At first I thought, you have to feel bad if you are a Texas Rangers starting pitcher and Jeff Banister is your manager. He has so little faith in you that, no matter how well you do your job, he cannot help himself but to replace you in the middle of a dominating performance.
But then I thought, what if that were me? What if my boss expected me to do only 66% of my job? At first I would be insulted. Then, I would realize, maybe he isn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. And letting me go home at two o’clock rather than at five o’clock is be a good thing.
Jeff Banister has a horrible bullpen, and an even worse knowleged of how to us e it.
His bullen has given up leads in embarrassing fashion. Yet, for some reason only he knows and only he can spin into something about 40% coherent, he took out a starter who was in the middle of the most dominating start of the year in the most crucial time a pitcher can be that dominating.
It seems ninety is the new one hundred. A.J. Griffin was allowed to throw only 91 pitches.
Thank the baseball gods that they didn’t do what they have done so many times this young season: He didn’t cough up the lead.
After so many games in which they have blown the kind of leads they had last night against Oakland, finally the Rangers bullpen held tight.
*****
TODAY’S GAME:
Yu Darvish (1-1, 2.33) vs. Andrew Triggs (2-0, 0.00)
Game time: 9:05
How the Rangers hit against Triggs.
How the Athletics hit against Darvish.