A beautiful day for baseball in Surprise, Ariz., on Sunday, but a loss on the field 11-8 makes the day for Rangers fans feel cold.
The closest the Rangers ever came to the defending World Series Champions was 2-1 in the third inning. In the top of the fourth, the Giants wiped the spring summer grass with the Rangers.
Tommy Hunter gave up a five-run fourth, and the Giants never looked back.
Hunter’s frustration clearly showed in his post-game interview when said “Today was…shoot, I don’t know what it was, I’ve got to get better. That’s the bottom line.”
He does.
In the top of the fourth inning, Julio Borbon didn’t help Tommy Hunter’s cause much, by dropping a fairly easy fly ball.
The sun was the main cause for the error, but he still needs to make that catch, although Hunter was lit up by giving up four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings at that point.
In his interview, you can tell his effort and the dropped fly ball of Borbon’s in the top of the fourth, clearly had Hunter rattled emotionally.
After all, giving up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings isn’t going to impress anyone, regardless if only four of the seven runs were earned.
They could have won the game, or at least had a chance without the costly error. Rangers want wins. Stats will come and go, but as long as they get wins. They will be OK.
The AL West isn’t the strongest division in baseball, so getting wins will be important.
Hunter is trying to earn a spot in the rotation for the Rangers. He is really isn’t showing he can handle the work.
With a 8.31 ERA in three spring training games, his quote is correct: “I didn’t give us a chance to win. That is a starter’s main objective. I didn’t get it done today.”
Ron Washington said of Hunter, “As long as he’s pitching and getting his work in, that’s all that matters. This is Arizona: there are a lot of things that happen down here that don’t happen during the regular season. He needs to work on things and we’re certainly going to give him that opportunity. No decision has been made.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement of his talent, or for that fact, making the team.
“I know I can win in the big leagues. I need to get back to where I was last year,” Hunter said.
As for the outfield, going into this season, the powers that be in Texas want Borbon to have his spot in center field, but his play early into spring hasn’t been all that stellar. Sunday’s mishap didn’t help him much, either.
The Rangers want Hamilton to be in left field because, “Hamilton has a less of a chance of getting hurt in left,” according to former CEO Chuck Greenberg on “The Ben and Skin Show” of 103.3 ESPN Dallas/Ft.Worth last week.
The Rangers like Hunter. They also like the fact he was somewhat successful last season with a 13-4 record. Will that help him “earn” a spot for this season? Seems likely.
Borbon, on the other hand, is costing this team runs this season…something the Rangers can’t afford.
This season, the pitchers have to do what they did last season when Cliff Lee wasn’t on the team. They need to get a fast lead in the AL West.
Errors in the outfield will not help Borbon’s cause, nor help this team’s chances of winning games.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com