Rangers Let Numerous Opportunities Slip Away

What a frustrating day for the Texas Rangers. They lose 4-2 Thursday afternoon to Oakland.

Texas stranded 12 runners on base and failed to score any after loading the bases with 1 out in the 5th and Blalock and Cruz coming up to bat. Blalock popped out and Cruz went down on strikes.

Adding to the missed opportunities includes Ian Kinsler being robbed of a two out, three run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning with Texas trailing 3-1. Ryan Sweeney made a fantastic play reading the ball, jumping in front of the center field green and grabbing it a foot above the wall. The home run would have put the Rangers up by 1 and would have had Frankie Francisco coming in for the 9th for a sure save against an Oakland team that was having their own problems capitalizing on opportunities.

Nevertheless, the Rangers trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the 9th after Jason Jennings allowed a solo home run to Matt Holliday. Marlon Byrd was the first out of the inning, but things were looking brighter after Michael Young doubled to left field.

It was looking bright until Young decided to try and stretch his double. Thrown out at third. Two outs, down by 3.

Andruw Jones would follow with a solo home run, but Blalock struck out on 4 pitches right after that. Rangers lose.

The team played without Josh Hamilton again. Ron Washington did say he hopes Hamilton will play sometime this weekend in their series against the White Sox.

Really a disappointing game for the Rangers. They had opportunities. Just couldn't get it done.

I'll be going to the game against the White Sox tomorrow and will have blog posts this weekend, mainly focusing on previewing the matchup between the Mavericks and the Nuggets. Game 1 on ABC at 2:30 Sunday.

Mavs Win Game 5, Rangers Get to .500

Life is good in the DFW area tonight.

Mavericks cap off their opening round series with a 106-93 victory in San Antonio, ending the Spurs playoff run on their home court for the second time in 4 seasons. Dallas is the only team in the Duncan era to end the Spurs' playoffs in San Antonio.

This game tonight came down to the 3 point shot. San Antonio couldn't defend it and they couldn't make it. Dallas shot 10-20 from downtown (4 of 9 from Kidd and 3 of 5 from Terry) and the Spurs shot 3 of 16. Everything else in the game came out pretty even. This is the one area where the Spurs were really dominated. As I said at the beginning of the series, one of the most important things the Mavericks had to do in order to win this series was defend the 3 point shot. Other than game 1, the Mavs did a good job defending the 3. With the way Parker was killing them for this series, they couldn't have afforded to allow the 3 point shot to fall.

It was good to see Jet start making some shots tonight and Dirk finally had a breakout game with his 31 points and 9 rebounds.



Tonight was a great ensemble performance. Everyone contributed and you never had a doubt that the Mavs would win this game. San Antonio never led and the game was only tied once and that was at 0-0.

Big ups to Rick Carlisle for what he did here. I thought Dallas would win this series, but I didn't think they would be able to do it in 5 games. They did and they did it in a very impressive manner. Carlisle was sharp all series, keeping the team motivated, picking the right spots for his timeouts to squash momentum in games and making some really nice rotation decisions for the lineups.

Also, I was quite impressed with the off the ball movement of the players tonight. Especially Dirk, who was able to create open looks away from the play on a consistent basis tonight.

The Mavericks will now sit around and wait for the winner of the Nuggets/Hornets series. I suspect that Denver will end the series tomorrow night. We shall see.

Now on to those pesky Texas Rangers.



You have to love what Kevin Millwood is doing right now and the grit and fight that the team is showing these last couple of weeks.

They pull out another win this evening, 5-4 over the A's.

Millwood was far from perfect this evening. He scattered 10 hits and gave up two walks in 8 innings, but he consistently worked out of jams and was able to keep his cool despite some truly suspect defense behind him this evening. The infield especially was playing...odd. There were about 3 or 4 balls that rolled right under the gloves of the infield or something they simply misjudged and thus didn't get a correct read on to pick up.

Still, Millwood managed to go 8 innings and despite only 5 hits from the offense while he was pitching, they made the most of those opportunities and scored 5 runs. I would still like to see more consistent hitting for Millwood's excellent pitching work.

After falling behind 3-1, Texas had a 3 run 6th led by two run single from Salty. However, Millwood gave up a home run to lead off the 7th inning and that tied it up at 4. Millwood only allowed 1 hit the rest of the way and Nelly Cruz hit the go-ahead RBI single in the 8th with 1 out scoring Hank Blalock to put them up for good.

If you go into the 9th with a lead, you feel good about your chances thanks to Frankie Francisco. He pitched a perfect 9th inning, needing only 6 pitches. He continues his impressive season, still not allowing a run.

Now, two unsettling things from this evening. Ian Kinsler went hitless again. That makes him 0 for his last 16.

The other is that of Josh Hamilton. I haven't even addressed his absence yet, because the Rangers had said it was nothing, but this is the third game in a row he's missed due to sore ribs. The team doctors will give him another 48 hours to see how he progresses, but it appears he could be headed for the DL. Not something you want when you're facing a stretch of division games this early.

Vicente Padilla takes the hill tomorrow against the Athletics at 7:05 sharp.

So, keep an eye on the Nuggets/Hornets game and see if Josh Hamilton is in the lineup tomorrow against the A's.

Until next time...

Rangers Win 4 Game Set Against O's

Matt Harrison looked bad early. 6 hits allowed and 4 runs given up, just two innings into the ball game and the Rangers are staring down a 4-0 deficit.

Harrison snapped out of it though. Found his control. Got tough on batters. Harrison pitched the next 5 innings only giving up a hit and a walk, no runs and got the win in a 6-4 Rangers victory.

Bad news from the game, not too big a deal, but Ian Kinsler went 0-4. That's two straight hitless games from Kinsler making him 0-9.

Good news comes from another good game out of Michael Young. 2-5, 2 RBIs and a run scored. MY also hit another home run, bringing his total to 6 on the season. That puts him on pace for 51 home runs. Obviously not an amount he's likely to hit, but it is looking more and more like he'll eclipse his career high of 24 home runs. Young has been very, very good this season.

David Murphy got another two hits tonight. Good to see him start swinging the bat better.

The pitching looked stunningly good after the first two innings. Darren O'Day and CJ Wilson did their part in a scoreless 8th and Frank Francisco shut things down once more for his 5th save of the season. Boy he looks good right now. 9.2 innings pitched this season, no earned runs allowed. Frankie has been especially tough on lefties. They're now hitting an abysmal 1 for 18 against Francisco. The only hit for lefties came tonight from Greg Zaun, who is actually a switch hitter batting left.

Frank Francisco is looking really amazing right now. Pitching is getting better all around. Still not where you want it to be, but it's certainly getting better.

Help rounding out that pitching doesn't appear to be coming from Neftali Feliz anytime soon. He was torched again this evening in Omaha for 5 runs in 2.2 innings. None of them were earned, but his control issues still remain, giving up 3 hits, 4 walks and striking out 3 in just under 3 innings. Feliz has all season to work his issues out though.

Let's hope Feliz gets his problems worked out. The Rangers are playing well enough right now where they don't need a miracle worker, but they may need something from him later in the season.

Here's how the AL West stacks up right now.

• AL WEST W-L
• Seattle 12-7
• Texas 9-10
• Oakland 7-10
• LAA 7-11

Who would have thought the Angels would be 4.5 games out of first less than 20 games into the season?

Rangers have Oakland tomorrow, Millwood against Anderson. Let's hope Millwood continues his streak of 4 consecutive starts going 7 innings or longer. Millwood has been fantastic this year, but has the unfortunate record of 1-2 so far. The bats really need to back up his stellar outings.

Still a little too upset to fully discuss the Cowboys draft. I just have to ask...how can you ignore as big a need as receiver until your last pick in which you take Manuel Johnson? Ugh. Just awful. I'm also trying to figure out why the team that led the NFL in sacks last year would select 4 pass rushers with their 12 picks.

What are you doing to our Cowboys, Jerry?

Mavs tip off tomorrow in San Antonio at 8:30pm. I think they end it tomorrow. Right now, I'll say Dirk finally gets his with 28 points and 12 boards as Dallas kicks the Spurs from the playoffs 101-94.

Catch you tomorrow, Dallas sports fans!

Getting Caught Up

OK...been out for a few days, let's briefly recap what's been going on.



Wednesday night the Rangers lost to the Blue Jays 8-7. Down 7-4 going into the 9th, Josh Hamilton got an RBI groundout and then Michael Young hit a two out, two run home run off of BJ Ryan.

Rangers end out losing in the 11th after Darren O'Day, wearing a Kason Gabbard jersey, gives up a single to allow CJ Wilson's inherited run to score. Thanks for that CJ.

CJ Wilson needs to be off of this ball club. I hate to be so blunt, but the guy is garbage. He has 9 innings pitched this year, has given up 11 runs and opponents are hitting .316 against him. It's time to cut the cord.

Derek Holland made his debut in this game and looked pretty good. 2.1 innings pitched, gave up three hits, but didn't allow a run or walk and struck out 2. 42 pitches thrown, 29 strikes. Really has some zip on his fastball. He looked very good.

Thursday night was the Mavericks game.



This was a romp. Dallas led in the 4th quarter by as many as 36. The game seemed to be over right out of the gate as Dallas led 8-0 to start. Tim Duncan played only 16 minutes and went 2-9 from the floor with 4 points.

In addition, Parker was held to 12 and played 21 minutes. Pop quickly realized this was not going to be a victory and it was to the bench with his starters to rest them for the quick turnaround of a Saturday afternoon game.

Great defensive performance by the Mavericks as they win 88-67.

Also Thursday night, the Rangers looked to win their series on the road in Toronto. No such luck. Jays win 5-2. Kevin Millwood was hit on a little bit for the first time all season, allowing 4 runs in 7 innings. This was another start though where he went 7 innings. Something he's done in every game this season.

Jason Jennings' scoreless streak ended as he was tagged for a run late.

The only runs came from two solo shots. One from Hambone and the other from Kris Davis.

Moving on to Friday night, the Rangers were in Baltimore against the O's.

Michael Young had more late game heroics with his 3rd game tying or game winning 9th inning home run in 5 games. First player in MLB history to achieve such a feat. After Young's two-run go ahead homer in the 9th, Frank Francisco came in and shut down the Orioles. 5-4 victory at Camden Yards.



Game 4 on Saturday. Mavericks struggled to hit buckets shooting 38 percent, and Tony Parker had 31 at the half, but it once again was not enough. Dallas was able to knock down 10 3 pointers and get to the line 39 times.

Parker cooled in the second half, Duncan missed 7 free throws and outside of Duncan and Parker's combined 68 points, the Spurs put up a laughable 22.

Something became painfully obvious to the Spurs on Saturday. They're too old. They're just too old. Dallas has some older players, but they have youth coming off the bench and appear to be too fresh for the older Spurs.

Kudos to Ryan Hollins for his 8 rebound, 3 block performance. I've started thinking this season that Hollins, if given the chance to start and grow a little bit, has the potential to be a 10 point, 10 rebound, 2 block a game kind of player. The Mavericks could really use that.

DAL 99, SA 90

Rangers also played on Saturday night and had the long balls out early. Ian Kinsler (Twice) Kris Davis and Andruw Jones all homered in the first three innings and Texas zoomed to a 5-0 lead.

The bullpen had a few problems though. Leading the charge was once again CJ Wilson who gave up 3 runs in a third of an inning. Frankie Francisco came in the game and allowed two of Wilson's inherited runs, but no more than that. Rangers hold of the Orioles, 6-5.

Holland once more looked good in this game. He gave up a home run in the sixth, but it was the only hit he allowed in 3 full innings. He walked two, but struck out 2 as well. Holland now has an ERA of 1.69 in 5.1 innings pitched. Not a bad start for the rook.

And then finally, this afternoon, the Rangers looked to take the weekend 4 game series clinching win in Baltimore. Things looked good early as they were up 5-1 going into the bottom of the 5th, but the Rangers gave up 6 runs in the next two innings and Jason Jennins was shelled for the first time all year, giving up 4 runs in just over two innings.

Rangers lose 8-5. All the runs came off of long balls. Davis, Murphy (Who snapped his 0-23 streak) and Blalock all went deep. Kinsler went 0-5.

Quick note since I've been away...Francisco is now more than 8 innings into the season and still has yet to give up a run. Batters are hitting .111 against him.

Rangers sit at 8-10 now, second in the West, 4 games back of the Mariners.

I'll try and address the Cowboys draft later, but I'm a little too frustrated to do that right now. Biggest need going into the draft was Receiver. They're into the 7th round and haven't drafted one yet, but a team that led the league in sacks has now drafted 4 pass rushers. I can't even explain how stupid I feel this is.

Game 5 for Dallas coming up on Tuesday. Rangers close out their series against Baltimore tomorrow, looking to win the series 3-1. They come back home playing their first division series against Oakland starting on Tuesday. I'll be at that game with some friends. Looking forward to it.

*sigh* OK...now you're all caught up. Talk to you tomorrow.

*GASP* Back to Back Wins

It is getting to the point where I'm honestly starting to think that Ian Kinsler may hit .400 this season. I know we only have a snapshot of a season (13 out of 162 games) but Kinsler is swinging the bat so well right now.

Rangers win tonight, 5-4. Thanks mostly to Ian Kinsler's two run opposite field shot in the 7th off of Roy Halladay.

McCarthy was solid. He wasn't amazing, but he was OK. He went 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 runs, walking 2 and striking out 2. He got the job done, but I didn't like his command over his fastball which just about every time seemed to ride in high and tight. It must have happened about ten times. He needs to take care of issues with his command and I'd like to see him get better location with his fastball, but this is a start. 2-0 on the young season and his ERA is under 5 (Sad that we have to consider that a major plus, but hey...)

Rangers went up 2 to nothing in the second inning off of an absolute laser from Nelly Cruz. Halladay left one floating and Nelly got that ball out in a hurry. McCarthy gave the two run lead back in the third inning though. Alex Rios doubled in a run and Vernon Wells got an RBI off a sac fly which scored Marco Scutaro, but just barely. Nelson Cruz made the play closer at the plate then most outfielders could. Scutaro was clearly safe, though. The Jays left a runner stranded on third. I was just happy to see Mac leave the inning without giving them the lead.

Kris Davis (Chris will be spelled with a K until he shows he can get his strikeouts under control) singled in Blalock after he led off with a double in the 4th. Rangers lead 3-2. But, as if on cue, McCarthy gave up a solo home run to Aaron Hill. It was his 5th home run allowed on the year. That needs to get under control.

After Kinsler's two run, two out home run, the Rangers brought in Guardado who got one out and then was replaced by Jason Jennings. C.J. Wilson and Frank Francisco followed and both of them made it interesting, as one run came home (Unearned thanks to an error from Andrus) and Frankie got out on an eighth inning jam facing bases loaded and one out.

Francisco and Jennings both pitched tonight. Jennings went 1 full inning and Francisco went 1 and two thirds. Neither allowed an earned run. With tonight's performance, that brings both Jennings' and Francisco's totals up to another impressive level.

BULLPEN WATCH

Jennings: 6.0 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 8 strikeouts, 3 walks, 0.00 era, .091 opponents batting average

Francisco: 7.0 innings pitched, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk, 0.00 era, .125 opponents batting average

If only the entire bullpen could perform like this. Both Jennings and Francisco have been nearly flawless. The Rangers have talked recently about using Jennings as their eighth inning man...I don't see why they shouldn't. He's been impossible for opposing batters to hit and if he could get his walks total down, Jennings would have as close to a perfect season stat line as you could get from a relief guy. Once more, I know it's early, but Jennings is looking like Jeff Zimmerman did in 1999 and for those die hard Rangers fans who are reading this, you know who that is and how high of praise that is.

Matt Harrison's 0-2 self goes up against David Purcey tomorrow at 6:07 as the Rangers look to get their first series win since opening week against the Indians. They'll need more from their bats tomorrow judging by how Harrison has pitched in his two starts.

And now for some bad news from the minors. Neftali Feliz was rocked in his start last evening. 3 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Not what you want to see, but everyone can have a bad start. The alarming thing is that this is three starts in a row where Feliz has had some real control issues. The other games he was able to keep the opposing team from capitalizing on those opportunities. He had no such luck against Omaha.

I won't be posting again until Saturday (Draft day!) so I'll see you then with an update on the Rangers and thoughts on Mavs/Spurs game 3. Hopefully we'll have seen Holland by then.

Rangers Avoid Sweep, Mavs Get Thumped

What a disgustingly horrible performance by the Dallas Mavericks this evening.

Box score is here: SA 105, DAL 84

Mavericks lose this one for a number of reasons. Let's analyze those.

- Spurs out rebound the Mavericks 44-28. You can't win ball games getting out-rebounded that badly, especially when you get out-shot 53% to 40%. Nowitzki was the leading rebounder for the Mavericks with 6. That would have been good for 4th on the Spurs this evening. If you miss the kind of shots that the Mavericks did tonight, you at least need to rebound. They didn't do it, and it killed them all night.

- Tony Parker. I don't think there is much that needs to be said here. 38 points on 16 of 22 shooting. The thing that most should disturb Dallas is that Parker did much of that on jump shots. If you Parker has the ability to make jump shots, there is no way Dallas wins this series. It's difficult enough to stop him in the paint, but it's all the more difficult when he doesn't even need to get inside.

- Dirk Nowitzki played the worst game I think I have ever seen from him. 3 of 14 from the field, 0-4 from beyond the arc, only 6 rebounds and none of those were offensive. Terry, Howard and Dirk were a combined 12-37. 32% shooting from what is supposed to be their three biggest offensive weapons. They will need two of them on most nights to produce in order to win. They didn't get even one.

- The penetration players didn't get to the line. Kidd, Terry, Barea and Howard got to the line a combined 5 times. When the jumper isn't falling, that's when you need to attack the rim. Dallas' attack players didn't do that.

- Too many open shots and layups were missed. 11 of 23 shooting in the paint. That's another thing that won't fly if they want to win. It's also not like they didn't get some good looks at the basket. They just missed a ton of open jump shots. Which, the above point should have been incorporated when it became evident that the Mavericks couldn't shoot this evening.

These are all things that need to be remedied before Game 3 on Thursday. I'd also like to see more of Ryan Hollins and James Singleton. Two athletic guys who even if they aren't making shots, can hassle San Antonio on the defensive end. Maybe a little more Gerald Green as well. More penetration, more aggressiveness on the boards and a little more of your athletic players.

Also, it really shouldn't be said and I'm not sure if it can be done, but the Mavericks need to figure out something with Tony Parker. This putting Antoine Wright on him early in games is not working.

Yeesh. On to the Rangers and Kid Miracle.



Texas was looking to avoid being swept. Coming into Sunday's game they had lost 7 of their last 8 ball games. Ron Washington, from the perspective of fans, seems to be on thin ice.

A win will always help towards getting you back into favor. Won't completely smooth things over, but it's a start and it's what Texas did yesterday.

Vicente Padilla started and got tagged again. 5 runs in 5 innings, bringing his ERA to it's current state of 9.64. It's gotten to the point now where we as Rangers fans expect this from every pitcher except Millwood, Francisco and Jennings.

Luckily, two of those guys came in for relief duty after Padilla blew a 2-0 and 3-2 lead. Jennings and Francisco both pitched scoreless innings. Their lines for the season are the best thing the Rangers pen has going for it right now.

Jason Jennings: 5 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, 0.00 ERA
Frankie Francisco: 5.1 innings pitched, 1 hit allowed, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts, 0.00 ERA

Simply amazing job by these two. Unfortunately, they can't save the bullpen on their own.

After falling behind 5-3, the Rangers couldn't get anything going until the 8th inning. It started with an Andruw Jones double. Yet again. If Wash wants to keep his job, he may want to start by putting Andruw Jones in the starting lineup in Center, move Hamilton to left and leave Cruz in right. Jones has earned playing time. After Blalock reached on an error and Cruz grounded out advancing both runners (Blalock to second, Jones home) David Murphy flew out leaving Blalock on second with two outs.

Chris Davis came in to pinch hit for Teagarden absolutely ripped one to second. Too hot for Alberto Callaspo to handle. It bounced off the heal of his glove and Blalock rumbled towards home. Good job by Hammer to slide in right under the tag tying it up at 5.

Francisco then came in and pitched his typical great inning setting up Young, Hamilton and Jones for the ninth inning. They only needed Young who crushed a 1-0 pitch from Kyle Farnsworth into the left-center bleachers. 6-5, Rangers win.

Now, it's always good to get a win, but there's still problems with this team.

David Murphy is now an abysmal 0 for 18 at the plate. It's time for him to be sent to the minors. Josh Hamilton is now batting .229 and has struck out in 10 of his last 17 at-bats. He needs some time with the swing doctor, Rudy Jaramillo.

We all know of the bullpen's struggles as well. The Rangers are hoping one of their top pitching prospects, Derek Holland, will fix that. He's projected as a starter in 2010, but for now, they'll be working him into the major league game slowly through the bullpen.



I fully expect Holland to become a rotation starter by August. I'm sure he'll be in the pen for now, start going back and forth between the pen and rotation by June and then in August he'll finally become a full time starter.

I haven't gotten to see Derek Holland pitch in person yet, but here's a scouting report from hot-prospects.net

While the baseball world was paying homage to the likes of David Price, Madison Bumgarner, and Clayton Kershaw, this former 2006 25th round draft and follow prospect quietly launched himself into the elite class of LHP. Holland pitched at three stops in ’08 compiling a 13-1 record with a 2.27 ERA and 40 BB/157 K in 150.2 IP. Holland features a fastball that sits between 93-95 MPH, though it touches 97 at times. His slider and changeup also have the potential to be plus pitches at the major league level. In addition to his pure stuff, Holland had good control and aggressively goes after hitters. He allowed just 3 HR last season and his 1.20 GO/FO ratio in hitter-friendly leagues shows that he is very effective in keeping the ball down (which will be key in Arlington). The biggest challenge for Holland at this point is to continue his performance against more advanced hitters. He still needs to refine his off speed pitches, but all in all, Holland is one of the top pitchers in Texas’ immensely talented system.

We'll see how quickly he gets his big league debut. You have to think that Neftali Feliz isn't too far behind.

Kris Benson's start was pushed back, so Brandon McCarthy gets the start against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays tomorrow at 6:07.

Going to Game 3 on Thursday. Hoping for a rout.

STEAL!

It's only one game, but things are looking good for the Dallas Mavericks so far.

Jason Kidd 4 points and an unusually low 5 assists. Dirk Nowitzki was less than 50% from the field and only scored 19 points. Jason Terry only scored 12 points and was 2 of 5 from downtown.

The Spurs were up by 13 in the second quarter. They were at home, and were able to hit shots from beyond the arc (Something I made a point of saying needed to be defended in my post from Friday). They were 11-14 from 3 point land. Tim Duncan poured in 27 points. Tony Parker was able to score 24 and dished out 8 assists.

All of this going on, the Mavericks still went in and beat the Spurs 105-98. This should be very encouraging to the Mavericks and borderline disturbing to the Spurs and their fans.



I know everyone is loving Barea this morning, but the Mavericks don't win this game without Josh Howard. Another nice performance with 25 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Howard just dominated the Spurs defense in the third quarter. It's good to see him start recognizing his ability to drive to the hoop, something Mavericks fans have been begging for from him since he got here. A big complaint about Howard has always been his shot selection. As of late, J-Ho has been driving to the bucket, especially in the second half of games (See yesterday and Wednesday against Houston)

About Barea, he made some crucial shots and played good defense on Parker in the second half, but can we drop the ridiculous amount of love he gets? He still only shot 6-14 and while he can get in the paint, he gets blocked too easily. He needs to learn to kick out more. I think people love Barea for the simple fact that we all love cheering for the little guy. But Barea still makes big mistakes and often takes bad shots. It's something we as fans have chosen to ignore apparently. And his "brilliant" fourth quarter, consisted of 3 of 8 shooting.

Still, he hit some nice shots and was good on Parker in the second half.

I love what Brandon Bass did yesterday. Hit a big shot with less than a minute to go in the game and stepped up nicely when Dirk picked up his third foul early in the second quarter.

Can't wait for Game 2. I expect the veteran San Antonio team to win it, but if Dallas is somehow able to win another on the road, this series is over. There is just no way the Spurs could come back from down 2-0 and facing three games in Dallas.

Little note should be made...DMN's basketball blog says Jason Kidd was vomiting on the bench Saturday and that he missed practice today because of it. Not good. Hopefully he feels better by Monday's 8:30 tipoff.

Here's a preview from NBA.com



Rangers are in the middle of their game right now. Bottom of the 8th and it's now tied up at 5. 2 outs, 2 on for Ian Kinsler. I'll get a blog post up tonight or tomorrow on the Rangers game, and I'll also discuss the calling up of major prospect, Derek Holland.

Mavs Prep for Spurs, Feliz Pitches in OKC

One of the best times of the year. Mavericks are in the playoffs and they once again have the San Antonio Spurs. Last time they met up with each other it was one of the best playoff series I have ever seen in any sport. Thank you Manu Ginobili for aiding us in getting into overtime of that classic game 7.

This isn't the same series it was 3 years ago, though. Manu Ginobili is out this time around due to injury. Dirk Nowitzki, while still a great player, has lost a little bit on that beautiful jump shot of his. Devin Harris isn't here anymore to stay glued to Tony Parker. Instead it's 35 year old Jason Kidd, who's knees just aren't what they used to be. Tim Duncan comes in a bit banged up and three years older. Still a great player though.

These teams have changed quite a bit in the last few years, but you know they're always good to give you an exciting series.

Roger Mason has been the guy asked to step up in the absence of Ginobili. This a guy who has hit some big time shots for the Spurs and can really light it up from downtown. The Mavericks will need good perimiter defense in this series. Mason is one obvious reason for the Mavericks to fear the 3, but Finley has done a consistenly good job from beyond the arc against the Mavericks since he departed here. This season especially.

I'll be interested to see how Jason Terry plays in this series. He seems to be on a high that exceeds that of the entire team right now. Just making clutch basket after clutch basket and wanting to take the most critical of shots down the stretch. Terry, Howard and Dirk all need to be legitimate scoring options during this series if the Mavericks want to win. They all three seem to be playing good ball lately (Apart from Howard's sour performance on Wednesday night) and if even one of them are off, that will pose major problems for Dallas.

Terry needs to keep hitting his jumper, particularly trying to work that wrap around baseline shot he's been nailing so much lately. Dirk needs to continue to knock down the 18 footers around the top of the key. That one has been falling with some consistency. And Howard may be the most important of all...he NEEDS to drive the lane. He has to. He's one of the few on the Mavericks who do it really effectively. Howard getting to the line 10-12 times a game would give the Mavericks a HUGE advantage in the series.

I'm currently picking the Mavs in 6. I think they'll win games 2, 3, 4 and 6. Just had to post some quick thoughts on the series. More in-depth thoughts coming later in the week.



The chosen one pitched last evening in Oklahoma City.

Not a terrible line. 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. He's averaging a strikeout an inning now and his ERA after two starts is 2.00.

Feliz got the win in a 17-3 rout.

All that's holding Feliz back from the majors right now are his control issues. He walks too many batters. Can get a little wild with his fastball. But that is almost something to be expected from a 20 year old flamethrower. Control will eventually come to him and it will be a terrifying thing for opposing batters.

Can't wait for the Mavs to get underway! Got tickets to game 3 on Thursday night, so it should be fun.

What a Night for DFW Sports!

Fantastic evening for the teams of the area! Let's start with the Mavericks closing their season this evening.



The night wasn't looking too bright for the Mavs about midway through the third quarter.

Dallas had started the game off well, leading 24-14 in the 1st after Jet knocked down a three pointer. Houston came back though. Mainly from hook shots by Yao Ming. It was frustrating watching Dampier out there on Yao and Dirk didn't make things much better. I just don't understand why Dirk so easily gives up against big men.

Behind Yao's dominance the Rockets led 50-42 at the half. There came a particularly difficult moment for me as a Mavericks fan to accept in the 2nd quarter that Bob Ortegel correctly pointed out on the broadcast here locally. There was about a 3 or 4 minute stretch where the Rockets were passing the Mavs with Yao on the bench. Dirk was the biggest player on the floor for either side and yet Dirk probably touched the ball once in that stretch. Barea would try and take it in the paint and he'd get blocked as usual down there. Or Josh Howard was taking a jumper and missing. Or Kidd was trying to bank a layup off the glass and missing. Dirk had such a size advantage at that point and the Mavs did themselves a disservice by not working the ball to him on those possessions. Even if he doesn't take the shot...he at least needs to touch the ball when he's got such an advantage over the opponent, ESPECIALLY when he's knocking down shots like he was this evening (Going 7 for 8 to start the game)

The game was looking to be a downer as Houston increased their halftime lead to 60-46 with just over 7 minutes remaining. The switch flipped on for Dallas at that point. Ryan Hollins played some good D on Yao and had a nice little alley-oop and 1 that got the crowd on their feet. Josh Howard, who realized his shot wasn't falling, did what you need to in order to chip away at a deficit...drive the lane and draw the foul. 14 of Howard's 15 points came in the third quarter and he got to the line 8 times in that frame. Good recognition by J-Ho.

The 4th quarter rolled around and Jason Terry took over once more. Jet has been so clutch in recent weeks.

The Mavs had trimmed the lead down to 1 from 5 at the start of the quarter and then Jason Kidd (Toe inched towards the line as it always is) knocked down a crucial 3 ball. Dallas up 78-76.

After the game was tied up at 80, Jason Terry scored 7 consecutive points to put the Mavericks up 87-80. You have to love the way Jet has been begging for the ball in the clutch. It's nice to see him step up and want to put the team on his shoulders. He hasn't disappointed. 5 of 6 shooting in the 4th scoring 12 of his 23.

Kidd with a triple double, Jet with the 12 4th quarter points, Dirk with 30 and 15 and the Mavs win by 11.

With so many great performances, the one that stood out to me as the most important was that of Brandon Bass. 6 points and 4 boards doesn't look like a great line, and it's not, but what Bass did goes beyond statistics. Bass fought the entire fourth quarter against Yao Ming. He's 10 inches taller but scrapped with him and specifically tried to front him on every possession. Yao got off only one shot in the 4th quarter and he missed. Bass did such a tremendous job of denying the ball and really made a difference as Yao was hitting bucket after bucket in the paint for the first 3 quarters. Brandon Bass was tonight's MVP to me.

With the victory, Dallas moved into the 6th spot since San Antonio was able to defeat New Orleans in overtime.



Thank you, Michael Finley. With the Hornets loss and Dallas win, New Orleans drops to 7th in the West. Mavericks will get the Spurs and the Hornets will get the Nuggets.

I think it is more than reasonable to think that Dallas and New Orleans will both win. If that happens, this night is all the more important as the Mavericks would have home court in that matchup. Big deal for the Mavs who are 32-9 at home and 18-23 on the road.

I don't want to think too far ahead, but things set up about as well as you could have hoped for the Mavs when thinking back two weeks ago.

Mavericks 95, Rockets 84



The Mavericks weren't the only North Texas team with a great night. Rangers had a pretty good one as well.

Rangers fans needed something to get excited about. 5 straight losses, 4 of which Rangers fans feel like were well within their reach. Texas gave their fans something to enjoy tonight, crushing the Orioles 19-6.

Some encouraging things in the game tonight.

Ian Kinsler continues to torch the baseball. Hit for the cycle and went 6 for 6. That's the first time that has been done since 1890. Lonesome company for Ian. Along with Ian, Nelly Cruz had 6 RBIs tonight, doubling his total and giving him 12 on the season. His 5 home runs lead the team, as he hit a Grand Slam in an 8 run 4th inning. He just missed a second Grand Slam in the 8th inning, getting a two run double instead. Cruz and Kinsler are both hitting well right now.

It was nice to see Kris Benson calm down after a shaky opening two innings. He did give up one more run after the first 3 in innings 1 and 2, but Benson was able to get better control as the game wore on. He gets his first win as a Ranger.

I'm not worried as much as I am perplexed by Josh Hamilton's lack of power in his swing so far this season. He is hovering around a .300 batting average, so I'm not complaining, but he isn't getting much power behind his swing in the opening 9 games.

Andruw Jones was solid again this evening going 1 for 3 with a double and two walks. Jones has only appeared in 3 games, but it's quite impressive to look at some of his numbers. 4 RBIs, 3 doubles and 8 runs scored. He has 11 official plate appearances and 8 runs scored. That's terrific efficiency for the Rangers offense when he's up to bat.

This game means little, but it's still exciting to see the Rangers bats come alive and the pitching do some decent things as well. Kudos to Willie Eyre and his two scoreless innings of pitching.

Rangers have the Royals tomorrow night. Matt Harrison will take the hill at 7:05 as the Rangers look to get to .500

Hopefully the bats continue their pace and we won't have to rely on the pitching, but even still...I hope this bullpen and rotation can start getting their act together.

I'll blog tomorrow about the Spurs/Mavericks matchup and the Rangers win. ;)

Pitching Fails Just as the Bats Heat Up

This Texas Rangers team is a bit infuriating.

BOX SCORE AND HIGHLIGHTS

They get a couple home runs, Baltimore comes right back and ties it at 3. Just as Brandon McCarthy settles down, the Rangers' bats fall asleep. The bullpen holds and doesn't give up any runs for 3 innings. During that time, the Rangers batted 2 for 10, 2 singles, 1 GIDP and 2 strikeouts.

Eddie Guardado stepped into the game and decided to remind everyone what the Rangers bullpen was really made of. Guardado gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. The big one being the two run homer to Adam Jones.

Now that the Rangers pen was giving up runs, now was the time the bats decided to wake up. Four straight hits, all singles, by Salty, Vizquel, Kinsler and Young, the last being an RBI from Michael. Josh Hamilton came up with the bases loaded, nobody out, down by 3. Hamilton grounded to 3rd where Wiggington made the force play on Vizquel but couldn't get Hamilton in time.

Still not looking so bad. Two on, one out, Blalock up.

Blalock flied out to deep right field. Right to the wall. On the right night, the air a little crisper, that ball carries out and into the porch. But that wasn't the case this evening.

After Young tagged up to third, Cruz came up with runners on the corners and two outs. Andruw Jones waiting on deck to pinch hit for David Murphy (Who is now 0-12 on the young season)

Cruz flied out to the deepest part of left-center.

Rangers lose. 7-5.

Things are quite frustrating for the Rangers right now. They are quickly becoming the "What if..." team of baseball. That's the worst type of team in the majors.

What if Ron Washington leaves Millwood in to pitch the 8th and then Francisco comes in for the 9th?

What if Cruz doesn't pop up in the 5th inning against the Tigers and he hits a two run single to gives us 5 runs in a game we lost 4-3?

What if Ian Kinsler tags up on that fly out to right by Michael Young in the 9th inning Monday night?

What if Blalock hits it just 5 feet further this evening?

What if Cruz hits it a little sharper and doesn't give the Orioles all that time to get under the ball?

What if, what if, what if...? You never want to be that team. That team is the worst kind because it's always good enough to win, but never good enough to capitalize on opportunities well within their reach. Ron Washington needs to be careful. If this doesn't get righted quickly, your looking at a new skipper by the end of April. Believe that.

Chris Davis hit another home run tonight...so he's out of his slump right? Eh...maybe. He also struck out three more times tonight. He's 5 for 30 (.167) with 14 strikeouts, but he also has 5 runs scored and 2 home runs. You can't have as low an OBP as he does though.

Davis needs some time off. Blalock needs to play first and they should put Andruw Jones in to DH. Jones appears to have found his stroke again here in Texas.

Another thing to look out for is who might be called up soon. I think if things continue like this, Derek Holland is here by mid-May.

Orioles go for the sweep tomorrow night. First pitch is 7:05.



As I mentioned on my twitter feed, reports out of New York are saying that the Jets will not sign Miles Austin to an offer sheet. Had they done so, Dallas would have had the option to match it, or let him leave and get a second round pick back from the Jets.

That second round pick sure would have been nice to have and I would have loved to get Miles Austin out of town. Austin's route running is quite poor and the only definitive thing he's shown in his time with Dallas is that he is injury prone.

Another thing that I'm struggling to let go of in regard to Austin is the Washington game from this past season. On week 4, with Dallas trailing 26-17, less than a minute remaining, Miles Austin scored a meaningless touchdown. Dallas had lost and barring a miracle, they weren't coming back.

When Austin scored, he acted like an obnoxious idiot. Running to the back of the end zone, flexing his arms and pointing to the audience. Perhaps he was so wrapped up in his own view of himself that he failed to realize that his team was about to go down in defeat to a division rival.

The Washington game was the first one that made it clear the Dallas Cowboys had problems. Miles Austin wasn't present to realize this as he was celebrating in his own world over a touchdown that meant absolutely nothing.

Poor routes, loads of injuries, a lack of desire to fight for the ball and subtle hints that he's a "Me first" player at all times in victory or defeat, have me wishing the Cowboys would move him. Had they gotten a second rounder for him, I would have been elated.

As it stands, Austin is still a Cowboy.

My hope is that the Cowboys go ahead and draft Percy Harvin (Who I think will fall to 51) but reports say they are a little hesitant to take him and have gone as far as to take him off their board.

Mavericks Win, Rangers Lose

Let's go to the Mavs first. Playoffs closing in...that makes their story more pertinent.

Dallas was up by as many as 13 and led by 8 after the first quarter, they were at home and they were playing a bad Minnesota team with nothing to play for. I'm not sure why Dallas came out so flat. They did have a quick turn around after a physical loss against New Orleans, but that excuse is more fitting for a team that has struggles in the first quarter. Dallas had a significant lead in the 1st. They waited until later in the game to miss 14 consecutive shots. I don't know what the deal was.

But Dirk began to heat up after a slow start. Jet was magnificent in the 4th quarter and buried a jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining to give the Mavs the 96-94 lead.



Disturbing and encouraging all at the same time. Fought back from down by 7 in the 4th, but they shouldn't have been down by 7 in the first place. It should be noted and applauded that both Jet and Dirk hit clutch shots with less than a minute left. Dirk with the nifty move in the paint and layup to tie it at 94 with 40 some odd seconds left and of course Jason Terry's clutch jumper for the win.

BOX SCORE - DAL 96, MIN 94

This win is especially crucial because Utah won their game and New Orleans lost. This inches us closer to a chance at the number 6 seed and it also maintains our lead over the Jazz for the 8 seed. You don't want Los Angeles in the first round. Dallas (Before tonight) is playing their best basketball of the season. Peaking at the right time...you still don't want the Lakers yet.

If they were to beat against Houston, I could definitely see them beating any one of the possible first round matchups (Denver, Houston, Portland or San Antonio)

In turn, that means I could see them beating any one of their possible second round matchups (Which would be one of the aforementioned 4 teams or New Orleans)

If they close out the season strong and then win their first two playoff series, I don't see any reason why they couldn't take the Lakers. Dallas would be on an absolute high. But in their current state, I think they'd lose in 5 to LA.

Now for a look outside of Dallas but still relevant to the team...



Dallas fans need to temporarily become San Antonio fans. San Antonio needs to beat New Orleans and Dallas, who is at home on Wednesday, needs to beat Houston. This would move the Mavs up to 6. We shouldn't be terrified of Denver, as I think the Mavs could hang with them, I'd just rather not go against a team that swept us during the season for our first round matchup.

So who should you cheer for Mavs fans?

It all revolves around Wednesday night. Root for the Nuggets to beat the Blazers, the Spurs to beat the Hornets and of course, the Mavericks to beat the Rockets. The playoff tree would look like so at that point...

1- Lakers
2- Nuggets
3- Spurs
4- Rockets
5- Blazers
6- Mavs
7- Hornets
8- Jazz

The dream matchup for Dallas in the first round is San Antonio. Without Ginobili and an ailing Duncan, Dallas would be riding in on a season high. The next round would have us playing the Nuggets or the Hornets, both of which I think Mavs fans believe we can take.

So, for Wednesday night, go Mavs, Spurs and Nuggets.

Now to the Rangers.

Pitching continues to fail the Rangers. Just like it has for 37 years now. If it's not the bullpen (I'm talking to you, C.J. Wilson) then it's the starters.

Vicente Padilla was shelled this evening. 7 runs in three and a third innings pitched. Scott Feldman came in and didn't make matters any better, giving up three runs in just over two innings.

The bats awoke from their three game slump, but the pitching was horrendous. Except from Jason Jennings, who so far this season with his small 3 inning sample size, has been flat out nasty. Jennings has looked tremendous. He and Francisco both have. Both of them tossing a scoreless inning this evening.

Two good things come out of this game. Chris Davis found his swing again. Davis, who before today was 1 for 21 with 10 strikeouts, was actually supposed to rest today, but Hank Blalock had neck stiffness and was not able to go. Davis had by far his best game of the season going 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. He did strikeout once more, though. I was just glad to see him making contact.

The other fantastic thing to come out of this game is that Andruw Jones, playing in his second game as a Ranger, had another great performance. 2 for 3, 2 runs scored, 3 RBIs and a home run. He also drew two walks. Batting patience has been a problem with this team for quite a while now. It was good to see Andruw have patience at the plate. Hopefully he's found himself after disappearing in Los Angeles last year.

Even after all the pitching problems this evening, the Rangers had closed to within one run in the 7th inning after Andruw Jones' two run shot. Frankie Francisco came in and was good with his scoreless ninth inning. Ian Kinsler led off the ninth with a double, setting up a runner in scoring position with Young, Hamilton and Jones coming up...no outs.

Good setup, but no follow through. Young hit a deep fly to right, but Nick Markakis made an absolutely ridiculous catch. Ian Kinsler, anticipating that the ball would not be caught, was not tagging up and was thus having to scramble back to second. That may be the biggest play of the night considering Hamilton's fly out to mid-Center would have scored him from third had he been tagging up on Young's fly ball.

Andruw Jones walked, David Murphy came into pinch run and the double steal was on. Put runners at second and third with two outs for Marlon Byrd, but Byrd went down swinging on a fastball in.

The Rangers, who swept the Indians to start the season, now sit at 3-4.

• AL West W-L
• Seattle 5-2
• LA Angels 3-3
• Oakland 3-4
• Texas 3-4

Obviously not where you want to be, but certainly not anything to stress considering we are only 7 games into a 162 game season. If things don't quickly change though, it won't be long until we see Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland in the majors.