The race was on to see who would get to sixty first: Gallo in home runs or the Rangers in wins.
ON PACE FOR 60.
The Rangers lost another game to pitch counts. Cole Hamels had given up just two earned runs and five hits through six innings. But he committed the unpardonable sin of getting to 100 pitches, which meant he had to come out of the game.
And when he left, so did the lead.
But that is the fate of baseball in 2018, and all the words here won’t change it. The Rangers Pitch Counter, Jeff Banister, has fallen prey to the conventions of the game and isn’t about to be a pioneer. He isn’t a leader of men, he’s a follower of convention. It’s the same conventional thinking that, the day before, led to the Dodgers getting a modern no-hitter, one that took four pitchers to throw.
That is the norm now. You have to feel for a guy like Hamels who seems to have an old school mentality and wants the ball.
But the new school brain trust won’t allow that. So, you put the game in the hands of second-tier pitchers.
And with that, the great offensive performances from Joey Gallo and Delino DeShields were for naught.
It’s hard to imagine where this team would be without Joey Gallo. With Beltre and Andrus out of the lineup, Gallo has assumed the mantle of offensive leader. And he is wearing it well.
With two more home runs last night, now he has twelve. In thirty-five games.
Gallo is on a pace to hit sixty home runs.
And with last night’s latest bullpen collapse, the Rangers are on a pace to win 60 games.
So, this season is really down to that. Which will happen? Sixty home runs from Gallo? Or sixty wins from the Rangers?
Of the two, the safe bet is on the Rangers win only 60 games hit year.
Pitch counts losses are more predictable that Joey Gallo home runs.