Rangers don’t regret way Minor reached 200, especially with Red Sox trying to derail him
Shin-Soo Choo is not going to be completely happy with his 2019 season when he stops to look back on it.
In his mind, he will have had a second straight sub-par second half. Setting a career-high in homers (23) won’t mean much because it’s not like he hit 30 or 40. He’s hitting below .270, though his OPS will finish above .800.
The one thing that will make Choo happiest is that he stayed healthy all season. Durability has always been a point of pride for Choo, and he feels he has been unfairly label as injury-prone after the 2014 and 2016 seasons.
Well, he’s going to finish this season as the Texas Rangers’ leader in games played and should clear 150. Go ahead and peel of that label and throw it away.
He and the Rangers have three more games remaining. The end of the season can’t get here soon enough.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 7-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Blame game
Mike Minor opened his final start of the season needing one out for 200 innings and nine strikeouts for 200. One was certain to happen, and the Rangers tried like hell to get him the K mark.
They tried too hard, according to some. The Red Sox knew they were trying, and for whatever reason apparently didn’t want Minor to get there.
They started hacking at the first pitch in the eighth inning. Three pitches, three swings, three outs.
The Red Sox faithful on Twitter have said that Boston hitters were just trying to get hits. They had hit two first-pitch homers in the seventh inning.
The fans might have had an argument if not for the third Red Sox hitter in the eighth, Jackie Bradley Jr., swinging at the first pitch. Playing the game the right way, as Red Sox manager Alex Cora claimed his team was doing, is an automatic take in that situation.
Boston was also down two runs against a tiring pitcher well over 100 pitches. The first-pitch swing in that scenario also serve as a tell for their intentions.
The Rangers thought they were onto the Red Sox’s game. Everyone in the press box thought they were onto the Red Sox’s game.
And when Chris Owings popped up a 1-2 pitch in the ninth inning, after essentially an intentional ball from Minor and a next-pitch out from Sandy Leon, everyone thought there was a chance the Rangers were going to let it fall.
Sure enough, Ronald Guzman pulled up at the last minute at the behest of Minor and the dugout and the fans. Foul ball. Strike two.
CB Bucknor, arguably baseball’s worst umpire, rang up Owings on the next pitch, one that wasn’t near the strike zone, and Minor had No. 200.
Did the Rangers know they had done something risky/dumb/questionable? They admitted as much.
Did they care? Not particularly.
One Boston beat writer, a nice guy named Pete Abraham, tweeted that the 200th strikeout should have an asterisk. He called the Guzman drop “bush” and trying for a milestone in that manner “unprofessional.”
Minor later responded.
“Ask me if I care, Pete,” Minor tweeted.
The Rangers were of the same mind-set, as were most of those who responded to Abraham’s tweet. Minor reached the accomplishment he wanted against a team that for whatever reason apparently didn’t want him to get there.
He did, and with a story to tell to boot.
Granny for Danny
Minor struck out five in the first three innings and looked like a pitcher who wouldn’t need any extra help to reach 200 strikeouts, but the Red Sox scored three times in the fourth.
Nick Solak doubled in Danny Santana in the fourth to cut into the lead, and then to set the stage for Santana an inning later.
The utility player added to the best season of his career — there’s not even a close second — with a grand slam to move the Rangers in front 5-3 in the fifth. It was Santana’s second grand slam of the season and his 27th home run of the season.
How good of a season has Santana had? Well, his previous career-high for homers in a season was seven as a rookie in 2013. His career homer total entering the season was 13.
It goes without saying the he will establish career-highs in slugging percentage and OPS, and he should emerge from spring training with an everyday role. That could be third base, or center field, or hopping around like he has this season, but the Rangers need to see if Santana’s 2019 was for real.
Not ready to go home
Chris Woodward spent the past two seasons playing in the postseason as the third-base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Deep into the postseason.
That won’t be the case this season, with the Rangers failing to make the postseason in his first year as manager. Woodward isn’t sure what he will do with himself, but he will likely be watching postseason games.
But it’s hard for someone who has been in baseball his entire adult life to just sit back and not be critical.
“You can’t unknown what you know,” Woodward said. “I don’t watch the game like a fan. I love it, but I can’t look at it that way anymore.”
He is likely to make multiple trips between Arlington and the Phoenix area, where he and his family live. The Rangers have their futures camp in town, and Woodward has said he might spend time there.
He might do some house hunting in the area, but he’d rather the Rangers still be playing.
“There’s a lot to do here, but I don’t like that,” Woodward said. “It sucks. I don’t want to be watching.”
