Ready for interleague play

Wow, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon lately. It's a shame, too, because the Rangers actually won their series in KC. Despite some sloppy play, they managed to take the first two games from the Royals. Too bad they couldn't hold up for a sweep and a win for Eric Hurley in his major league debut. But I'll take two out of three. Remember what Meatloaf said.

Overall, I thought Hurley had a nice debut. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. It was just nice. The flyballs (12 of his outs were flyballs, and he also gave up two homers) may get him in trouble, but he didn't walk anyone. At least he's throwing strikes. And he held it together out there for six innings and 92 pitches. With a little more work, I see him as a solid addition to the Rangers starting rotation of the future.

My KISS for the series undoubtedly goes to David Murphy. The guy often listed as a 4th outfielder is proving his bat is needed in the everday lineup. During the KC series, he was 4 for 12 with 7 RBI, one walk and two Ks. Five of those runs were driven in Wednesday night's game, in which David had a grand slam and a solo shot.

My MISS for the series probably goes to Frank Catalanotto. His defense at 1B made me cringe, and he didn't bat that well either -- 1 for 7 with a walk and one run scored. I don't know what the 1B solution is -- Chris Shelton is hit or miss, and he's our only other option.

The hottest story of the KC series was Milton Bradley's emotional outburst after a KC announcer unfavorably compared him to Josh Hamilton. While I don't think Milton did the right thing by rushing up to the booth (thankfully Wash and JD stopped him), I do sympathize with his feelings. He and Josh Hamilton both came on as "risky" signings, based solely on their off-field struggles, yet they've both had well-above average seasons so far, but Hamilton is getting all the praise, and Bradley is getting very little. That would probably bother me too. No matter how much Bradley likes Hamilton (and I have a feeling they're pretty good pals), there's still an ego to check, and that can be hard to swallow sometimes. Ryan Lefebvre's comments Wednesday night may have just been the final straw for Bradley. Upon reading and hearing them, I think Lefebvre was way out of line and unprofessional. His job is to comment on players' performances, not their personalities. I can't recall ever hearing the Rangers announcers make similar comments about opposing players. Even Tom Grieve's rant about Richie Sexson in the infamous batting helmet incident were about Sexson's performance as a player. Lefebvre will, no doubt, receive no reprimand, and Bradley will just need to buck up, ignore it and make Lefebvre look like an idiot by proving his assessment wrong.

I will miss two of this weekend's games ... for good reason. Tonight, I'm participating in my fourth Relay For Life. (You can click on that link to contribute, if you wish!) Tomorrow night, I'm attending my 10-year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been 10 years already. Sunday is Father's Day and I have to work at 1 p.m., but hopefully I'll be home in time to catch most of the game.

I love interleague play because I get a kick out of our pitchers swinging a bat. (And interleague play was pretty kind to us last year, as I recall.) Too bad Kameron Loe is back in OKC. He swung the bat pretty well last year in Pittsburgh -- he was 1 for 2 with a walk. He set the bar high for Millwood, Feldman, Gabbard, Padilla and company in the upcoming interleague matchups.

Speaking of Feldman, here's a feel good story for Father's Day weekend.