Hi, and welcome to another edition of Right

on Rangers Live, coming at you after a

winnable 3-2 defeat at the hands of

the Seattle Mariners.

Little Dave Baseball coming at you with the

NFL getting heated up tonight.

Seahawks-Patriots, man, rematch of the Super Bowl.

Hopefully that'll be a little more exciting than

the Super Bowl was, man.

I would love to see a great game

tonight.

We are gonna fit that in right after

the live's over.

We got about an hour to go till

kickoff here.

Perfect timing, baby.

Glad you guys are hanging out.

Look, not a great game for the Rangers.

We're gonna break it all down here in

just a second.

Obviously, we'll take a lot of your comments

and questions along the way, 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, and

we thank you for choosing Right on Rangers

for all of your Texas Rangers content.

Drop that comment.

Drop a question.

We will definitely be checking the chat here

and there as we go along.

We already talked through this final score.

Texas loses 3-2, falls to 72-74.

Had an opportunity to get back to 500

today.

We know how that's gone a number of

different times this season.

Looked promising.

Jake Burger gave the Rangers a 1-0

lead.

Taylor Ward ended up tying it, and then

Cole Young with the two-run double made

it 3-1.

Corey Seager's 17th bomb of the year in

the eighth was as close as that comeback

got.

Rangers had a little bit of noise there

in the top of the ninth, but two

ugly, ugly A-Bs to end the game

means the Rangers will not be back to

500, will not gain any ground in the

playoff race today in the division or in

the wild card.

Kade Anderson, let's talk about him.

The Mariners lefty phenom rookie.

He was making just his fourth major league

start, and the Rangers managed to hand him

his very first major league win.

Shocker.

Rangers offense helping out a young pitcher.

Where have I heard this before?

This is brand new information.

Rangers making really green MLB pitchers that don't

even have a full season of experience look

like studs.

We're very generous in that way.

We are.

And by the way, he went six innings

today, one earned run, five strikeouts.

Deserves some credit, no doubt.

I don't want to make it seem like

he did not have anything good today to

offer.

He did.

Texas also went 0-5 with runners in

scoring position and stranded seven.

You had some opportunities today, and like we've

been accustomed to over the last 146 games,

the Rangers can look really, really good one

night, last night, and can look not so

great, although the pitching was pretty solid today,

less than 24 hours later.

Rangers will have an opportunity to win the

series tomorrow.

They will be back at it at a

similar time.

I believe they are at the same time

playing at about 310 Texas time.

So another day game to finish out this

three-game set, rubber match, and the Rangers

are having still an opportunity to have a

successful road trip, but it definitely takes a

hit today.

As we talked about on the show last

night, you just limit, you continue to decrease

your margin for error even more with every

loss.

You would have loved to see Texas find

a way.

Thought with Cam Cauley after the Jake Burger

walk, Muñoz just not looking like he had

it at all, really thought the Rangers might

have something cooking there.

That sequence with the Joc Pederson, the Joc

Peterson A.B., just a bit brutal.

Joc really swinging at bad pitches there.

Was not Joc's best at bat.

He has been pretty cold.

I know I'm fast forwarding ahead a little

bit here, but right after Burger takes the

walk, you know, Muñoz didn't even throw one.

Actually, he threw one strike to Joc Pederson

in five pitches and you had Joc swinging

at ball three and ball four to end

the at bat, man, especially the fifth pitch.

That wasn't even close.

The Rangers just really melted down there.

I felt like in the ninth inning and

then Nicky Lopez comes up, strikes out on

three pitches.

Pitch number three was about a half a

foot to a foot outside.

Evan Carter misses a pitch right down the

middle in pitch one.

I believe pitch one right down the pipe,

right down the pipe, Evan Carter.

And you foul it off.

And we've discussed that as well, the Rangers

and the inconsistent ability to hit fastballs right

down the middle.

You either foul them off or you swing

through them.

And I just feel like they really let

Muñoz off the hook.

He was not sharp.

I don't know if you got that same

vibe, but Muñoz, I know we have Mariners

fans come and hang out every once in

a while.

He threw barely any strikes.

I mean, I'm talking about pitches that were

legitimate strikes swing or no swing.

I mean, in the Carter at bat, he

threw one strike and that was the first

pitch right down the middle.

I mean, in the Burger at bat, he

barely threw a strike in the Joc Pederson

at bat.

He barely threw a strike.

I mean, talk about a guy that really

was wild and the Rangers just totally let

him off the hook.

Muñoz saved number 26, a 4.05 ERA as

a closer.

How about that?

And I know we joke about barf bag

pitchers on the show.

I got to imagine Muñoz is in that

department at this point.

I mean, Muñoz on the season, the whip,

I'm shocked that the WHIP is at 1.14.

Feels like every other outing he comes in

and he's a little bit wild, at least

in the games that I've seen.

That's clearly me not having watched all 145

plus of the Mariners this year, but really

felt like they had an opportunity against Muñoz

and just totally soiled the bed there late.

All right, let me get to some comments

and questions.

I got a lot to get off my

chest today before the NFL season kicks off

tonight, but let's get to some comments and

questions.

Appreciate all you guys.

Hey, look, just remember if I miss something,

it's definitely nothing personal.

Sometimes we just get rolling.

Feel free to copy and paste a comment

again.

It helps me out with the engagement anyway,

so no harm, no foul.

Please just know what we're trying to get

to everything is substance, so we'll try and

mow through as quickly as I can here.

Yeah, look, Evan Carter, Darnell, what's good, man?

I want to make sure I get to

your comment.

I know I was a little bit lackadaisical

last night getting to some of your points,

my guy.

So let's start with this.

Evan Carter, I've said many times, I like

the player.

I like the guy, but I just feel

like there's no reason for Evan to really

have any kind of runway anymore.

Let's be honest.

Chris Young, I think it was last week

on the fan.

Maybe it was a week and a half,

two weeks ago, he was talking about Danny

Jansen and the catcher situation and CY basically

said the hot hand is going to play.

I don't understand how you continue to play

Evan Carter if that's really the case.

I know Evan provides you with some good

defense out there in center field, but even

Evan's defense, I can't say it's been pristine

over the last two or three weeks.

It feels like there's been a few different

gaffes.

Evan Carter's defense does not warrant the black

hole that he is in the lineup right

now.

It just doesn't.

I think if you're really going to own

the play the hot hand, not really sure

how you justify playing Evan Carter.

Zeke Duran to me, I know he started

in center field today and I know Evan

Carter came in as a replacement.

I understand Evan Carter didn't start today, but

Evan to me should not be an automatic

plug-in when there is suddenly a right

hander that comes into the game.

That's my personal opinion.

I know some people don't agree with this,

but I don't believe some of these guys

should be automatic plug-ins.

You feel like Skip, hey, they're bringing in

a righty.

Okay, get all the lefties in the game.

You don't have to do that immediately.

You really don't.

To me, that is a really big issue

that I take with Skip at times and

the way that the lineup gets set.

You don't have to do mass substitutions the

second a right hander comes into the game

when you've got your lefty starting pitcher lineup

out there.

You really don't.

I was glad that he left Foscue in

the game.

I'm not sure, I can't remember if a

righty-righty situation presented itself with Foscue, but

I'd love to see a little bit more.

Leave the hot hands in the game, even

if the matchup righty-lefty, lefty-righty isn't

necessarily in your best favor.

Don't just mindlessly plug in these guys back

in the lineup because a right-handed reliever

entered the game.

It's just not my favorite strategy.

I know Skip really likes it and enjoys

doing it a lot.

I'd much rather save Evan Carter for a

late game base running situation.

I know that maybe you would like to

see Evan Carter come in with a lead.

You take the lead, you want to play

Evan Carter out in center field, sure.

I could get on board with that, but

again, subbing Carter right away when a righty

enters the game, he just hasn't earned that.

I know that he had a couple of

knocks the other night.

Let's not be knee-jerk reaction here.

Evan, congrats, man.

We shouldn't be getting over-the-top excited

and automatically defaulting to, you got to play

him because he had two hits the other

night.

Evan Carter is eight for his last 40.

He's 16 for his last 85.

Does this sound like a dude that just

needs to be plug and play at this

point?

I would say emphatically, no.

I think Evan Carter needs to be earning

every little bit of what he gets in

terms of playing time.

Right now, he's not earning it.

Next year is going to be interesting.

I was, I think, commenting back and forth

with a couple of y'all on Facebook

about this.

I just really am not going to be

shocked.

I'll say this, I'm not going to be

shocked if they roll out Evan Carter as

the starting center fielder and they really hype

up some offseason adjustments.

Can't you just see it now?

Oh, he's been in the lab.

We like what we're seeing.

He's worked on a few things, just gassing

up the offseason production and the offseason progression,

I should say.

I can totally envision this.

The reality is Evan Carter should not have

an everyday role 100% locked in for

next year.

At this point, I don't know how you

could do that in good faith.

I know he's a beloved player in the

org.

I know that they want to see him

succeed, but at this point, you have just

not gotten enough out of this guy.

Evan, to me, he definitely has some tools

that you love and that you want to

see turn into something greater, but he's just

not doing it right now.

I just don't think you can perpetually just

pencil him in as your everyday center fielder

against righties.

I'm not a fan of that.

Today, I know, is definitely a reaction of

frustration with Evan being the final out and

really not having a great at bat.

That was an ugly last at bat from

Evan.

I think that definitely accentuates and kind of

drives the knife a little bit into the

point.

You've got a guy that's struggling to hit

fast balls right down the pipe and drive

them to the outfield.

It's very disheartening.

You've got a top player like Evan, a

World Series legend, a 2023 playoff legend that

has really had a tough time getting his

footing.

I know that maybe this feels like just

heaping on Evan.

Nobody's rooting for this guy to fail.

And that's what so many Rangers fans, I

feel like get twisted sometimes when any kind

of criticism is offered on these players.

Nobody's rooting for these guys to fail, but

you have to say things out loud.

I saw John boy.

I don't know if you guys saw this.

I saw John boy catching some heat from

Josh Donaldson.

Josh Donaldson, of course, the former a, the

former blue J former Yankee was basically saying,

who's making the lineups John boy or Aaron

Boone.

And John boy, I love the response.

He's basically like what, because I'm saying stats

out loud and fans are pointing out obvious

things that happen on the field.

Suddenly, you know, we're the haters and we're

the ones that are making the lineup.

Come on now.

I mean, look, you just have to look

at what has happened on the diamond between

the white lines.

And it hasn't been good.

Hasn't been good enough.

Definitely hasn't been good enough to get another

long runway as a starter in 2027 last

inning, a bunt would have been interesting.

This is actually a, a really good segue

to my next point.

So my personal opinion on this, and I

would have been going nuts during the live.

If I would have been on during the

ninth inning, I would have been railing on

this decision.

Why do you bring in Cam Cauley?

Why would you bring him in and not

steal him nearly right away?

What is this team's hesitant?

Hesitancy to, to steal bags right out the

shoot.

It's like, we got to have a feel

out session and we got to wait till

we see a certain amount of pitches, maybe

wait a batter dude.

We needed Cam Cauley’s butt on second

base with nobody out, what do we have

Cam Cauley up on the major league roster

for if we can't steal him out the

gate against Muñoz and look, I don't know

what the numbers are with Muñoz and with

his ability to hold base runners.

I don't know what the success rate is.

You got Cam Cauley on the bases for

a reason.

You might as well left Jake Burger's butt

in there, what we're we're bringing in cam

Cauley, just so we can bank on a

double in the gap.

If you're bringing in Cam Cauley into the

ball game to pinch run, steal him, get

his butt to second base.

So Joc Pederson has an RBI opportunity.

Look, I thought I had moved past it.

I'm just getting more fired up thinking about

it.

It is infuriating to me.

And I know we're going to get some

BS excuse.

Oh, there was the slide step.

Oh, it just wasn't comfortable out there.

BS.

He needs to be stealing in that at

bat.

Joc Pederson needs to take a pitch or two.

I mean, there there's no excuse for not

getting Cam Cauley to second base.

So Joc Pederson can have an RBI opportunity

at minimum, have a chance to get the

runner over to third.

And it would have happened if you would

have got Cam Cauley to second base via

the steal Joc Pederson's little swinging bunt on

an absolutely terrible pitch outside the zone would

have got Cam Cauley to third.

Now look, maybe Lopez and Carter still strike

out to end the game anyways, but it

was ridiculous to me that you brought Cameron

Cauley into let him stand on first base,

get him to second brother, managing scared, whatever

you want to call it, whatever you want

to call it.

It is unacceptable.

And we do this so many different times.

I felt like a couple of times this

week, skip was actually getting it right.

Like Carter had an opportunity the other day,

whenever you get Evan Carter on base.

And I know this is going to sound

disrespectful, but whenever Evan Carter actually gets to

first base, he needs to be running.

The dude is nearly unstoppable stealing bases.

He's been caught once or twice this year.

He's like 15 for 17 or 16 for

18 on stolen bases.

The hesitancy to steal bases is wild to

me, especially when at the beginning of the

season, all you did was tout how you

were going to be better at taking the

extra base, stealing more basis and being more

aggressive in general and putting pressure on defenses.

What are we doing?

It's ridiculous to me that you bring in

a pinch runner in that situation.

And you don't even think about moving him

to second base via the steal.

That to me was definitely a move.

You look at who knows if it would

have worked out.

They very, very well may have struck out

back to back anyways, just like Lopez and

Carter did, but I would have liked to

have seen Joc Pederson with an RBI opportunity.

Who knows?

Maybe Lopez, the, at that changes a little

bit.

Maybe if you get Cauley over to third

base, maybe Joc is able to get him

over.

Maybe you go suicide squeeze or safety squeeze

with Lopez.

You easily could have done that.

Yeah.

Cauley still second Joc does the accidental hit

call.

He's at third.

Lopez is up.

You could have done the safety squeeze with

Lopez.

If Cauley's on third base and you could

have manufactured a run, but you gave yourself

no chance to do that by whatever being

scared.

I don't want to call it that because

I don't know.

I wonder if the beats even asked the

question.

That's the question that I would have been

asking.

If anybody watched the post game, let me

know if somebody actually asked him that that

is a credibly legitimate question that somebody should

have thrown out there.

You bring Cam Cauley into the game.

Why not steal him and just see what

skip says.

So disappointing.

That's the kind of stuff that just pisses

me off when it comes to these one

run losses.

Yeah.

The timidness, Nate, I totally agree.

Comment from YouTube here.

I just don't understand the timidness.

Well said brother.

I don't understand it either.

Comment from Facebook.

That's why we'll stay mediocre.

No guts.

You got to take some risk.

You got to gamble.

Sometimes you've got Cameron Cauley on first base,

live and die by it.

If he gets thrown out, you know what?

It's not meant to be.

Is there anybody that's really going to be

criticizing?

You tried to get Cam Cauley to second

base in a one run game with the

bottom of the order coming up.

Come on now.

I mean, you guys know I'm not a

big, you don't know ball person.

I'm really not.

And I'm not even going to say it

now, but come on.

Is anybody really going to be second guessing,

trying to get Cam Cauley to second base

via the steal?

You had Joc Pederson up one swing of

the bat.

I totally get it.

You're thinking maybe Joc runs into one, but

Joc has not been running into a lot

lately.

I'm not letting everything stay in the Joc

Peterson basket in the ninth inning.

My only mindset is manufacturer run.

I don't give a crap that Joc Pederson's

up.

The dude has not been hitting great lately.

You look at the numbers for Joc Pederson,

Joc in his last 30 games is hitting

.156.

I'm not putting all my eggs in the

Joc Pederson basket.

Well, I don't want to miss the opportunity

for Joc to hit a two-run bomb.

What?

Why would we be assuming Joc is going

to hit a two run bomb in the

midst of a .156, 10-for-64 stretch

stretch.

I know I'm going on too long about

this y'all.

It's the little things, you know, this, if

you played the game, if you've been a

fan of the game for a long time,

you know, this game comes down to little

things so often.

And this was a little thing that ended

up being monumental to me over the grand

scheme of the game.

And in that ninth inning in particular, soldier,

look, I want to be careful not to

heap on skip and trust me, this is

not directed at you because I'm being maybe

a little guilty of it right now.

But the comment says, if he can't manage

this type of game, can you imagine the

playoffs?

Look, skip screen, he's green.

Skip has not been there done that.

I know he did one series with the

Marlins in October.

Come on now.

Are we really going to say been there,

done that?

Because skips managed one playoff series.

Come on.

Been there.

Done.

That is something you say about Bruce freaking

Bochy.

You don't say been there, done that.

Cause the guys had one playoff series.

No, no, no, no.

Let's get to more certified bench warmer.

Appreciate the comment, which says, I feel like

Langford needs to be more consistent to justify

hitting him this high.

I got railed on in may when I

posted that Wyatt Langford is behaving like a

bottom of the order hitter.

He did promptly go on a heater, not

for the ages, but on a really good

heater.

Like he had the home run last night.

You wondered if something was unlocked.

Nope, Nope.

Nope.

Oh, for four with three Ks immediately after,

but that performance, that 24 hour performance from

Wyatt, what he did last night and what

he did today is basically the Texas Rangers

in a nutshell.

You've got this Epic performance last night, and

then you come back to today's game and

you lay an egg offense.

Wasn't terrible today, but you only scored two

runs.

They weren't good when it mattered.

When the runners were actually on base and

you had the opportunities Darnell, exactly what I've

been saying.

Comment from YouTube.

You can't sell your whole bench out the

minute it's a pitching change.

That is one of my big complaints.

It's like the flood Gates open.

Anytime a right-handed reliever comes in or

anytime a lefty comes in, it's like, we

got to open the flood Gates of the

bench, start matching up everybody.

It's like, no, sometimes leaving the guy that's

actually hot.

That's actually producing like today, you know, you

look at the subs, not terrible.

I mean, Cody Freeman was one for two.

I'm going to be honest with you.

I wouldn't have minded Cody Freeman, just staying

in the game.

Cody Freeman has a clue up at the

plate, Evan Carter.

He doesn't have a lot of clues right

now.

Like that would be the one, the one

matchup today that I would really say I'm,

I'm totally second guessing the decision.

I'm not saying that Cody Freeman is all

-star potential hall of famer.

Don't get it twisted.

But what I am saying is Cody Freeman

had a hit in today's ball game.

I think we can all agree.

He's seeing the ball better than Evan Carter

right now.

It doesn't matter if it's righty lefty.

I would have rather had Cody Freeman stay

in the game than Evan Carter come in.

I would have much rather had Cody Freeman,

righty righty against Muñoz than Evan Carter, righty

lefty.

I look, I'm not saying Cody Freeman comes

through.

In fact, he's had some moments this year

and he hasn't come through in big spots.

So there's nothing guaranteed.

But what I am saying is I'm going

to go ahead and roll the dice with

Freeman, who actually already had a hit in

this game and was already in the flow.

He was already in game state.

Then bringing in a cold off the bench,

Evan Carter, not only cold, meaning he sat

the whole game, but cold in general, he's

not hitting well right now.

That to me is the big move that

I look at when we're talking about these

mass substitutions to match up the platoon splits,

if you will.

That's the one I look at.

And it's just a little bit of a

head shaker to me.

Why do that with Cody Freeman?

I mean, again, Cody is not on an

all time tear right now.

He's really not.

He is hitting 240 over his last 15

games.

He has been quite cold over his last

seven, just 2-for-17.

But I guarantee you, Evan Carter is not

that far behind him in the seven game

stretch.

Cody's definitely got Evan Carter in the last

15, last 30 numbers.

That is for sure.

TLC, what's good?

Comment from YouTube.

I can't stand all the lefty righty matchup

BS.

The Wyatt AB with two out in the

middle of the game was actually a killer.

Preach, brother.

Preach into the choir right now.

Appreciate all you guys hanging out.

Really do.

Thank you so much.

Rangers, if you're just joining us, lost a

tough one today.

They lose three to two to Seattle.

Series is now 1-1 rubber match tomorrow.

Rangers have an opportunity to win a series

on the road, something that has been very

tough for them to do of late.

They haven't won many road series in the

second half.

It would be great to get one tomorrow.

You've got DeGrom on the mound.

Logan Gilbert is on the mound for the

Mariners.

And the Rangers have actually hit Logan Gilbert

pretty well.

We are going to do a preview of

that game at the end of our show

today.

We've been going roughly about 28 minutes so

far.

We've got 45 minutes to an hour.

We'll see what happens.

We're going to cut things off at about

7.20 Texas time to get over to

that NFL game.

NFL is back, man.

I don't even care.

The Cowboys aren't playing.

You got to watch some NFL football, man.

Love it.

Love that football is getting fired back up,

for real.

Phillies are 4-4 with the Astros right

now.

Thank you.

Oh, we could use a loss.

Guardians are losing 8-2.

Thank you.

In one hand, you're relieved.

On the other hand, you're a little bit

hacked because we could have gained a game

today.

Possibly.

Could have gained a game today.

Wow.

Good stuff from the Phillies.

Astros were up 4-0 in the Phillies

storm right back in the bottom of the

third.

By the way, Sanchez is pitching today.

It's pretty impressive to do that off of

him if you're the Astros, but whoever the

Astros have throwing clearly isn't game.

Jeez.

All right.

Hey, let's reel it in a little bit.

Steve, what's good?

Steve says from Facebook, tomorrow's a must win.

Not feeling good with Rock and Gore going

game one and two in Arizona.

I would agree.

You're going to have to get really fortunate

in Arizona if you lose tomorrow.

You lose tomorrow, it is a failure of

a road trip.

You really wanted to go 4-2, and

I don't see the Rangers sweeping in Arizona,

which is what they would have to do

if they lose tomorrow, to go 4-2.

I just don't see it happening.

I think that tomorrow is in that must

win territory.

That being said, if you get a loss

from the Guardians and the Astros today, and

you get a loss from the Astros, it

gets a little better.

I'll say that.

A lot of this, though, it just ultimately

comes down to your scoreboard watching, and that's

not what you want to be doing.

Your scoreboard watching, praying that the other teams

ahead of you aren't winning because you keep

losing, that's just not a great place to

be.

It really isn't.

Kachow says from YouTube here, Duran is unpredictable

every day, but I can give the man

props on how he's been playing lately.

Duran obviously is being asked to do a

lot of different things, and I think when

you look at the entire offense as a

whole, and I'm not saying that this comment

has any criticism in it overtly or anything

over the top here, but I've got to

imagine we take for granted a little bit

the fact that this guy is able to

pretty much play anywhere and bat anywhere in

the lineup and do a pretty good job.

I do think we kind of take it

for granted.

You kind of just think it's automatic.

I can't imagine it's super easy to not

really know exactly where you're going to be

at on a day-to-day basis.

We will see what ends up happening with

the rest of this lineup, but thank goodness

for Zeke.

Thank goodness for him.

All right, let's get back.

Let's reel it in just a little bit

here, and look, we've gone through quite a

bit already, but the big numbers that stand

out to me, 0 for 5 with runners

in scoring position.

I mean, they did get some people on

base today.

The two runs are very irritating for this

reason.

You had chances.

He left seven aboard.

Anderson, I think, pitched well.

I don't want to be a post-game

broken record from the Rangers and the coaching

staff and the media in general, like every

time somebody dominates against us, got to give

them credit, right?

Yeah, he did pitch well, but I do

think that they had opportunities that they just

did not cash today.

Couldn't break through.

Bradford, let's talk through him.

Definitely got a little unlucky with the ball

bouncing off of second base, but I mean,

then he came back.

He had an opportunity to get out of

the inning and then bro just left a

meatball, freaking meatball over the plate to Cole

Young.

Look, Cody Bradford, if you're going to throw

that slow, and again, I don't care about

the elite extension he gets that makes the

88 mile an hour fastball look like 92.

I really don't care.

Come on now.

If you're throwing that soft extension or not,

you got to have elite command and he

hasn't had that over the last couple of

games.

Little concerning, but I've been on the mindset

and I've been in the camp of Cody

Bradford needs to be a relief pitcher.

He's a guy that I like going through

the lineup once.

Not really a dude.

I like going through the lineup two times,

three times.

I'd be interested to see what the stats

say about Cody Bradford in that regard.

I'll see if I can look it up

here on the show.

I know baseball ref will have it, but

probably won't have it updated from today.

So I'll see what I can get to

you guys, but for me, Cody's a guy

that you bring in after you throw DeGrom.

He's going to give you a little bit

of a change of pace, a different look,

lefty, softer throwing.

You know Cody's not going to come in

and walk a bunch of guys.

Not that he doesn't walk any, but you

know that Cody is for the most part

going to throw strikes.

Now today, the problem with the strikes were

that some of them were right over the

heart of the plate.

That's not going to work.

And Cody Bradford today did have a couple

of walks, a little uncharacteristic of him.

He typically has one or none.

He's not a guy that walks a lot

of players, but he's just struggled with command

over the last two outings.

Not a guy I really want to see

starting a playoff game, but with the Evo

news coming out that Evo is likely just

going to be in relief for the rest

of the way.

It's looking pretty probable that that is going

to be the case.

You're either going to be starting Cody Bradford

or Kumar Rocker in a game four, if

you're blessed to make it to the divisional

round.

That does not sound awesome to me, but

you know, maybe it'll be a little October

magic situation and we will get a crazy

performance for the ages.

But at the onset, I don't feel great

about that.

I don't mind deGrom Cal Q and

look, Gore has not been consistent either, but

I can live with the Grom Cal Q

and Gore.

You get to that game four and yeah,

you're, you're buckling up getting a couple of

barf bags ready to go and doing some

deep breathing.

Just hoping that these guys are on and

are throwing strikes and are not throwing meatballs,

beach balls over the heart of the plate.

It felt like, and I totally agree with,

with this comment from YouTube here, felt like

Bradford actually got away with, with a lot

today probably could have been punished a lot

worse.

And I do think it's a big reason

why you ultimately saw Bradford get pulled today.

Pretty early, just didn't have it, man.

And again, when you're going to throw 88,

89 extension or not, that's always the thing

people tell me whenever I offer any type

of criticism for Cody Bradford.

I love Cody Bradford.

What an amazing story, right?

What an amazing story.

He hasn't pitched since 2024.

You have like two years pretty much out

of the game.

And when I say out of the game,

you know what I mean?

Like two years where you're just rehabbing and

resting.

That is some mental fortitude right there.

That should be appreciated.

We all want to see this guy succeed,

but dude just didn't have it today.

A comment from Facebook here, rocker or Cody

sounds like a Pepto type of beverage during

the game.

A hundred percent, 100%.

Oh gosh, Darnell.

I'm going to go Hawks, man.

I don't, I don't see them losing at

home coming off a super bowl.

Still got a pretty good team.

I don't see the Hawks losing tonight.

Just me.

We'll see how the paths do.

They got all the Vrabel drama and all

that stuff.

I mean, look, I think they're going to

be a pretty decent team this year, but

I don't see them going into Seattle and

getting a win on opening night.

I think the Hawks should probably handle it,

but you never know.

First game of the season.

NFL is awesome for this reason.

Anybody can win on any given Sunday.

In this case, any given Wednesday.

All right, we'll keep on rolling.

Yeah, we know that there were some good

performances today.

Burger and Seager did their jobs.

The offense around them just never really connected

the dots.

Burger hit Homer number 26 today.

He continues to do it off lefties.

Stop me if you've heard this before.

Like Burger is continuing to make my point

seven fold.

I really feel like this guy needs to

be in a platoon situation next year if

they decide to keep him.

Maybe they'll try to trade him, put out

some feelers.

Maybe they'll do that with some other players.

Burger to me, I'm not saying you have

to bench him against every righty, but I

do think against the tough righties in the

league, it'd be nice to have the option

to sit him down.

Burger crushes lefties.

He crushes lefties.

I don't know what the updated stats are

for Berg in that department.

I'm going to see if MLB has updated

the splits on him.

Still working on that Cody Bradford baseball ref

splits, by the way.

We're going to get to it.

Jake Burger splits against lefties.

He now has against left-handed pitchers, just

starter or reliever, a .929 OPS against

lefties.

I mean, that is elite level production, nine

29 OPS.

It's him and Foscue, you just demonizing these

left-handed pitchers, man, just totally terrorizing these

guys.

It's nice to see.

I do think it's making the point.

You've got to strongly consider, do we platoon

Jake Burger next year?

At least a little bit.

And maybe you can let him out there

against the number four and number five in

the rotation, if it comes around that way.

But if he's got to go and face

the top arms in the game, the top

right-handed arms in the game, I think

maybe you think twice and you have maybe

a lefty first base option ready to go

that can be subbed in for him.

I mean, this guy is definitely doing his

job when there is a left-handed starter

out there, no doubt.

We have spent the last, it feels like

one or two weeks really talking about the

importance of the Rangers star power showing up

and Corey Seager over the last 24 hours,

man, he's given you a lot of star

power, a lot of star power.

It's just with some of the production that

you got from the stars, nobody else around

them was joining them for the dance, man.

You had a lot of opportunities wasted, a

lot of traffic disappearing.

The 500 wall, it's getting old.

It is getting old, this 500 wall.

You just cannot get over this hump.

Every time you do get to 500 or

a game or two above, you quickly lose

it.

Could have been 73 and 73 today.

Instead, you drop back to 72 and 74.

Let's not get it twisted.

Nobody's throwing a parade when this team gets

back to 500, man.

We might do that if they make the

playoffs, but even that feels, I think, a

little bit lucky at this point.

This club keeps getting close to creating an

actual run, right?

I feel like I've talked about this every

freaking day.

You feel like, man, this is it.

They win a big resounding victory last night,

and then you get totally opposite, polar opposite

today.

They just cannot get out of their own

way in that regard.

Wild card scoreboard definitely gave Texas a break

today.

I think we talked about Toronto losing.

The Astros, I think, have jumped back on

top of the Phillies at this point.

Sorry, brain cramp.

The Guardians are still trailing big time to

the Orioles.

We'll keep our eye on those games.

Don't think they're definitely not going to go

final before we get off the show here.

We have about 20 minutes or so left

in the show as it stands right now,

but we will continue to keep our eye

on these.

Six to four, though.

Astros are ahead, going to the fifth inning.

Astros are coming back up to bat now.

Let's see if I'm missing anything.

Troy, what's good, man?

I appreciate you hanging out, brother.

I always say everybody's welcome, man.

Everybody is welcome, and I don't even mind

some friendly trash talk here and there.

I got a bunch of good friends, a

bunch of good buddies.

It always works out this way, doesn't it,

in life?

But it actually kind of makes it more

fun.

I've got a bunch of friends that love

A&M.

I'm Longhorns.

We cover Longhorns here on the channel.

We cover the Rangers, the Cowboys, the Mavs.

It's fun when you've got some rivalries, when

you've got some head-butting going on.

I love it.

It makes it a fun part of the

game, in my opinion.

I know some people don't appreciate it like

I do, but I appreciate you hanging out,

man.

Thank you so much.

Seriously.

Let's see what else I got for you

today.

Let's do a little 40-man pulse, a

little Rangers news.

Eovaldi, we know yesterday, if you didn't catch

it on the show, Evo threw 30 pitches

over two innings, live batting practice in Seattle.

Skip said it went well.

Evo came out feeling good.

That is really, really huge.

Evo slated to be kind of a middle

-relief bridge guy right now.

Evo himself has said that he feels like

he can be most effective coming out of

the pen.

No return date yet, but his September role

is getting a bit more refined at this

point.

You'd imagine by mid-September, he'll probably be

back in the mix, if I had to

guess.

Don't know if they're going to do any

kind of rehab assignment.

I'd imagine it really depends on how he's

looking in this build-up session.

If he's not looking so good, still looking

rusty, maybe you send him for a three

-game set.

Although AAA is getting pretty close to done,

aren't they?

I can't imagine there's a lot of AAA

games left in the season.

They end before the Major League does, right?

Josh Jung, we know he is rehabbing.

If you missed it, JJ yesterday went two

for five with a double and an RBI

in his first game.

The Round Rock Express play tonight at 7

.35 Texas time.

Maybe we'll keep our eye on Josh Jung

here.

That game, first pitch set in about 35

minutes or so.

You'd love to see Josh come back for

the Arizona series.

I think in a perfect world, they probably

have him do a week in Round Rock.

I said yesterday, I don't feel like you

have that luxury.

You got to get Josh back in the

lineup, man.

Let him play today.

Maybe you give him the off day tomorrow

and get his butt back to Arizona, back

with the big league club.

Maybe they'll give him the entire weekend.

I wouldn't be doing that.

Dude, we need you.

There's not that many games left.

We've got 15, 16, 16 games left.

I never was a math guy, but look,

it's game 147 tomorrow.

You got about 15 games left.

After tomorrow, you do.

You've got to get Josh Jung back in

the lineup as soon as you possibly can.

I understand there might be some people in

the camp of don't rush this guy.

No, I'm not of the same mindset.

You got to get him back in the

lineup for sure.

Absolutely.

Darnell, we'll see you later, man.

Thanks for hanging out.

Appreciate you as always, brother.

MBJ, what's good?

Talking about Burger.

Burger stands so far off the plate.

He'll only hit lefties that pitch him inside.

Well, I've said so many times with Burger,

if you're a righty, I don't know why

you would throw him anything but sliders and

sweepers that dive off of the outside edge

low and away.

Burger is a sucker for that pitch.

I mean, lefties, look, he's doing some work.

He's got to figure out the righties.

That is for sure.

Carter, we've talked about Carter a little bit.

Carter is a player that the Rangers really

have tried to give every opportunity to succeed.

If you're playing the hot hand, I get

Carter just because you really don't have a

full deck.

With Josh Jung being out, you kind of

have to play him in center.

You could stop playing Evan Carter every day

and let Zeke Duran be your everyday center

fielder when Josh Jung gets back.

When Josh Jung gets back, you've got third

base taken care of.

And you guys know, I've definitely not been

the biggest fan of Josh Jung playing the

field, playing at third base.

I think you got to stomach it for

this year.

I have been consistent with that.

Off season, there's no excuse.

I think you got to try and go

a different direction.

But I think for this season, you got

to stomach Young at the hot corner.

He hasn't been good there.

I know some people try and throw out

the fielding percentage.

Come on now.

We can't use fielding percentage anymore to judge

how good a player is defensively.

We know there's so many subjective errors and

base hits given out by the official scorer

at the game.

Fielding percentage can't the judge.

It really cannot be the judge of a

player's defensive ability.

J.J. has not had a great year

at the hot corner, but you got to

deal with it.

You could then, as a result, keep having

Cody Freeman play second.

Maybe you continue to have him do a

little platooning.

You could throw Cam Cauley out there at

second, and Zeke could be your everyday center

fielder.

That would be a bit of a radical

decision, but if we're really talking about playing

the hot hand, that to me is what

you should be considering.

Evan Carter kind of being a late defensive

replacement, being a guy you can put on

to steal a bag or to go first

to home on a ball in the gap,

that is where I would start thinking if

I was Skip Schumaker and Chris Young.

Don't know if they'll listen, but if you're

playing the hot hand, I don't really know

why Carter would continue to play when Josh

Young gets back.

The defense is not enough at this point.

I know so many people have been hanging

on to that because they love Evan Carter

and want to see him succeed.

Who doesn't?

But I don't think you can continue to

hold on to the defense with 16 games

left to play.

Can't do it.

We'll keep rolling.

Let's see what else we got.

Jacob DeGrom versus Logan Gilbert tomorrow.

That is another 3.10 p.m. start

time.

DeGrom enters with a 10-9 record, 3.96

ERA, 174 strikeouts.

Texas needs the ace to turn this frustrating

loss today into a series win.

This is why you have him.

This is why you're paying him 30-plus

million dollars, whatever, $38 million a year to

win these kinds of games.

Make no mistake, by the way, on the

other side, Logan Gilbert is still a serious

assignment, but there's definitely something to attack there.

Texas has played Logan Gilbert well.

He enters with a 3.71 ERA, 176 strikeouts.

The A’s just tagged him for seven runs

and four homers and four and two thirds.

So if you got the ace doing it,

you would think the Rangers could follow suit.

Even more interesting with Gilbert, he's got a

4.45 home ERA.

The dude low-key dominates on the road,

2.70 ERA for Logan Gilbert on the road.

So T-Mobile has not been the best

place for him.

It's not been kind to him this year.

Look, 23, this is another wild stat with

Gilbert.

23 of his 26 homers allowed have come

at T-Mobile.

How ironic is that stat?

23 of 26 Logan Gilbert home runs allowed

have come at home.

That's wild.

As we do the wide frame view, the

wide frame picture on the game tomorrow and

just the rest of the road trip in

general, you lose tomorrow and the math gets

pretty brutal.

I mean, Texas, you'd leave Seattle one and

two, and you'd have to pretty much sweep

Arizona, I think, to have a successful road

trip.

Winning the series in Arizona would feel good,

but when you actually have that perspective and

step back, we went three and three on

this road trip.

It's survival, I guess, but it's not getting

you anywhere.

Today's offensive failure really raises tomorrow's difficulty.

You know, Texas couldn't cash opportunities against a

rookie left-hander.

Gilbert is a proven strikeout arm.

He is.

The situational hitting to me just cannot keep

looking the same.

The Rangers have to figure out ways to

produce with runners in scoring position tomorrow.

Have to.

Let me check comments one more time, and

then we are going to lay in this

thing and go watch some football.

MVJ comment from YouTube.

No team is afraid of running on these

outfielders.

Too many weak arms.

Wouldn't mind Zeke in the outfield.

Thank you.

Zeke, everyday center fielder for the rest of

the year, is something they have to be

thinking about.

Evan Carter, he's got a great glove.

He has had a couple of missteps over

the last couple of weeks defensively, but he's

got a nice glove, but the bat has

been bad.

I know he just had two hits.

Who cares?

He hasn't done it consistently over the last

10, 15, 30 games.

A little two-hit, you know, drop in

the bucket is not making me start him

for another week.

That's not how this works.

So for me, Evan Carter seriously needs to

be considered for a bench role at this

point.

I think you can still utilize him.

He can still be a useful player for

you, but I think the Rangers have to

be giving that some thought.

Zeke Duran has shown he is a capable

center fielder.

He is more than capable out there in

center field.

You get Josh Jung back.

Obviously, it's predicated on Josh Jung being back

with the big league club.

You don't have JJ.

You really got to keep playing Evan Carter,

but if you get Evan Carter to the

bench, who knows how the offense could potentially

open up.

Right now, EC is a bit of a

black hole in the lineup.

We got to be real about it.

Nobody's rooting for him to fail, but it's

not going well right now.

It just isn't.

Nate?

Yes, sir.

Football, baby.

Let's go.

It's going to be fun, even though I

really don't care who wins or loses tonight.

I think the Hawks probably get a win,

but I really am just glad to be

watching football on the TV again, man.

There is nothing better than football, baseball.

Then you got hockey and basketball heating up

in about a month.

I love it.

Absolutely love it.

Let's land this thing.

So today told me Texas can still figure

out a way to waste a perfectly winnable

September game when the offense doesn't connect its

opportunities.

You had them today.

You had a rookie on the mound and

you just couldn't get it done.

I'm still unsure about this lineup stringing together

complete offensive nights.

You can do it randomly on a late

Tuesday night on the West coast, and then

you come out the next day looking like

one of the worst offenses in the league

minus the burger and the Seager solo shots.

You just wonder, is this offense able to

be consistent enough to survive this playoff race?

Instead, we're getting treated to a lot of

isolated, very isolated damage and pitching.

Next thing I'm watching Jacob deGrom tomorrow.

Can he be the rescuer?

Can he be the streak stopper?

I know they've only lost one in a

row, but I think you get the sentiment.

Can he be the guy that picks the

team up and puts them in a primo

position to win tomorrow?

Hope the offense obviously supports him well, but

need a big game from DeGrom.

Otherwise this road trip turns into survival mode

very, very quickly.

All right, hope you guys have a great

rest of your Wednesday night.

Enjoy the football tonight.

I know I will.

We'll be back tomorrow about the same time.

I really think today's game went pretty quick.

What was the time on today's game?

Let me look at this box score real

quick.

Two hours and 19 minutes efficient.

Bravo.

They wanted to make sure everybody at the

Mariners game got over to the Seattle Seahawks

game and plenty of time mission accomplished.

Very kind of both teams to be very

bad offensively today and get the game done

in two hours and 19 minutes.

Hello.

So look, unless we've got another two hour

and 19 minute game, I'm hopeful we can

maybe get the ninth inning in the ninth

inning in tomorrow.

If not, we'll go live within maybe 15

to 30 minutes of game going final worst

case scenario.

So that's the plan.

We're sticking to it.

Congrats.

You've made it through Wednesday.

The weekend is nearly upon us.

We got a big matchup in college football

this weekend, Texas, Ohio state.

I'll be covering that game.

I can't wait.

Even if you're not a fan of either

team, come hang out.

Talk about the biggest matchup in college football

with me on Saturday.

Give me a hard time.

If you're not a Longhorns fan or if

you're a Longhorns hater, should be great, but

we'll be doing Rangers lives all weekend.

It's going to be great job.

Appreciate you guys.

Have a good Wednesday night.

And as I always say, tend every show,

God bless and go Rangers.