2/26 Rangers Recap: Chicago White Sox 14, Texas 8

Another day, another loss for the Texas Rangers in the spring of 2013.  Perhaps the hangover everyone said the Rangers would have after losing to the Cardinals in the 2011 World Series has shown up a year later than it should have.  Maybe the Rangers will never win again.  Maybe Texas will become the first team in baseball history to go 0-162.

Or maybe I'll just calm down again and remind myself it's only Spring Training.  I was kidding in the above paragraph, I promise.  I put about as much weight in the outcome of these games as I do NFL preseason games or the entire NBA and NHL seasons, which is none.  But I do like to see how certain guys perform, and so far it is being proven that the Rangers, while they are going to be able to hit and score runs, have issues in the bullpen.  Yes, Joe Nathan and Jason Frasor will be at the back end, and they aren't pitching right now, and Joakim Soria will be fine when he gets back into the swing of things, but right now, if the season opened with some of these young guys in the bullpen, Texas would be in trouble.

For example, two different relievers for the Rangers could not finish an inning on Tuesday against the White Sox.  Cody Buckel started the third inning for Texas after Yu Darvish pitched two perfect innings, and had to be relieved after recording just one out by Neal Cotts.  When the six run third inning was over, Buckel was on the hook for six runs, two of them unearned thanks to a Mike Olt error, and sporting a very nice 108.00 ERA.

As bad as that was, it was almost as ugly in the next inning, as Evan Meek came in to start the fourth and promptly gave up five hits, walked one and was responsible for five White Sox runs before Josh Lindblom had to come in and stop the bleeding with two outs.

As bad as the bullpen was, and really has been all spring, Darvish was that good.  In his first spring start of 2013, Darvish needed 28 pitches to get through two flawless innings with two strikeouts.  He only saw six batters in those two innings, including Alex Rios who he got to pop out, and Adam Dunn, who was called out on strikes.

Offensively for Texas, it was not an overall bad performance, as the Rangers scored eight runs on 10 hits.  It was a balanced performance as well, with no single player having more than one hit.  A couple of those hits were by guys who really needed them to swing momentum back in their favor.

Mike Olt launched a two-run homer in the fifth inning as part of a five run Texas inning.  Olt had made an error in the field during the third inning, and coupled with his 0-for-2013 performance at the plate this spring, Olt needed something to get him on track. Hopefully this will get him going and let him live up to the expectations the organization has for him.

Leonys Martin was able to notch his second triple of the spring on Tuesday, after replacing Julio Borbon as the sixth inning.  Ron Washington had said before Spring Training started that this was Leonys Martin's time to shine, and he has done so this spring, hitting a robust .545.  If the season started today, Martin is the Rangers starting center fielder.

Other Rangers performances of note included Ian Kinsler going 0-2 at the plate and Elvis Andrus going 1-2. The two guys who are trying to earn spots as their backups, Leury Garcia and Jurickson Profar, were both productive as well, with Garcia going 1-2 with two runs scores and Profar going 0-1 with two walks and an RBI.  Jeff Baker, who is trying to make the big league team, started thte game as the designated hitter and went 0-3, bringing his spring average down to .125.  Craig Gentry, who is battling the red-hot Leonys Martin for a starting job, went 1-2, with a walk and an RBI and is now hitting .400.  

Next Up: The Rangers and White Sox will meet for the second consecutive day, this time at the home of the Chicago White Sox training facility at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix.  Texas will start Alexi Ogando for the first time this spring.  Ogando pitched 1.1 innings against the Royals back on Friday, allowing two walks, two hits and three runs, including a homer.  Chicago will start Simon Castro, a 24 year old right-hander who will be making his first appearance of the spring.  Castro was 7-5 in 21 minor league starts in 2012 with a 3.85 ERA.