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Right on Rangers is where Rangers fans ride the season in real time.
The LIVE shows are the heartbeat. Big wins, ugly losses, bullpen chaos, breakout heaters, trade rumors, roster debates, and the takes that come with actually caring about this team.
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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. Welcome to another edition of Right on Rangers LIVE. Coming at you after an 11 to seven loss at the hands of the Chicago White Sox. Game one thirty three in the books. Rangers did not have it today on the mound.
Austin:Jacob DeGrom goes three and two thirds, eight earned runs, five walks, just two strikeouts. Five days after he looked unhittable, and he went six innings, 10 strikeouts, wasn't it? Tonight, he gives up the stat line that we just read, and it the game was essentially over in the first inning. Yet Texas still scored seven runs and only ended up losing by four. And look, we're gonna get into the the comeback, if you will, the fight that the Rangers showed at the end.
Austin:Definitely, I know will be a point of discussion, but, you know, we we gotta start with Degrom here. Degrom tonight in the performance just perfectly encapsulates the entire season in 2026 for Texas. You have a dominant start by DeGrom in his last outing. You're really feeling like he is going to hit his stride. You're really feeling like he is going to lock in for that stretch run, trying to make the playoffs, trying to win a division potentially.
Austin:You're trying to maybe secure that wild card spot, and you're getting good baseball from one of your aces at a time when you really need it with Nathan of Aldi on the shelf. And DeGrom comes out tonight and just doesn't have it. I I know there was some defense going around with Jacob DeGrom, you know, the the first inning, bad luck, the soft exit Belos. You know, I've always said, it's nice to look at advanced stats. It can definitely be a part of the equation, a part of the argument, but let's just keep this real.
Austin:Jacob DeGrom didn't miss enough bats tonight. He walked multiple hitters in that first inning. I think he walked two. So when when you're not getting strikeouts, you're not getting a lot of swing and miss. You're either walking a player or you're letting the offense put the ball in play.
Austin:Eventually you play with fire, you're gonna get burned. And I think that's what happened with Degrom tonight. I know we all like to defend Degrom, and trust me, when Degrom's career is done, I will be first in line defending this man needing to be in Cooperstown. Two tongue side young winner, fastest right hander to 2,000 strikeouts. I the the the list goes on.
Austin:The resume goes on for Jacob DeGrom. That discussion though is for another day. Let's focus on tonight. I know there's some people trying to defend defend DeGrom. And I know that there is a faction of social media users in support of the Rangers that are always gonna try and find a way to spin something positively.
Austin:I don't know how you spin this DeGrom start super positively for just keeping it real. DeGrom walked five hitters ultimately, had an opportunity to kinda lock things down, and then gave up a couple more. I know, eventually, you know, there were some inherited runners and you had him not necessarily giving up all of those runs cleanly. You had Colwynn giving up a couple. You had Peyton Gray coming in and giving up some too.
Austin:But at the end of the day, Jacob DeGrom needs to be that dude for this team right now. He needs to be that constant steady presence. And right now, he's he's a bit of a mirror for the team as a whole. And let me come to that point. You have this squad winning a res a resounding game last night, two nights ago, if you're listening to this on Wednesday morning.
Austin:You had great offense. You had pretty solid pitching. Overall from Kumar Rocker, don't think it was a great start, but he kept the team in the game. He gave the Rangers a chance to win yesterday. And then you come out tonight, and you totally get beat down.
Austin:And that's happened so many times this year, hasn't it? You wonder to yourself after a big emotional win, after a resounding victory, after a walk off where the entire team is hyped. And then the next day, they come out and and they do this. This game was 10 to one at one point. I'm not really interested in the fight that the team showed at the end.
Austin:That was another thing that that was going around during the later stages. Man, it's so good to see this team fight back. Yeah. I I might feel that
Speaker 1:way in May or June. I don't feel that way with less than 30 games left. There's not a lot
Austin:of silver linings when you have this little baseball left to go. Can a lot happen in 29 games? Absolutely. Is your margin for error becoming thinner with each passing day? 100%, yes.
Austin:And so I don't sit here gassing up an eleven seven loss because you know what? That they made the box score look a little bit cleaner. It was 10 to one at one point, and they did have Cody Freeman up with a chance to tie the game. That would have been a lot of fun, but it didn't happen. It didn't happen.
Austin:And so here we are. It's it's a loss, And this White Sox team is good, not at all trying to make anything lesser of them. I've got respect for the White Sox. The fighting Will Venables as I like to call them. They they've got some good players.
Austin:But the Rangers should be able to beat this team two out of three games. And I really do believe that tomorrow's a big game for Texas. We're gonna get into the preview of tomorrow's game most certainly at the end of the show today. Not sure how long we'll go. Try out a different format.
Austin:By the way, no live show tonight. I had multiple things going on with work. Won't be a live show tomorrow either. I'll be at my at the back to school night stuff, you know, that all the schools do at the beginning of the year for both my kids. So, you know, we'll be doing that, but we'll do another pod as well tomorrow.
Austin:So we're trying out a new format. I hope it it goes well. I mean, if you watch the live shows, I I think you understand quite well. I I have the ability to ramble. I have the have the ability to go on and on about this team, and, you know, clearly, it's because I love them so much.
Austin:Very passionate about the Rangers. Rain or shine. Man, rain or shine. We're riding with them, and we're gonna be here till the end of the season. That has always been my commitment.
Austin:Clearly, family stuff, work stuff going on. You gotta have your priorities, but I think we're gonna end up doing over a 140 games. My goal was one fifty. I think I was a little overzealous. Over a 140 games, we're gonna cover either live show or podcast here on the channel.
Austin:And I think that is close to the most we've ever done. So, And I just wanna say thank you for all your support throughout this one forty plus, man. It has been great. Now, back to business, back to the Rangers. One night, Texas looks like a playoff team.
Austin:Twenty four hours later, you've got a meltdown going on. And so I wonder, as we go into tomorrow's game, what's tomorrow night gonna look like? What what is Wednesday night gonna look like? Again, we'll get more into that in a little bit, but, you know, going back to DeGrom, trying to put a bow on on this part of the discussion, you know, you you have a guy that has all the talent and pedigree in the world. You just need to see consistency, and that's this team as well.
Austin:The soft contact, the weird contact in the first inning, you know, again, there's more than one way to get on base. You don't always have to hit a 110 mile an hour rocket. I don't think it's fair to say, hey, he had a solid start, but he he gave up a lot of soft contact. It really wasn't that bad. It's hard to spin that with eight earned runs on the docket.
Austin:DeGrom's gotta be better, especially with the Valdi down. He has got to pitch like the ace that the Rangers are paying him to be, And right now, that's not happening consistently enough. You want to see Degron hit his stride in August, hit his stride in September, as we hope to build towards a playoff run. And right now, maybe some of you are are replaying that Jim Mora clip in your mind. Playoffs?
Austin:Talking about playoffs? Playoffs? I'm talking about playoffs, man. This team can make the playoffs. This AL is not that good.
Austin:The Rangers can find a way in, but the back and forth, the volatility with the big wins and the big losses, and even like the close wins and close losses. Like this team can do it all. The thing that they do most consistently is win and lose games very differently each night. They can win a two o the two o game. They can win an 11 to three game.
Austin:They can lose a three one game. They can lose a 13 to one game. This team consistently finds different ways to win and lose. That's about, I mean, the only thing that this club is doing consistently at this point. I'm just hoping and praying, and I think a lot of you guys are in the same boat.
Austin:I'm just hoping and praying that the Rangers hit their stride at some point over the next 29 games. Give us that nine out of 10, you know, seven out of nine. That run where maybe you're not winning like nine games in a row, but you're consistently stacking and stringing together wins. That's what you wanna see out of this club more than anything. And right now, you just don't trust this team.
Austin:That is the conclusion that I've come to. Do I think this team can make the playoffs? Yes. Do I trust this team? No.
Austin:I don't. I trust them to do exactly what I just said, which is find different ways on any given day to win a game or to find different ways on any given day to lose a game. You had, like, I think some more consistency with the 24, 25 teams, like a lot of really close wins and losses, a lot of four threes, three twos, a lot of low scoring affairs, especially in '24 and '25. Right? That 24 team, it felt like was always in a three two game, and, you know, Kirby Yates or David Robertson was coming in.
Austin:This team just feels all over the map. I mean, they could be getting the the doors, the brakes beat off them. They they could be winning a really tight ball game, or the offense can erupt out of nowhere like they
Austin:did yesterday or like they did on Monday night. Right? I think at this point, you just are praying this team can find its groove. It could happen, but they're running out
Austin:of time to do it. And you've got 29 games left to figure it out, And I think the jury's out on whether or not that is going to be able to happen. Now, let's go into a couple of different components here. There's a lot of different directions we can go. We'll try and stay focused, but if you watch the lives, you know, things can get off the rails sometimes.
Austin:We always bring it back in eventually, but let let's talk about some individual performances here. Right? So you look at the offense and and you look at some of the numbers jumping out to you, you know, Jake Berger with the home run. Yeah. Danny Jansen getting on the board.
Austin:Finally, man. First hit since he came off the IL. DJ able to figure it out. He had three RBI, a two run bong, had another base knock that drove in a run. You you had some guys who were putting the the bat on the ball today, but it was just too little too late when you have a six run deficit, a ten one deficit to work with.
Austin:I think Burger further solidifying in my mind, dude needs to be a lefty guy primarily. I think they need to find ways to give him some time off when it comes to the righties that are on the mound, especially tough righties. Right? Like, against tough right handers, I think it's almost a no brainer. Give Jake Berger a little rest time.
Austin:Allow him to keep punishing lefties. Foskew had a good night tonight. Sorry about that. Hot out in the garage, so it is a little bit warm. Forgive me.
Austin:But we've got Foscue coming through with a two and four, night two for four night, two RBI. You had some good performances. Corey Seager goes o for five, not ideal, but you score seven runs in a game, you should be able to win. And the Rangers just totally let down on the pitching side of things.
Speaker 1:And I think that's kind
Austin:of another thing to add into the consistency. Right? Like, you just don't have all phases clicking really at any given moment for this team. If the pitching is doing really well, the offense is cold. If the offense is really hot, the pitching is having trouble.
Austin:If the starting pitching is dominant, the bullpen's faltering. It just all goes into the same theme, doesn't it? I mean, that that's where we're at at this
Speaker 1:point. And so you're you're hoping tomorrow can be
Austin:a new day, and and you can get a complete performance from Gore. You can get this offense continuing to do what they did tonight. You you have a number of different places that you can go in this lineup, but I'll I'll say this. Going one through nine here, I like the lefty lineup. I I really do, but I just feel like you're always going to be missing Joc Pederson, who's been in a tough stretch, but he's been one of the Rangers' best hitters this year.
Austin:And when he goes out of the game, you know, he came in today with a pinch hit opportunity, the lefty lineup does feel a little disadvantaged. We've been talking about this though for the last couple of years, and the Rangers have refused to go out and get crazy right handed bat help. They were really kind of chosen to do more of an internal thing when it comes to that, but I'm looking forward to seeing the the right handed starting pitching lineup tomorrow. You've got a righty on the hill for Chicago. We're gonna again preview that matchup later on in the show, but I think this team is at its best when when they're facing a right hander.
Austin:I get a little bit worried about the offense when the lefty is on the hill, although, like, recently it's been good. You just hope it can continue to stay that way. And at this point, you've got Burger clicking well against lefties. Nimmo's been hitting lefties well all year. Foskew, although had a little bit of a cold streak after the all star break.
Austin:Foskew, I feel like has maybe picked it up a little bit here of late. You've got 29 games till pay dirt, man. You got 29 games till the finish line, and you're just hoping that Texas can flip that switch. You've got a couple of guys in the lineup that I feel have that capability. Corey Seger's one of them, man.
Austin:And, you know, Brandon Nimmo, I know he's never been, you know, the the elite of the elite per se, but he feels like another one that might be able to figure it out. He really does. We keep going. We have the bullpen. I think it's not really fair to DeGrom to not mention the other pitchers tonight that really did not have their a game, if you will, and I'm trying to put it nicely here.
Austin:Cole Wynn is a guy that a lot of fans this year, just my sense, have grown a little bit tired of. There's, I think, some Cole Wynn fatigue out there. He's been put into a lot of different roles this year. He dabbled in some high leverage. Now, he's a little bit more in mop up, but you gotta think Cole Wynn is pitching for his baseball life right now.
Austin:I don't think he has a super long runway any longer. I think he's actually running out of runway, and I'm a Cole Wynn fan. I think he's a good dude. I've shared some Cole Wynn experiences over the years. My son and I, you know, we've been out watching him.
Austin:When he comes out to Vegas here, you know, we'll go see an Aviators Express game, and he's he's flipped us a couple of baseballs. He's a good dude. I I like Cole Wynn a lot. Everything I've heard about him is good stuff, but unfortunately, you know, that only takes you so far. You gotta perform on the field, and Cole's had a tough time getting positive results here in 2026.
Austin:And, you know, tonight, ending in a third, two earned runs, a walk, five hits, just a lot of traffic for Cole. He's been better of late. Like, I I think if you look at his numbers over his last seven, you'd be like, that's not so bad. Three fifty two, by the way, but you have given up 11 base runners in seven innings and change. Cole Wynn, he he was really expected to take a bigger step this year.
Austin:I know one of the videos I posted about him in the off season was, this dude could be the x factor. Some of his repertoire, you you look at it, you look at the stuff he had last year, and you looked at some of the success he had early on and you thought, maybe this could be kind of a a catch all guy at the back end of the pen. You can use him in that seventh inning jam. You can use him in an eighth inning jam. You can use him a little bit of everywhere, and it just hasn't worked out this year.
Austin:Has not worked out this year. He is sitting at a five sixty three ERA, 48 innings, 49 strikeouts, a 1.46 whip allowing, you know, I I I know, obviously, literally, it doesn't make sense, but about a batter and a half an inning. Right? Not great for a relief pitcher. Cole Wynn, I think, has gotten many chances to succeed.
Austin:He's gotta figure it out. He he has got to bear down and give the Rangers some quality innings down the stretch here. Peyton Gray, not a lot better tonight, and and he has had a rough go of things over his last three, over his last seven games. He gave up a home run today. Did have a a number of positive moments.
Austin:Got some swing and miss tonight. He did have three strikeouts in in just one inning pitch. Right? But nevertheless, you give up the home run. You make the deficit even greater.
Austin:But I gotta be honest with you guys, I I just can't find find it in me. I can't bring it, bring myself to really crack down on guys like Gray or Alstrom, because I just feel like they are pitching way above their weight class right now. And this is no disrespect to Peyton Gray, Robbie Alstrom, any of these guys. I think considering that that they're rookies and were never really supposed to be in this role, I think you have to be impressed with what they've done. Right?
Austin:They they're sub right now. Not Robbie Alstrom, but Peyton Gray sub four ERA. He's at three ninety three. You look at the splits for Peyton Gray and a pre All Star, three forty eight ERA for a rookie, thirty three and two thirds, only 13 earned runs, and then 37 strikeouts
Speaker 1:in those 33 innings. And this is for a
Austin:guy that doesn't have like high octane overpowering fastball. Right? He's a fastball change up guy mainly. 37 strikeouts in 33 innings pre all star for Peyton Gray. What I just don't wanna see is people lose perspective with Gray or even lose perspective with Alstrom when he falters along the way.
Austin:These guys are rookies and they've been punching above their weight class. The Rangers did a bad job of putting together a bullpen. And I'm sorry, I don't really give a free pass for injuries, like with Robert Garcia or Chris Martin. That's all a part of it, man. That's all a part of the planning you do in the off season.
Austin:Can we count on Chris Martin to stay healthy? Yeah, we can. The front office had to say that out loud and they were quite wrong. You don't have a lot of depth in this bullpen. The bullpen success has been pretty top heavy as well.
Austin:You've got clearly Jacob Lats. Jacob Junis, win healthy has been good. Tyler Alexander's been pretty good. And, you know, Cal Q, do you wanna count him in the bullpen? He's been more of a dominant starter than a dominant bullpen piece.
Austin:Two thirty two starter ERA? Hello. We're gonna get back to Cal Q. I'm gonna circle back to him in a little bit, but back to Peyton Gray, Robbie Alstrom, and some of the bullpen pieces. You don't have enough depth in this bullpen.
Austin:You had to chase Silseth. He's largely limited damage, but I I don't know if I would say Silseth has wowed in his time in Arlington thus far. Look, it hasn't been much. I'm not being overly critical of the guy but, you know, he's allowed some traffic. He's made things interesting at times but ultimately, he's gotten out mostly.
Austin:I don't think Silseth is quite the caliber of player that the Rangers needed to add out in the bullpen. CY, course, the best moves are sometimes the ones you don't make.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Right. How many times are we
Austin:gonna get spoon fed that over the next several years with CY in charge, man? Like, I'm just not here for it. I'm really not here for it. Look, Chris Young, Fenstermaker, all those guys, they needed to do a better job really making this bullpen, you know, stocked well, depth, and not relying on rookies like Gray and Alstrom. I think Gray and Alstrom, you know, in a perfect world, would have made their debuts this year.
Austin:I don't think the perfect world though is them as, you know, your seventh inning bridge guys. So I just ask, like, let's keep perspective on these guys. They're rookies. This is their first full season in the major leagues. And all things considered, I think they've done pretty well.
Austin:Has Gray been awesome of late? No. But at the same time, has he been set up in the best positions to succeed? I think that's debatable. You probably could have given some of these guys a little bit of a softer landing with better planning in the off season.
Austin:They were ready to crown Chris Martin and Robert Garcia the first week of spring training. I'll never forget that. Right? Skip came out. Yeah.
Austin:We're gonna go Robert Garcia. We're gonna go Chris Martin kind of
Speaker 1:in tandem. Didn't even open
Austin:it up for a competition. Like, that's how certain the Rangers were of what they had at Closer right away. Jacob Latz, I give all the credit to Latzee. I don't give a ton of credit to, you know, Skip or CY for putting him in that position. The Rangers were gonna make him a fifth starter.
Austin:And I think, you know, with Kumar Rocker, they wanted him to be in the rotation. This this was not gonna be a great look, Rocker getting sent down to triple a. I think it it should have happened. Rock has shown you some positive signs this year, but I think he could have really benefited from refinement in triple a. And you could have gone with Cal Q as one of your, you know, number four, number five guys, but injuries have just prevented that.
Austin:Right? I personally don't give a lot of credit for Jacob Lats becoming an all star to anyone but Jacob Lats. Yeah. Obviously, there's some coaches and there's some people along the way that definitely deserve some credit, but I'm gonna give the majority to the guy that's on the mound getting outs. Rangers had no clue Latsy was gonna be all star.
Austin:And so bringing it full circle, you've lucked into some things. You've gotten a couple of over performances, you know, Junis, Alexander, but you just didn't build enough depth in this pen. And so, I know Peyton Gray, been fainting a little bit. Again, four seventy four ERA post All Star, but you have to look at his season in its totality. He's been asked to do a little bit more than what you probably would have ideally wanted.
Austin:I think all things considered, it's been a positive first year for him. Shoot. Jack Leiter had an ERA over eight in 2024 and I had people trying to tell me that he's taken positive steps this year. So if the bar is have an eight plus ERA and we can sit around and say, hey, positive steps. What are we
Speaker 1:saying about Peyton Gray with a sub four ERA as a rookie? Flowers to Peyton Gray.
Austin:I'm a fan. I hope that he figures out a little bit of a a consistent path here. That's the the theme of the show, the buzzword of the show, by the way, if you haven't picked up on it. I I hope he can get back on track. We'll see if it happens.
Austin:We'll see if maybe this is gonna be a trend that continues, but just don't wanna see the Peyton Gray bashing man. He he has been pretty solid, I think, in year one, all things considered. Now, let's keep on rolling down the list a little bit. You had Jordan Montgomery pitching tonight back to back days. I would imagine he's down.
Austin:Tyler Alexander gives you an inning today. So you've probably got some guns available for tomorrow, fortunately, just to bring the bullpen conversation to a close for now. I think you've got some guys available out there. Maybe Junas is available. Alstrom probably available as well.
Austin:But you figure if Latsy needs to go a couple of innings, why not? I think that that probably will be something that the team considers going into an off day on Thursday, especially. So at this point, you gotta get a lead. You gotta get good quality starting pitching, but it's nice that the Rangers didn't have to burn through everybody tonight. You still got Sil Seth available tomorrow.
Austin:Again, maybe Junis available in Lats. So I think things are setting up pretty nicely for a good game tomorrow. It's just gonna be what are you getting out of Mackenzie Gore? What are you getting out of this offense? That's where we're at.
Austin:Look, we're going to go ahead and roll into tomorrow's game a little bit. I'm sure there'll be some things that get us back on track with tonight's game. We'll keep going back and forth, bouncing back a little bit, but we have tomorrow. By the way, records, Texas, one game below 500. Houston, even at 500.
Austin:Rangers are a half game back. Series with the White Sox tied one one rubber match tomorrow. Mackenzie Gore versus Sean Burke. Gore seven and nine with a four twenty six ERA. Yeah.
Austin:Burke seven and six with a three twenty seven ERA. So Burke's been pretty solid this year. Win the series though. I don't think that the sky is falling if the Rangers lose tomorrow. I don't I don't think they're out of it, but it just solidifies my lack of trust in the team.
Austin:It just solidifies it. Are are they done, Zoe, tomorrow if they lose? No. They're not. Anybody saying that, I mean, just trying to get clicks.
Austin:They're not done if they lose tomorrow. They're not done until they're mathematically eliminated. That's what I will always stick by. They're not done until they're mathematically eliminated. But tomorrow, the loss would a, be deflagating and b, just continue to solidify.
Austin:They are who we thought they were. Oh, and Denny Green, man. I'm doing all these old school NFL throwbacks right now. We did Jim Moore earlier and then Denny Green. We are who we thought they were.
Austin:Rest in peace. Denny Green, man. Classic, man. Classic. I mean, the Rangers are who who we think they are.
Austin:They're an inconsistent team, capable of beating good teams, but not capable of doing it consistently enough. If we're being super technical, this is a losing team right now. They are a game below 500. And if not for a mediocre AL full of parody, they they probably would be multiple games out. They're not though, and they have an opportunity to just find a way to sneak into the big dance and make something special happen.
Austin:And it starts with Gore tomorrow. Mackenzie Gore has been really, I think, pretty solid of late. Gore has gotten a lot of crap from bands this year. You know, myself included. I really try not to, you know, take dubs on players when they are doing poorly.
Austin:Of course, I'll call out an individual performance like, man, that this is not good. This is this is not acceptable, man. Wyatt Langford earlier, last night, I was gonna say earlier tonight, but I know most of you are gonna be listening to this in the morning or in the afternoon. Like, I don't know what where Wyatt said was at a few different times today. Like, doesn't mean Wyatt's the worst player in the world, but it was not a good performance for Wyatt.
Austin:We'll we'll call out individual bad performances. And Mackenzie Gore, the five prospect trade, I don't think it's paid off a lot yet. I said that out loud last week, and I had some people instantly, like, again, trying trying to hype up and pump up gore season. It hasn't been that great, man. Like, you know, with Kumar Rocker the other night, I I had a number of people, you know, really pleased, impressed with Rocker's start.
Austin:He gave them a chance to win. I think that's the best compliment you can give Rock. Did he start looking really good after the third inning? Yes. But, man, did did he look rough the first three?
Austin:A 100%. Should have easily been four runs after two innings, if not for an incredible play from Brandon
Speaker 1:Nimmo. So, you know, Rocker, he definitely found it
Austin:there in the fourth inning, the fifth inning, but it it was not, in my opinion, a great start for him. Mackenzie Gore, he has had a nice little stretch here against some of the worst teams in baseball. You could only pitch against the the team that's across from you, But Mackenzie Gore's last four games have come against the Giants, the A's, and the Angels twice. Literally, three of the worst teams in baseball. Now the start before that that stretch of, you know, four starts against the worst teams in baseball, he did pitch against the Rays, gave up that three spot, I think in the first or second inning, and then shut them down.
Austin:Nine k's, seven innings, three earned runs against the first place Tampa Bay Rays. Gore has the potential. Question is, to gonna be able to really be that ace that the Rangers thought they were getting when they traded for him. Hear a lot of people talk about Gore like he's gonna be around for five more years, like Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. We got Gore for this year and next year.
Austin:Gore doesn't have a lot of time to waste, man. He he needs to be pitching well and he needs to be doing that consistently. How many times have we said that word today? It just sound like a broken record. You get the point.
Austin:But Gore tomorrow, I'm expecting him to go out and and throw well. If you're just asking me for my gut feeling, I do think goes out and and has a good game tomorrow. I'm not seeing a a massive meltdown incoming. I'll knock on wood. I don't wanna be blamed.
Austin:I don't wanna be blamed. Shoot. But I think Gore gives a decent start tomorrow. Last three games, he's picked 17 innings and given up four earned runs. And over that span, he struck out 21.
Austin:He has walked five, it looks like. You'd love to see him limit the crooked number walks. He had one walked on the twenty first against LA. Two walks against the athletics before that. Two walks against the angels before that.
Austin:Gore, to me, at this point, has a great opportunity here the last, what, probably four or five starts to really become an anchor with Ivaldi down, with the Grom faltering a little bit. Mackenzie Gore has a great end of August and into September. He's gonna start turning some heads naturally. At this point, like it or not, he's getting a little bit thrust into the limelight with some of these other top players, either not performing to the best of their ability or being hurt. I think Gore is is gonna figure out a way tomorrow to give Texas a really good chance at a win.
Austin:You're just hoping that all facets of the game can come together. Offense continues to do its thing. Again, 18 runs scored over the last two games. Who is this team, man? Who is this team?
Austin:It's Jekyll and Hyde. And that's a number of the players too. Jekyll and Hyde. And you you have Texas offense clicking and then, you know, something else not completely clicking. You're just hoping it can be a total team effort tomorrow, close out a series win, and then you go into the off day on Thursday, and you head into a weekend series feeling pretty good about yourself.
Austin:I don't I don't know why you wouldn't. You go into this weekend, you got the series coming up against the Brewers. I know I think it's a's after that. If I'm not mistaken, you have the a's at home, but you gotta go to Milwaukee this weekend. It's not getting
Speaker 1:a ton easier. It's just not. Milwaukee, by
Austin:the way, 30 games above 500. The weird thing is I feel like the Rangers can go in and win two out of three. Like, you're going to have an opportunity, I think, to go steal a couple. We'll see how the Brewers pitching matchups line up. It's a lot to be determined.
Austin:I don't know if we're gonna be seeing the Miz or not. Wouldn't necessarily be counting on a dub in that game, but I do think the Rangers can figure out a way to beat the Brewers two out of three at least. Not gonna proclaim a sweep or anything, but look, before we get too crazy into that series, Gore, by the way, against the White Sox, just some numbers to kinda throw your way here. You know, Gore doesn't have a robust sample size against a lot of players and against the White Sox, he just has two matchups. Doyle, who he walked, and Grichick, who hits him really well.
Austin:Grichick is five for nine against Gore with one homer. Beyond that, nobody else has faced Gore. On the other side, Burke against the Rangers. Berger one for three. Diaz o for one.
Austin:You had Danny Jansen o for one against probable starter for the White Sox tomorrow. Sean Burke. Wyatt Langford one for three. Oh, Hoppe one for two. And Joc Peterson, oh for two.
Austin:So a very small sample size on both sides. You're going to, I think, have a little bit of a crapshoot situation here. Sometimes it works out in the pitcher's favor when you really haven't had the offense seen a lot of in person, a lot of live matchups. Of course, you can watch a
Speaker 1:ton of tape, but I think tomorrow is gonna be a little bit of
Austin:a crap shoot for the Rangers offense. I think Mackenzie Gore, like I said, goes out and has a good game. I'm looking at the offense. Can they sustain what they did today? That to me is gonna be the big question.
Austin:Back to Cal Quantrill for a second. We're talking about Mackenzie Gore starting pitchers. We'll make the loose connection here. How how do you not think more strongly? How do you not feel more strongly about Cal Q after a night like tonight with DeGrom?
Austin:Cal Q, two thirty two starter ERA, probably and not even probably. Shoot. I'm not I'm not gonna cop out with probably. He's been the most consistent starter for the Rangers. I think some people kinda chuckled when I said Cal q game one starter.
Speaker 1:Is that really a hot take anymore? Seriously.
Austin:Is that really that hot of a take at this point in the game? Cal q with the two thirty two starter ERA, he has gone on quite the run here over the last several starts, you know, five, six innings, one earned run or less. Makes you appreciate Cal Q more when you watch a game like tonight from Jacob DeGrom. Look. Clearly, DeGrom, the the ceiling of what he can do, it's still screaming game one starter.
Austin:It is. With a Valdi out for a little bit of an extended period, I wonder what what is gonna become of him. You hope you can get him back, kinda be that game two guy, but, you know, I don't wanna sit here and pretend like, you know, Dedrom can't come out over the next four or five outings and really dominate. He can. He's got that capability, but right now, I think you gotta start earning it.
Austin:Chris Young was on with the fan, I think, couple days ago, and they were talking about Danny Jansen and Ojopy and the catchers and see why. May maybe it's lip service, but basically said, we're going with the hot hand. I don't know at this point how you don't apply the same philosophy for the pitching. You gotta go
Speaker 1:with the hot hand at some point. And to me, that even needs to supersede big names, big contracts. Give your team the best opportunity to win. That has
Austin:to be it. Alright. We are getting close to wrapping up the show. By the way, tomorrow, we have got a 06:40 Texas time start, and then Thursday off day, and then we go out to Milwaukee, make another stop on the Midwest tour, and three games set there before the Rangers return back home. You know, tonight changed a couple of things for me, but, you know, look, at the
Speaker 1:end of the day, it is one game. DeGrom. The concern is reliability,
Austin:not talent. I still think DeGrom, when he's on, is one of the most elite pitchers in this game. Offense. The comeback definitely matters, like, diagnostically, if you will. Like, you look at Joc Peterson, you look at
Speaker 1:some of the games, and you appreciate the fact that some of the hitters tonight put up numbers, but moral victories, not really here for it with 29 games left in
Austin:the year. Rangers are just impossible to trust from night to night, and you just hope that tonight's game can be a game where they go out with some confidence, play all three phases well, and go win a series. Tomorrow, I think, can change the feeling pretty quickly. We we say this all the time, and and I've tried to be careful not overreacting to losses, but at the same time, it's just the way that they lose that causes a little bit of an emotional response. It's like, it's one thing to lose like a tight bogging four to three, it's another thing to
Speaker 1:be down 10 to one in the first three or four frames. Like, it's just a different feeling. Here's the final verdict though. Texas doesn't need perfection.
Austin:Nobody is asking that of this team. It it just needs fewer nights where one part of the roster is making the other part of the roster's job feel irrelevant. So, apply that for tonight. You've got the offense clicking, but it's irrelevant because Jacob DeGrom and Cole Wynn and Company just they're getting shelved left and right. Right?
Austin:They just did not have their a game tonight. You just need this team to be a little less extreme in each department, and I think they're gonna string together some games. They continue to be this volatile. It's gonna be tough to do that. With that, we are going to sign off, wrap up the show.
Austin:Hope you enjoyed the pod. We'll have another one out on Thursday morning as well. No live show tomorrow or tonight, I should say, but we will be back for our live shows in the Brewer series. I'm excited about that, but it's been fun doing a bit of a new format. Hope you enjoyed it.
Austin:Hope the Rangers can get us a win tomorrow in a series victory. Hopefully, around this time, maybe a little bit earlier on in the evening. It is just about 12:30 as I'm wrapping things up, 12:30AM out here in Vegas. Little late night ride on Rangers, but we got it done. I'm I'm hopeful around this time tomorrow, we'll be talking about the Rangers doing some good work.
Austin:Alright then. Hope you have a beautiful Wednesday. And as I always say to end every show, God bless and go Rangers.