Rangers outhit and outpitched by Blue Jays

The Bluejays had more errors than the Rangers in Saturday night's game, but they still managed to win the game. I guess it's karma for the Rangers' 5-error win earlier this week.

Scott Feldman was supposed to go to the bullpen after the All-Star Break to give his arm a break. But with injuries, the Rangers have no other option than to keep marching Feldman out there every five days. Fortunately, Scott has something in him that keeps him going. He churned out a mostly-quality start in Saturday night's triple-digit temperatures. The first inning got a bit ugly, with his own throwing error as he attempted to nail a runner at second. But he dug out of that and kept his team in the game through the 5th inning.

The offense was a bit sporadic. Yes, I think that's the best word for it, although the strike zone was atrocious and inconsistent. Still, the Rangers were sat down in order in three different innings. One of them was a bit unconventional, however, as Travis Metcalf was picked off first after reaching on an error in the 7th. Michael Young and Ian Kinsler were a combined 0 for 8. Frank Catalanotto, Josh Hamilton, David Murphy and Gerald Laird were the only ones who managed hits off the Bluejay pitching staff. Ham, Murph and Laird each had two, and Murphy drew one of just two walks of the evening.

The Rangers had a 3-2 lead going into the 6th inning. Feldman quickly surrendered hits to Marco Scutaro and Alex Rios and a walk to Overbay. He was saved a bit by a tremendous throw from Josh Hamilton to nail Scutaro at third after Rios' single, although Rios advanced to second. With one out and runners at first and second, Ron Washington decided to pull Feldman and bring in Jamey Wright. At this point, Feldman was up to 93 pitches, which was probably a stretch for that right arm, but one ground ball would have gotten him out of the mess. And Matt Stairs was coming up next. But, I'm not paid to make the decisions, Wash is. For some reason, he found Stairs to be a huge threat (even though he was 0 for 2 at this point) and told Wright to intenntionally walk Stairs to get to Barajas. Barajas has a history of popping up, but his batting average was higher than Stairs'. As you can tell, Wash's decision backfired and Barajas doubled in Overbay and Rios. Scott Rolen was up next, and he drove in Stairs. Brad Wilkerson grounded out to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

Gerald Laird got one run back in the bottom of the 6th. Josh Hamilton was hit by a pitch and scored on Laird's double. That was the end of the Rangers' offensive threat, although they tried to get the rally going again in the 7th and 9th, getting the lead-off hitter on base in each case, but they were unable to bring him around.

KISS: Gerald Laird and Josh Rupe. Laird was 2 for 4 with one RBI and one run scored. He also caught Alex Rios trying to steal in the 2nd inning. Meanwhile, Rupe threw three scoreless innings and notched three Ks after Wright's meltdown.

MISS: Michael Young was 0 for 4 with three Ks. I appreciate him trying to play through his fractured finger, but if it's only hurting the team, then maybe he should take those five to seven days off.