From Stem to Stern: Games in the Texas Heat

Every year it seems that 1 AL west team just has the Mariner’s number.  This year it has been the Texas Rangers, and that trend continued down in Texas. The Mariner lost 2 of 3, including a walk off win in the 9th in game 2 of the series. I have to think that the games were hard on the M’s players, especially since they were played in 105 degree heat.

Captain: Franklin Gutierrez (6 of 12, 2 doubles)
Walkin the Plank: Trayvon Robinson (1 of 10)
Impressive: Mike Carp (4 of 13, 1 double, 1 HR, 11 game hitting streak)
Depressing: Charlie Furbush (4 IP, 6 ER, 4 BB, 0 SO)

Series notes:

• Franklin Gutierrez seems to finally be breaking out. He had lost almost 30 pounds since last June when his stomach problems began (and he didn’t have 10 pounds to lose, let alone 30). His strength has begun to return as he’s put some if the weight back on over the past 2.5 months, and the results are finally starting to show at the plate.
• Vargas had his 2nd straight good outing, and got his first win since July 1st. He had been on a major cold spell, and having Vargas return to form is a good sign moving forward.
• Charlie Furbush got clobbered in the series opener. He’s going to give up fly balls, that seems to be his style, and Texas is a bad place to be a fly ball pitcher.
• Ichiro got his 2nd “rest” in the last week by playing as the team’s DH, with Casper Wells in RF. Wells has the arm and range that Ichiro had a few years ago. I’m interested to see if this trend continues.
• I was rather unimpressed by the vaunted Texas offense. This lead me to look up some stats on their home-away splits. I’ll have an article posted on that later today. You’ll be surprised at the results I think.