After being thrown to the wolves against Atlanta two weeks ago to give the entire Rangers rotation one more day of rest, Cody Bradford is making his second start.

This time it’s because Dane Dunning is on paternity leave. 

Maybe the headlights won’t be as blinding to the dear this time. It won’t be his first major league start. It won’t be at home which, for the Aledo, Texas, native and graduate of Baylor, carried extra weight. And it won’t be against Atlanta. Baltimore is no slouch, to be sure. 

He walked the first batter he faced. Then, after a double play grounder, gave up a double. His shaky first inning spilled over into the second when he gave up four runs. They got to him for two more in the top of the fifth.

When it was all over, the Rangers suffered their worst lost (by run differential, not by soul crushing agony) of the season, 12-0.

Bradford is getting a second chance. Mainly because the previo

niels. Like those campy Batman episodes in the sixties when the villain would have Batman strapped to an industrial table and a giant saw was moving toward him to cut him in half. Every time they cut back, the saw was, for some reason, a bit further away, so it never got there.

That’s why Chad Bradford is starting today. Like the saw, Rangers minor league pitching got further away the more it moved closer.

Here’s hoping the butterflies have vacated Bradford’s stomach and he’s able to settle down and give the Rangers five good inning. Well, make that six, well, okay, eight or nine. 

Because after Bradford left his last start having gived up six in five innings, the Rangers bullpen gave up six more in four.

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