Monday Newsletter time: What a rotten weekend in Buffalo might say about the Texas Rangers
Toronto pulled of a three-game sweep by a combined score of 25-2, and the Rangers couldn't wait to get to Detroit.
Here’s hoping the Texas Rangers never have to play in Buffalo again.
That’s not to say some Rangers who played in Buffalo over the weekend won’t be there at some point, playing for or against the Triple A team housed there.
It was that kind of weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays, who rather easily pulled off a three-game sweep by combined score of 25-2.
It was the kind of weekend that reminds you the Rangers are rebuilding, the kind that makes you wonder when that rebuild will be complete.
It was the kind of weekend that made the Rangers actually happy to go to Detroit.
Two veterans, Jordan Lyles and Mike Foltynewicz, spit the bit on the mound. The lineup, a mix of mostly young position players, failed at situational hitting.
The Rangers did not score Sunday in either seven-inning game and scored in only one of the 23 innings they played over three games. The defense didn’t help out in Game 2, a 10-0 loss.
It was just bad.
“Frustrating,” manager Chris Woodward said. “I expect a lot more out of our ballclub. It’s not about talent.”
If it looked like the Rangers weren’t prepared to play, Woodward said that’s not the case. They came back from the All-Star break and jumped back to work. They didn’t make a rush for the exits Saturday after the game was rained out, instead sticking around for extra work and ball talk.
It didn’t translate on the field, where the Blue Jays overwhelmed the Rangers in all facets. What seemed to bother Woodward the most was the offense’s inability to drive in first-inning runs with a runner at third and no outs in Game 1 and with a runner at second and no outs in Game 2.
That can’t happen.
But it did, and the Rangers are 0-3 to start the “second half” of the season.
It was that kind of weekend in Buffalo.
Mazara needs a home
The Rangers are in Detroit the next four days (suggestion: visit the Anchor Bar), but won’t see their old friend Nomar Mazara.
He was designated for assignment Friday by the Tigers, who are one of the surprise teams in MLB this season if for no other reason than they aren’t atrocious. They’re in the same spot as the Rangers, building for the future, and decided that Mazara won’t be part of theirs.
It’s possible he clears waivers and stays with the organization. Maybe he could use a reset in the minors, find a hitting coach who can straighten him out, and replace some of the Big Chill with a little urgency.
“It was a shock,” right fielder Joey Gallo said. “For him, he’s such a talented player. Baseball is a tough game. It doesn’t always work out in your favor. I hope the best for him. He’s going to be fine. I’m sure it’s tough being DFA’d and having to find another team. I think once he finds the right spot he’s going to blossom.”
It’s been a rapid descent for Mazara, one that seemed to start when he injured his thumb in 2018. He was heading toward his best season, with 25 to 30 homers on the horizon, but missed more than a month and wasn’t healthy when he did return.
The Rangers traded him to Chicago at the 2019 winter meetings, and he never found his rhythm with the White Sox in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Now, the Tigers have DFA’d him and he’s in no-man’s land.
Friends on different paths
Right-handers Tyler Phillips and Demarcus Evans probably won’t soon forget Saturday.
They are the best of friends, meeting shortly after they were drafted in 2015 by the Rangers. Evans, from Mississippi, lived with Phillips in Fort Worth, the New Jersey native’s adopted home, in the offseason so that he could train locally with the Rangers.
On Saturday at Triple A Round Rock, Evans received a call that he needed to get to Buffalo to join the Rangers as the 27th player for their doubleheader against the Blue Jays.
Phillips, also at Round Rock, received word that he was being designated for assignment.
It’s possible Phillips ends up back at Round Rock if he clears waivers. He’s only 23 and has a history of filling up the strike zone. He has struggled this season, especially in his four starts at Round Rock (9.90 ERA in 10 innings).
Phillips also had an elbow injury at Double A Frisco that interrupted his season.
Evans remains a reliever to watch even though he struggled during his first stint this season with the Rangers. He tossed two scoreless innings Sunday in the 10-0 Game 2 loss but is on his way back Round Rock.
He’ll be back.
He hopes his friend will be, too.
Doggy video!
If the PGA Tour wants to improve its ratings while Tiger Woods recovers from his car wreck, release the hounds. Enjoy. See you Tuesday.
