Odd Man Rush

The original title of this post, when I started it in the 6th inning of tonight’s game, was "Take That, Big Fat Ponson."  Instead, it ends up being a reference to my love-hate relationship with Ron Washington. 

When I’m a fan of Wash, it’s because I believe that he is a great players manager.  The Rangers have nothing but respect for him, which is a lot more than could be said for Buck Showalter.  When I hate him, it’s because he never seems to make the right decisions regarding the pitching staff.  For example, I almost always feel like he comes out to pull a pitcher just one pitch too late, after the damage has already been done. 

Tonight, the decision was much worse.  I don’t know that it is ever a good idea to allow a rookie to make his major league debut in the seventh inning of a game where you’re leading by one run at Yankee Stadium with the heart of the order coming up.  The timing of the decision couldn’t have been worse, either.  The Yankees had control of the game, then the Rangers rallied to take the lead in the 6th on the bats of their rookies – after Joaquin Benoit put out the fire in the previous inning.  Sidney Ponson had been chased and Texas was in line to sweep the Bombers, but rather than go back to Benoit, Wash hung poor Warner Madrigal out to dry.  It was one of the worst managerial decisions in recent memory. 

So what about Madrigal?  His ERA is now 162.00.  (Jose Canseco’s is 27.00.)  You can’t just send him back to the minors after that.  His confidence may never be restored.  At the same time, you can’t continue to put him in in key spots.  He looked absolutely mortified pitching to Jeter and A-Rod, and pitching scared is not a good formula for winning in Arlington.  I suppose the best solution is to keep him in the bigs for awhile, pitching him only in games where the outcome is predetermined.  The (highly) unfortunate byproduct of all this is that Chris Davis or Max Ramirez will probably be the one demoted when Hank Blalock comes off the DL.  I think Ramirez needs to get some more coaching at catcher, anyway.  He couldn’t frame a pitch to save his life tonight.

Lost in all the shuffle is the atrocious defense the Rangers played tonight.  The Yankees shouldn’t have even had 6 runs going into the 7th.  Luis Mendoza should have gotten out of both the 3rd and the 5th with no damage, but the infield ensured that 5 unearned runs would score.  I started watching this game thinking this would be a huge boost for Texas and that they would go into Baltimore with a ton of momentum, but I fear that we’re in for more .500 baseball in our immediate future.