00:00Now, there's a variety of things to get here, to get to right here.
00:04Let's go ahead and do cut number two, and let's hear the final call for that Rangers win.
00:11One ball count. Here comes the pitch, and Naylor hits a ground ball hard right to Berger.
00:15Down to second for one. Back to first two, and the ball game's over.
00:193-6-3. Jacob Junis gets the two ball, and the Ranger four-game losing streak has come to an
00:27end.
00:27That was a great play. You saw Naylor mess that play up earlier in the game where he stepped on
00:32first and threw down to second
00:35and sent the ball off into the outfield, and Josh Young got to third on that.
00:39That was a great job by Berger, especially since earlier in that same inning, he had that ball that he
00:46collected
00:47and then was like, oh crap, I've got to get this ball to Junis really quickly.
00:51And then he, Kevin, in that moment, you've got the runner coming down the line.
00:57Berger's coming across and has to vacate the area, and Junis has to make up his mind which direction he's
01:02going
01:02because his body's carrying him one way, and the ball rubs up against his stomach,
01:08and he's collecting it and stepping on the bag all at the same time.
01:12Really good defensive ninth inning there to get out of that and go home.
01:15Did you get nervous at all in the eighth when it was Robert Garcia time?
01:21Yes. Why wouldn't you be?
01:23Yeah, because you go back a few games.
01:26Friday night, Chris Martin, tag with a loss, two runs in the top of the ninth.
01:31On Sunday, Garcia retired just one batter in the top of the eighth, allowed the decisive run to score,
01:37and I know that Skip Schumacher was like, look, it's a conversation that we'll have with the staff.
01:42It's been six, seven games in.
01:45We still have a long way to go, but we need to get these guys where we want them to
01:51be,
01:51and that's why I thought last night was interesting in a potential nerve-wracking situation for that save
01:58that you got Junis out there and gave him an opportunity.
02:01Because we talked about it yesterday.
02:03Fine.
02:04Then who?
02:05Because a lot of people, just not Martin and not Garcia.
02:09Fine.
02:09Then who?
02:10Brought up Wynn, brought up Junis, brought up Alexander as another potential.
02:14And you did use all of them yesterday with DeGrom going five.
02:18He talked about maybe he'd gone up for the six, but a little knee issue there.
02:23We can talk to Skip tomorrow, too, whenever we're out there.
02:25Yes.
02:25More about that at 10.20 is when he'll be joining us.
02:28But you did have Garcia up against the eight, nine, and one.
02:32And so you got out of there before Cal Raleigh got up, so that's nice.
02:37He had his first home run.
02:38But while it being the eighth inning, that still feels like with Garcia, it's high leverage.
02:44Who do you have his home run against, Kevin?
02:46DeGrom.
02:46Interesting.
02:47DeGrom will give up a solo home run on you.
02:49He will definitely give up a solo home run on you.
02:52But, yeah, you had Young, Rivas, and Donovan there.
02:55So that wasn't the most stressful inning if you were able to get out of it clean before you got
02:59to Raleigh and Rodriguez and Naylor.
03:01So that was a nice thing.
03:03But, again, like you said, with Junis being able to come in and do that thing to end things.
03:08Now, I was – I wanted a little more Colwyn yesterday.
03:14Colwyn goes in three pitches and he's done.
03:17And I was like, nice work, dude.
03:18But I think there's part of all of us that are kind of like, is it Colwyn opportunity time?
03:24And Skip's most likely in this moment going, I'm going with some veterans in these opportunities.
03:30Side note, did you love Junis?
03:32He threw four pitches.
03:33Yeah, dude.
03:34Yeah.
03:34I really did.
03:35That's pretty awesome.
03:36There's something – I think that if he keeps, you know, pitching well in these moments, the Rangers fan is
03:44going to really, like, in – they're going to love him.
03:49Like, kind of like they did with Napoli.
03:51Not that he's that kind of vibe, but he does kind of give off a little bit of that with
03:55the hair and the bandana and everything.
03:58There's just something about him that's kind of fun.
03:59Now, yesterday's inning definitely helped, but efficiency has been the name of the game for Junis so far.
04:06Six innings pitched, only 62 pitches in those six innings, and he has walked nobody, given up just one hit
04:13against four strikeouts.
04:15So, I think that is super encouraging going forward.
04:17I do believe Colwyn will get more opportunities, but like you said, that could be a great thing to ask
04:23Skip tomorrow.
04:24But I've already seen multiple texts kind of like this.
04:29The Rangers are starting to look a lot like last year's Rangers from the 2-1-4.
04:36And I'm assuming that means you can win games, but you'll frequently find yourself mired in a low-scoring game.
04:44And we didn't get an opportunity to really dive into this yesterday, but there's been a lot of discussion about,
04:51well, if it's going to be a pitcher's park, then you've got to find ways to manufacture runs.
04:56And for as much as we loved Bruce Bochy, maybe playing small ball, whether it was just his decision or
05:02the construction of the roster, did not really seem to be in the cards.
05:07So, even Jock Peterson says, look, I think we hit some balls hard in this ballpark that would be hits
05:12elsewhere, but this is our field.
05:13We've got to figure out a way to manufacture runs.
05:15To back that up with stats, Globe Life Field has the third lowest park factor league-wide, at least it
05:23did last season, which essentially means it's the third best pitcher's park.
05:27And so, this, I thought, was an interesting way to take a look at it with some of the statistics
05:34that have taken over the game.
05:36The Rangers hit 33 balls into play that carried an average exit velocity of 95 miles per hour or greater
05:44in that first home series.
05:47Only one-third of them were hits.
05:49And, like, you've got to think, you know, and I know it depends, like, if you're just hitting fly ball
05:55after fly ball, but that's part of it.
05:57Higashioka, 407 foot, fly out, out.
06:01Evan Carter, 405 foot, fly out, out.
06:05That could have scored three runs and changed one of those games into a win.
06:11Same with Higashioka.
06:12So, look, deep fly balls, you don't want to be, like, we used to talk about that sometimes with Ian
06:18Kinsler.
06:19He was the best in the league at hitting a really deep fly ball for an out.
06:23Long out.
06:24Yeah, and you don't want this team to, like, be the team that's known for that.
06:28All right, so, Kevin, is there an opportunity?
06:32How long do you think it would take if you had a dude that had a little switch, and every
06:38time a ball was hit up into the air by the Rangers,
06:41he hit that little switch, and it propelled a little breeze up in the rafters?
06:47I think it would help if the roof opened so much quicker, and then maybe you could manipulate it that
06:54way,
06:54even though I guess that is against MLB rules.
06:57I don't know the science.
06:58Like, go look at the other stadium, Kevin.
07:01It's now Choctaw.
07:02You can see it from the Comerica backyard.
07:05Which I feel like was thought of pretty well with the Jetstream as a hitter's part.
07:09And that was, there were some things about the way the wind came in there,
07:13and also it was more open in a lot of different areas.
07:17So you had that.
07:18With this, I don't know exactly what it is that doesn't allow wind to travel or help the baseball at
07:25all,
07:25but that being said, you invested in pitching for this purpose.
07:29Right.
07:30I don't think Chris Young was like, we're a pitcher's ballpark, we have to have better pitching.
07:34But I think this year might have been one of those moments when he went, McKenzie Gore's available.
07:39Yeah, we need better pitching.
07:40We need to continue doing that and younger pitching at the same time.
07:43Yeah.
07:44But as a hitting group, you might have to change your style just a little bit.
07:48Yeah.
07:49That might have to be the approach.
07:51Because if you don't, what are you going to see?
07:53You're going to see Sunday's game.
07:55So for that whole series, they scored four runs.
07:57But on Sunday, that is season-high 15 strikeouts.
08:00And you don't want to feel like you've seen an endless parade of 3-1 losses, 2-0 losses, 2
08:07-1 losses.
08:08And that's what you want to stay away from.
08:10But to your point about manufacturing runs, I think this is a huge thing for the Rangers,
08:18who are now sitting at 5-0.
08:19Or Jack Peterson.
08:20I don't know if that is...
08:22He attempted it yesterday, and it went straight up in the air, and I went, good God.
08:26I was going to say, big picture, I don't think that is who I would want.
08:33Trying to lay down the bunts, but...
08:35He just did it out of nowhere.
08:36He's like, I'm doing this, guys.
08:38Hey, he had a fake double yesterday.
08:41So you saw.
08:42Let's talk about it.
08:43That was a single, but the left fielder...
08:46Rosarino dove in on it.
08:48Yeah, maybe I can get it.
08:49And it ended up bouncing underneath him.
08:51And you saw Jock.
08:52He was like, maybe I can get a triple out of it.
08:54And I thought there was a possibility for a minute.
08:56But at least he did get another hit, and I think that's encouraging.
09:00Two things.
09:01A, I did pay attention to some of his exit velo.
09:04Not on that one in particular, because I think the exit velo was like four on that one.
09:09But there was a lot of 97.
09:10I saw a foul ball that he hit was 107.
09:13Yeah, he's been hitting the ball hard.
09:14And a lot of people claim that if that's the case, it's going to come around at some point.
09:18Just keep hitting the ball hard and square it up.
09:21It's going to go and play at some point.
09:22I do think, a couple things, he slid in the second base, back in the second base headfirst
09:28and tried to give the lasso immediately.
09:30And I didn't see very many people on the team do it back at him.
09:33But that's a different thing for a different time.
09:35Maybe they were all still trying to figure out the whole third base situation.
09:39But that is a confidence builder.
09:41You had the home run.
09:43You're on base.
09:44Those things do build confidence.
09:46That's my hope.
09:47Otherwise, again, as we discussed yesterday, after a month, I'd move on.
09:51But I hope that he's gaining a little confidence just by...
09:53It's like shooters get to the free throw line.
09:56Be on base.
09:57It just gives you that...
09:57There's something about the confidence of getting back on base.
10:00It feels natural.
10:01Now, he had a walk yesterday.
10:02And one thing that I think could be encouraging if you're going to be talking about manufacturing runs
10:08is Brandon Nimmo has reached base in all 10 games so far in his Rangers career.
10:15So that's going to be encouraging.
10:18I know sometimes situationally it will matter when do you get on base.
10:21But I still think that is encouraging for a team that is probably going to be trying to manufacture a
10:28lot of runs.
10:29Are you liking the Nimmo effect then?
10:30Look, and that's what I wanted to tell Chris Young when we sat down with him on Friday.
10:36I know it's early and things can change, but he has already been a significant upgrade higher than I thought
10:43he was going to be.
10:44Now, I have a question.
10:46You already know how I feel about this.
10:48My answer to this is most definitely yes.
10:51Are you keeping a closer eye than usual, maybe a slightly nervous eye, on Evaldi's start this evening?
10:59He has gotten off to a bad start.
11:05Um, I'm watching it like I would any Evaldi's start.
11:09I'm not that concerned.
11:10Okay.
11:11Um, I will be concerned after if it's three straight games.
11:15Okay.
11:16Um, but I'm not watching it going.
11:18I'm expecting the worst tonight.
11:20I feel like he's, you know, again, I looked at his velocity.
11:24His velocity, Kevin, is what?
11:27Good.
11:28Yeah.
11:29You know, what's wild is he's throwing 94, 95, and that's an average velocity for pitchers now.
11:34Where back in the day, if you were throwing 94, 95, you were cooking, and now it's just an average
11:38velocity.
11:39Uh, again, go look at some of his hot spots on baseball savant.
11:44He's still kind of all over the place.
11:46And I think that once he kind of keys that in, it's going to be a little bit better.
11:49Maybe being here is going to help him out just a little bit in this one.
11:52Uh, that'll be nice to see.
11:54And he knows the opponent pretty well, too.
11:56So we'll see.
11:56Oh, that's always tough, though.
12:00It is.
12:00Yeah.
12:01But yeah, this is, I'm not too concerned about it tonight.
12:04Well, another bit of good news.
12:06The last two years, the Rangers finished the season against the Mariners 3-10.
12:11Okay.
12:11So, off to a better start.
12:14Yeah.
12:14Yeah.
12:14We're undefeated against them so far.
12:15That's a good point.
12:15That's a good point.
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