Baseball’s focus wasn’t on COVID-19 for a change, thanks to Texas Rangers manager
For all the grief Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward is taking for his view of baseball’s unwritten rules, here’s a different thought:
He deserves some thanks.
Hear this out:
Beginning in mid-March, the big baseball talk was the coronavirus pandemic.
Then came mid-May, when the owners and the players started their lengthy back-and-forth. The bickering became heated and ugly, and fans were turned off by billionaires and millionaires arguing about money at a time when the economy was in shambles.
When an agreement was reached and Opening Day rolled around, COVID-19 became the talk again as the Miami Marlins and then the St. Louis Cardinals had outbreaks that threatened the completion of the season.
Alas, thanks to Woodward, the talk the past 24 hours has been about baseball.
A manager who believes in unwritten roles takes exception to one of the game’s brightest young stars swinging at a 3-0 pitch with a seven-run, eighth-inning lead. Fernando Tatis Jr. is that player, and he hit the 3-0 fastball for a grand slam.
And just like that, baseball had temporarily escaped the haggling and the threat of illness with an actual debate about actual baseball.
It was almost like, maybe, normal.
And everyone has Woodward to thank for that.
He wasn’t allowed to manage Tuesday, as he served a one-game suspension for the next pitch after Tatis’ grand slam. He watched, of course, and probably didn’t care for what he saw.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 6-4 loss to the Padres.
More Minor woes
Left-hander Mike Minor was an All-Star last year and was being counted on as one of the players who could lift the Rangers into the expanded postseason after the 60-game regular season.
That hasn’t been the case, and after Tuesday he has more questions than answers about his performance over his first five starts.
Minor allowed six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings, but the two most costly hits were a first-inning grand slam by Wil Myers and a fourth-inning two-run homer by Jurickson Profar.
The culprit wasn’t a lack of velocity, which plagued Minor in his first three starts during a dead-arm phase. It was his changeup, a pitch that helped him become an All-Star that no longer has the same feel.
Myers launched a hanging changeup for his second career grand slam, and Minor counted two other hard-hit balls on the pitch. Fixing it is his objective now that his arm strength is where he needs it.
“I can feel it out of my hand as soon as I throw it,” he said. “It’s not coming off my fingers the way I’d like. It doesn’t have the action I would like. I’ve thought about changing the grip again. I’m trying to make the adjustments.
“But it worked last year. It worked in previous years. So, why is it not moving the same or coming out the same? I’ve just got to look at it, I guess.”
The Rangers are 1-4 in Minor’s five starts, and he is 0-4 with a 6.94 ERA. Since Sunday, starters Kolby Allard, Jordan Lyles and Minor have allowed 19 runs as the Rangers have been outscored 30-14.
The rotation was supposed to be a strength this season. Outside of Lance Lynn and a few starts by Kyle Gibson, that hasn’t been the case, and that’s bad news for a team that can’t consistently score runs and has been shuttling relievers in and out of the bullpen.
Gallo’s luck
Joey Gallo has a four-game hitting streak thanks to a three-run homer that cut the Rangers’ 6-0 deficit in half in the fourth inning. He had just enough oomph to carry it past the 407-foot sign in straightaway center field.
That ball would have been a no-doubter last season at Globe Life Park, and the Rangers have started to adjust to life in their new pitcher-friendly home, Globe Life Field.
But what happened to Gallo in his first at-bat is just plain lousy luck.
Leading off the second inning, Gallo sent a high fly ball down the right-field line, and it was caught for the first out.
Myers, the right fielder, didn’t make the play on it. Third baseman Manny Machado did about 15 feet shy of the right-field corner.
The third baseman made a catch in the right-field corner.
That’s baseball the past few years for left-handed pull hitters.
Machado had shifted form third into shallow right field, and he had the best chance to catch the ball. He went back like it was a play third basemen made every day.
Gallo has been unlucky several times this season hitting into shifts, part of the reason his average is only .214 after an 0-for-17 slump. However, his OPS is .889 and he’s the guy the Rangers want to see at the plate with runners on base.
Help for area programs
Four Tarrant County baseball programs are getting some help from the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.
The Arlington-Mansfield Area YMCA and Fort Worth programs As Fathers We Unite, Fort Worth, Diamond Hill North Side Youth Athletic and Fossil Creek Little League Baseball were awarded aid as part of the Globe Life Texas Rangers Baseball and Softball Grant Program.
Twelve organizations in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas received assistance and will use the grants in a variety of ways to improve their programs.
The Fossil Creak league will uses funds to stock players with safe and updated equipment, and Diamond Hill North Side will implement RBI programming.
As Fathers We Unite will create a baseball program with their funding, and the Arlington-Mansfield YMCA will turn the funds into new uniforms and as a financial boost for the 2021 season.
Give a tip of the cap to the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation. Maybe their good vibes will trickle down to the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.
