Hi, and welcome to another edition of Right

on Rangers Live, coming at you.

Ninth inning.

We'll see if the Rangers have a complete

comeback left within them.

Look, the opener did its job tonight.

You had a couple of innings of scoreless

baseball taken care of, and then Kumar Rocker

still gave up six.

Then Elias Díaz took a game that looked

absolutely dead and turned it into a one

-run ball game with one swing.

Tonight, kind of two stories at once, is

it not?

You've got another difficult Kumar Rocker evaluation, and

you've got an offense that suddenly has the

opportunity to erase the consequence of it.

We are now headed to the final frame.

Rangers gonna have an opportunity to get a

monumental win tonight here in the bottom half.

You have the ninth inning, the top of

the ninth, still yet to take care of.

We are gonna have Silseth come into the

game.

Díaz up to bat, one out, nobody on

here.

Texas trailing 6-5 in the eighth.

They trailed 6-1 at one point.

Rangers catcher and midseason add Elias Díaz hits

a grand slam.

The first grand slam for a Ranger this

season.

Rangers had not hit a grand slam all

year.

They were one of three teams, and now

they leave just two remaining with the Rangers

catcher going deep.

Rangers tried the opener tonight.

Trevor Williams, Robby Ahlstrom gave Texas two scoreless,

and Kumar Rocker allowed six runs, five earned

on nine hits over five frames.

You have to wonder, did Skip leave Kumar

in a little bit too long?

I would tend to say yes.

I feel like it was pretty evident early

on that Rocker didn't have it, and I

think Skip still a little bit in the

mode of, we're in May, we're in June,

there's a lot of season left.

I did not understand leaving Kumar Rocker out

to dry and just keeping the Rays tacking

on runs when you probably could have gone

to the pen.

Yes, it puts you at a disadvantage.

No, you don't have a lot of season

left.

You got to deal.

That's the tricky thing is, I know we

have a lot of people cautioning, they got

to save the bullpen.

They got to save the pen.

You also got to win games at the

end of a season, and you're not going

to win a game allowing a guy that

clearly doesn't have it to continue to pitch.

That didn't make a lot of sense to

me.

We've done this thing where we save bullpen

arms for later dates, and it just goes

to show you, look, you're bringing somebody else

besides Rocker.

Maybe this game is 5-4 Texas right

now.

That's a big what if from tonight.

Ezequiel Duran homered early?

What can't that man do?

Thank goodness for Zeke Duran.

Where in the world would the Rangers be

without him?

We've said that so many times this year,

and it's so true.

Tampa scored six unanswered.

This thing looked dead.

I think a lot of people gave up.

Elias Díaz hits the home run, and suddenly

there's a little charge of energy into the

stadium, into the fan base, and now Texas

is one swing away from tying this thing.

You're hoping Silseth can keep it right here

where it is.

He did just allow Yandy Díaz to reach

base on an opposite field single.

You've got Aranda up to bat now, two

for four on the night.

He has two strikes on him.

Silseth been walking a tightrope a little bit

since his Rangers career began.

He's had some clean frames here and there,

but he has dealt with a lot of

traffic in his time as a Texas Ranger,

and he is going to ...

Is he going to hit, or is that

a foul ball?

Is that a foul ball?

Maybe he hit him here.

I guess we're going to first base.

Here's the replay.

We'll see if we can get a better

look.

Oh yeah, bottom of the elbow, sure enough.

We're right on cue, Chase Silseth, right on

cue.

This dude loves him some traffic, really does.

We're going to get to comments and questions

here in just a little bit, but first,

you know the drill here right on Rangers.

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right on Rangers for all of your Texas

Rangers content, bringing you some live in-game,

play-by-play, colored commentary.

We'll definitely check the chat here and there

as the game is going on, but as

you know, post-game show is where we

get a lot of fan reaction, so if

I miss your comment initially, bear with me.

A lot going on, game to finish here.

Hopeful that Silseth can keep this at a

6-5 game.

It feels like a second run is pretty

much a death sentence.

Never say never, right, but you want to

keep this at a one-run ballgame.

You really do.

Let's see, Steven, what do we got?

They should have left Trevor Williams in longer

than just the one inning.

I mean, yeah, you could make that argument

for sure.

I feel more strongly they should have taken

Rocker out.

They really left him out to dry.

I mean, I know he did give you

a couple of scoreless frames there at the

very end of it all.

You know, he gave you the 6th inning

scoreless, the 7th inning scoreless, but the damage

done, man, in that 5th inning was brutal.

Brutal.

Will this be another fake comeback, Swolger asks

from YouTube.

I gotta think, you know, with who the

Rangers have coming up next, you are going

to at least have a fighting chance here,

man.

I do think you're going to have an

opportunity.

The Rangers, you have Duran obviously out.

You got Burger, you got Carter, you got

Freeman.

We'll see what they decide to do, but

obviously Burger can change a game with one

swing of the bat.

He's got the power.

Carter, he has not been good.

He is one for three tonight, but he

can run into one.

Cody Freeman, I'll take an A-B from

him, and then Elias Díaz if anybody gets

on.

I feel not like wildly confident, but I

feel like it's a non-zero chance.

How about that?

Unfortunately, we have got a base knock here,

and Chase Silseth, the prize of the trade

deadline for the Rangers, is going to give

up a run here.

That's weak.

That's very weak from Chase, man.

You hit a guy.

You definitely allowed some free runners tonight.

It's just really unfortunate from him.

Come in the game, you immediately get the

opposite field.

All you got to get is two outs,

my guy.

You had bases empty, two outs.

Not a big Chase Silseth guy at this

point.

Look, the ERA looked nice coming from LA,

but I am not a big fan.

I think he has been bad since acquired.

I know maybe the numbers like the ERA

isn't going to back that up perfectly, but

if you watched all of Silseth's outings, if

you've watched it, you know exactly what I'm

talking about.

Way too much traffic.

I don't know why he didn't stick with

Tyler Alexander.

He's going to get Silseth right now.

Dude, why not stick with Alexander?

What was the big deal there?

He got the first out.

You throw Tyler Alexander all the time against

lefties and righties.

I have no clue what the thought process

was there.

Look, I figured Silseth could get two outs

with nobody on base, but Alexander was in

a groove.

He had not allowed a base runner.

Kind of a weird move, in my opinion.

A little too much analytics on that one,

man.

We got to play the matchups.

We got to play the matchups, baby.

You get in trouble that way, man.

Alexander was dealing.

He was dealing.

Bullpen has not been good, man.

Bullpen has just not been good.

There's no other way around it.

No other way around it, man.

The Penn just constantly giving up runs at

this point in the season.

Feels like in every game occurrence at this

point, which is weird.

We haven't always seen this out of the

bullpen.

We really haven't, but it does feel like

every other game, if not every game, bullpen

is seeding runs.

It's not going to be a winning strategy

for you.

The Rangers had an opportunity to address this.

They decided not to.

Chase Silseth, again, not a guy that I

think anyone would consider locked down.

Chase Silseth, kind of a depth move.

I agree with this comment.

YouTube here says, when Silseth's the best pickup,

you deserve to lose.

I think you deserve exactly what you're getting

when you decide not to improve the Penn.

Remember, CY talked about, hey, we're going to

go ahead and we're going to get Bradford

and Montgomery back, and that's going to strengthen

the Penn just naturally.

So much for that.

I mean, look, I think a lot of

us saw through that, but nevertheless, it was

said.

Chris Young making it seem like our bullpen

was going to be elite by getting back

Cody Bradford and Jordan Montgomery.

I mean, love those guys, cheering for them,

but you definitely were not ever going to

be getting an elite bullpen by just getting

those two guys back healthy.

Maybe he was thinking Cal Quantrill was going

to be out in the Penn.

I mean, at that point, I mean, again,

I have no clue what exactly was going

through his mind.

Maybe he was thinking, hey, we're going to

move Cal out there, and then Cal's just

gone on this crazy run.

Who knows what was going through the mind?

Who knows?

Look, I'll say this.

Tonight, let's not assume a loss, but it's

not looking good.

You only have one down here, runners on

first and second.

It's not looking good.

Let's not assume L, but I think for

all intents and purposes, we'll keep our expectations

low, and you never know.

You still have two games this weekend, Saturday,

Sunday.

You got to feel like you got a

chance in the next couple of games.

Today was, I think, the day you circled

as a big question mark, at least I

did.

Did not feel great about Kumar Rocker coming

into this start, even with the starter or

with the opener, excuse me.

That doesn't make me feel a whole lot

better.

I know some people were like, yo, finally,

we're going back to it.

I've said pretty much all season that the

Rocker opener strategy is a band-aid.

It's not a long-term fix, and it

kind of showed its ugly head tonight.

Don't want to be right on that, by

the way, but I mean, exactly my point

gets played out here.

You know, the opener only works if, A,

you get shutout innings from the first one

or two guys.

Skip kind of rolled the dice today, going

with Robby Ahlstrom after Trevor Williams, but then

it also only works if Kumar Rocker comes

in and actually pitches well, and he didn't

do that tonight.

He came in and gave up a home

run immediately, gave up a home run in

the next inning, and then before you know

it, he gives up a four spot in

the fifth.

It's just not a great spot to be

in when your first round pick from 2022

is needing a babysitter opener for all of

his starts.

I tweeted out during the game, and I

stand by it.

It's something that I've talked through with you

guys all season long.

Kumar Rocker would have been much better advantaged

developing in AAA.

He did not really appear like he was

totally ready at a number of different points.

He really didn't.

I think the first base stuff aside, not

covering first base, you've had Kumar Rocker experimenting

with learning new pitches this year.

Dude, why wouldn't you do that or have

him do that in AAA?

And I know injuries in depth have been

an issue, but nevertheless, I feel like there's

so many signs this year that this dude

just could have used another development in a

lower pressure environment.

It's one thing, there's a lot of guys

in the minor leagues that have major league

stuff, but it's not polished.

And I think there's an argument to make

here that Rocker clearly has major league stuff,

but it's not polished.

It's not.

I don't know how you could argue this

stuff is polished.

There are guys that we have down in

the minor leagues right now that have as

good a stuff as Kumar Rocker, in my

opinion.

Emiliano Teodo, that dude's filthy, but he can't

throw strikes consistently.

I mean, we've got a few guys that

are in that department.

And so I think Rock probably would have

been best served getting to do some lower

leverage starts down in AAA.

Work on that, whatever they were working on,

the change up or whatever pitch they were

trying to have him throw in the middle

of the year.

That was the weirdest thing to me.

You're having him learn pitches on the fly,

like Kumar doesn't have enough stuff going on

through his mind.

You're now having him learn pitches on the

fly.

What are we doing?

That was always the weirdest thing to me.

It's like, this dude needs to focus on

the things that are already needing tweaking in

his game.

Now you're having him learn other pitches.

What are we doing?

Not my favorite strategy.

I do agree that this team does have

some issues.

I'm with Swolger on this one.

The comment says, why can't this team not

develop pitchers?

We're going to get out of this ninth

inning without too much more damage, fortunately.

It is a two run ballgame though, 7

-5 as we head to the bottom of

the ninth.

Developing pitchers is an issue.

It is.

But the expectations are very low sometimes, I

think, for some of these guys.

I'm convinced there's going to be somebody, if

I go back and check my comments tonight,

I bet there's somebody that is trying to

tell me that Kumar Rocker actually had a

pretty decent start.

I don't even say that ironically.

I'm sure there are a number, there's a

faction of this fan base that thinks Kumar

Rocker had a decent start and just had

some bad luck.

The expectations among some fans, I know it's

just like really bad Homer syndrome, which I'm

guilty of from time to time, full disclosure,

but there's people always gassing up these Rocker

starts.

I'm sure there's somebody out there that's going

to look at Kumar Rocker and the three

strikeouts and be like, oh, yeah, he had

it, but he just got unlucky.

I'm dead serious with you guys.

I wish I was lying.

The expectations are low in Rangerland sometimes when

it comes to these dudes.

It's not a lot of people that hang

out on the lives with me, but the

fact that you've got people constantly telling me

that Rocker, and even Leiter, are taking these

massive positive strides forward, I'm just not there.

It goes back to the comment that was

made, Swolger, I think was the one to

say it, right?

Development.

You've got teams around the league taking less

pedigree and developing it faster.

I think Logan Henderson is the best example

of that in the Brewer system.

Fourth round pick, and the dude is like

an ace.

He's getting buried by the Miz in the

headlines, but there are teams that are taking

less pedigree, a fourth rounder, a fifth rounder,

and turning them into an ace before we

turn in these first round top five pick

guys into aces.

Comment from TikTok Kumar fanboys or something else,

man.

Nick, it's well said.

There are a number of big time Rocker

and Leiter defenders, and I just want to

make the record clear.

I don't hate these guys.

I don't dislike these guys.

I don't cheer for them to fail, but

I just don't understand how some people gas

up these dudes like, we should be proud

of the seasons that they're having.

These are not great seasons from your top

picks back to back years in the 22

and 23 draft, or excuse me, the 21

and 22 draft.

It's not good.

I don't know how much more leash you

give some of these guys.

With Kumar Rocker, I got to be honest

with you, I'm a little, I would say

knee jerky right now, but it feels like

Kumar, if next year is not better, I

don't know how much better it's going to

get, baby.

I think Kumar is going to get another

year.

I don't think they're going to DFA him

or trade him.

I think we got him for another year.

He's too young.

He's too valuable in terms of being a

top draft pick, not necessarily in terms of

results on the field, but it doesn't feel

like you can do this forever.

It's definitely been uneven with Rock in his

Rangers tenure.

All right, we've talked about Rock long enough.

Let's get back to the bottom of the

ninth inning.

It's a three, two count, Burger up to

bat.

I'm going to call some time out here,

try and get back on track.

Jake Burger, one for one on the night,

does have two walks.

So look, seeing the ball pretty well up

there at the dish, seeing the ball pretty

well.

Man, that's lucky.

Just lucky on that one, man.

A little foul right back into the catcher's

mitt.

Catcher couldn't glove it.

Maybe that's the break we need.

Come on, babe.

Let it be so.

Baker in the game.

He has been very good for the Rays

over the course of this year, a 1.47

ERA.

It's Baker and Latz in the American League.

I mean, I know there's Chapman and a

couple other guys that are real good, and

Burger just missed one here.

Bummer.

He just missed that one.

Baker, 39 saves, and he has a .89

whip.

Again, a 1.47 ERA.

This guy's good.

Rangers get a couple of runs off this

dude.

That is an impressive feat.

Very impressive feat.

Burger is just in a foul fest right

now.

He's making Baker work.

Look, the more pitches you can get Baker

to throw, the better.

Let me get to a couple of comments

here.

Wow, great A.B. from Burger.

Great at bat from Burger.

Got to give it to him, man.

Three walks.

Jake Burger does not walk a ton.

Got to give Burger a ton of credit.

He has been a very, very good hitter

tonight up at the dish.

That's what you needed.

Give me a little life.

Evan Carter, please.

The little savior, please, baby.

Dude, activate the 2023 mode immediately.

Come on now.

I know that he's had a hit in

back-to-back games.

Let's see that pop now.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Caden, I'm with you on this comment says,

YouTube comment here.

We use Silseth way too much.

He's not good.

I mean, he's depth.

He's depth at this point.

And to me, every single time he comes

in, I know it's not every single, I

know I'm using some hyperbole right now, but

like, it feels like every other time there's

traffic.

I, and it's not just like one hitter.

It's like multiple hitters.

There's runners on first and second.

The bases are loaded.

Not great.

All right.

Not great.

Evan Carter on the night again, one for

three race have the third baseman really far

in.

I don't see the Rangers giving away an

out here.

Interesting defensive strategy.

I look, I know Carter is a threat

to bunt, but that third baseman is way

in on the grass, man.

Way in Guillermo.

What's good.

Yeah, he is absolutely Baker.

Very, very good this year.

I mean, he's, he's been pretty lights out

six, six to 35 comment from, uh, from

tick tock, by the way, it's just a

big dude.

He is six, six to 35 is Brian

Baker.

That's an intimidating guy out there on the

mound.

Evan Carter in a favorable count here.

Good eye.

He didn't go.

He did not go.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Three in one.

Now for Evan, give me a pitch to

drive here.

Send one out.

Evan Baker sets burger over on first base.

Evan gets a decent pitch to handle their

knee high strike fastball.

And he pulls it out.

Not great contact.

And it's going to be a full count

here.

Full count.

Carter Baker pitch number 15 and coming and

he takes ball for two great ABs in

a row against one of the best closers

in the game.

You got to love that.

Now the trainer goes out.

Oh, wow.

Trainer is out to visit Baker.

At this point, Rangers have first and second,

nobody out.

What could go wrong?

Something might be wrong with Bryan Baker.

He's saying he's good.

I'm not a John boy lip reader here,

but look like he said, I'm good.

I don't know what's going on.

Maybe they're just confused as to why the

best closer, one of the best closers in

the American league is having a struggle right

now.

Felt like he said, I'm good.

I don't know what's going on.

Fastball is off by five.

Okay.

Wow.

They're taking them out.

They're taking them out.

It makes sense.

Rays are in the playoffs, man.

You'd have to have a monumental collapse, but

we're going to have a long extended break

here and the Rays are going to bring

in a reliever here who's going to get

as much time as he needs.

I'm not familiar with the speeds, so a

good catch there, JN.

JN TikTok comment here says, fastball off by

five miles an hour.

Good find.

Good find.

Well, let's talk strategy here.

Comment from YouTube.

Uh, I know what can go wrong.

We don't bunt burger and Carter over.

This is an interesting discussion.

And you know, here's, here's the thought process,

right?

You have Cody Freeman up next hitter up

is the Lee SDS.

You need two runs.

So if you go ahead and you bunt

Freeman, that would give you a Lee SDS

and Joc Pederson actually no Foscuee.

So it would be a Lee SDS and

Foscuee.

And right now, by the way, they're bringing

in a righty.

So Foscuee would be righty righty.

I don't know if they're going to bunt

here or not.

I think this is going to be a

really interesting move from skip.

I don't think they are going to bunt

here on the bench, by the way, they

have Cauley, Jansen, Lopez, and O'Hoppe.

O'Hoppe has not really been employed against righties.

I don't think you're going to sub in

any of these guys for Díaz the pinch

hit for Díaz.

Yeah.

I'm not seeing that.

I don't know who you bring in that.

You really feel like you're getting a better

AB.

And I mean, Díaz the grand slam.

Yeah, Dan, I'm with you on that.

I just don't think you bench the grand

slam guy.

Great news.

Don't have a lot of great options here.

You don't have a great lefty off the

bench.

Sure would be nice to have Alejandro Osuna

right about now.

Am I right?

Sure would be nice to be able to

put him in at some point against this

righty.

Tyler Wells, by the way, 2.55 ERA.

Only two of 16 inherited runners have scored.

Okay.

Rangers are going to have to earn it

today.

They are going to have to earn it

today.

Tampa play.

Good to see you again, man.

Thanks for hanging out.

A back issue maybe for Baker.

Looked like he was trying to stretch it

out.

Comment there from TikTok.

I feel like it's definitely a point where

if you're the Rays, you're not taking any

risks with Baker.

Maybe if it was the postseason, you'd be

leaving him in, feeling a little differently here.

But the Rays are comfortably in October at

this point, barring a massive melt.

So right thing to do.

Maybe the Rangers can use this good fortune

here.

Nicky Lopez replaces Cody Freeman.

Okay.

Interesting.

Nicky is bunting.

First bunt attempt is fouled down the first

baseline.

So there's your answer.

They're going to bunt.

That was a pretty perfect pitch to bunt

literally right down the pipe.

You hope it doesn't get interesting now.

That was a perfect bunt pitch, man.

Right down the middle.

Oh, a little surprised that they're bunting.

I don't know quite how I feel about

it with Díaz and Foscuee up to bat

next.

Not my most favorite move, but at the

same time, you've got an opportunity here to

have an RBI shot back to back hitters.

Lopez does get the bunt down.

It looked like Wells maybe thought about going

to third base.

It wasn't a great bunt.

I think he might've got him by a

half step.

That would have been close.

Had he really committed to it, that would

have been close.

Burger might've still just been safe, but man,

that would have been close.

All right.

Is Díaz going to be the hero one

more time?

Oh, let's go.

Come on.

Three run bomb to walk it off.

What do we say?

Díaz, a shot to the gap.

It's going to get in one.

We're going to third base.

So that means we have Evan Carter tying

run at third.

Díaz does come through.

Foscuee up to bat next unless we're pinch

hitting again.

Don't really think we will at this point.

I think all we have left on the

bench is righties.

See, that's the only thing, isn't it?

I guess Skip is committing to Foscuee no

matter what here.

This would be a huge moment for Justin.

And I know I've been on the show

multiple days in a row now.

I just don't know if I'm a believer

quite yet.

Make me a believer, Justin.

Let's go.

He's going to take strike one.

That was painted.

This is a big moment for JF.

Look, he's kind of a one trick pony

right now.

You're going righty righty.

This could be a big step for this

man in his career if he can come

through right here for Texas.

Pitch two is a slider in the dirt.

Justin lays off of it.

He got a runner on third base.

Two outs.

Rangers down a run.

This is the kind of stuff you dream

about if you're in Justin's shoes right now.

An opportunity to win the game with one

swing.

Ball too high.

Not even close.

Not a competitive pitch.

If Foscuee can reach, Corey Seager is up

next.

You would think Justin is going to get

a pitch to hit here.

I don't think the Rays want to deal

with righty lefty matchup in Corey Seager.

Foscuee pops it up.

Game over.

Rangers are going to lose this one by

a score of seven to six.

And look, you had an opportunity.

You had a couple opportunities there.

Díaz put a good charge into it.

Not what you want to see from Justin.

Two one count, man.

You're just sitting pretty.

And Cutter, little bit out.

Pretty much Cutter middle out.

All Justin can do is manage a pop

up.

Not great.

Here's the reality.

You want to get talked off the ledge

a little bit here.

I know some of y'all need that

at this moment in time.

I'll just say this.

Not a great game any way you slice

it.

Kumar Rocker, in my opinion, left in the

ball game way too long.

Skip, I know that it's going to get

dressed up like there wasn't a choice.

You didn't have anybody else.

I did not like Kumar Rocker getting left

out to dry.

I don't care about the fifth, excuse me,

the sixth inning.

I don't care about the late innings where

Rocker finally figured it out.

I feel like Rock got left in a

little bit too long.

It would have been nice to get him

out of the game in the fifth when

he clearly didn't have it.

Instead, you allowed him to give up a

couple more runs that ended up being decisive.

I feel the same way about Chase Silseth.

I do think tonight you can 100%

scrutinize the moves of Skip Schumaker, especially managing

the pitching.

I think it's very interesting.

I think you have got a couple of

different Skip Schumaker substitutions or lack of substitutions

that you can really put under the microscope

today.

McJay, comment from YouTube, zero out bunting is

bush league.

Here's kind of my thing with the bunting.

It's always about who's up next.

You liked Díaz in that spot, but nevertheless,

I'm not a big fan of the zero

out bunt in that situation as well.

I think it changes if you have somebody

with a little bit more pop up.

I know Díaz hit the grand slam, but

that's not been his game all year long.

I don't understand the burn of Lopez.

You really don't trust Freeman to bunt in

that spot?

That was kind of weird to me.

Do you really not trust Cody Freeman that

much?

I mean, I don't know.

Maybe bush league is too strong of a term.

I just think it's a very questionable decision.

Burning Lopez to me is questionable too.

You had Cam Cauley.

I feel like you could have had Cam

Cauley come in and do the bunting if

you really doubt Cody Freeman's ability to bunt

the baseball that much.

I probably would have saved the lefty matchup

for Justin Foscuee.

Did not feel good about Foscue coming up

righty righty there.

I do think that you've got a really

solid opportunity there with no outs first and

second.

I don't understand the substitution to bunt.

That's just me.

Unless the explanation from Skip Postgame is, we

really don't trust Cody.

We really don't trust anybody else.

Nicky Lopez is the only guy.

Maybe that's the case, but I felt like

it was a little bit of a weird

spot to sub just for a bunt.

Justin Foscuee, I mean, look, if you sub

him, let's say you do let Freeman bunt

and Freeman is successful, you maybe could substitute

Lopez for Foscue there.

But this is kind of what I mean.

You guys know, I don't want to pile

on Justin because it's not Foscue's fault that

this game was lost, but this is kind

of why I pumped the brakes on Foscue.

It's easy to hit a solo shot or

hit an RBI when the game is not

on the line.

It's a lot harder to come through and

connect when you've got something at stake.

For me, I'm just not sold on Justin.

I hope to be wrong.

I hope he becomes the most clutch hitter

that the Rangers have had in the last

decade, but this is just a reason why

I'm not completely sold.

I did say this multiple times this week.

Yeah, in the third inning, a solo shot,

an RBI single, you know, bravo, but dude,

when the game's on the line, what are

you going to do?

And to me, this is kind of a

great example of what I was talking about.

You have game on the line and you

have a 2-1 favorable hitter's count, and

the best you can do is pop up

to second base.

Osuna would have came through.

You don't even need to get me going

on that tangent.

Again, I'll say it.

I'll say it one more time.

How nice would it have been to have

Alejandro Osuna on the bench in that inning?

We say that, but Skip probably would have

burned him at some point.

I mean, that's just how it goes.

It is rare that in the inning, we

have three or four bench bats available.

I mean, it's rare.

We had like three or four bench bats

available and it was the ninth inning.

That is not common at all, at all.

Bunt was the absolute proper play with no

outs.

Disagree.

You have the bottom of the order coming

up.

I think Bunting, very well said.

A.J. Pierzynski, I remember said this on

a national broadcast that the Rangers were playing.

I forget who they were playing, but he

said it so well.

You bunt for the guy after the guy

who's bunting.

I mean, look, it's a questionable decision.

It's not hook, line, sinker.

You're bunting for the nine hole hitter to

come up and then you've got Foscuee behind

him.

To me, it's not a slam dunk.

I don't know why anybody would feel like,

man, that's a slam dunk.

You bunted so that way the nine hole

hitter and Justin Foscueee could come up.

And look, I get that Díaz hit the

grand slam.

That hasn't been his game.

His game is not hitting homers.

His game has not been driving the gap

incessantly.

Ultra modern, that's, I mean, that in a

vacuum is against lefties, my guy.

The 824 OPS, come on now.

That's not anything special when it comes to

righties.

I would totally disagree.

You'd much rather have Osuna up in that

moment than Foscuee with a righty in the

game.

Foscuee has not been good against righties at

all.

I'm not even going to debate that one.

It's a silly debate.

You'll take Alejandro Osuna over Justin Foscueee with

a righty on the mound every single time.

Foscuee has been great against lefties.

He has not been good against righties.

That's why they don't play him against righties.

But you had no other option.

All you had was Danny Jansen and Cam

Cauley.

Tough loss, man.

Really tough loss.

Frustrating loss.

It definitely hurts, but you know what?

The Rangers have an opportunity.

They really do.

They have an opportunity here the rest of

the weekend.

They can still win a couple of games.

I do feel like they've got a shot.

They can hang with the race.

I think that is what this entire game

and really the season series so far with

the Rays, Texas has been able to hang.

They really have.

Here's the last thing I'll say about Alejandro

Osuna.

I don't want to turn this into Alejandro

Osuna, man.

You guys know, big Osuna fan.

Definitely a little biased, but I do think

that the facts are on my side here.

You won't find very many late game clutch

RBI hits from Justin Foscuee.

You won't.

You're not going to find a ton of

highlight reel plays, Justin Foscuee winning the game

for Texas.

I'm not saying none exist.

You will find multiple this season from Alejandro

Osuna.

Clutch RBIs late in ballgames.

You will 100% find that.

And so if we brainlessly throw out OPS

like it's the only indicator of success in

late game moments, that's on you, my guy.

One of those two players actually has come

through with clutch hits this year.

The other, not so much.

Not saying zero, but definitely not as much

as Alejandro Osuna.

We'll keep going.

Appreciate all you guys hanging out.

Let's keep rolling.

What do we got?

Houston won.

Nah, not shocked.

It goes back and forth every single day

it feels like.

Some days you feel like the division is

more attainable.

Some days you feel like the wild card

is the way you have to go, the

route to the playoffs.

Feels like wild card again.

You drop three games, really four games at

this point behind Houston because of the tiebreaker.

Unfortunate.

All right.

What else we got?

If Skip leads the club to below 500

record this year, does he still have a

job comment from YouTube?

Sugi, what's good?

I would definitely say Skip has a job

next year.

I don't think there's any way that Skip

gets fired.

The only way Skip would maybe get fired

after this year would be if you had

Ray Davis clean house in the front office,

which I don't think is going to happen

either.

I do think that discussing a managerial change

is pretty fruitless.

I think Skip at least gets next year,

probably gets the year after because next year

there's going to be so many great excuses

built into next year.

Lockout year.

It was just a weird year.

We didn't know.

We usually did.

This got cut short.

The season was not starting at its normal

time.

You're going to have so many built-in

excuses to not do anything drastic next year.

I really don't understand anybody that's really convinced

Skip Schumaker is on the hot seat.

I'm not saying you are, Sugi, but I

just think the writing's on the wall.

You're going to have Skip be around at

least two years, probably three.

I think that third year might be the

interesting one.

If the Rangers really melted down next year,

maybe, but even then it's probably going to

be circumstantial.

Are there a lot of injuries?

Do they spend a lot of money in

free agency?

It's all going to be circumstantial.

I think year three is probably going to

be the year that really makes or breaks

Skip.

Not next year, but the year after next,

so the 2028 season.

I think if they don't make the playoffs

by 2028, they are still in a playoff

drought at that point.

Yeah, I feel like Skip definitely could be

on the hot seat, but it's hard to

blame Skip totally for this year.

I'll say what I've always said.

I don't think Skip has really done enough

to push this team over the top, over

the edge.

I feel like he has not totally tanked

the team either.

I don't necessarily feel like he's the reason

they're a losing team right now.

To me, he feels like a moot point.

I know that that is a really hard

thing for me to say, not inside the

clubhouse, not really on the field with those

guys knowing all the ins and outs, but

I think the results at some point have

to speak for themselves.

As much as people can compliment and laud

and praise Skip Schumaker and what's going on

inside the clubhouse, at the end of the

day, what matters are the results on the

field, and the results on the field are

you're a losing team.

I mean, that I know isn't a great

thing for people to hear out loud, especially

the Rangers diehards, but this is a losing

team, and I think Skip does have to

take some onus and responsibility for that.

Has he been a big negative influence?

No, probably not, but again, what Skip was

hired for is to really squeeze as much

out of a roster as he possibly could.

The Miami playoff run, that's exactly what happened,

right?

It was not a great roster, not an

expensive roster, had some good players on it,

but Skip kind of squeezed the most out

of that situation.

They won a lot of one-run ball

games.

The rest is history.

He won manager of the year.

I don't feel like we're squeezing every last

drop out of this roster.

I don't know about you.

I don't feel that way, and I think

when you look at it through that lens,

that's where I start feeling like Skip really

hasn't done enough this year.

Now, if they make the playoffs, I think

you've got to give the man some praise

and some credit, and they could very well

make the playoffs.

I will say this, regardless of if they

make the playoffs or not, it kind of

feels like as you sit back and think

about this season, one of the first thoughts,

really a question that comes to my mind

is, did it really have to be this

hard?

Did it really have to be this difficult?

Maybe, maybe, but I'll just say it's been

way harder than I think it had to

be.

You've had so many losses against bad teams,

getting swept by the Angels in May.

There's been so many things that you could

point to this year, and it's just disheartening.

You feel like this team should be five

games up in a playoff spot if they

just did their jobs against some of the

worst teams in the league.

Hey, Wrestling with Brett, appreciate you.

Rays are a good ball club.

This has really been a great season series.

It's been very back and forth, feels pretty

evenly matched, even though clearly the Rays are

in a much better position than the Rangers

are.

I don't think anybody's debating that, but this

series has felt pretty solid.

This series has felt, not just this one,

but even the one they played in Tampa.

It's been a competitive series.

Clearly the Rays are winning it, but the

Rangers have had their chances.

Texas just hasn't been able to finish, Tampa

has, and that is why they are 84

-57.

Gerald, that's how I feel.

Comment from YouTube here, we should be five

games in first right now.

That is how I feel.

Totally.

Skip, comment from YouTube here, Skip fully costed

us this game.

Why are we using Silseth so much?

We use him a lot.

I don't know if it's because he was

the deadline acquisition and you have to prove

the reason for trading for him.

Not that you gave up a lot for

Silseth and Ohapi.

You gave up an A prospect who was

doing okay, had definitely some promise, but I

don't know why they are using him so

frequently either.

You were in a one-run game.

I don't know what Junis's availability was, and

it is true.

You got to pitch some of these guys

eventually.

You can't just hide them and only use

Lats and Junis forever, but Silseth, man, coming

in that game, it just felt like Alexander

was dealing.

Yeah, it's frustrating that you have to burn

Alexander and maybe he's not going to be

available on Saturday or on Sunday, but really

felt like Tyler Alexander was dealing.

He had gone an inning and a third

and he had not given up a base

runner.

I don't know why you decided to get

cute and pull him.

I think that's a really valid question that

Skip should be asked post-game.

I haven't seen it pop up yet, but

I haven't been watching the iPad a ton.

Let me know if they do end up

interviewing Skip and if anybody asks the question,

but that's an important question, man.

Why go to Silseth?

Alexander was cruising.

Are you just trying to save a couple

of pitches off the arm?

Did you really genuinely feel like Alexander couldn't

get out of that frame?

To me, that felt like a weird move,

as did leaving Kumar Rocker in that fifth

inning.

Ultra Modern, we will agree on this.

Langford and Carter are so important, and the

fact that they are struggling right now is

huge.

So you and I, we definitely can find

some common ground here, my friend.

Look, I don't know if you could have

justified selling either player.

I do think the first part of this

comment, the comment being, we all knew a

few years ago the Rangers would go as

Langford and Carter went.

If Carter and Langford are playing well, the

Rangers have typically won ballgames.

If they are not going well, the Rangers

have had a much more difficult time doing

that.

Much more difficult time.

SkipGPT, Sugi says from YouTube, has due to

poor bullpen rotation management cost us four to

seven games.

That's why we're a losing ball club.

I think that Skip has had a lot

of questionable bullpen decisions for sure.

Now, does he have a full deck?

I would say probably no.

I mean, remember this team's grand idea, their

bright idea in the off season was, let's

anchor our entire bullpen with Chris Martin and

Robert Garcia.

And you can't tell me that's a good

idea.

I mean, they were about to give Robert

Garcia and Chris Martin the ninth inning, and

those are going to be the dudes.

Not good.

So that's why I struggle with blaming Skip

completely, because what Skip got handed is a

bullpen anchored by Chris Martin and Robert Garcia.

RJ, what's good?

A lot of you guys are on Kumar

Rocker tonight.

I will say this, instead of me just

attacking Rock in what he is now, I'm

going to give him a little less blame

and focus a little bit more on the

development side of things with Rock.

I do think it all worked out in

terms of Jacob Latz becomes the elite closer.

If you put Jacob Latz in that fifth

starter role, who knows how the season changes?

It's very, I think, realistic to say this

year might look a lot worse without Jacob

Latz in the closer role.

That being said, Rocker should have started the

year in AAA.

The Rangers should have gone out, maybe paid

for another veteran arm, and you should have

just had Rocker go down to AAA.

The dude's still struggling to cover first base.

He is learning pitches on the fly.

He consistently has issues with command.

Today, I mean, perfect example.

You have a lot just left over the

heart of the plate.

You didn't have walks, but through 40 pitches,

Kumar Rocker had three swings and misses.

Today, the issue wasn't walks, but it was

just leaving stuff out over the heart of

the plate.

You look at that first home run that

he gives up, it's just a meatball.

It's command.

I know he doesn't give up a lot

of walks today, but it was a lot

of very hittable pitches in the zone today

from Rock.

I think had Rocker gone to AAA to

start the season, maybe you could have called

him up.

I think the wise move this year would

have been go get another veteran.

You could have gone and got Patrick Corbin

and brought him back and just let Rocker

do his thing down in AAA.

That would have been, I think, a very

reasonable thing to do.

If you would have pitched it as, you

know what, Kumar Rocker, here's exactly how I

would have pitched it.

Rock has less than 40 professional starts, majors,

minors in the Rangers organization.

We just feel at this point like he

could benefit from going down to AAA, lower

pressure.

We want him to work on a changeup.

We want him to work on some of

the mental components of the game in a

low stress environment, and we hope to bring

him up later in the year to use

him in the rotation at some point.

Leave it at that.

I don't think any fan would have been

pissed off if that would have been what

you had going on with Rocker, if that

was the plan for Rocker at the beginning

of spring training.

I don't think any fan would have balked,

hey, we're going to sign Patrick Corbin, or

whatever.

We're going to sign XYZ, slightly washed up

starting pitcher, and we're going to give Kumar

Rocker a little runway in AAA.

He has less than 40 professional starts, majors,

minors in the Rangers organization.

I don't think anybody would have cared.

We're going to put Jacob Latz out in

the pen, and here we go.

That would have, I think, been the most

advantageous situation for Kumar.

Skip talking.

I'm not going to pause here, but let

me know.

I'll actually mute.

Maybe I can get some of the audio

here and there.

Maybe I can get some of the closed

captions, too, and catch something.

Let me know if anything of significance is

said if you still got it on.

Appreciate all you guys hanging out.

Rocker didn't know why the Tigers, who don't

steal a lot of bases, suddenly stole a

lot of bases.

I mean, Kumar, there's some things about his

game that you just would have loved to

have seen cleaned up in AAA.

I think it's as simple as that.

It really is.

All right.

A couple of things.

Díaz today, I do want to highlight.

Man, what a huge homer from him.

Number seven on the season for him.

Burger, Carter, Freeman all came home.

It doesn't erase the loss or why you

were down five, but they had an opportunity,

and Díaz was a huge part of it.

He has been a guy that I have

loved to watch play baseball this season.

I really hope they find a way to

re-sign Elias Díaz.

I don't feel great about them being able

to re-sign Cal Quantrill.

I would like for them to try and

re-sign Elias Díaz.

I know Danny Jansen is going to be

around next year.

I would not be mad at a Logan

O'Hoppe tandem.

Maybe you can find a trade partner for

Danny Jansen.

I do not really care to go through

another season of DJ.

I would much prefer, let Logan O'Hoppe

catch, let Elias Díaz be the veteran mentor.

I think that would be phenomenal.

Would love to get him on a two

-year deal.

The opener.

I mean, it only works in certain scenarios.

I don't really think the opener is to

blame here.

The reality is the Rangers have not been

able to fix the Kumar-Rocker early inning

woes.

I have been very consistent with this take

for pretty much the entire season.

A lot of people clamoring for the opener

with Rocker.

And really, this is one of the, what,

three games that it was employed in, and

the first two worked pretty well.

But you're so thin with your margin for

error when you do this opener thing.

Williams and Ahlstrom were actually really good.

Robby Ahlstrom did get into some trouble.

It almost got really dicey there with Ahlstrom,

but to his credit, was able to get

out of it.

I do think the opener worked in that

regard, but what's still an issue is Kumar

-Rocker in the early frames.

And to come into a game and to

give up a home run right after the

openers gave up zeroes, yeah, that to me

is a huge, huge issue and deflating.

I know everybody on that field understands what's

going on with Kumar.

You understand, hey, this is what we're employing

because he's had some issues in the first

inning, in the first frame.

So when he comes in after two scoreless

frames from Ahlstrom and Williams and gives up

the bomb, it is mentally deflating.

It's a huge deflator.

And to me, the Rangers are at fault

for not figuring out how to solve the

issue.

Kumar-Rocker is the one throwing the baseball,

of course he gets blamed.

But I think the organization also has to

take it.

Why can't we fix these early inning problems?

Why can't we fix some of the mental

lapses?

If it's just Kumar-Rocker is gassed, that's

a totally different discussion.

Maybe he needs an IL, like a legitimate

IL, give that arm a little bit of

a rest.

I don't know.

But it is disappointing that we're in September

and this still hasn't gotten figured out.

Very disappointing.

Rocker, the problem tonight, as I kind of

was discussing a few moments ago, wasn't necessarily

that he was wild.

He didn't have any walks, but you just

have to look at where some of the

pitches ended up.

A lot of plate tonight.

Not a lot of swing and miss.

I know he ended up with, what, three

on the game in five innings?

There wasn't a lot of swing and miss

tonight.

First 41, 42 pitches, I think I looked

it up on Baseball Savant, I think he

had three swing and misses.

He was not missing a lot of bats

early on.

It's a big reason why he got punished.

He was in the zone a lot, over

the heart of the plate, and it didn't

go so well.

Nick Martinez.

Kind of sad and depressing watching Nick deal.

I always did enjoy his time as a

Ranger, and it would be nice to have

Nick Martinez right now, wouldn't it?

They got the Duran-Homer.

That was pretty much it.

Then he went six and a third, one

run allowed, and then the explosion of runs

came after Nick Martinez exited the ballgame.

Look, I'm happy for Nick.

I cheer for most former Rangers, clearly not

on a night like tonight, but I always

think, whenever I see highlights of him pitching,

I'm like, I wish we would have found

a way to keep that guy.

Very, very solid.

And look, he's one of the better pitchers

in the American League this year.

Ezequiel Duran, he continues to just give this

team everything he's got.

He provided offense again tonight.

He was playing out at second base this

evening.

Had a home run that really got things

fired up in the second inning.

He's been a godsend.

True blessing to the squad.

You hope that the Rangers do not waste

this gem of a season from Ezequiel Duran.

You'd love to see Zeke in October continuing

to wreak havoc.

Wild card race.

We're going to get a little bit of

an update here, and then I'll check comments

a final time before signing off for the

evening.

Wild card race, though.

Again, Rangers drop this one.

They are now two games out of the

wild card race.

Toronto won.

Cleveland won tonight as well.

You also had Baltimore losing their fourth straight.

So Baltimore stays a game behind the Rangers.

Rangers are two games out of the wild

card.

They are three games out for all intents

and purposes, four games out of the American

League West.

At this point, it is going to be

a ton of scoreboard watching this weekend to

see what happens.

If the Rangers drop another game tomorrow and

you have another Houston win, you have another

Cleveland win, it's going to start getting very

dicey for Texas.

It sucks, but this is the margin that

you built by losing to bad teams this

year.

11-15 to the A's and the Angels.

Whatever the record is against the Astros, it's

not great.

Those are the different games you look at

and the margins you look at that have

put the Rangers in the mess that they

are in right now, where every loss feels

like a gut punch.

Every loss feels like a gut punch, man.

It's too bad.

Texas, I really feel like, I know maybe

it feels like a huge stretch to say,

but this team could have just taken care

of business against the bad teams.

You could be up in the division right

now, healthily.

Instead, you're three games back, if not four,

and two games back in the wild card.

All right.

Look, Josh Jung continued jogging yesterday.

Running bases is next.

We talked through that.

Mid-September remains the target, doing essentially all

other baseball activity.

If you're looking for a Young update, Evo

threw 25 pitches yesterday.

I think they will have him do another

bullpen or live BP later on in the

weekend.

Robert Garcia going to be pitching this weekend

on a rehab assignment.

That's basically the news update in Ranger land.

Let's check comments, and then we're going to

land this thing.

What else we got?

Yeah, Nick did figure things out after he

left us comment here from Facebook.

Not surprising.

I'm with you on this.

It definitely is the MO that we have

pitchers go and be aces with other teams.

Cole Ragans comes to mind.

Look, I know Ragans was traded for Chapman,

and the rest is history in 2023, but

still, a point remains there.

You have an example of a pitcher going

to another organization and doing really, really well.

Cripple King, who are we talking about?

Get a little more specific, I'm missing out

on the context and can't scroll all the

way back through.

Let's see if I missed anything else.

We got an eclectic mix, don't we?

Jose, what's good?

This game is on skip, leaving Kumar out

there.

That's me too.

The comment goes on to say, Wallace, pitching

is predictable, and then in a close game,

putting in Silseth, SMH.

Jose, what's good, my guy?

Appreciate you, man.

Thank you for the comment.

I did not love leaving Kumar Rocker out

there in the fifth inning.

It just felt like you're really putting this

game at a huge disadvantage.

You're pretending like this is a game in

April, and it's not.

You've got 20 games left, man.

This isn't a game in April that you

can gloss over because you've got 100 plus

games left.

I felt like it was a mistake to

leave Rocker in as long as they did,

even though he gave you what, one or

two shutout frames at the very end of

the outing.

Not sure what they're going to do with

Rocker.

Comment here from YouTube, they have to shut

Rocker down for the rest of the year.

He does look tired.

He does look a little bit gassed.

I don't think they're going to shut him

down, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised

if we got the notification, but they really

don't have a lot of other great options

this year.

I mean, they could easily pull somebody up

from AAA, but it doesn't feel like they've

got great options.

When Eovaldi comes back, like if Evo is

healthy, that would, I think, be a decent

argument, but I don't think Evo is going

to be ready for a couple more weeks.

What else?

Let's see.

Carter Foscuee glitched his cheeks.

Yeah, Foscuee had a big opportunity there.

That would have been a really cool moment

for him.

Kind of goes to my point.

I'm not trying to take a victory lap

or dunk on Justin Foscueee.

I think those of you that were watching

it live with me would have loved for

him to come through there.

Totally would have gone crazy for a Justin

Foscuee walk-off.

Didn't feel great about the prospect of it.

Ended up being right, and it's kind of

my point about Justin.

When the pressure is low, I feel like

he comes through.

When the pressure is high, I'm not sure

he is that guy.

Granted, he's young in his career.

It's not like he has a ton of

major league at-bats, but it's my hesitation

on Foscuee.

He's a bit of a one-trick pony.

Only can really hit well against lefties.

Not really the same hitter against righties.

Isn't a great fielder.

Isn't particularly fast.

There's really only one component of Justin Foscueee's

game that you really love, and it's the

hitting against lefties.

And that is why I will continue to

say nearly every show, I would love for

the Rangers to get more versatile next year.

A lot of one-trick ponies.

You'd love to see this team acquire more

everyday type players that don't have this huge

glaring weakness in their game.

Now, some people believe that if Justin Foscueee

got more A-Bs against righties, he'd be

better.

Maybe that's true.

Maybe that's true.

I think it's a little bit of a

stretch, and I think that you have to

do a lot of leaping to get there,

but maybe that is accurate.

I think you can make that argument with

a lot of players, though.

I've made that argument with Alejandro Osuna.

If we could just get that guy everyday

playing time, I think he would improve in

a lot of different ways.

So we can play that game all day

long, but the bottom line is, it hasn't

been great in Foscuee's career against righties, and

it has been great against lefties.

Hopefully, he continues to develop.

I'd love to see Justin really find his

spot as an everyday player.

He's a first-round pick.

The Rangers want to see that, too, but

it is kind of sad.

Think about Justin Foscueee and Evan Carter.

Back-to-back, I think, same draft, right?

Weren't Foscuee, I think, Evan Carter was round

two.

Foscuee was round one.

Am I getting that right?

Something like that.

I mean, they're drafted very close to each

other, if not the same draft year, one

year apart, and both those guys are basically

platoon players.

Very high draft picks, Carter and Foscuee, now

bona fide platoon players.

Just not great.

That's not why you draft guys first round,

second round.

It's so they can be everyday platoon guys.

I mean, that's basically what it is.

I would love to see Foscuee, other guys,

Carter especially, figure it out and not just

be used against righties or lefties.

We keep going.

Appreciate you guys.

Let's see.

If Carter got more at-bats against lefties,

no thanks.

He's just terrible against them.

Yeah, that is the counterpoint, isn't it?

Comment from Facebook there.

I mean, I think there is an argument.

If you have Foscuee playing against righties, you're

probably not going to see amazing results, but

you know, maybe.

You never know, I guess, until it gets

tried out.

Well, hey, y'all.

Tomorrow.

Let's go through it real quick.

Tomorrow's game, by the way, is at six

o'clock.

You have deGrom on the mound against Rasmussen,

who has been very, very good.

Look, we'll go through the numbers.

Texas does not have a ton of ABs

against Rasmussen.

You've got Burger, three for eight with a

bomb.

Wow.

One of the righties that Burger actually hits

well against.

That's great.

Carter, oh for one.

Danny Jansen, one for six.

I don't know if DJ is going to

be playing after Díaz hits a grand slam,

but maybe.

Langford, oh for three.

Lopez, two for four.

Nimmo, three for three against Rasmussen.

Ohapi, no ABs.

Pederson, oh for two.

Seager, oh for five.

Not a whole lot promising there, except maybe

Brandon Nimmo.

Maybe Jake Burger there.

On the other side, Aranda against deGrom is

two for three with a homer.

DeLuca, right fielder, two for three.

Díaz, the DH, oh for three.

Mateo, shortstop, oh for two.

Mullins, looks like two for nine.

I think that the rest of the guys,

no ABs officially.

So look, small sample sizes for each opposing

offense.

This feels like deGrom last year when we

went to Houston.

Remember how we went to Houston in September

last year and just totally soiled the bed?

This feels like a game where if deGrom

loses, you feel pretty deflated.

I feel like if you lose tomorrow and

Houston wins or Cleveland wins, a lot of

glooming and dooming is going to take place,

and it's going to be hard for me

to defend it.

It's going to be really hard for me

to defend it.

Bando, what did he say?

I'm not locked in at all in terms

of the broadcast anymore.

Tell me what he said in short.

Appreciate you, my guy.

By the way, the comment from Bando, Elvis

went in on Kumar postgame.

Okay, look, I think that there's a lot

of criticism to be offered out to Kumar

Rocker.

I don't know if the Rangers have necessarily

developed him the greatest, but Kumar is the

one throwing the ball, and it hasn't gone

great the past couple of times out, and

this just so happens to be the most

important point of the season where you really

do need to be throwing great.

This isn't really a great time to be

looking at the big picture.

We have to have outstanding results right now,

and that's not what we got tonight from

Rock.

Appreciate you, guys.

Thank you to everybody that has shared the

live as well.

Tina, thank you for the follow.

Appreciate you, and to answer your question, yes.

See if I missed anything else.

I think we're good, and with that, let's

land this thing once and for all before

we sign off for the night.

Look, tonight told me the opener with Kumar

Rocker, a Band-Aid at best.

I think the Rangers have to focus on

figuring out how is Rocker going to pitch

well in the initial innings regardless of who

ends up starting the game.

When Rocker comes into a game, he has

to figure out a way to be sharp.

Six earned runs tonight, five earned technically, six

total.

Not acceptable for where Rocker is at in

his Rangers career.

Probably should have done a little bit more

time in AAA.

The Rangers decided that he was ready this

year, and I think what this season has

shown you is he probably could have used

some more cooking in the crock pot.

Still unsure about whether or not this team

can really play consistent baseball down the stretch.

I know this isn't rocket science, but what

did we talk about last night?

I mean, they will look like one of

the better teams in baseball one evening and

then look really, really bad the next, and

tonight was made much more respectable by the

Díaz home run, but this is what this

team does.

They win a very huge Thursday night game

to open the series against the best team

in baseball, and then they're down six to

one.

If not for an Elias Díaz home run,

would have been a pretty embarrassing loss getting

shut down by former Ranger Nick Martinez.

Next thing I'm watching, deGrom.

He came out and he gave you quality

after getting lit up by Chicago a week

and a half ago.

Which version of deGrom are we going to

get tomorrow?

I would submit tomorrow is a very big

game.

Clearly, if they lose, you're immediately going to

the scoreboard.

If the Rangers drop the game tomorrow and

Houston and Cleveland win, it is going to

feel bleak.

Not totally hopeless, but it is going to

feel bleak if the Rangers drop a deGrom

start and lose ground in the division and

the wildcard race on top of it.

deGrom needs to come out and be the

ace that you are paying him to be.

One of the highest paid players on the

team.

This is a start where the season is

hanging in the balance.

Which version of the Rangers ace will we

get?

That's what I'll be watching tomorrow.

We'll be back tomorrow.

Rain or shine, we're always here talking ball.

Appreciate you guys hanging out.

Thank you for all the comments tonight.

We don't take any of that for granted.

Thank you to the people that have given

gifts on the show on TikTok.

I saw a couple of y'all do

that.

Thank you so much.

Not needed, but much appreciated.

Any support means a lot, even if it's

just hanging out watching, whether you comment or

not.

I know there's a few people that have

shared the live.

I just want to say thank you.

Not easy hopping on and talking about losses

like this, but it ends up being good

group therapy, I find.

I thank you for that.

Tomorrow, we hope, is a much more upbeat,

optimistic show.

These are important games.

I want to keep the perspective that I

shared with you guys yesterday.

It's nice to be playing meaningful ballgames in

September.

As Rangers fans, there have been many seasons

where we have not been playing meaningful ballgames

in September.

As hard as it is, with a team

as inconsistent as the 2026 Rangers are, let's

appreciate it as best we can.

Let's surely hope for a Rangers win tomorrow,

which will put you right back on track

for a series win on Sunday.

Got to feel good with Jacob deGrom pitching.

He's been a little uneven, a little inconsistent,

but you need him now more than ever.

By the way, Vegas thinks this matchup pretty

even.

Rasmussen deGrom, pretty much a pick-em game.

We'll see which side the Rangers land on.

Hope all of y'all have a great

rest of your Friday night.

Hope to see you tomorrow on the live.

As I always say to end every show,

God bless and go Rangers.