Game 30: Rangers at A's

It appears that Rangers may have two starting rotations: one on the active roster and one on the disabled list. The list of pitchers on the DL moves to three when right-hander Jason Jennings joins left-hander Kason Gabbard and right-hander Luis Mendoza.

Today, however we one of the healthy two. Vicente Padilla goes up against Joe Blanton. Blanton is 2-4 with a 4.07 ERA, which I think is pretty respectable. Last season Blanton had a 3.95 ERA while posting a 14-10 record and putting together an atrocious 230 innings pitched. He whiffed 140 over that stretch... the A's have lost five out of the seven games he has started.

Blanton kills the Rangers. And when I mean "kills", I mean he leaves nothing of the Texas players to show why they came to play. Harsh? How about a 6-2 record over ten starts? The Rangers hit .278 off of him (not terribly bad), and have clunked 8 homeruns over 60.2 innings. Blanton's ERA against the Rangers is 4.75... so it is higher than his career average and account for close to 10% of the innings Blanton has thrown in his career.

Who to watch for:

• Michael Young: .320 BA; 2 doubles; 2 HRs and 5 RBIs
• Frank Catalanotto: .300 BA; 1 double; 2 RBIs
• Ben Broussard: .364 BA

The current Rangers roster is batting .270 against Blanton.

Vicente Padilla has the first Ranger complete game in Arlington since 2001. That would mean nobody in a Ranger uniform pitched a complete game at the Ballpark for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Does that seem like a lot? Well, it is. Six consecutive seasons without the home team going the distance at home... it is a hard think to think about. But, when the Ranger teams where going the distance, they were making the playoffs. Something to think about? Well, I think it definitely something to park in the back of the brain somewhere and check to see if the trend continues, that is, Ranger starters going 8 or 9 at home for a win.

Anyway, enough with the interesting trivial stuff. Padilla is making $11 million this year. And why is that some information that plays out in this game... well, it doesn't. But I just thought that I would point that out, too. He throws an average of 103 pitches per game and opponents are batting .299 against Padilla.

Padilla has good numbers to start this season. He's 3-2 with a 3.79 ERA. His record reflects how he is pitching, or close to. He's started six times this season and the Rangers are 4-2 in his starts. And the game wher Padilla didn't get a decision, he was definitely good enough to grab that win (six innings, one run given up). On a good note, especially considering how Blanton leaves nothing behind, neither does Padilla when it comes to the A's. The team, as a whole, bat .215 against him. And with 10 at-bats or more, there really isn't anyone who does considerable damage against Padilla. Something not really talked about this year, but Padilla has 3 hit batters in six games. If he should start 33 games, he will be around 16 or 17 hit batters this year. His career high in hit batsmen is 17, attained in 2006 (his first year with the Rangers), when he won his career high 15 wins.

Will he win 15 games this year? I am not sure, however I do say that the intangibles look good.

So what about this game? Well... when I was checking out Blanton, I thought the Rangers were dead in the water. But checking out Padilla to the A's, well... it made me think a little different. There is one intangible to consider... where they are playing. In Oakland. And that may be enough to put the A's over the top. The A's are playing better and have a winning record, unlike the Rangers. Forecast: this one is likely to be decided by the bullpen, and might even go to extra innings... still it's the A's on top: Score 4-3.

Home Plate