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.
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