Rangers trying to avoid bullpen history
Kevin Millwood's complete game on Wednesday helped, but Texas is still flirting with a record that Major League teams are rarely attracted to: the single-season record for innings pitched by a bullpen. Much attention has been paid to the 14 -- soon to be 15 -- different starting pitchers Texas has used this season, half of whom are rookies. But little notice has been given to the fact that the Rangers' makeshift rotation has put more strain on their bullpen than any big league club, making their middle relievers' jobs even more difficult than they are already.
Manager Ron Washington is well aware of the stress he's placed on his relievers, but is hoping a more stable rotation, starting with Millwood's complete game, will help the Rangers avoid making history.
"We need them to go deep," Washington said. "We tried to get (Scott) Feldman and (Vicente) Padilla through seven innings (earlier in the week) to help the bullpen, but it didn't work out. Every day, if you have to log 3-4 innings out of the bullpen, they're going to be running on fumes."
By going the distance, Millwood kept the Texas bullpen's innings logged total to 465 2/3. The next highest total in the Majors is Pittsburgh, at 438 2/3 innings and Baltimore is the closest to Texas in the American League at 423 2/3 innings. With only 34 games remaining, the Rangers bullpen is averaging 3 2/3 innings a game. If that trend continues, it will come 12 innings short of tying the baseball Major League record of 601 1/3 innings, which was set by the 2003 Rangers.
But if Texas should run into another rough stretch like the one it just pulled out of, averaging four innings a game out of the bullpen, the Rangers will break the Major League record by two-thirds of an inning.
In seven games from Aug. 8-15, Texas got just 25 combined innings out of its starting pitching. The longest start in that stretch was a five-inning outing by rookie Matt Harrison.
"You can see some things coming," reliever Josh Rupe said. "You can see the starter start struggling, giving up runs and letting guys on base, and you can kind of tell. You hope they get out of it, but at the same time you have to be ready in case they call."
During that same stretch, long relievers Rupe, Jamey Wright, Dustin Nippert and Warner Madrigal matched the starters' innings total of 25 coming out of the bullpen. Nippert added a four-inning spot start on Aug. 17 with the rotation still in disarray. This quartet of relief has had basically two functions for the Rangers: prevent blowouts and preserve hope for a miraculous comeback. While the job description sounds low-stress, it does make simple things like workouts in the gym difficult to plan.
"If you haven't pitched for a couple days, it's hard to get them in because you don't know if you're going to pitch that night," Nippert said. "Then if you don't pitch that night, you're like, 'Well, I can't really work out tomorrow because I might pitch tomorrow.' You really just don't know what's going on. It's a life of not knowing, I guess."
But when it comes to making a pitching change, Washington knows he has four arms in his bullpen that can come in for an extended period if a starter falters in the early innings. Rupe leads Ranger relievers with 73 innings pitched after setting a career high with 29 innings pitched a season ago. His 3.95 ERA is third best on the club among relievers with at least 16 innings pitched. Wright has been a valuable swingman with the ability to go one or two innings. He's performed the latter in three of his last five appearances. A starter earlier in his career, Wright has found middle relief to be less forgiving.
"The hardest part is having to be sharp every single time you go in," Wright said. "You don't have innings to get settled in like a starter. I speak from experience of doing both. You come in and have to be ready to get outs because you're coming into situations where guys are on base. You're expected to be sharp. Some days that's harder than others."
Nippert's ERA is a lofty 7.83, but he's provided length, like the time he went seven innings in a relief appearance against Los Angeles on July 7 and allowed just one run. He's gone at least four innings his last five relief appearances. Madrigal, like Nippert, doesn't have an overwhelming ERA at 5.57, but he has shown the ability to eat some innings when he's on. In relief appearances at least two innings in length, Madrigal has a 0.87 ERA. But, unlike their brethren at the back of the bullpen who vie for save opportunities, these long relievers don't get much acclaim.
"No, not really," Nippert said.
Despite the element of uncertainty surrounding their role, Rupe, Nippert, Wright and Madrigal don't normally have to wait long before they're called upon. As the seasoned veteran of the bunch, Wright knows finding a suitable preparation regimen is the key to finding success in a vital, if underappreciated, role.
"You just have to be consistent in your preparation," Wright said. "That way, if the phone rings, you're never surprised, you're never caught off guard. You're ready. That's when I can go out there and have fun."
2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P.
Rangers trying to avoid bullpen history
Kevin Millwood's complete game on Wednesday helped, but Texas is still flirting with a record that Major League teams are rarely attracted to: the single-season record for innings pitched by a bullpen. Much attention has been paid to the 14 -- soon to be 15 -- different starting pitchers Texas has used this season, half of whom are rookies. But little notice has been given to the fact that the Rangers' makeshift rotation has put more strain on their bullpen than any big league club, making their middle relievers' jobs even more difficult than they are already.
Manager Ron Washington is well aware of the stress he's placed on his relievers, but is hoping a more stable rotation, starting with Millwood's complete game, will help the Rangers avoid making history.
"We need them to go deep," Washington said. "We tried to get (Scott) Feldman and (Vicente) Padilla through seven innings (earlier in the week) to help the bullpen, but it didn't work out. Every day, if you have to log 3-4 innings out of the bullpen, they're going to be running on fumes."
By going the distance, Millwood kept the Texas bullpen's innings logged total to 465 2/3. The next highest total in the Majors is Pittsburgh, at 438 2/3 innings and Baltimore is the closest to Texas in the American League at 423 2/3 innings. With only 34 games remaining, the Rangers bullpen is averaging 3 2/3 innings a game. If that trend continues, it will come 12 innings short of tying the Major League record of 601 1/3 innings, which was set by the 2003 Rangers.
But if Texas should run into another rough stretch like the one it just pulled out of, averaging four innings a game out of the bullpen, the Rangers will break the Major League record by two-thirds of an inning.
In seven games from Aug. 8-15, Texas got just 25 combined innings out of its starting pitching. The longest start in that stretch was a five-inning outing by rookie Matt Harrison.
"You can see some things coming," reliever Josh Rupe said. "You can see the starter start struggling, giving up runs and letting guys on base, and you can kind of tell. You hope they get out of it, but at the same time you have to be ready in case they call."
During that same stretch, long relievers Rupe, Jamey Wright, Dustin Nippert and Warner Madrigal matched the starters' innings total of 25 coming out of the bullpen. Nippert added a four-inning spot start on Aug. 17 with the rotation still in disarray. This quartet of relief has had basically two functions for the Rangers: prevent blowouts and preserve hope for a miraculous comeback. While the job description sounds low-stress, it does make simple things like workouts in the gym difficult to plan.
"If you haven't pitched for a couple days, it's hard to get them in because you don't know if you're going to pitch that night," Nippert said. "Then if you don't pitch that night, you're like, 'Well, I can't really work out tomorrow because I might pitch tomorrow.' You really just don't know what's going on. It's a life of not knowing, I guess."
But when it comes to making a pitching change, Washington knows he has four arms in his bullpen that can come in for an extended period if a starter falters in the early innings. Rupe leads Ranger relievers with 73 innings pitched after setting a career high with 29 innings pitched a season ago. His 3.95 ERA is third best on the club among relievers with at least 16 innings pitched. Wright has been a valuable swingman with the ability to go one or two innings. He's performed the latter in three of his last five appearances. A starter earlier in his career, Wright has found middle relief to be less forgiving.
"The hardest part is having to be sharp every single time you go in," Wright said. "You don't have innings to get settled in like a starter. I speak from experience of doing both. You come in and have to be ready to get outs because you're coming into situations where guys are on base. You're expected to be sharp. Some days that's harder than others."
Nippert's ERA is a lofty 7.83, but he's provided length, like the time he went seven innings in a relief appearance against Los Angeles on July 7 and allowed just one run. He's gone at least four innings his last five relief appearances. Madrigal, like Nippert, doesn't have an overwhelming ERA at 5.57, but he has shown the ability to eat some innings when he's on. In relief appearances at least two innings in length, Madrigal has a 0.87 ERA. But, unlike their brethren at the back of the bullpen who vie for save opportunities, these long relievers don't get much acclaim.
"No, not really," Nippert said.
Despite the element of uncertainty surrounding their role, Rupe, Nippert, Wright and Madrigal don't normally have to wait long before they're called upon. As the seasoned veteran of the bunch, Wright knows finding a suitable preparation regimen is the key to finding success in a vital, if underappreciated, role.
"You just have to be consistent in your preparation," Wright said. "That way, if the phone rings, you're never surprised, you're never caught off guard. You're ready. That's when I can go out there and have fun."
2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P.
Baseball by the numbers
36 Home runs that Manny Ramirez (stats) will hit for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season based on the first week of production he has given his new team. Acquired by the Dodgers from the Red Sox (team stats) at the July 31 trading deadline, Ramirez homered four times in his first six contests, a rate that would produce 36 homers over the final 54 games of the Dodgers' 2008 season. Ramirez also had nine RBI and seven runs scored during the first week, numbers that would translate into 81 RBI and 63 runs scored over 54 games with Los Angeles.
43-19 Entering this weekend's series with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Chicago Cubs' baseball major league record this season when Alfonso Soriano bats leadoff, a statistic that has some arguing for Soriano as a candidate for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. The Cubs were 26-27 when leading off with someone other than Soriano, who entered the Cubs series with 20 hits in his last 48 at-bats. Said Cubs infielder Mark DeRosa: "I think more so than his ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark. He's a huge part of who we are."
14 Entering this weekend's series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, errors committed this season by Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, easily the most among all major leaguers at his position. An obvious candidate to become a designated hitter late in his career, Howard committed 14 and 12 errors, respectively, during each of his first two major league seasons. No Philadelphia first baseman has committed more than 14 errors in a season since Dick Allen made 18 errors in 1975.
1 From June 25 through Aug. 5, a span covering 37 games or nearly 23 percent of the season, stolen bases accumulated by the San Diego Padres, who ranked dead last among the 30 major league clubs in steals (27) entering this weekend's series at Colorado. The real kicker? The only Padre to steal a base during the span was none other than pitcher Greg Maddux, an even more ominous sign for a San Diego team that plays in a big ballpark and seemingly would have a need to rely on pitching, defense and speed.
Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Media
O's, Halos resume set in Anaheim
Having to face the team with the best record in baseball on the road is enough of a challenge for the Baltimore Orioles. The task could be even more difficult for the club tonight, when the O's go up against a pitcher that has owned them in recent years. Angels hurler Jon Garland has won six consecutive starts against Baltimore, including a pair of matchups earlier this season, and is 7-2 with a 4.40 earned run average over 11 career games (9 starts) versus the Birds. Garland, who takes the hill for Anaheim in tonight's second test of this three-game series, hasn't lost to the Orioles since May 13, 2004.
The lanky right-hander wasn't overly sharp in his most recent victory over Baltimore, however. In a July 26 encounter at Camden Yards, Garland allowed five runs on seven hits -- including a pair of homers -- over 5 1/3 innings. He benefited from a wealth of offensive support from his teammates in the Angels' 11-6 win. Garland was better in his most recent outing, a six-inning stint at New York in which he held the Yankees to three runs to pick up his 10th victory of 2008.
Baltimore will send out a pitcher making his major league debut tonight in Chris Waters. The 27-year-old left-hander has spent the majority of this season at Triple-A Norfolk, where he has compiled a 3-6 record and a 5.70 ERA over 18 appearances (16 starts).
Waters has spent the last nine seasons in the minors since being selected by Atlanta in the fifth round of the 2000 draft. He spent seven years in the Braves organization before signing with Baltimore as a minor-league free agent in 2007. Anaheim halted a brief two-game slide and improved its major league-best record to 70-42 with Monday's 6-5 win over the Orioles. The Angels blew a four-run lead in the top of the ninth inning, but regrouped to score in the bottom of the frame on a bases-loaded walk to Chone Figgins.
Torii Hunter opened the bottom of the ninth with a double off Baltimore closer George Sherrill (3-5), who later intentionally walked Howie Kendrick and issued a two-out free pass to Jeff Mathis prior to walking Figgins. Baltimore trailed by a 5-1 score after eight innings but pulled even on Melvin Mora's two-run double off Anaheim All-Star Francisco Rodriguez. Mora's game- tying hit followed a two-RBI single off the bat of Nick Markakis. Angels starter Joe Saunders was in line for his 15th win of the season after limiting the Orioles to one run on six hits over the first six innings. Vladimir Guerrero had a two-run homer for Anaheim, which has won 10 of its last 12 at Angel Stadium.
Markakis finished 2-for-5 with three RBI for the Orioles, who are 4-3 thus far on a nine-game road trip. Anaheim has won five of its seven encounters with the Orioles this season and is 15-5 over the last 20 overall matchups in this series. Since the start of the 2006 campaign, Baltimore has lost in 11 of its 14 visits to Angel Stadium.
2008 The Sports Network. All Rights Reserved.
Oakland A's rookie reliever Brad Ziegler off to record start
OAKLAND, Calif. Excuse Brad Ziegler for being slightly overwhelmed by all the attention. Two months ago, the Oakland reliever was barely a blip on baseball's radar, so frustrated at Triple-A that he was ready to ask the Athletics for his release. Now, the 28-year-old rookie has set a pretty impressive baseball major league record: Most consecutive scoreless innings to start a career.
Ziegler extended his string to 27 Sunday, breaking a 101-year-old mark. His shutout streak was intact going into Tuesday night's game against Kansas City. Not bad for someone who recently fractured his skull - for the second time in three years - in a freak accident. That came a while after his A's bosses told him he'd probably need to move to the bullpen and drastically change his delivery to ever reach the big leagues.
The righty sidearmer is still working each day to perfect his mechanics.
"It's crazy. It is. It almost seems kind of movie-ish: The guy who goes through all the trouble to get there, but at the end he has all the positive things happen to him," Ziegler said, sitting in the dugout for one of many interviews Monday. Not that everything's going to be peachy the rest of my career, but at this point it's tough to complain about anything," he said. "It's bizarre. I don't feel like I've done anything extraordinary."
His path would certainly qualify. Released by the Philadelphia organization at the end of spring training in 2004, he spent a few months in the independent Northern League before signing with Oakland in June. That September, while playing in Class A, he was hit in the right temple by a line drive off the bat of current Giants outfielder Fred Lewis. This past January, Ziegler had finished working at youth baseball camp back home in Springfield, Mo., and was throwing hard with a friend from 120 feet. Suddenly, a kid jumped out and tried to catch the ball - instead, it deflected off the boy's glove, hit Ziegler square in the middle of his forehead and opened a bloody gash.
"But it wasn't nearly like the first one, not nearly as severe," Ziegler said. "I just knew by the feeling that I got that I'd fractured the skull again. I got up and started to try to drive home but I was in too much pain."
Somehow, he showed up at spring training in February ready to go. He wore a plastic protective insert inside his cap most of the spring before doctors cleared him to get rid of it a month later. They also advised him to avoid getting hit again. Ziegler couldn't get out of the way when Lewis' liner caught him during a playoff game.
"He threw a pitch for a strike and then I swung at the second pitch and lined it up the middle," Lewis recalled. "It was a fastball inside and went up the middle off his head and I couldn't get out of the batter's box. And, man, it was like, I'd never seen anything like that. It went off his head and went into the third baseman's glove for an out. "I just stood there, worried about the guy. I didn't know what was going on. Nothing like that ever happened to me before. He got up and they walked him off the field. He was walking and it was, man, people told me I didn't do anything wrong and don't be worried about it, but I was," he said.
All of that seems so long ago now. Ziegler recorded six outs against Texas on Sunday to break the previous record of 25 scoreless innings set by the Phillies' George McQuillan in 1907. Ziegler started this season at Triple-A Sacramento and did well there, too, allowing only one earned run in 24 1-3 innings. The Athletics promoted him May 30.
"What's impressed me from a mental side is he showed no intimidation or fear from the first day," A's manager Bob Geren said. "From the physical side, his ball has great sink and great late sink and he's throwing strikes and producing groundballs at a high rate. All of those are a good combination. "And then his confidence, each time he went out, kept growing and now he's extremely confident in what he's doing. As a reliever, when you come in for one inning and are in tight situations, obviously confidence in that situation is probably No. 1 and the extra stuff like throwing the ball is a close second. He has both of those going right now," Geren said.
Initially, Ziegler wasn't thrilled about being asked to switch to a sidearm style. But he took on that challenge the way he's approached so many other things in his eventful life. Ziegler was a late bloomer in pro ball. He redshirted one season at Southwest Missouri State and opted to stay in school and earn his math degree so he would have something to fall back on if baseball didn't work out. He acknowledges he didn't throw hard and had mostly average stuff before changing deliveries.
"I always threw strikes and I always got guys out, but it was never anything real flashy out on the mound," he said. "They wanted to do something that might separate me a little bit from other right-handers."
He's seemingly done that now. Injured A's slugger Frank Thomas has taken notice.
"It's weird to break a record that's been there a lot of years," Thomas said. "The record has been there that long for a reason. Good for him. As a young guy, to be that focused mentally is great. And he's coming from a funky angle with good velocity. That's very difficult to do when you're down that low."
Copyright 2008 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Major league baseball notes
ASTROS Chacon waived after fight HOUSTON, Shawn Chacon was put on waivers Thursday by the Houston Astros, a day after he got into a physical altercation with General Manager Ed Wade. If another team doesn't claim Chacon by Monday, the Astros say they will release the pitcher and terminate his contract for cause, which would set off a confrontation with the players' association over the nearly USD 1 million that would remain on Chacon's contract.
Chacon is 2-3 with a 5. 04 ERA in 15 starts and 85 2/3 innings for Houston this year. The right-hander set a major league record for a starting pitcher with nine consecutive no-decisions to open the season. Houston says Chacon violated a provision in the uniform player contract that states the player may be terminated if he shall "fail, refuse, or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey to the club's training rules." Wade said the problems began when he asked Manager Cecil Cooper to call Chacon into a meeting to discuss media reports that he was asking for a trade because he was unhappy with being bumped from the rotation. After Chacon refused Cooper's repeated requests to come to his office for the meeting, Wade went into the team dining room to try to get him to meet. After he said he wanted to speak in the dining room, things became heated. "I did not raise my voice to the player, curse the player," Wade said. "I did not make any defamatory remarks toward the player. Chacon responded with profane and threatening remarks and got up from his seat. He moved in front of me until we were chest to chest and then he shoved me to the ground. When I attempted to get to my feet, he shoved me a second time. At this point players and coaches intervened." CUBS Piniella replaces Randolph CHICAGO, Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella was selected Thursday to replace fired New York Mets Manager Willie Randolph on the NL coaching staff for next month's All-Star game at Yankee Stadium. Piniella played for the Yankees from 1974-84, winning World Series championships in 1977 and 1978. He managed the Yankees in 1986 and 1987, then served a second stint as manager during the second half of the 1988 season.
PIRATES Snell on DL for strain PITTSBURGH, Right-hander Ian Snell was placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday with a muscle strain in his right elbow. Snell (3-7 ) complained of a sore elbow after lasting four innings during an 8-5 loss to Toronto on Sunday. Tests on Monday showed no ligament damage, and he was expected to miss only one start. Snell, the Pirates' opening-day starter, has won once in 13 starts since April 12. NATIONALS Hill goes on DL WASHINGTON, Right-hander Shawn Hill was put on the 15-day disabled list Thursday by the Washington Nationals because of a sore right forearm. Hill's arm was examined Wednesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the team said doctors found no structural damage. Doctors attributed his pain to irritation of his forearm muscles, and they recommended rest and rehabilitation. Hill, 1-5 with a 5. 83 ERA in 12 starts, gave up eight runs in three innings during Tuesday's 8-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. The move to put him on the DL was retroactive to Wednesday.
MLB Umpire suspended NEW YORK, Umpire Brian Runge was suspended for one game Thursday for bumping into New York Mets Manager Jerry Manuel before ejecting him earlier in the week. Manuel and center fielder Carlos Beltran also were fined by Major League Baseball for arguing with Runge in the fourth inning of the Mets' game against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday.
Copyright 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mariners fire manager, this McLaren not up to speed
SEATTLE, Washington (AFP) John McLaren was fired as manager of the Seattle Mariners here Thursday as one of Major League Baseball's most disappointing clubs continued to clean house. Three days after dumping general manager Bill Bavasi, the club owned by Japanese firm Nintendo axed McLaren after a 68-88 showing over two seasons and named assistant coach Jim Riggleman the new manager in a mid-season move.
"John worked extremely hard, but our team continued to underperform compared to our expectations of them," interim general manager Lee Pelekoudas said. "As we move towards the trade deadline and decisions have to be made on the futures of the players on our ballclub, I wanted to see if a different voice could make a difference in their performance."
The Mariners have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 25-47, 17 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West division. McLaren, 56, became the second Major League Baseball manager fired this week after Willie Randolph was dumped by the New York Mets on Tuesday morning. McLaren, an assistant with Seattle for 11 seasons, became the Mariners manager last July 2 when Mike Hargrove resigned. McLaren went 43-41 to earn himself a chance to open this season. Riggleman, 55, managed the San Diego Padres from 1992 through 1994 and guided the Chicago Cubs from 1995 through 1999 with a combined record of 486-598.
Copyright 2008 AFP. All rights reserved.
|
