200.*


Ronald Guzman lets a pop up drop on purpose, putting a Rangers victory at risk.

For the first time in his career, Mike Minor struck out 200* batters in a season.

It comes with an asterisk.

Stuck at 199, with time running out in the game, he yelled at Roland Guzman to intentionally drop an easy foul pop up so he could reach that magic number. Guzman complied. He dropped the ball on purpose.

Minor struck out the batter. He got number 200.* He left the game. He left the game in a mockery.

A season that was thrown from the beginning is punctuated with a bogus strikeout from an out that was thrown.

It wasn’t about team. It wasn’t about winning. It was a me-first gesture that could have backfired. What if the Red Sox Chris Owings would have gotten a hit instead? And what if Boston would have rallied?

Neither thing occurred, of course. But it was cheap. It was a poke in the eye to the integrity of the game. You could say, it’s a meaningless game and the season was already lost. But you still play to win, even when you are as outmanned as the Rangers. Chris Woodward is always gushing about how his team fights until the very end.

This was just bad form.

It’s the third time in team history the Rangers have had two pitchers rack up 200* or more strikeouts. 

But who cares? 

This team gave up weeks ago. Yesterday, they put the punctuation on not giving a damn.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

James Paxton (15-6, 3.73) vs. Joe Palumbo (0-2, 9.22)
Game time: 7:05.