Coming up right away. …
| Bottom 6th | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
| Astros | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 3 |
| Rangers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 3 |
7:13: Wow, Presidential traffic put us way behind at The Depot. We will try to catch you up as quickly as possible. But let’s just say the Presidential Suite gathering was very nice and very hot and if you see anybody wandering around town in a red Rangers jersey with the No. 43 and “Bush” on the back, you’ll know who it is.
7:18: Taylor Teagarden allows passed ball to advance runners to second and third. First passed ball he’s allowed this year and only second by Rangers catchers.
7:19: It took Frank Francisco just nine pitches to get through his inning of work for Double-A Frisco against Corpus Christi. Nine pitches, seven strikes.
7:27: Michael Young homers, making him 11-for-14 in his career and making “Jonathan” a home run pool winner. Had the situation (1st inning, nobody on and a 2-1 count) exactly right. Missed the distance by 19 feet. Jonathan called it 401; Young’s homer went 382 feet.
7:32: Eddie Guardado blames his recent struggles on trouble with his splitter and just plain bad decision-making.
7:38: Revisited the ninth-inning decision-making process with Ron Washington before the game. Think what it comes down to is this: He doesn’t he really have much confidence in the bottom third of his lineup right now. When Marlon Byrd led off with a double, I don’t think he necessarily saw the same scoring opportunity that others did. To try and score by playing small ball would likely have meant having to take out both Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and replace them with lesser defensive players. Think he was content to play along to the 10th when he had the more reliable top portion of the lineup coming up.
Not saying I agree with the thinking, but that seemed to be where he was going with his explanation.
“I’m a defensive man,” Washington said. “I’m always going to try and keep my best defense on the field.”
7:46: 1B Chris Davis homered in the bottom of the second. It was the Rangers’ 12th consecutive solo homer. They haven’t hit a multi-run homer since 2B Ian Kinsler hit a three-run shot at Boston on June 5. It’s the longest streak of solo home runs for the club since Sept. 6-13, 1986.
8:06: And now the Dustin Nippert rehab report. Nippert followed Frank Francisco into the game against Corpus Christi. Nippert’s line: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K…25 pitches/15 for strikes. … The Rangers are planning on building Nippert up as a starter so they would have the option of either using him as a long reliever or a starter in the majors.
8:08: FYI, the Rangers PR department informs us that the last 12 homers all being consecutive homers ties the club record of 12. The streak of 12 was previously done in 1986. I don’t think we are going to find out who holds the major league record for this.
8:12: My hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked me to catch Braves fans up on the rejuvenation of Andruw Jones. Admittedly, Jones has hit a bit of a slump lately, but nevertheless he’s picked up the pieces of his career and has carved out a niche with the Rangers. Here’s the story, in all its glory.
8:27: Elvis Andrus walks for the second consecutive time after failing earlier in the at-bat at bunting for a hit. Brings up the second part of the conversation with Washington today. It was about bunting. The Rangers have very few players who are competent at it. Washington’s thought: Start putting more emphasis on the art in the minor leagues. I agree. I don’t think any player - whether he’s Justin Smoak or David Paisano - should be promoted from one level to the next until he’s shown he can get a bunt down a certain number of times. A half-dozen plate appearances a year in the minors is certainly a tradeoff for one or two wins in the majors over the course of a season.
Chris Davis has no professional sacrifice bunts. David Murphy has three. Hank Blalock has three. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has two.
“I’m not going to ask guys to do something up here that they can’t or have never done,” Washington said. “It’s something that’s got to be done down [in the minors]. If you are ever going to make it to the end of the year up here in the playoff race, long ball is not going to win. You’ve got to be able to get a bunt down when you need to.”
8:52: Well, it will go down as another quality start for Vicente Padilla. Not a dominant outing by any stretch, but to last six in this heat and with less-than-stellar stuff is an accomplishment. The Rangers have gotten three consecutive outings like this from Padilla.