Rangers vs. Blue Jays

Wow. Mavs got killed. In March, I had a thought about the NBA playoffs. I thought that there are two teams the Mavs should not play. And if Dirk, Josh, and the rest of the Mavs survive the Golden Snake, they may have to face the second team in the Western Conference, should they eliminate the Spurs. My prediction of a Mavs loss came true. I just didn't think it would be anywhere near THAT bad. But the Suns are the other team... the Mavs would role over the Spurs and anyone else for that matter... but when it comes to the Suns or the Warriors, they just don't do so well. Anyway, I think they can hold up to Warriors in a seven gamer, but it won't go that far. I believe Mavs in SIX. Avery Johnson almost jumped out on the court and started to play in Game 3... he'll turn this around, or by the end of game 4, he will be playing in his suit!

Now, I guess it is to the topic at hand: Rangers vs. Blue Jays. Sammy "Hunting 600" Sosa has hit 3 home-runs in the last two games and is up to 595 in his career. Closer... Closer... OK, we have Kevin Millwood (2-3) up against Gustavo Chacín (2-1) in a day game in Toronto (Noon, Central Time). I'm just going to call this guy "Gus" for short. And since I bold it, that makes it official. Gus has thrown 14 1/3 innings against the Rangers and only given up one UN-earned run (that's an ERA of 0.00, for those scoring at home). What makes things even worse is the lack of hitting, which is 6 hits over those 14 and a partial frames. That is less than one hit every two innings. Could this Gus go all nine with a shutout? Or worse, ANOTHER NO-NO? I will put it bluntly, yes and no. Yes, he can go all nine and shutout the Rangers, and Gus can even throw a no-hitter against us, for a second in one month (OUCH, that hurts to say it!), but I would say that it is more likely for my cat to go get a drivers license than that happening. Here's three reasons why:

1. Gus hasn't even thrown a complete game. EVER. I don't see it happening tomorrow, either. Very early in the season.
2. He's coming off a bad start against Baltimore and didn't last through the 5th inning.
3. The Rangers are showing signs of hitting again, especially power.

The Rangers do not hit Chacín well, like I had said, and that does include the off-season adjustments. The current roster is 6-30 (two doubles: Sosa and Byrd) and seven walks, three of which are Sammy Sosa's. And that is it... not much else to tell on Chacín.

Talk about concerning, the Rangers Ace, Kevin Millwood, has thrown up 5 runs in each of his last two starts. And he has seen his ERA jump from a nice 3.71 to 5.46 in those two starts. Millwood has pitched at least 5 innings in each of his starts, but hasn't exceeded the 6 inning mark once this season. Thus far, on the surface, Gus has the immediate advantage of consistency, with his exception of one hiccup. Kevin is 2-1, however, when he goes six innings. If he can go that distance, the Rangers have a 66.7% chance of a win. Not bad. Millwood has had five starts in his career against Toronto, going 1-3. He has one complete game against them. In the 28 innings he has thrown, he's given up two home-runs, 31 hits, 13 walks, struckout 24, all leading up to 19 runs (all earned) for a career 6.11 ERA against the Jays. Yuck. And, of course, it is still April - Millwood's "I'm a H E X to baseball" month... let's find something encouraging about this... there's got to be something... OK! His complete game did come at the Rogers Centre, and he's 1-2 in Toronto. Kevin's thrown 21 innings at Rogers and only given up one dinger and has a 3.43 ERA in Toronto! Again, I think that Millwood needs to see a doctor and figure out how to get focused and mentally organized to pitch in April, and the dude can truly dominate in baseball - I mean dominate as in Smoltz and Maddux domination. The hitters on the Jays who have faced Kevin:

• Matt Stairs: 4-20 (.200 ave; 1 double, 1 HR, 3RBI)
• Frank Thomas: 8-15 (.533 ave; 1 double, 1 HR, 3RBI)
• Gregg Zaun: 1-13 (.077 ave; 1 double, 4RBI)
• Royce Clayton: 2-11 (.182 ave; 2 doubles)
• Vernon Wells: 0-8 (The well is dry... )

I wasn't going to put Vernon Wells on here, but I thought that since he signed a nice contract with them, I owed him that much, right? So let's see now...

Forecast: Rangers make it two straight wins. Why? Millwood goes six innings and there is just enough run support to make things jive. Score: 6-5.