Marco Gonzales spends his off-seasons working out at T-Mobile so of course theres no place he d rather be, even on a holiday. Hes only gotten to make one other start at “home” this year so Marco seems intent on making each one count. Today the fastball and cutter were on point, the changeup was crisp, and Marco even snuck a couple of curveballs in to keep the Rangers wrong-footed.
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Did this result in the Texas Rangers having a very un-fun day at work? Capitalism has losers and winners, and when were talking about the Rangers, were talking about a team that is currently putting the le-hew in le-hew-sers. The Rangers have now lost 18 of their last 21 video games.
The Rangers will enjoy to see the back of Kyle Seager for another few months, however Kyle “Owner of the Texas Rangers” Seager couldnt leave without a parting present:
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The offending hero of this game, Dylan Moore, would add on because same frame with his sixth crowning achievement of the season, crushed off a Kolby Allard curveball. This sucker went 425 feet, which, again, I dont purport to understand the dark dimpled magic of Dylan Moore, Im just here to enjoy it.
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The one hole in Moores profile– aside from the a little raised strikeout rate– has actually been that while he penalizes fastballs (.715 SLG) and strikes changeups quite well (.667 SLG, although hes only seen 130 in his career), he struggles to strike curves and sliders (mid-30s whiff portion). So it was nice to see him squash the curveball previously, and after that later do some damage on this Allard slider that can be found in at his shoetops:
Bless Yohan Ramirez hustling off the mound trying to capture this pop-up when he was having a hard time with his command. Get the outs any method you can (but also please take care Yohan) pic.twitter.com/boF7V54Kwo— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) September 7, 2020
The vacation of playing the abject Rangers is over. The Mariners currently are more detailed to a playoff area than they are to the leading draft choice. They didnt play perfectly versus the Rangers– a lot of runners left on base, too many strikeouts (10 today), bullpen enigma times infinity– however they likewise played clean-to-excellent defense, got strong beginning pitching performances, and got some offensive power from anticipated sources (the Kyles, Dylan Kyle Moore) and some new/unexpected places (hey there, Ty France!). Next up is the Giants, a group that on paper looks pretty similar to the Mariners and is a similar position in their reconstruct cycle, and after that is a real obstacle with the Athletics. Im not getting excessively worked up about playoffs, however I am very curious to see how this group will appear against non-Rangers competition coming out of their unintentional bye week (thanks, Oakland). I anticipated our season to go far more like the Rangers has in regards to both winning and watchability, and getting to enjoy these Mariners has felt like waking up on a Monday morning thinking you had to go to work before realizing you can in fact return to bed. For all the 2020 curse of “may you reside in interesting times,” this is one aspect in which I dont in fact mind it.
I do not understand if theres a mechanical peculiarity going wrong for Fletcher or what– he never struggled this difficult to toss strikes at Double-A or in the AFL– but I hope they can get him sorted out. The Rangers made one out and scored once before Fletcher left with the bases packed for Yohan Ramirez, who, command-wise, is not much of an upgrade over Fletcher. Ramírez zoomed off the mound, figured out to end this game one way or another, and while I value his hustle Im pleased he pulled off and let his catcher manage this one.
In the 8th we got our very first appearance at new waiver claim acquisition Walker Lockett, who is like 75% legs. He tossed his fastball at 94 with some late motion that regrettably wandered out of the zone more than it remained in it and paired that with a strong curveball with some late depth. Lockett got away with a clean inning thanks to a couple of clever catches from Phillip Ervin in best field, one of which was on a sinking liner off the bat of Scott Heineman, with an xBA of.920.
Did this outcome in the Texas Rangers having an extremely un-fun day at work? Industrialism has losers and winners, and when were talking about the Rangers, were talking about a team that is currently putting the le-hew in le-hew-sers. The Rangers made one out and scored once before Fletcher left with the bases filled for Yohan Ramirez, who, command-wise, is not much of an upgrade over Fletcher. They didnt play perfectly against the Rangers– too lots of runners left on base, too numerous strikeouts (10 today), bullpen question marks times infinity– but they likewise played clean-to-excellent defense, got strong beginning pitching efficiencies, and got some offending power from expected sources (the Kyles, Dylan Kyle Moore) and some new/unexpected locations (hi, Ty France!). I anticipated our season to go much more like the Rangers has in terms of both winning and watchability, and getting to watch these Mariners has felt like waking up on a Monday early morning thinking you had to go to work before recognizing you can in fact go back to bed.
That bases-clearing double became part of a five-run 5th inning that saw damage done not just by Moore but also new acquisition Ty France, who continues to worm his method into my heart with regularly Professional At-Bats. Hes a little young-looking to be the Team Dad driving the minivan however I am all right with Young Father Ty France.
