and welcome to another edition of right on

rangers live coming at you bottom of the

eighth inning one out Joc Pederson up to

bat six to nothing deficit for texas jock

it's a hard ground ball nicely stopped by

Abi Ortiz there are two down rangers do

get elias diaz to second base

Not going their way.

In fact, the Elias Diaz hit,

if that's what we want to call it,

was the first Rangers base runner since

the third inning.

That is where we're at right now, y'all.

One of those nights at the ballpark.

Unfortunately,

after such a good one last night.

Look, Corey Seager,

he's having a good night.

Couple of knocks.

Now six hits in his last three games.

Not going to get one here.

First pitch.

Curveball.

Goes after it.

And Abi Ortiz unassisted once again.

And we're heading to the top of the

ninth.

Rangers just four hits.

Nationals six runs.

Nine hits to get it done.

Cade Cavalli totally blanked this Rangers

lineup.

You had strikeouts up and down the board.

Really an abysmal,

putrid night of baseball for the offense.

No other way to put it.

No need to sugarcoat it.

Just not good.

And I think this is one of the

things that worries you about the team.

I think for all of the talk about

how close they are in the wild card

race and in the playoff division, shoot,

the division is right there.

The Astros are two games up.

I know it's one,

but technically two because of the

tiebreak, right?

I mean,

everything is right there in front of you,

but the team keeps having nights like

this.

They keep having nights like this,

and it just gives you cause for concern.

And, you know,

I'm not really a big fan of the

coach speak, the gassing up,

the gaslighting,

whatever you want to call it.

I mean,

every team is going to have nights like

this.

You know, that's the kind of stuff, man,

just total head shaker to me.

I mean, look,

we've been seeing nights like this.

Now, I get it, man.

Everybody has got to be handling these L's

in their own way.

And some people,

they just decide to resort to what I

call the toxic positivity.

Toxic positivity.

Disingenuous positivity.

And I get it.

For some people, it's a shtick.

I don't see how you could be looking

at a performance like this in tandem with

other performances that we've seen all

season long and say to yourself, yeah,

it's just one bad night.

It's just one bad night.

Niner, what's good, man?

I'm totally with you on this one, buddy.

This was the nail in the coffin, man.

That three-run bomb, Peyton Gray.

Been good all year,

but Peyton Gray giving up the three-run

homer there.

He's at a .

three ERA on the year.

Let's not pretend like he's been absolute

dog water all season long.

It just hasn't happened.

He's been solid.

I know some people right after one bad

outing are ready to throw him to the

side of the road.

He's been solid for a rookie, man.

I mean,

the reality is he's had to be used

in some pretty high leverage spots that

otherwise you probably wouldn't have had

him in had some of your offseason plans

worked out better.

Remember,

Robert Garcia and Chris Martin were

supposed to be the double-barreled action

in the bullpen.

I mean, it just, at this point,

doesn't feel right at all.

Doesn't feel like the right thing to do

to be going in on Peyton Gray.

Kind of seeing a little bit of that

tonight.

I mean,

can we just go in on this pool

noodle offense?

This is a freaking pool noodle offense

tonight.

They have looked terrible.

And Cade Cavalli, I mean,

I know that they're probably going to sing

his praises after the game and, you know,

make him seem like he's prime Max

Scherzer.

But let's be real.

I mean, coming into this game, you know,

he had a decent ERA.

It wasn't at all like some of the

ones we've seen in the A's series,

you know, seven plus the Angels series.

I mean, he had a sub-four ERA.

Probably what?

I think it was sub-five right around

there, right around three-five coming in.

The dude's not a scrub, but man,

come on now.

Come on now.

He's not out of this world unhittable like

he was tonight.

You look at his last several starts as

C.J.

Abrams is going to go oppo here,

maybe get two.

He's going to test out Zeke Duran's arm.

He had to hustle a little bit.

I don't know if C.J.

knew quite what he was working with.

He had to hustle it up a little

bit.

Look, last time out against the Cubs,

Cade was pretty dominant.

Before that,

Cincinnati touched him up a little bit.

Nine base runners in six frames.

Chicago, though, eight innings,

zero earned runs,

double-digit strikeouts in that one, too.

So it's possible.

I mean,

I know this is the type of stuff

after the game is over with the post-game

interview that we all are tired of

hearing, but...

We are catching him at not a great

time.

I don't excuse this offense,

but the reality is what it is.

Cavalli over his last fourteen innings of

work has allowed zero earned runs and has

struck out twenty-one.

This guy is dealing right now.

He's definitely on a little bit of a

heater.

He's in total twenty innings,

three earned runs.

Last three.

Little review here.

Seems a little bit inconsequential at this

point, but sure, why not?

Here we go.

Here we go.

We are taking comments.

We're taking your questions.

But first,

you know the drill here at Right on

Rangers.

We cover everything Texas sports,

but we put a big emphasis on the

Rangers during the MLB season.

We thank you so much for choosing Right

on Rangers for all of your Texas Rangers

content.

Drop a comment.

Drop a question during the live.

It's a little bit hit or miss sometimes.

Feel free to copy or paste that question

again, that comment again.

We'll get to everything of substance along

the way.

And look,

post-game show definitely leans a little

bit more into taking your guys' comments,

taking what you guys want to talk about.

And you guys know it's not hard.

It's easy for me to get off on

a number of different tangents at any

moment.

We will definitely talk about as much as

we can.

Not a lot to talk about offensively.

CJ is going to end up being safe.

Looks like Texas is going to end up

burning a challenge here.

Rangers tonight, I mean,

I don't love to play psychologist,

but it just seems tonight like not really

even keel.

A lot of frustration, you know,

the check swing stuff, which look,

a lot of those check swings that they

showed on replay, you know,

Jock had a check swing.

Wyatt Langford had a check swing call that

the dugout wasn't happy about.

A lot of those check swings seemed pretty

legit.

I didn't really feel like the Rangers got

jobbed at all.

in any of those calls,

if I'm being completely honest with you.

Felt like the Rangers just were kind of

looking for reasons to be upset tonight.

Just allowed the frustration to get the

better of them offensively.

And then I think Skip and the chirping

that was going on,

I think that that rubs off.

And the frustration was evident really in

the first three or four frames.

And it's just kind of carried over.

It's continued on into the late innings

here.

Rangers, again,

didn't have a base runner since the third.

Just ridiculous.

I think at this point,

you flesh this one out,

you head into deGrom day tomorrow and you

hope for the best.

deGrom, unfortunately, has been a little,

talk about hit or miss,

a little hit or miss himself.

He has yet to be able to have

that consistent, elite,

dominant streak that we're used to seeing

from Jacob deGrom routinely year in and

year out,

where he goes five straight outings,

allowing two earned runs or less,

some crazy stat like that.

I mean,

you're just accustomed to that with JDG.

And he has yet to have a run

like that in twenty twenty six.

He's had some decent ones.

I'm not going to sit here and act

like he's been terrible all year long.

It's just not true.

But he would be much appreciated in

Arlington if he could come through in the

next six weeks with one of those heaters.

Going to be interesting how they manage

deGrom.

You figure coming off of the tricep scare,

whatever we're calling it,

the tricep fatigue,

I feel like they will probably be a

little bit cautious with him.

You never know.

Hopefully we can get six frames.

That would be very preferable.

But your guess is as good as mine

when it comes to deGrom.

Your guess is as good as mine.

I don't think anybody's going to be

shocked with, you know, five innings,

eighty five pitches and, you know,

maybe only one or two earned runs allowed.

And you just really need to Grom to

be at least six innings.

I at least get a six.

My guy, the five inning stuff.

That's what I'd like to see tighten up

a little bit down the stretch here.

You've kind of played this card all season

long with deGrom, right?

You have played the card where let's save

him.

Let's save the bullets.

Let's not gas him.

Let's go ahead and let's make sure that

he is fresh for September, for October.

Montgomery's going to get a pop-up from

Cruz here.

Kelenic is under it.

Kelenic on the night, by the way,

he is over two with a walk.

Since being called up, Kelenic,

he's had obviously a couple of hits,

a couple of pinch hits.

Last seven games,

three for ten with a walk.

I mean, nothing crazy,

but obviously nothing really terrible

either.

Bit of a mixed bag.

Kelenic getting a little bit of time

tonight,

taking over Evan Carter's spot in the

lineup.

deGrom tomorrow, by the way,

just kind of going right into that game.

Tomorrow's game is another night game,

by the way.

Not a day game tomorrow.

Night game.

So it'll be another seven Oh five start

for Texas.

Thought maybe we would get a day game.

We have been doing that.

It doesn't matter if it's a getaway day

or not for the other team night games,

man.

I know the angels do it like religiously,

but even the Rangers are getting in on

it a little bit here.

I would have thought maybe they would have

tried to do a little day game action

tomorrow, but yeah,

Is what it is.

They will be facing Alvarez lefty.

So we'll be seeing that lefty starting

lineup for the Rangers.

See Evan Carter and Jock go to the

bench.

Alvarez,

three seventy two ERA on the year.

We'll break down the batter versus pitcher

matchups a little bit later on in the

show.

Yeah, TLC, what's good?

This team is really hard to understand.

The comment, by the way, from YouTube,

how do you describe this game?

This team is so hard to understand.

It's definitely something you can

overthink, but I'll just say this.

This is what the Rangers have been in

twenty twenty six.

Have they not?

This is what they've been.

They have been a team that has won

games, lost games,

lost

They have been a team that has

consistently been up and down,

not able to really gain traction one way

or the other.

I can't say that I'm surprised by this.

I cannot say I'm shocked as Jordan

Montgomery gets the final out here.

This is who the Rangers have been in

twenty twenty six.

You know, you get a big win yesterday.

You're thinking, man, this is it.

This is the little rascals run or whatever

you want to call it.

Last year,

sixteen and four in a twenty game stretch.

You're like, man,

maybe this is the start of something

special.

And I told you this is.

This is the spot in the year.

Maybe I reached this moment of clarity

about a week or so ago.

I'm like,

I'm kind of done proclaiming that.

Justin, what's good?

Thanks for liking the live.

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If you haven't hit that like button,

whether you're on YouTube, Instagram,

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Helps get the show out there.

Noticed little things, but means a lot.

Thank you so much.

Yeah,

I cannot say if you've watched all one

twenty six now one twenty seven, right?

You would really be surprised with the

Rangers in the up and down stuff that

they like to do.

And this is obviously a really bad game.

You strike out a crazy amount of times,

however many they have tonight.

What are they up to?

They're at twelve strikeouts tonight.

You're pretty close to half of your outs

being strikeouts.

Not good.

Just not good.

And you're just really hoping that they

can just find a way.

You know, it's August, mid-August,

getting into late August here.

You're hanging around the division.

You're hanging around the wild card.

Man,

can we just find a way to hit

a little stride of consistency?

And it's too much to ask for for

this team.

Now, look, they win a game tomorrow.

They win a series.

But we've talked about this many times

over the past week since they started

playing the Orioles.

Well,

back about a week and a half ago,

it's like this is the stretch where you

have to take advantage.

You were playing the Angels and the A's

ten times.

You were playing the Nationals.

You were playing the Orioles.

You were playing all these teams that you

could take advantage of.

Playing all these teams that you really

had a legitimate chance at stacking wins

against.

Not just doing this every other stuff that

the Rangers have been doing seemingly all

season long.

Hmm.

Do I think we get any runs?

I think we go quietly into the good

night,

and I'm hoping that's a solid reverse jinx

for us,

but I am thinking we go quietly into

the good night.

Six-nothing ballgame if you're just

joining us, by the way.

Sam, what's good?

Good to see you, man.

Thanks for the comment.

Who even pitches on the Nats, man?

I knew Cavalli.

I knew Cavalli.

I couldn't tell you.

I mean, half of the Nationals players,

Abi Ortiz, CJ Abrams.

I mean, look, I know Dylan Cruz,

pretty high draft pick, right?

You know,

most of these guys are relative unknown

around the league.

Relative unknowns.

Hey, Tejano country, Rick.

Good to see you, man.

Comment is nothing new.

That's the point.

That's literally what I just got done

talking about.

Rick, good to see you, man.

If you're just joining in,

that's what we just discussed is...

This team's frustrating,

but they've shown you who they are, man.

This is almost, what, six weeks,

five weeks left in the season?

You have such a large sample size,

and I'm not getting on anybody saying

this, by the way, but at this point,

you have such a huge sample size.

This team is exactly what they've been

showing you the last one,

and Langford is going to strike out here.

I'm telling you,

it feels like it's just going to be

kind of a meek exit here out of

this ballgame.

And then you're hoping that you can get

a great outing from deGrom and this

offense can reset it overnight and

hopefully come back firing.

Is Strasburg still there?

Now,

Strasburg might still be getting paid by

the Nats.

I mean, y'all know about that drama,

right?

He might still be on the payroll.

I don't know if they worked out some

kind of settlement with him or what,

but yeah,

he might still be on the payroll.

He's had some crazy stuff with the

injuries.

God bless him, man.

I'm glad he got that.

World Series championship over the Astros.

Never let them forget that one.

Our boy Patrick Corbin pitching in game

seven of that Astros Nationals World

Series.

Two outs here, by the way.

Nimmo going to fly out to left field.

Zeke Duran, you're our only hope.

Let's go.

Solo shot here.

Come on, baby.

We keep things rolling.

John, thirteen strikeouts.

Ugly.

I mean, nearly half of the strikeouts.

I mean, look,

twenty seven's an odd number,

so we can't quite cut it now.

But man,

basically half of your outs are

strikeouts.

Just disgusting is is really a great word

to summarize tonight's effort from the

offense.

And, you know,

if I could just be a little nitpicky,

it's it's a lot of some of the

stuff that that we always talk about when

the offense struggles.

One of the main things being you're taking

strikes to swing at crap.

You're taking strikes to swing at

baseballs in the dirt,

stuff that's clearly outside away.

You're just seeing that very typical,

let's go ahead and just watch strikes and

then just swing at absolute junk.

That is a lot of what I saw

tonight.

Finally, at the end,

you saw a couple of guys getting

aggressive.

Of course,

Corey Seager is going to do that.

Of course.

first pitch free swinger that he is.

But a lot of guys, man,

just taking those first pitch strikes,

a lot of guys taking the pitches you

can drive to then swing at baseballs that

you shouldn't even be close to offering

at.

And honestly,

that's where all the check swing drama

came into play tonight with various

players and Skip kind of chirping at the

umpires a little bit.

Zeke Duran going to pop this one up

in the air.

Second base under it.

And Rangers are going to drop this one

six to nothing.

They will fall to sixty two and sixty

five on the year.

Three games under five hundred.

Of course,

we will check out the standings,

but Detroit did lose.

Moving around other places in the league,

we had a few other things that we

can go through.

You had Seattle winning.

The A's lost nine to seven.

Not that they're in the running,

but nevertheless, a division opponent.

Baltimore lost.

That is helpful.

Baltimore gets an L.

They are sixty one and sixty six.

Toronto lost.

That is very helpful.

I mean, look, I'm saying it's helpful,

but the other perspective is, man,

we could have gained ground.

This was actually a line from a video

I put out maybe three or four days

ago.

I'm no longer taking comfort in how close

they are.

They just keep refusing to take control of

the playoff opportunity that's right in

front of them.

I mean,

they literally refuse to take advantage of

teams behind them losing.

You know,

just a great opportunity to gain some

ground.

Nope.

Nope, nope, nope.

Mason, I'm with you on Gray.

The comment from YouTube is,

am I missing something or has Gray been

bad?

I know tonight was a bad showing,

but I feel he hasn't been very good

lately.

You know,

I don't think Gray is lights out.

I don't think that, you know,

Gray is some untouchable in the pen,

but I just think you have to

contextualize.

Gray is a rookie.

And you're really asking this year a lot

of him in his very first season.

He's pitched forty three games for Texas

in his rookie season.

You know,

hasn't done a lot of the up and

down over his last seven games.

He does have a six ERA last fifteen

games.

The ERA is at four twenty.

I mean, he's not been excellent.

He's had moments.

He's had flashes of brilliance.

But, yeah, I would agree.

Over the last month or so,

it feels like he is fading a little

bit.

But I just think you have to really

contextualize this.

The guy's never pitched in a major league

season in his life before this year.

He's being asked to do way more than

what you'd probably like to ask of him,

and that's a direct result of injuries.

Chris Martin, Robert Garcia,

those were supposed to be two of the

horses in the pen.

I don't think they really planned on

Peyton Gray being like this.

So, I mean, no,

let's not pretend like Peyton Gray's been

amazing,

but let's also not pretend like...

a rookie campaign, uh,

three ERA and look coming up clutch in

a number of key moments that I can

think about this season.

I just find it hard to really trash

the guy.

And I'm not saying anybody here is

trashing him.

I just find it really difficult to go

off on a rookie that's been asked to

do way too much this year and actually

has some pretty solid numbers.

Um,

Now, at this point, I know Jose makes,

I think, a pretty good counter.

Not that it's a counter,

but maybe the usage of Gray is something

that we can talk about.

And in tandem with Cole Winn,

not super ideal, but nevertheless,

when he gives up the bomb tonight,

It's definitely Montgomery time after

that.

Cole Winn right after Rocker.

I think it is kind of getting into

a weird gray, no pun intended.

This happens to me all the time, though.

It is kind of a weird gray area,

though.

You're down, what, two runs?

You're down two runs going into the top

of the sixth inning.

And you're kind of low on options.

You're not going to pitch Junis.

You're not going to pitch anybody of value

down two runs there in the fifth or

in the sixth.

Excuse me.

So I do think I would agree with

something that the club probably would

say, which is like,

we got to throw somebody.

It's kind of pick your poison in a

way.

There's a lot of guys that are just

a little bit inconsistent,

not perfectly locked down,

and you got to pitch some of these

dudes in a deficit.

I think we just have to keep it

focused squarely tonight.

We can nitpick Peyton Gray a little bit.

You guys know I'm game for just about

anything.

Some people get really in their feelings

about this kind of stuff.

I don't,

but I will bring it back to the

big picture.

This offense was terrible.

It doesn't matter if Cole Winn or Peyton

Gray were bad.

The offense gave no shot.

I mean, look,

here's the thing that I want to point

to more than anything tonight.

And, Jose, this isn't directed at you,

my guy, at all.

I know I got your comment up.

I'm actually really glad you brought up

this point.

It's a good point.

You don't have to use Gray or Cole

Wynn at all tonight if you could hit

the broad side of a barn, right?

Can we all agree on that?

You don't have to use either one of

those dudes.

If the offense,

like even a few guys showed up tonight,

I mean, facts.

I don't know how else to say it.

Anybody that's upset about the usage of

gray or win,

go right back to the offense.

I would even do that over skip.

Can you guys know I've gone in on

skip a number of times this year,

but he's got to throw some of those

dudes eventually,

especially when you're in a deficit.

You're not in a winning situation.

You're trying to keep the game close a

hundred percent.

But the offense is the reason why Gray

and Wynn even had to pitch tonight.

Had this been a two-two,

three-two ball game,

I think Skip probably goes a couple

different directions.

I don't think he does the same exact

thing.

Maybe.

Maybe Gray still pitches,

but Cole Winn probably doesn't.

I just want to keep it exactly where

it needs to be while acknowledging, yes,

Peyton Gray was not his best tonight.

Cole Winn has not been good most of

the season.

These are obvious things that there's no

need to try and rebuttal.

But go back to the real reason why

this game needed to be handed off to

Cole Winn and Peyton Gray in the first place.

The offense had four hits,

and one of those hits was a little

dribbler in the eighth inning by Elias

Diaz.

I mean,

it was pretty pathetic all night long.

And that's, again, what worries you?

You remember who could forget like the

twenty ten team.

Think about how stacked that twenty ten

team for Texas was that ultimately lost to

the Giants in the World Series four games

to one.

I think about how many offensive studs

that twenty ten team had and they just

got shut down in the World Series.

I mean,

it was painful to watch our just elite,

potent, twenty ten offense just go into,

you know,

just go into total shutdown mode.

And they did put up some runs here

and there in that series.

I'm not going to pretend like they didn't.

But and the bats went a little bit

cold in that series.

So now let's fast forward sixteen years.

This team isn't anywhere close to the

level of that twenty ten offense.

And they can get shut down like this

every other night.

So this is kind of what I'm saying

with the offense.

Is Josh Jung coming back going to be

helpful?

One hundred percent.

Flash this comment up here for you.

The moment Young comes back,

Zeke needs to be the full-time second

baseman.

Lopez cannot get on base.

One thousand percent agreed here on this

one.

The Nicky Lopez run was fun.

I think it's awesome to celebrate players

when they're on a heater,

even if it doesn't last.

And you guys know I was one of

the ones that hyped up the Nicky Lopez

run.

Really, the Nicky Lopez heater.

I mean,

he was on a great run hitting, what,

three forty at certain points.

It was fun, but it's over.

It's over.

He's still a useful player.

I don't think I would DFA him necessarily.

He might be one of the guys on

the list,

but I don't know if I would DFA

him.

You know, honestly,

Cody Freeman would probably be an

interesting choice.

I don't know if Cody is going to

be sticking around.

I don't know if he's long term in

the club's mind.

I think it's going to be, though,

between probably Cody and between Nicky.

I don't really see anybody else beyond

Kelenic.

It's going to be one of those three

guys that goes down when Young comes back.

And Young is, I mean,

he is trending positively.

John Goodwin, my guy.

This one's,

I'm going to have to pronunciate well.

Nicky Knox is quietly turning into Nicky

Knotts.

It's a tough one.

It's a tough one.

Might have to catch that one on the

transcript, but yeah.

I think he might still have use.

I mean,

you guys know I'm a little partial to

Cody Freeman myself,

but I think it's going to be Kellen

Nick Cody or it'll be Nicky Knox for

the minors or the DFA route,

whichever one.

We'll see.

Foscue could be interesting.

Like, Dan, we've talked about this.

I would love to get Josh Jung off

of the field.

I don't love Josh Jung down at third

base.

I know we just talked about when Josh

comes back, moves Zeke to second.

Honestly,

I would love to not have Josh Jung

out in the field.

I'm not a fan of the defense.

The glove has cost us double-digit runs.

I'm not making that up, by the way.

That's legitimate fact,

statistically proven and calculated.

Josh Jung has not been good defensively.

It's been bad.

I do not love Josh down at the

hot corner at all.

And I think you're going to have to

potentially stomach it this year just

because you really don't have a lot of

great options.

But I'm not a fan of him playing

third base.

A, he's not good defensively.

B, he's fragile defensively.

I think Josh is a little bit injury

prone at this point.

He has had some bad luck,

but he definitely has had some injury

stuff over the last three years that's

hard to take your eye off of.

If you can have him be your DH,

bringing it full circle to Dan's comment

here about Foscue,

if you could have Josh Jung be the

DH against lefties,

I would really appreciate that.

Just giving a little bit of a break

defensively,

keeping him off of the field on those

days, I think really would be a positive.

Again,

I think they're going to have to get

creative in the offseason.

And I think I've shared with you guys,

I like Josh Jung.

On this show,

we definitely have takes that sometimes

hurt people's feelings because they're big

fans of the players.

I really do try and separate my love

for some of these players from baseball

decisions that should be made.

And if I'm the Rangers,

unless Josh is really going to recommit

himself to both the glove and the

conditioning,

you have a very one-dimensional player.

Justin Foscue, speaking of,

he is a very one-dimensional player.

They really can only hit.

They're not speedy.

They don't have great defensive skills.

And we're not living in the past.

A lot of people like to push back

on me and say, you know,

Josh was so good in twenty twenty three

and twenty twenty four.

He was so good.

Dude, it's not twenty twenty four.

It's twenty twenty six and he's been bad.

And I'm not at all counting on like

some magical rebound defensively.

We've seen Josh's speed dip every single

year for the past four years.

Yeah, I mean,

I get he's getting a year older every

time,

but the dude is twenty eight years old.

He's going to be twenty nine next year.

Like you're in the prime of your athletic

career.

I would probably be seeing if there's a

situation where I might be able to deal

Josh.

If I can't get anything good or if

I don't get a fair trade,

I'm not forcing it.

But, man,

I've got to see if I can get

a little bit more versatile instead of

just having these guys that can only hit.

Can't play the field.

You can't trust them out there.

They're not very fast.

They can hit.

I'm not super into multiple of those types

taking up a roster spot.

And think about it.

We talked about this the other night with

how many platoon players the Rangers have.

I just would love to see the franchise

focus on acquiring and developing everyday

talent.

We have so many platoon players,

so many players that can only play against

lefties.

They can only play against righties.

We have guys that can't really play the

field or we have to force them to

and just suck it up with the bad

defense.

You know,

Jock had a little bit of a bad

break with the glove, right?

The ball.

I don't know if you guys caught that.

I really should have put that.

I should have thrown that clip up for

you guys.

But, man, that's just bad luck.

Jock was right there.

Ball just fired right through that

webbing.

Happens, but...

I mean,

jock at first is not really ideal.

I mean, let's be totally honest here.

Jock at first base is not ideal.

Josh Jung at third base is not ideal.

You'd love for him to be more of

a DH type,

maybe play a little first base here and

there,

but I don't really know if Josh Jung

to first base is the answer either.

I think that's,

and I know lazy feels like negative,

like I'm getting on people,

but I think the lazy take is kind

of the move Josh to first base.

He'll be fine.

First base is a hard position to play.

Look,

I didn't play at the professional level,

but I know a thing or two about

the sport.

I mean,

I know I got some trolls on Twitter

that might tell you otherwise,

but first base is not an easy position

to play.

it's definitely a complex position.

There's a lot required of you,

both in managing the running game when

there's runners on base,

you're constantly being the cutoff man for

balls hit to center field to right field.

There's a lot of intricacies about the

position.

I just don't think it's as easy as

a lot of people think.

Move Josh Jung to first base.

I don't know.

I am definitely on the fence about what

the Rangers need to be doing next year

with players like Josh,

with players like Justin Foscue.

I would love to see them get more

versatile.

I mean...

The one tool roster.

Sugi, what's good?

Good to see you.

The comment is,

Rangers really built a one tool roster.

They do have very few players,

in my humble opinion,

that have multiple tools.

They have a lot of one trick ponies.

I can only hit lefties.

I'm not very good at defense.

I can only hit righties.

I'm not very fast.

I'm not very athletic.

There's a number of guys like that on

the team,

and I just would love to see the

club get a little more athletic,

get a little more versatile.

Sebastian Walcott is going to help that a

ton next year, by the way,

if he makes it up to the big

leagues.

I suspect he will,

unless he really takes a dump in the

minor leagues this year.

We might see him this year.

He is.

I don't know if y'all saw Evan Grant

reporting that Walcott is going to play

the field before the end of the season,

and Evan mused.

It's a possibility that could be in

Arlington.

Could be in Arlington.

That would be a fun way to end

the year.

I do wonder, though,

if him playing in Arlington is contingent

on the team not being in a playoff

spot.

It'd be fun if they brought him up

to kind of do the Evan Carter,

I don't know.

We will see what happens.

RJ, what's good?

Comment is played like pure hot dumpster

juice tonight.

My guy, yeah.

Look,

I know we're at different emotion levels.

This loss is...

I'm going to be honest with you guys.

I feel it in the moment.

And then there are nights when I'm

watching it unfold live.

And you guys see the emotion.

And, you know, I obviously...

I'm not going to convince everybody,

but I give a genuine reaction,

a genuine take every time.

Tonight, when you're down five, six,

nothing,

and I have an opportunity to kind of

sit in it before I start doing the

live show,

it definitely is helpful for me and not

coming on here and just totally going off.

It's the nights when it's a close game

and we blow it that I'm definitely a

lot more heated.

This one,

I feel like they gave you a chance

to mourn it and move on.

It wasn't even ever close.

You really never had hope in this game.

And so that's why I think tonight I'm

able to sit here a little bit more

reserved in my emotion.

Still think it's ridiculous.

Still think it's unacceptable.

But they gave you a whole nine innings,

basically.

I mean, look,

the Nationals scored in the third and the

fourth to make it two to nothing.

By then, you know,

Cavalli was carving everybody up.

I mean, you just had time to process,

man.

This just isn't our night.

By the way, Angels and Astros,

three to two.

Two outs.

Astros have the tying run on third base.

We'll watch this game for you guys right

now.

Astros have the tying run.

Excuse me,

the Angels have the tying run in the

top of the ninth on third base.

There are two outs.

Hayter is in.

Siri is up to bat.

We'll give you updates on that.

A lot of teams...

ended up losing around the American League

today.

Looks like the Angels are going to lose

this one.

Pretty deep hit baseball out to center

field.

Dalton Varshow camps under it,

and the Astros are going to win to

jump back out to what we're going to

call three games.

The Rangers, I mean,

they've lost the tiebreaker,

so obviously even if they were to tie

the Astros,

they would still need an extra additional

game to hop them and jump in front

of them in the standing.

So Astros now go back up to a

two-game lead,

what's really a three-game lead.

And then in terms of the wild card,

Little standings update for you there.

The Minnesota Twins are on a little

three-game winning streak and have

technically overtaken the Rangers.

Looks like they are a half game to

just be even more super technical here.

Twins, sixty-three and sixty-five.

Rangers, sixty-two and sixty-five.

Now, the Twins are off tomorrow.

So if the Rangers win tomorrow,

they would be tied with the twins for

the last playoff spot.

The Blue Jays are a half game behind

Texas.

They do play tomorrow at Tampa Bay.

And then you've got the Guardians,

a full game behind Texas.

They play San Francisco.

Baltimore and Detroit,

both a full game behind Texas.

And it looks like Detroit is the only

team that does not play.

So, I mean, there's a lot going on.

There's a lot going on.

But fortunately, Detroit, Baltimore,

Cleveland, and Toronto all lost.

Twins were the only one that won,

and so the Twins take over.

Crazy.

That last wildcard spot,

it feels like destined to be a losing

record.

It really does.

It feels destined to be a losing team

that gets that third wildcard.

Lord Tuffington, what's good?

Appreciate you hanging out, man.

Gold comment of the night, too.

I'm so surprised is the comment.

I'm so surprised that a lot of AL

teams lost today.

Oh, geez.

Yeah, I mean, it's been bad this year.

And I think that's why a lot of

us, too.

I mean,

there's a lot of really based takes on

my show with you guys.

It's kind of the wild,

wild west out there.

with a lot of other Rangers fans.

But look,

we all know this team has their limits.

They have their deficiencies.

We all know this team is severely

benefiting from a very,

very bad American League.

This is not a good American League.

There's not a lot of great teams in

the American League this year.

We'll take it.

Sometimes all you need is admittance to

the dance and you get to shoot your

shot.

And that's kind of where the Rangers are

at right now.

trying to get in,

trying to get through the door, and maybe,

just maybe,

the magic can happen out on the dance

floor.

That's the hope.

Kind of, kind of, kind of, kind of,

kind of, kind of, kind of,

I definitely felt down as the Rangers made

their way to Tampa Bay after losing three

of four in Seattle to end the twenty

twenty three regular season.

I think all of us felt a bit

of a pit and not sure how this

cross country trip and series in Tampa Bay

is going to go.

Little did we know it was going to

be the start of glorious history.

First World Series championship for the

franchise.

But it doesn't quite have that same vibe

or feel like we had in that year.

Somebody made a really good point.

I think it was in my comments.

I don't know what I posted.

I totally forget.

But essentially, like I posted something.

Somebody commented back at me and was

like, dude,

look at what happened in twenty three.

Like, don't be negative.

Like,

look at what happened in twenty three.

And essentially it was, I thought,

pretty a pretty polite rebuttal.

But the guy essentially said, like,

we had two MVP candidates in twenty twenty

three.

Right.

Corey Seager and Marcus Semien lost to

Shohei Ohtani in twenty twenty three.

They were both MVP candidates.

This team has nothing close to two MVP

candidates.

So is the substance the same is like,

you know,

are there some loose connections with the

twenty twenty three squad?

Sure.

But to pretend like this is exactly the

same thing, no.

We had two MVP candidates.

Marcus Semien and Corey Seager finished

second and third, respectively,

to Shohei Ohtani in twenty twenty three.

It's definitely not the same circumstances

or situation.

Jeremy, we get flashes.

The comment is there's just not much

exciting stuff on the field, Austin.

We get flashes.

In twenty three,

you had fairly consistent flashes.

You had Doley doing his thing.

You had Seager balling out.

You had Simeon hitting bombs.

You know, you had Jonah Heim,

ninety five RBI flashes.

You had Josh Jung balling out.

You had so many guys that caught fire

that year.

And this is just not that same team,

man.

It's not the same team.

Dan, thanks for the stat here.

Twenty-three career starts for deGrom

against the Nationals.

And we also get, again,

YouTube comment here from Dan.

deGrom is ten and four with a two

thirty ERA versus the Nationals in his

career.

A familiar opponent,

a much probably different team, though,

if we're being honest with what deGrom is

facing.

Not not a lot of guys still on

the team from when he last pitched with

the Mets against the Nationals.

Kind of a different look, Nats.

So I don't know how much stock I

put into the career numbers.

There is something to be said about it.

I don't want to totally brush it to

the side.

You see that jersey across,

and you just kind of say to yourself,

man,

I've always done good against these guys.

I think there is something to that.

Again, I can remember playing,

and you're going up against a certain high

school or college,

and you just kind of remember, man,

I've always played well here.

I've always played well against this team,

even if it's different faces and players.

And so I just think at this point,

you just have to, in some regard,

throw some of the career numbers out the

window.

You've got Jacob deGrom going.

He's one of the greatest to ever do

it.

And you're hoping that the tricep injury,

fatigue...

Whatever he was going through has

subsided,

and he's able to go out and give

you a fair shot at a quality start.

And that is what I want to see

out of deGrom tomorrow.

Don't give me this five-inning BS.

Six innings, come on, man.

At some point,

we've got to stretch this out a little

bit.

You're going to be saving up all these

bullets,

and it's not going to matter if you

don't make it to October.

It's like the whole Lats Tampa Bay

situation from a couple of weeks ago,

from a few weeks ago all over again.

You don't want to be in a spot

where you've saved up these guys.

You've saved up deGrom.

You've saved up Evo.

I mean, look,

I know he got hurt anyways.

And you don't even get in.

You don't even get in.

I think that they have to walk a

fine line.

And if it's me,

Maybe you say they wait a couple more

weeks until the calendar turns to

September to start extending to Grom a

little bit.

But, man,

if you're not going to do it at

the end of the year,

are you really expecting him to do it

in October?

Maybe.

And maybe he's just going to throw that

arm straight off and you're just going to

be good with whatever you can get out

of him.

But...

I'd like to see the Rangers stop with

the eighty three pitches stuff, man.

Get to Grom up into the upper nineties.

He doesn't have to go triple digits right

away, but man,

stop ending this guy's night at eighty

five pitches.

It is August nineteenth, man.

It's August twentieth tomorrow.

When are we going to at least let

the reins fall to the side just a

little bit?

You don't have to throw them all away,

but, man,

just take the reins off slightly.

Again,

not saying he needs to throw one ten

tomorrow, but can we get a ninety-eight,

ninety-seven?

Do we have to end his night when

he crosses the eighty threshold?

I would love to see at least six

innings from deGrom tomorrow.

I feel like anything less is a bit

of a disappointment.

I know the Nationals are one of the

better hitting teams in baseball,

and that makes Cal Quantrill's performance

last night all the more impressive,

if you ask me.

But deGrom has got to start being the

guy that confidently stood in front of

reporters and said, we can win.

This team can win.

I said it to you guys after the

presser that he did.

I think later that night,

I said it in his first start after

the deadline.

And I'll keep saying it, man.

He put some pressure on himself.

You declined the trade.

You declined the trade option to Atlanta.

You gave a speech about how this team

can win.

I believe in this team.

You've got to be a part of the

solution.

You can't be a part of the problem

if you're going to make that kind of

call and make those kinds of statements

after the fact.

you have to show up,

you have to show out,

and you got to be the leader for

your team.

The Rangers need a series win tomorrow.

You can't drop two out of three to

the Nationals, man.

And I know that I have not hyped

up,

but I've definitely tried to level the

playing field.

The Nationals are better than their record

indicates,

but I am by no means trying to

say that they are some elite team.

But I think they are better than the

record indicates,

and they've got a great offense.

Doesn't matter.

You've got to take two out of three.

You're at home.

We all talked about coming into this

series,

how the Rangers play better at home.

Coming into this Nationals three-game set,

Texas was five games over .five hundred.

They improved to six games over .five

hundred by winning yesterday,

back to five games after the loss today.

You've got to win two out of three

against the Nats.

You had a terrible, terrible road trip.

LA, horrible.

A's, horrible.

And you dropped each of those series.

To come into a home scenario,

a home series, and drop another one?

Hmm.

Just not good.

We'll keep it PG, but not good.

Night game tomorrow.

Yes, night game tomorrow.

A couple of you guys were asking.

I was thinking day game.

Thursday is kind of a getaway day before

the weekend series, right?

I was thinking probably a day game.

Nope, night game.

Works out for me because I'm at work

during the day like a lot of you

guys are,

and so it actually works out better.

But we'll have some day games I think

this weekend.

I was looking at the schedule a little

bit in advance.

All right,

let's try and put a bow on this

one.

By the way,

deGrom just talking matchup numbers

against the Nationals tomorrow.

I would expect there's not much for us

to look at.

Maybe some numbers here and there.

Looks like deGrom has faced four of the

Nationals hitters in his career.

Abrams is over three.

Ruiz, their catcher, is one for four.

Tana, the DH, is O for two.

Vivas, the third baseman, is O for two.

And it's a combined, looks like,

eleven at-bats total.

It's a combined eleven ABs.

So not much for us to really look

at here.

On the flip side, Alvarez, lefty,

going for the Nationals,

coming into this game with a .三七二ERA.

Only twenty-three games,

fifteen career starts in the big leagues,

so I'm sure we're going to flirt with

the complete game shutout tomorrow.

Y'all already know how this goes.

Whenever you see a no-name pitcher

throwing against the Rangers,

You always raise your eyebrow.

And like some of you like to do,

go pick them up in fantasy and see

what they got.

Oh, my goodness.

You got to laugh.

You got to laugh sometimes.

Look,

the last three games for Alvarez against

the Mets...

I wouldn't say this is a great bar,

but five and two-thirds,

two earned runs against the Reds.

Five and a third,

one earned run against the Phillies.

Six and a third, two earned runs.

So, I mean, look,

he hasn't allowed more than two earned

runs in each of his last three starts.

So he's doing something right.

Occasionally gets some good swing and

miss.

Four strikeouts, two strikeouts,

five strikeouts.

So he's got eleven strikeouts total in his

last sixteen, seventeen innings pitched.

should be able to put the ball in

play against him.

You can't strike out again.

Thirteen times like the Rangers did today.

Just can't do it.

Just can't do it, man.

Look,

let's do our land in here as the

show comes to a close.

You know, tonight told me this offense,

you know, still just cannot be trusted.

They have nights where one opposing

starter, Cade Cavalli or not,

it doesn't matter.

We watched the Angels series tonight.

the rookies that they had tossing against

us,

it doesn't matter if it's a no-name guy

or one of the most famous players in

the game.

One opposing starter can completely

dictate the game with this offense on any

given night.

They do rise above.

Clearly,

they have the potential to score runs in

bunches.

They have guys that can hit the ball

over the fence,

but it's just all too common.

I know some of you guys asked about

Kumar Rocker.

This is kind of what I'm still a

little bit unsure about as I think about

a number of things coming out of a

six nothing loss like this.

I'm a little unsure what his long term

rotation role actually is.

I don't really feel like you're getting a

lot of positive momentum with Rocker.

Two runs in five, you know,

that's not a collapse.

I don't want to act like tonight was

all on Kumar.

I think I've been pretty clear it's the

offense that needs to take the blame front

and center.

Ninety-two pitches, though, five innings,

only three strikeouts.

Three strikeouts, ninety-two pitches.

That's not inspiring a ton of confidence.

And so, look,

I think about Cal Quantrill last night.

I think about Jack Leiter coming back.

I think there is a very legitimate

argument that you are going to see someone

bumped out of the rotation for Cal Q.

And I think Rocker could be on the

outside looking in.

I don't know how you bench Cal Q.

I'm not just going hype train here.

Cal Quantrill has a two sixty four ERA.

as a starting pitcher, two,

sixty-four ERA.

I know the ERA is three, thirteen,

but specifically in the role of starting

pitcher, Cal Quantrill has a two,

sixty-four ERA.

I know ERA is not king.

We've talked about this.

ERA can be deceptive.

But you go to the advanced stats,

he's not blowing every category out of the

water.

But you go to the advanced stats for

Cal Quantrill, you got some red, man.

You go to the advanced stats for Kumar

Rocker, meh.

I don't think that Quantrill for Rocker is

like some left field half-baked idea.

I think you very easily could see Cal

Q moving into that starting spot.

In fact,

I I'm getting to the point where if

the Rangers decide to bump him out of

the rotation again,

when lighter comes back, I mean,

I don't love to throw this around,

but you guys know I will occasionally

feels like baseball malpractice.

You've got a guy that has a two

sixty four ERA as a starter.

that just dominated one of the best

offenses in baseball.

And make no mistake,

the Nationals are one of the best offenses

in baseball.

The pitching has been a problem for them.

Ironically, after what we watched tonight,

the pitching has been the problem for the

Nats.

The offense has been great.

I think it's baseball malpractice if you

bump Cal Q out of the rotation.

I mean, look,

he could hit a wall next week,

but until he does,

you've been watching Rocker hit a wall

pretty much every other start, right?

We're just being honest.

Yeah,

he's had a few good stretches of like

two or three games looking pretty good,

but you kind of have watched Rocker hit

a wall every other outing.

I'm ready for Cal Q to get his

moment.

It's weird, I think,

at this point that we're still arguing

about him.

Like,

is he going to get the last rotation

spot?

I'm being dead serious.

That dude's probably our most consistent,

reliable pitcher.

And it's not just me just cherry-picking

the ERA.

Like, I feel the most confident...

I feel going into a game is when

he's on the mound.

And that's not a hot take.

That's not me trying to get clicks.

I'm being dead serious.

When I see his name in the starting

pitching matchup for the game,

I feel the most confident that you're at

least going to get quality.

Are you going to get what you got

last night every single time with Cal Q?

No.

Are you going to be in a game?

Yes.

Is he going to give you probably six

strong innings, maybe seven?

Yes.

The only reason that he wasn't doing that

earlier is because they hadn't built him

up as a starter.

I mean, Sugi,

it's a harsh way to put it,

but I can't argue.

Comment from YouTube,

Rocker gets hit by a train every other

start.

It does feel like that.

He might have two good outings in a

row,

but then he'll match it with two bad

outings in a row.

I think Rock needs to do a little

either bullpen stint.

I don't know if that's the best for

him, honestly.

I would ship him down to AAA.

I would.

I would move Rock down to AAA,

start down there, lower leverage.

That's what I would be doing.

I think that is the most obvious outcome

here.

We'll see what they decide to do.

Jack Leiter's getting close.

If they bump Cal Q out of the rotation,

man, that is going to fire me up,

and I hope it fires some of you

up.

You got deGrom on the mound.

You got arguably,

I know a lot of people would probably

push back a little bit on me at

this point,

but I still say you got your ace

on the mound.

You've got your ace on the mound tomorrow.

What is this team going to look like?

Are we going to lay down?

Are we actually going to come out ready

to play, ready to get a dub,

ready to get a series win?

It would be, I think,

totally disappointing and unacceptable to

drop three straight series against three

teams that are all below .五百 and somewhat

reeling at this point.

Rangers have to flush this one out and

find a way tomorrow.

Offense, definitely, I think,

on trial more so than any other component

of the team.

You got a lefty green starting pitcher

that's barely pitched in this league.

Got to do some damage.

All right, y'all.

Hey, I appreciate you.

I'm going to sign off for the night.

Rangers lose this one six to nothing.

deGrom on the bump tomorrow.

You're hoping he can get you that series

win.

He said he believes in this team.

He said that this team can win.

Let's watch it happen in a Jacob deGrom

start tomorrow evening.

We'll be back just about the same time,

eighth or ninth inning.

We hope you'll join us.

We'll have some more content out tomorrow.

I got some good Rangers history stuff.

A good little birthday shout-out tomorrow,

too,

to one of the nineties Rangers that you

may have forgotten about.

It's going to be good stuff.

And then I'll, of course,

have my reel out to you guys probably

in the early afternoon Texas time.

So I appreciate you guys so much just

supporting the show, the comments.

You guys will share my stuff with other

people that maybe you know aren't

necessarily fans or followers of the show

yet.

So thank you.

I mean,

I don't take anything like that for

granted at all.

And thank you for all the likes on

TikTok.

Forty-two hundred likes tonight.

Justin, if you're still watching,

I know you're a big part of that,

my guy.

Thanks for everybody that hit the like

button tonight on whatever platform you're

on.

Man, rain or shine, right?

Right?

That's why we're diehards, man.

You don't just stop watching because the

team is doing poorly.

You guys know, most nights...

I would say nine out of ten,

we're here hanging out,

unless I got something crazy going on.

We love this team.

Love them to death.

Rangers got to figure out a way tomorrow.

Hope you guys have a great rest of

your Wednesday night.

We're getting closer to the weekend.

Enjoy your Thursday,

and we will see you guys tomorrow,

eighth or ninth inning,

hopefully talking about a Rangers win and

series victory over the Nats.

And as I always say to end every

show, God bless, and go Rangers.