He started a day earlier than expected and was taken out an inning earlier than he should have. Doug Fister fills in for Cole Hamels and throws seven scoreless innings.

A lot of bad happened last night.

Bad defense. Bad luck. Bad relief pitching. Bad offense. Bad decision-making.

And the Rangers ended up where they end up over sixty percent of the time. In the loss column.

You can manage baseball by the numbers all you want, but the only number that counts is the one next to the L.

And the Rangers are at 28 and counting after last night’s game against the woeful White Sox, the Rangers are at 28, on their way to 101.

Once again, Jeff Banister removed a totally dominating starter in order to allow his opponent a chance to steal victory out of the jaws of defeat. Doug Fister was not going to be scored on last night. He’d given up six harmless singles and gotten out of any harm’s way with relative ease.

But Banister is all about complying with the Manager’s Handbook.

And Señor Pitch Count went totally by the book. Yes, the Rangers should have been out of the inning after Yoan Mancada’s two-out double when Jose Leclerc muffed the third out. That’s when the game fell apart. And that’s when the difference between a veteran, dominate starting pitcher like Doug Fister and a tenuous relief pitcher like Jose Leclec really reveals it self. There’s a reason starters are starters. Or at least, there used to be.

When it was all said and done, the Ranger offense could muster just two runs, a total their defense matched in errors.

It was a game that never should have slipped away.

To be fair, most managers these days would have taken out Fister in that situation. That is how the game has devolved. It’s not that Jeff Banister is a bad manager. It’s just that he is so darn ordinary and predictable.

A leader of men. A follower of convention.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Matt Moore (1-5, 7.82) vs. Carson Fulmer (2-3, 6.23)
Game time: 7:10

The Rangers have never faced Fulmer
How the White Sox hit against Moore.