Rangers 6, Blue Jays 2: Seemingly Quite Sunk

 

I do enjoy a good "ready position" regardless of context though
(Alejandro Kirk is such a beauty)

By the time Vladdy walked in the fourth to give the Blue Jays their first baserunner on a night when Texas starter (and Team Canada WBC stalwart) Cal Quantril (son of Paul! remember Paul?) left in the second due to injury (we wish him the best), we were already down by three, and one of those three Texas runs had come in on, of all things, an Andrés Giménez throwing error. As I remarked to a pal at the time via the medium of SMS text messaging, when it gets so bad that even Giménez is making run-scoring throwing errors, it feels like that's pretty much a wrap, doesn't it? Last night made it eight losses in our last twelve, which I think we will all agree has been way, way less fun than that long stretch where we won twenty-three out of thirty-five and were among the top teams in baseball over that fifth of the season (it was our best fifth by so much!). Though we remain the yet-to-be-dismantled elms (to say nothing of the geese) as far as actual mathematical elimination goes, to be three games back with seven to play, and with a rotation as patchwork as ours, and with the bats still largely scuffling (credit to the recalled Davis Schneider where it is due, though, as his first-pitch pinch-hit homer in the seventh left the yard in a hurry), things are feeling pretty de facto, with de jure just stopping off at the store for a couple things on the way home real quick. A dark confession, friends: things felt to me so certain after last night's loss that I found myself composing a Samsung note (on my computer phone) speculating on the composition of the twenty-six player major-league roster for next season. I share it with you now.

What is perhaps more damning still is that I found myself earnestly thinking what an awesome group that could be, even without any additions via trade or free agency, and how almost nothing would actually have to break our way to get us back not just to .500, but, with any luck at all, well beyond it, too. I am truly hopeless (which is to say, I am hopeful).

This afternoon, it's borderline-Hall-of-Famer Jacob deGrom on the mound for the Rangers against our own Spencer Miles, who I suppose will probably be used more or less as opener, but whom, as you can see from the legally-binding Samsung note posted above, I think would make a very fine addition to the starting rotation next season should be be sufficiently and successfully "stretched out," as they say. If we can squeak one out today, and the White Sox lose, it's two games back with six to play, with only the Astros (just yesterday bumped from the AL West lead by these same Texas Rangers) tucked in between. Not impossible! Still 4.8% at FanGraphs! That's down a little from 43% a week ago, sure, but, at the same time, it's only the second-lowest of any non-zero odds listed in the projections! Take that, 1% Baltimore Orioles! Who are literally just a single game behind us! Anyway, there's still baseball to be played, and still afternoon chores to be done, and satisfactions to be found in both. So let's go. 

KS