maybe Langford had to take
on that a little bit too much as
well.
Right?
A little bit too much asked of Wyatt
Langford early on in 2024, when the entire
team was falling off a cliff, right?
Jonah Heim, Garcia, Simeon.
He had all these stars from 2023, just
falling off a cliff and everybody was putting
a little more pressure on Wyatt Langford.
Like, dude, come on, please be the dude
that we saw mashing home runs at the
college world series.
Like be that guy, please.
And I think that Walcott is going to
find himself in a similar scenario because you're
all going to be a year older for
all the veterans.
Jock is probably going to be gone next
year.
You have Duran who, I mean, look, let's
be totally real about Duran.
You love what he's doing this year.
And I'll just say this out loud, and
I know some people might not like it,
but are we really sure that this is
repeatable?
Are we a hundred percent bought in that
this is repeatable?
Nobody is hoping that it doesn't repeat, but
I'm not totally convinced, nor do I feel
certain that this is going to happen again
next year with Duran.
Ethan, I know that that is going to
resonate with you, my guy.
I know that's going to resonate with you.
I know you have been on the trade
while the value is high train for a
while.
I mean, that is how I feel about
a number of players.
I'm on the fence, 100% on the
fence with Duran.
I love Zeke, love what he's done.
I think he's going to win the gold
glove this year.
Are we so sure that this is repeatable?
If you're not sure that this is repeatable,
we were talking about untouchables and who's on
the trade block last night.
If somebody gives you an offer, you can't
refuse for Duran.
I'm not saying no, I'm listening.
I don't think Zeke Duran is an untouchable
player.
I think he's a great player.
I love what he's done this year, but
if you have any kind of doubt that
Zeke Duran in this season might not be
repeatable, he is controllable.
So that is what I think keeps him
around and maybe is what is ultimately going
to deter the Rangers from trading him.
He's controllable.
But that being said, if you have doubts
that he is going to be an above
average ball player for a sustained period of
time, why would you totally shut the door
on a trade?
I wouldn't.
I really wouldn't.
Colts fan, depends on who you're including.
No player should be off the comment says,
except maybe Latz.
I do think Langford probably would be a
guy I would hold on to for one
more year.
If Langford has another bad year, another injury
riddled year, you've still got two years of
control left of him.
I do think that Walcott is a guy
you want to keep around.
I'm a little bit nervous, like PTSD from
these veterans that are a little bit older,
like the vets.
It's risky sometimes, man, it is.
You go trade for a big name vet
that's early 30s.
Look at Brandon Nimmo.
He's had his good moments this year, but
Nimmo, 749 OPS, like 261 average, not bad.
Not bad at all, but I don't think
Nimmo is going to be duplicating last year
when he had 90 plus RBI.
I don't even know if he's going to
get to 25 homers over the next 25
games.
He would need to hit 11 home runs
in the next 25 games to get back
to last season's total.
It's just tough.
You're in a difficult position here.
You really are.
Zeke is having a career year.
Darnell, agree with you on this.
He's most certainly having a career year.
That is what worries me.
I'm not going to lie.
It is what worries me.
Zach says from TikTok here, I think Walcott
is the only untouchable in the org right
now.
Zach, what's good, my guy?
Thanks for hanging out.
Appreciate you as always, brother.
I feel like that's probably where I'm at
too.
I would probably throw in Langford.
I'm going to stick with that.
I'm not saying that if somebody really loves
Wyatt Langford and they're willing to overpay, I'd
say no.
Walcott is a guy I'm probably at this
point saying, I want to see what this
does in the major leagues.
He's having too good of a year down
there.
I know that it's early and I know
that he's been hurt a little bit and
he's going to be back in the field,
but I'm very curious to see what they
do with him.
You think about Evan Carter three years ago
getting the call up when the Rangers were
in a little bit of a funk and
he just totally ignited them.
You wonder if Walcott could do the same
thing.
Man, I would love to see something like
that happen.
You wonder if that is a possibility.
It very well might be, but maybe the
Rangers decide, Hey, it's not worth it.
We might not even make the playoffs.
Don't want to start his clock too early.
I would not be mad though at a
Walcott promotion.
If you're actually going to play him every
day, I wouldn't be mad at it.
And look, there are a lot of guys
I was watching.
What is, what's the name of Kevin Pilar's
podcast?
I know Pilar is a little polarizing, but
he does that podcast, uh, with, uh, who,
who else is on that pod?
The Indians pitcher, Alan Cody Allen.
And, uh, he also does a lot of
the hosting as well, but they were talking
about the difference between triple a and double
a.
And they were basically making the point on
Kevin Pilar's podcast that double a the talent
and the stuff is actually pretty elite at
triple a.
It's all a little bit more polished, but
you're not necessarily seeing better stuff at triple
a.
I kind of like that.
I thought that was really interesting.
A really, I mean, interesting, unique breakdown that
I hadn't heard before.
So again, you have probably better stuff at
double a, but it's just all more polished
in triple a.
And so I say that and I bring
that up because I don't think it's unprecedented
for a player to jump from double a
to the major leagues.
It's happened on a number of different occasions,
right?
I don't think Walcott necessarily has to follow
that progression.
I think you could call him up right
from double a, and it is very, very
possible that he gives you a little bit
of a jolt.
Now, the fact that he hasn't played the
field is a little bit concerning, but I
surely would not mind seeing him in range
of red, white, and blue for the last
month.
Like I'll understand.
I'm not going to be on here.
I don't, I don't anticipate myself being on
my soapbox.
You know, why didn't they call up Walcott?
Like, I don't know if I would do
that, but I surely wouldn't be mad if
they made the move really wouldn't let's keep
going.
Darnell, I'm with you on this.
Gotta get younger, gotta get younger, more athletic,
more versatile.
Too many one trick ponies on the team
can only hit against lefties can only hit
against righties.
Aren't good defensively.
Can't run.
You know, there's too many one trick ponies.
Rangers have to get more versatile.
They have to get a little bit younger
as well.
I totally agree with that.
Colts man.
What's good.
If they cared, if the Rangers cared about
making the playoffs comments says Viele would have
been gone by the all-star break.
Does, does a playoff, you know, a playoff
run or even making the playoffs?
Does that say Billy?
That's what I'm curious about.
Does, does Justin's job get saved if they
make the playoffs?
I would be rebooting.
This was a bad year offensively, man.
I would totally be rebooting.
It doesn't even matter what the Rangers do.
I'm rebooting the hitting coach, the, the entire
hitting coach department in the off season.
I don't even care.
Rangers could go to the ALCS out of
nowhere.
I'm still rebooting it.
You're not going to sit here and tell
me, you know, a two or three week
heater in October means that Viele needs to
stick around.
I'm sorry.
I'd part ways.
You know, look, I always bring up the
golden state warriors example, Mark Jackson.
He made the playoffs with Curry and Thompson
and Draymond.
They fired him next year.
Steve Kerr takes over and it gets even
better.
I mean, how much you want to put
that on Kerr?
How much you want to put that on
Curry and all those guys developing further?
Sure.
We could debate that, but I don't think
just because the Rangers make the playoffs, maybe
win a playoff series.
I know I'm talking crazy right now for
some of you guys winning a playoff series
after some of the baseball we watched over
this last week, but nevertheless, I'm not keeping
him around for any reason.
Zach says three years of awful offense and
not completely overhauling the hitting staff is inexcusable.
I mean, I made a video at the
beginning of the season.
Like Viele was just, it felt like a
built-in scapegoat.
You were bad last year.
Offensively you fired Donnie Ecker.
Viele was always an Ecker guy, right?
And in San Francisco, Viele was underneath Ecker.
And then Ecker brought him over to the
Rangers.
They fire Ecker and then they leave Viele
around.
They part ways with Brett Boone.
I did not get it at all.
You really should have just cleaned house.
No excuses.
You don't have a scapegoat to blame Viele
being the scapegoat this time around.
I'm cleaning house.
Give me somebody brand new, a fresh set
of eyes, somebody proven.
I don't want somebody that's never done this
before, man.
Like Brett Boone, I think had some good
vibes to him, but never had really been
a hitting coach before, man.
I don't know if that's the best thing,
but for me, it's organizational, right?
So you can blame the hitting coach, but
it's also what the Rangers allow.
The Rangers allow so many of their players
to use their own swing doctors and it
starts at the top with Corey Seager.
How effective, I've always thought this, how effective
can these hitting coaches really be if the
players are allowed to listen to their own
private instructors more than the team personnel?
That makes no sense to me.
I don't think any hitting coach is going
to be super successful when the personal hitting
coach supersedes the team coach.
So unless the Rangers feel like making a
big change there, I don't think that it's
really going to ever have its most full
effect until the Rangers really decide, man, like
you're hitting coach, that's cool, but we're paying
you.
So could you do what we're actually wanting
you to do instead of what your swing
doctor wants you to do?
That's a tough conversation, but it's a conversation
that probably should be had and maybe the
Rangers just don't want to go there, but
at this point, I would be willing to
get a little bit extreme with how bad
the offense has been over the past three
years.
Like, can we maybe try a different approach?
Like maybe the swing doctors being in control
isn't what's best for the team.
Novel concept here.
Maybe the swing doctors are not working out
great over the hitting coaches that the club
is actually employing and paying to help the
players hit better.
I don't know.
Just a spitball in here, as I like
to say.
Let's keep on rolling.
Beltre as hitting coach would definitely be pretty
incredible.
He would be the guy that I think
could easily go in there and ruffle some
feathers.
He's not shy at all.
I just posted today, Rougned Odor, a good
memory from him against the Mariners, walk off
home run against Edwin Diaz.
Before that, he had made a boneheaded base
running mistake and Beltre was kind of chewing
him out in the dugout afterwards.
He ended up coming back, Odor did, to
hit the game-winning home run off the
Mariners closer.
Great clip, by the way, go watch it
after the show is over.
If you haven't seen it yet, but like
Beltre doesn't care, man, he he'll lead, man.
He's a leader.
I think they have got to have a
conversation though, with some of these guys that
have been struggling the past two or three
years and continue to go their own way.
Corey Seager is one of them, right?
Seegs has had a couple of nice years,
but man, he's had some struggles.
I mean, this year he is hitting a
little bit better, but 223, 724 OPS, like
brother, at what point are we thinking about
doing something a little different here?
I know, we don't get paid the big
bucks to make all these decisions.
It's above our pay grade why some of
this stuff goes on.
Well, all right, we got a few more
things to cover and then after that, we
are going to get into the series.
We'll probably go another 10 minutes here or
so.
Look, Zeke Duran, incredible if you're just joining
us, great series, but great day today.
He needs to be an everyday guy, no
matter what happens with injuries, there's no way
you can take him off the field.
Probably going to win the gold glove for
utility players this year.
And I think he's Rangers player of the
year, no doubt.
Look, this, this game, this was the offensive
formula.
Texas has been missing five scoring innings, five
RBI hitters.
Diaz got them started, nice double over the
center fielder's head.
Duran supplied some of the biggest damage.
Pederson hit a home run, Burger and Freeman
were tacking on runs.
It was great.
And look, after Texas scored only four total
runs in the first two games of this
series, isn't that crazy?
Four total runs in the first two games.
Like this is the closest thing that we
got to that Milwaukee style of offense.
And we talked about this before the series,
the Rangers wanted to be what the Brewers
are this year.
The way that Skip Schumaker, see why we're
talking in the pre-season, they wanted the
offense to look like what Milwaukee's does.
Guys put the ball in play.
You put pressure on the defense.
You are going with the pitch that you're
thrown.
You're taking it the other way.
If the ball is on the outside corner,
if you're getting a ball on the inside,
you're getting quick hands to the plate and
you're pulling it like putting the ball in
play at a high clip, not just bunting
small ball stuff.
Milwaukee is what the Rangers wanted to be
this year.
Offensively stealing extra bases, taking the extra base.
It took a couple of games, but we
finally got somewhat, somewhat in that ballpark, somewhat
in that zip code.
Look, seven runs for one afternoon.
It doesn't erase the season long offensive problems.
I don't want anybody to get it twisted,
but this is much more sustainable.
What they did today.
You have some doubles hit.
You have some ground ball singles.
You have a couple of homers.
You had a very versatile offensive attack.
And that to me is definitely something worth
keying in on rocker.
We talked through him not at all going
to talk through the, you know, the positives
too much.
I don't think rocker had a great start
today, seven strikeouts, but you walked four, you
gave up eight base runners in three innings.
You didn't allow the game to blow up.
I think that's the biggest positive you take
away.
Maybe you give that as a credit to
rocker maybe earlier in the career he implodes,
but he didn't allow the game to totally
get away.
I wouldn't say he gave Texas a great
chance to win when you have to use
the bullpen for six innings.
I don't think that's really giving your team
a great chance to win, but I do
think you can say with a straight face,
the game didn't totally get away from rocker.
He didn't allow the game to totally explode.
Alexander.
I talked through, he was my player of
the game today from a pitching perspective.
You come in, in the fourth inning after
rocker only can go three.
You get that, you get that shutdown frame
in the fifth, big second and third two
out situation.
He gets a strike out of Sal Frelick.
Alexander, definitely pitching player of the game today.
Hit list as well.
We're the Brewers against Tyler Alexander standings.
Look, Houston was, was leading New York.
I think earlier in the game, I have
not checked back on that yet that Houston
ended up winning.
Looks like they did beat the Met six
to three.
So no ground gained in the division.
So this was, this was a big game
to win today.
You had to win this game around the
rest of the league, some different results, uh,
yet actually the A's yet to be determined.
They're losing eight to five to the Orioles
angels are losing to the Phillies as well.
And then the Mariners lost seven, nothing to
the blue J.
So we'll check out the standings here.
See if we can make sense of any
of this, but this was a good day
to win.
You would have dropped another game behind with
the loss.
Definitely a good day for the Rangers to
win a ball game, man would have loved
to have gotten a win last night.
And now you're just at one game back,
but Texas two games back in the division,
two games back in the wild card.
And as we look at the wild card
ahead of the Rangers right now, going into
their series with the A's, you've got the
Baltimore Orioles who are, I believe going to
go a full game up if they win
today.
So you've got the guardians, the Orioles, and
you've got the blue Jays.
Uh, the blue Jays are 68 and 70.
So a half game ahead, it's tight.
You have very limited margin for error right
now.
Every loss.
It's just so painful at this point in
the season.
So that's why I told you guys, man,
no, no moral victories here.
Zero moral victories, no silver linings.
Like you got to win games, no time
to champion the process.
Got to win baseball games.
It's going to be tough doing that later
on this week against one of the best
teams in baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays.
But man, a sweep feels like something you
need this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday sweep feels near
necessary to me.
I mean, look, you can't lose this series.
Let me put it this way.
Like two out of three, I still say
even that is not ideal, but at the
end of the day, it all depends on
what the team's ahead of you do.
All depends on what the team's ahead of
you do.
Uh, tomorrow, let's talk about the pitching matchup
a little bit.
We've got DeGrom on the bump against Jump.
Jump had a pretty good outing against us
last time.
Uh, look, there's got to be a pun
in there somewhere.
Gage Jump.
Yeah.
He, he did jump the Rangers last time.
Didn't he?
There's the pun.
It was bad, man.
They did not play well.
It was five and a third, three earned
runs.
And that game, I think he actually ended
up walking four, but the Rangers just couldn't
get anything done.
A's ended up winning eight to three.
So didn't get a decision necessarily, but gave
his team a very solid chance to win.
Rangers against Jump.
Burger one for two with the bomb.
Carter one for two.
Duran one for three.
Diaz, Foscue, Freeman all O for two.
Langford O for two as well as his
O'Hoppy.
Nimmo O for three.
Corey Seager O for one.
So Burger had a nice homer off of
him.
Carter, lefty lefty, man.
There you go.
Was that a bunt?
I forget what Carter's hit was off of
him.
Duran, of course, good to see, but you're
going to see the lefty lineup again, right?
So no Pederson tomorrow.
Probably no Evan Carter tomorrow.
Zeke Duran probably will be out in center
field.
On the other side, the A's against DeGrom.
Butler two for 10 with the homer.
Cortez and Gelof both O for two.
McNeil O for two.
Servin, Stefanik, Walton all O for as well.
So DeGrom outside looking in has some pretty
good numbers against the A's.
You're hopeful that he can get back on
track.
DeGrom has been up and down and he
was very down in his last start against
the White Sox.
I am really looking to see how he
rebounds.
He had the outstanding outing against Washington, six
innings, one hit, 10 strikeouts, and then came
out against the White Sox and totally soiled
the bed, man.
Three and two thirds, eight earned runs, five
walks, six hits.
A lot of people were making noise about
the soft contact and unlucky.
Man, you walk five people.
That's not a good game.
Come on, baby.
Apply the same logic as we're doing with
rocker today.
It's not a good game when you're walking
five.
It's just not.
Got to have better from DeGrom tomorrow in
a game that you really need.
You do not want to get this series
off on the wrong foot.
Hopefully the White Sox will do some damage
against the Astros.
Looking at the numbers here, excuse me, looking
at the schedule here, tomorrow you have a
number of different interesting series opening up around
the league.
Mariners play the Red Sox.
That's good news for Texas.
Blue Jays and the Guardians have to duke
it out.
That's good news.
You're hoping, I think, one direction either way.
I mean, actually, with the Blue Jays, you're
probably hoping the Blue Jays can take two
out of three there.
The Guardians are in that last playoff spot.
You're probably hoping the Blue Jays take two
out of three.
I don't know if you want to sweep
one way or the other.
Beyond that, you're going to have the Astros
and the White Sox.
You've got Orioles and Rockies.
That's not fortuitous for Texas.
Rockies are 33 games below 500.
Orioles definitely have a good matchup there playing
a course field.
And that's it.
Yeah, Thursday is going to be interesting.
Darnell, I totally agree with you there.
Comment says we should know a lot come
Thursday morning.
Totally agree with that 100%.
Yeah, Swolger, I don't usually put this kind
of pressure on, but I agree with this
comment from YouTube here.
Too many tough teams remaining.
You have to sweep.
It does feel like that is needed.
I think two out of three, if you
get some fortuitous results with teams ahead of
you, could work.
You lose this series.
It's going to start feeling pretty hopeless.
I was about to say hopeful.
It's been a long day, I guess.
Hopeless if you lose two out of three.
Well, all right, y'all, let's land this
thing.
So today, a couple of different things stood
out.
Today told me Texas actually can create offense
from several different parts of the lineup.
And when you really think about it, this
team has not had a consistent problem getting
on base.
Sometimes, sure, they get two hit, they get
three hit.
But a lot of the offensive struggles this
year come from wasting opportunities when runners do
get on base.
And finally, today, the Rangers did some damage.
And Zeke Duran keeps making the case that
he is player of the year, gold Glover.
And man, where would they be without Ezekiel
Duran?
Don't even want to think about it.
Still unsure about Kumar Rocker.
Still unsure about Rock and where he fits
long term.
I just, I feel like you keep waiting
for the click.
You keep waiting for the switch to flip
with Rock.
And I just don't see light at the
end of the tunnel.
Like I see him continuing to do this
thing where he looks really good for a
couple innings and looks really bad for a
couple innings.
I don't know what it's going to take
to get him to flip to top of
the rotation starter, but I'm not feeling great
about that.
And today with the four walks, yes, he
strikes out seven, but four walks and you
had three hits as well or four hits
as well.
And you only go three innings on a
week that you really needed length out of
your starting pitching.
Not great.
I'm not sure his command is where it
really needs to be to be out in
the bullpen either.
I kind of came to the conclusion on
the show in a perfect world where everybody's
healthy.
I think you consider sending him down to
AAA for more refinement.
I would probably be strongly considering that if
the Rangers were totally healthy.
Yeah, no, no wind lives.
We did Friday night and Saturday night.
Where are you been my guy?
We were here Friday and Saturday, man.
I take a couple of days off like
the white socks games.
I took a couple of days off, busy
work, family, stuff like that.
And everybody thinks suddenly I'm a fair weather
fan.
Come on now.
Y'all got to know better.
Now we did Friday and Saturday talking Rangers
losing to the brewers.
So no worries.
No fair weather fan here at right on
Rangers, man.
No fair weather.
Let's, let's keep going here.
Next thing I'm really looking out for this
series against the A's.
You've got some big time pitchers.
DeGrom's going, Gore is going to be pitching
in this series coming up here too.
He will have game two on Tuesday and
then Cody Bradford's going to land the series
on Thursday.
Really hope that you can get quality out
of your starting pitchers, especially those first two,
DeGrom and Gore.
Two guys that you are really counting on,
that you've invested a lot in.
Gotta show up.
Have to show up.
Appreciate all you guys.
Yeah, you're good, man.
Just giving it back to you.
No worries, brother.
Appreciate you tuning in.
Thanks for the support, Matt.
I'm with you.
Bradford needs to lock in there.
No doubt.
Hey, look, we got some good stuff coming
to you in the next 24 hours, man.
I'll have a podcast out.
You guys know I've been posting all of
these podcasts.
I do a little editing and post them
to all major podcast apps.
Probably will have a video that I cut
from this podcast as well.
That's been working a little bit better with
the workflow and just the efficiency.
So I'm trying it out.
Doesn't mean I won't do any just straight
up organic shorts reels separate from the pod,
but trying it out, seeing what I can
cut from some of the different long form
stuff that I do.
So thank you for your continued support in
that area.
We'll have some of our usual posts out
tomorrow.
Got some birthdays, got some Rangers history to
talk through tomorrow.
Hope you're enjoying those posts.
If you're watching on TikTok, by the way,
or on YouTube, follow me over on X
on Facebook, on threads, on pretty much everything.
And the content is pretty much throughout the
day.
So if you enjoy the lives and you
want a little bit more content in the
in-between times, consider following over on one
of those, man.
I appreciate that.
Hey, El, thank you so much for the
gifts, brother.
Means a lot.
Not needed, but much appreciated.
Gold boxing gloves too, man.
I think that might be a new one.
Feels like that's a new one.
Just getting that, expanding that gift trophy case.
I love it, brother.
Thank you.
Seriously, thank you.
Let's keep going.
Darnell, thank you.
Kind words.
Means a lot.
I don't take any support for granted, y
'all.
Whether it's just a comment, man, the gifts,
the tips that you guys have given over
the course of the show, it's great.
Just know, like I always say, genuinely, it's
not needed, but it's much appreciated.
And we don't take any support for granted.
The comments, hanging out, sharing.
A lot of you guys have shared my
stuff with other people that are diehards, are
Rangers fans, but just don't know about the
show.
So thank you.
Definitely never, never take that lightly.
Well, I hope you guys have a great
rest of your Sunday night and I hope
you have a good week ahead.
If I don't see you, we will be
back tomorrow night.
We'll be going pretty much this entire week.
So come hang out eighth, ninth inning.
I've kind of been making that a little
bit more of a habit.
Maybe we'll do a seventh inning here and
there, but we'll see what happens.
But either way, catch us on the replay.
We always post the live shows to YouTube
and to Facebook and then podcast form for
anybody that likes the audio only version a
little bit better.
We hope you have a great day.