00:00Rangers would go on to win that game 8-3. They also won on Saturday 5-4, which means they
00:07took the opening series from the Philadelphia Phillies.
00:10We can talk about any number of things from that series, but I also would love to talk a little
00:16bit big picture about the first quarter of the Rangers season and why this kind of series win, I think,
00:22is a huge deal.
00:23Are you okay if I start with that?
00:25Yeah, I do want to make a, while you sneeze, Kevin, I want to make a, let everybody know something.
00:31Because I did tweet about Andrew McCutcheon, his home run, Kevin, and I tweeted, Kutchlash.
00:39Now, a lot of people might not have a clue what that means.
00:42Somebody did tweet back and they were like, this doesn't make any sense.
00:45But do you remember Jerry Maguire?
00:48Yes.
00:48And remember, he had the Cush, and the guy was sitting there playing the guitar, and he started singing Cushlash,
00:54Cushlash.
00:55Ah.
00:56And so, since we've gotten Andrew McCutcheon, that's always stuck in my head, and Cutchlash is all I can think.
01:03Okay.
01:03So be prepared to hear it more this year.
01:05Okay.
01:05I've also heard Clutch Cutch.
01:08There you go.
01:08Already.
01:08That makes sense.
01:09So, for the first 40 games of the season, so you're talking about a quarter of the season, essentially, the
01:17Rangers are going to play the two-time defending world champions.
01:21They got three other series against teams that were in the ALCS and NLCS last year and play more games
01:30on the road than they do at Globe Life Field.
01:34While all of this is happening, and I realize the quality of teams can change year over year, in that
01:39stretch, they only play three games against a team that lost 90 or more games last year.
01:45And that is against Pittsburgh, which we feel like could theoretically be on the upswing.
01:51And plus, that almost certainly, or it could mean a pitching matchup against Paul Skeens.
02:00But, so, your first quarter...
02:04Who's not really that good, based on his first quarter.
02:05I mean, that's true.
02:07His ERA is, what, 67 and a half?
02:09Yeah.
02:09So, your first quarter of the season is really tough.
02:14And, obviously, you look back at the World Series year, getting out to a big start is what helped the
02:20team.
02:20But it feels like you've kind of fallen behind the eight ball when it comes to beginning the season the
02:26last several years.
02:28Yeah, yeah.
02:29This kind of a start...
02:31The other day after the first game, Kevin, when Skip was talking, he was saying...
02:37He was talking about this quarter, too.
02:39And he was like, look, we have a tough one coming up.
02:42And I think we're going...
02:44I remember the line, I think we're going to be fine because the way those guys kept fighting at the
02:50end of the game.
02:51Right.
02:51And, you know, we discussed how...
02:53Which they did.
02:53The year before, they were known for, like, they just kept going to work.
02:57Right.
02:58But there were times late in games where you just felt like, eh.
03:01I mean, I guess Philadelphia fans, they hate being around during the eighth inning.
03:06Yeah.
03:06They're just like, we're out of here.
03:09But when he said that, I was like, okay, this is a manager in his first year coping.
03:15That was my first thought.
03:16And then the way they played the next two games, I was like, oh, they are a team that's going
03:21to play this kind of a baseball.
03:23This brand of baseball that puts them in a stretch this early where they can be competitive.
03:29So, that's where this first series set it up for me to believe what Skip was preaching.
03:35And there was a lot of positive stuff.
03:38Ooh, McClutchin.
03:39I've seen a couple people text that in.
03:42I like that quite a bit.
03:44And just, he's such a gentleman.
03:47You even saw it.
03:48There was a local celebrity influencer in the Pennsylvania area.
03:54And he yelled out, you gotta be kidding me, Kutch.
03:57You gotta be kidding me.
03:59After McCutcheon had, I believe it was after he hit the home run.
04:04And he shrugged at him and was like, I'm sorry.
04:08And he said it was somebody that he knew.
04:10So, I like, even when he's doing stuff for the Rangers, he's still like, I'm also going to apologize to
04:16the former fan base that was super supportive of me.
04:19Or the state of the fan base.
04:21I know it wasn't specifically the Phillies.
04:23And so, I thought that that was really nice.
04:26But winning a series against a team that I think a lot of people have super high expectations for this
04:32year.
04:33And doing so on the road.
04:35I thought it was a hell of a way to start this season.
04:37Yeah.
04:38No, this is the best possible thing.
04:41I mean, obviously, 3-0 would have been great.
04:43Right.
04:43But to come back from the loss like that and reboot it real quickly.
04:48And you're on the road.
04:49You know, when you're on the road like that, you can either go back to your hotel room and cry
04:53about it.
04:53Or you can get back at it because you have nothing else to do.
04:57You know?
04:57And they got back at it.
04:58And they got back at it pretty good.
05:00Now, obviously, we still have some warts on this team we're going to have to figure out.
05:06The bullpen is going to be a situation all year long.
05:10Yeah.
05:10Though you did win that game with Lats replacing DeGrom.
05:14And it looks like DeGrom, I believe, is going to end up pitching tomorrow.
05:18Okay.
05:19But you're right.
05:20I mean, also, Jake Berger, catch the ball.
05:24Yes.
05:25Right?
05:25Yes.
05:26No, I mean, for everything good that Jake Berger did, he almost lost you that game.
05:30Yeah.
05:30And he knows.
05:31A, he knows the bullpen is going to be chaos this year.
05:36Yes.
05:36When you have that kind of moment, you have to make the play.
05:40Because you risk the chance of going to more bullpen and having more situations be problems.
05:46I will credit.
05:47We know.
05:48We've seen wind.
05:49Wind can be terrorizing on you.
05:52Yeah.
05:52It was tough.
05:54It was tough.
05:55It was tough day defensively and, you know, sometimes.
05:58And it did, to your point, almost immediately lead to a crushing loss.
06:04It would have been the second game of the season, but the first, like, real high leverage opportunity
06:10from the bullpen.
06:11And if you would have lost straight away from that, man.
06:14So, Christopher Sanchez is phenomenal.
06:16Agreed.
06:17And got an extra, like, $10 million, $20 million?
06:20$25.
06:21$25 million right before the season because he's so badass.
06:24Yep.
06:25And their other pitchers are good, too.
06:28Do we look at the Rangers' offense after the one series and go, oh, this is going to be a
06:34different offense this year?
06:35Because, what is it, last year it took them 23 games to score eight runs in a game?
06:40Right.
06:40And here we are.
06:41Right.
06:41I mean, I hear what you're saying.
06:44That is a, I think that could eventually be a positive overreaction.
06:49I'm not going to say that just yet.
06:51Okay.
06:52But I was encouraged by Berger.
06:55I saw somebody just text in that they were encouraged by the sack bunt.
07:00Yeah.
07:00Because, Lord knows, we got so many texts about playing more small ball over the last couple of years that
07:06I know.
07:07You've got to be multiple.
07:07Yeah.
07:07I say that really.
07:09Like, you have to be able to do what the situation of the game calls for.
07:14Yes.
07:14And I know Boach told us, like, there's five different ways to get a guy over.
07:17There are.
07:18Well, if one of them's going to work, do that one.
07:21I think one of my concerns about that is the start of Josh Young.
07:27So, Josh Young has been horrific to start this season.
07:3212 at bats.
07:33He's 0 for 12.
07:34Also has five strikeouts and six ground balls.
07:39He's one, probably one ball that you would say, okay.
07:44He has no batting average.
07:45Well, yes, because his batting average is zero.
07:47But he's probably only even put one ball in play that you're like, okay, that's a good one.
07:56And so, it's tough.
07:57I know he missed a bunch of time in spring training.
07:59And that's always what you worry about.
08:03And then, do you remember on Friday, we talked about the challenge system?
08:07Mm-hmm.
08:08And one of the things that Skip Schumacher said was, we would like to try to focus in on using
08:13the challenge system in more high leverage situations.
08:17Evan Carter became the first Texas Ranger to use the ABS system in a most certainly not
08:25high leverage situation.
08:27He got a second strike called on him in the fourth inning.
08:33And he was wrong.
08:35Now, he did eventually reach base five pitches later.
08:40But, let's go to Skip Schumacher, who, look, there were already two outs.
08:46There was no runners on.
08:48Mm-hmm.
08:48And the Rangers were ahead by three.
08:50And late in that game, both teams only had one left.
08:53Exactly.
08:53Yeah, because of this.
08:54And so, Schumacher said, maybe we may have wanted to hold on to that one in particular,
08:59just in case there's guys on base.
09:01These are the learning lessons that we're all working through.
09:03It's game two of the season.
09:05So, obviously, this goes back to Saturday.
09:08And so, just keep an eye on that if the Rangers do, like, really hammer home that message of,
09:13hey, there's two runners on.
09:15Maybe it's a different deal.
09:16There's two outs.
09:17Nobody on.
09:18Not the time.
09:19Kevin, from the A-1-7, the burger error got Langford on.
09:23Or, Langford a hit and won my parlay on prize picks.
09:27Really?
09:28That and still getting the dub makes it worth it.
09:31That is why Langford's only hit.
09:36Okay.
09:37Are we concerned?
09:39I am.
09:40About 0 for 5, 1 for 5, 0 for 4.
09:43I'm not going to say that yet.
09:45Okay.
09:46It's still early.
09:47But, you know what?
09:48It was really interesting about that.
09:49I think that's probably more about expectation, right?
09:51Because I didn't necessarily only say it's just early with Josh Young.
09:55But that's because maybe my expectations are different for the two.
09:58And I believe Wyatt Langford will get moving.
10:00And that's the thing.
10:01I agree, too.
10:02You go 4 for 4 today, then all of a sudden your stats look ridiculous.
10:05Well, here's the deal, though.
10:07Wyatt and Josh Smith were on fire in spring.
10:11As Wyatt always is.
10:13And have started a little slower.
10:16But Burger was on fire, too.
10:18Yeah.
10:18And it's just kept the pace going.
10:19So I've got to figure out what's going on there.
10:21But I do like this text, too.
10:23It was very clear that Nemo's an upgrade over Adola.
10:26Yes, I agree with that.
10:29And you know what?
10:29At noon, I think we're going to dive further into Nemo and all your other overreactions and underreactions.
10:34But I have another positive.
10:37You know, we'll all kind of make fun of the Rangers ownership group for being cheap.
10:42Well, they got McCutcheon on the cheap.
10:45And that came through early.
10:46And then take a look at what happened over the weekend.
10:52Jacob Younis or Jakob, if you're fancy.
10:55Tyler Alexander, Jalen Beeks, Carter Baumler.
10:58They combined to give up one run over the weekend.
11:01They cost a total of $7 million.
11:05The one run they gave up, it's when the Rangers were ahead by six.
11:08Yeah.
11:10So, you hope, and this is, I think, the third straight year, you've almost had to entirely overhaul your bullpen.
11:18And so, you hope that's a good sign that either the young guys or a combination of the young guys
11:23and the cheaper pieces that you've put together,
11:26they can put together a coherent bullpen.
11:28Which, for the bulk of last year, outside of closer, they most certainly did.
11:32And this is probably the same situation then, right?
11:36Is we, I said bullpen, your bullpen's going to be chaos.
11:39Your bullpen still might be chaos.
11:41Sure.
11:42Because you might be using a few of those guys and be like, is this the closer?
11:46Because you don't have a clear-cut closer right now.
11:49Yeah, to your point, were there not times last year when you felt like the bullpen was chaos?
11:55And the bullpen last year was really, really good, like, as a whole.
11:59I realize there were times, and I know Robert Garcia gets the bulk of people's wrath on this,
12:03where you're like, what the hell are we doing to close games?
12:07But for the most part, your bullpen as a whole was really good.
12:11And you'd had to overturn the entire thing, and there was still chaos.
12:13So, you might just see that exact same scenario again this year.
12:16Kevin, that being said, I sent this to you over the weekend.
12:20Alexis Diaz for the Express against the Space Cowboys.
12:27Awesome.
12:27One inning pitched, zero runs, two strikeouts, both swinging.
12:33One was a fastball, one was a slider.
12:35That is a big deal.
12:37Twelve pitches, nine strikes, 95.9 top velo.
12:41Bring him back.
12:42Let's bring him back.
12:44That's our bad.
12:45Yeah, look, I...
12:46You know what?
12:47We don't know what we were thinking.
12:49I would argue that was one of the most stunning turn of events in spring training.
12:53People were like, oh, but we got Alexis Diaz.
12:55And all of a sudden, he's like, nope, he's out.
12:57Yeah.
12:57And you're like, but it was out so early, too, because it just wasn't happening.
13:01But yeah, that is the voice of khaki Kevin Walker.
13:06And he knows.
13:08I'm just saying, if...
13:10I'm not saying that that form right there in that game, I'm not...
13:13Maybe I need another game to be like, bring him back.
13:15But it's a nice start.
13:17Yeah.
13:18And you do need a closer.
13:20And at some point, if he continues to do something like that, you might look at Diaz
13:25and say, that's my closer.
13:26A consistent helping of Robert Garcia in the ninth inning might not be good for the collecting
13:31blood pressures of the DFW.
13:34I love him.
13:35But we've...
13:36Like, he's chaos for me.
13:38Chaos is the word that I just have to keep using.
13:39And I think Robert Garcia is another great example of the bullpen last year.
13:43There was a good run where he was awesome.
13:46Yeah.
13:46But then it turned, and it turned hard.
13:49Yeah.
13:49And I don't want that to cost us any early...
13:52Hey, you just pointed it out.
13:54This first 40...
13:55Yeah, it's very...
13:56This first quarter is very tough.
13:57Absolutely.
13:58You can't cost your team any of those losses whenever you have the opportunity to win.
14:03And then Rangers and Orioles today.
14:06535 first pitch pregame starts at 5 right here on your home of the Texas Rangers 105.3 The Fan.
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