Thoughts on Game 2

The first sign of trouble for Texas tonight came in the top of the fifth inning. After a leadoff double by Ian Kinsler, both David Murphy and Matt Treanor failed to hit the ball to the right side to move Kinsler over to third base in a scoreless game.
Thus, instead of potentially taking a lead, the Rangers fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the inning. After that, Texas gave the Giants insurance runs by walking batters in the seventh and eighth.
The decreased offensive output from seven runs to none made it easy for Joe Morgan to second-guess manager Ron Washington. Morgan was all over the decision not to play Vladimir Guerrero. The announcer also pointed out that “the other good hitter,” Bengie Molina, was out of the lineup.
It’s surprising that the Hall of Famer, who was considered a good defensive second baseman would dismiss the importance of defense out of hand. Guerrero showed that he no longer can play right field in what must have been the saddest display since Willie Mays was stumbling around in center field for the 1973 Mets. By the way, that was my only direct interaction with Mays, in the Mets’ locker room after Game 2 in Oakland.
Another by the way, tonight in addition to following the fake pitches to the fake batters on the fake field at MLBAM’s Gameday, I listened to the ESPN radio broadcast. I was disappointed that radio broadcasts on the internet are blacked out.
Anyway, Guerrero didn’t belong in the lineup because he can’t play in the field and also because he hasn’t really hit much since July. I attribute Morgan’s stance to what I call the Monday Night Football Syndrome, in which out-of-town network hotshot announcers come to town and pretend they know more about the local team than the local-yokel hicks broadcasting and writing about the games. That extra knowledge usually is nonexistent.
Also, Molina, who hit very little for Texas during the regular season, wasn’t playing because starting pitcher C.J. Wilson established a rapport with Matt Treanor before Molina arrived in Texas.
So it’s possible that Guerrero could have given up some runs on defense and that Wilson might have given up more than one run in the first six innings with Molina behind the plate.
I didn’t hear what Morgan said when Julio Borbon pinch-hit to lead off the eighth inning, with the score 2-0. To me, that was an OK move for several reasons. 1. Guerrero couldn’t tie the game with a home run and could be a liability if he reached base ahead of speedster Elvis Andrus. With at least one runner on base, Vlad would have been the correct pinch-hitting choice. 2. I envisioned Borbon as bunting for a hit, then Andrus reaching base and the two of them working a double steal to get into scoring position ahead of Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz. Borbon exploded that thought bubble like a cartoon character with a shotgun by swinging at the first pitch and grounding out. Perhaps he wanted to earn his Historical Texas Rangers card by swinging the bat recklessly but my God, man, you have to take at least a strike and you’re up there to get on base.
A note on Hamilton. Thus far, he has been down, up and down in the three postseason series. The biggest difference was that in the ALCS the Yankees continually pitched around him, walking him as if they were afraid of him and his bat.*
On the other hand, we have Derek Holland. I really like Holland’s future, but in the present – tonight – he entered the game with a runner on first base and two outs and gave up Darren O’Day’s run by walking three batters on 13 pitches. Was he afraid to throw a strike that could be hit? He shouldn’t be, because his pitches are good enough to get batters out.
*Joe Morgan, whom I think can do a good job but may now be too impressed with his own work, probably would say that Hamilton is a Teixeira-like 0-for-the Series because Guerrero wasn’t batting behind him tonight.
Could the Rangers’ biggest problem be Mark Lowe bad karma?
OK, so it’s two games to none, a lot worse than 1-0, but still not critical because the Rangers can regain the lead in games by winning the three games they’re “supposed” to win at home.
The biggest mystery with Texas is what the Rangers might do to win a close game. There was none after the first game against the Yankees in the ALCS. Texas’ bullpen has been spotty – with brown spots in tonight’s game. Because there have been so few close postseason games, closer Neftali Feliz, who had 40 regular-season saves, has none in any of the three playoff series.