Last week was a lot closer than the 1-9-2 record would indicate. I only lost runs and steals by one each and i tied homers and wins. A couple of breaks my way and, well, I still lose, but by a respectable 5-7 instead of this embarrassing 1-9-2. This beatdown drops me to 17th out of 20 and I'm starting to panic.
A panic that was evident in my impulse pickup of Darren O'Day. Rangers closer Neftali Feliz hit the DL on Saturday and the most likely candidates to get saves in his absence were the finesse righty O'Day and the ancient lefties Darren Oliver and Arthur Rhodes. I had one roster move left for the week and I gambled it on O'Day, who had been struggling (1.58 WHIP) but getting himself out of trouble (2.84 ERA). In fairness, O'Day's numbers over his past two seasons in Texas have been excellent: 1.93 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 7.53 K/9, 101/30 K/BB ratio. Oliver's numbers over the same span are good too: 2.61 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 8.69 K/9, 130/37 K/BB.
So why did I pick O'Day over Oliver? (Rhodes was already taken, BTW.) Simple: he's younger, right-handed and has been ridiculously effective for two years straight. But my first instinct was to take Oliver and I went with O'Day instead. I questioned my gut, did a ton of research, checked the local rags for the Rangers beat writers' reporting, read the expert opinions, blah, blah, blah. I talked myself into O'Day out of panic and fear, knowing that Oliver was going to get the gig (even though it hadn't come out of Ron Washington's mouth yet). That night, Darren Oliver got the call in the 9th and converted the save. The next morning, a smarter manager grabbed Oliver. The next night Rhodes got the call. And today it came out that O'Day's been battling hip soreness for the last week or so. So I'm stuck with a struggling, hurt middle reliever with a mid-80s fastball.
Want to know the depth of my panic? Casey McGehee sprained his thumb Monday night in a collision at first base with Joey Votto while trying to leg out an infield single to keep a 9th inning rally alive. No word how long he'll be out. I don't have a backup for him and I'm actually considering giving ex-Angel and new Pirate SS/3B Brandon Wood a shot. Wood was my Opening Day third baseman last year and I endured his pathetic offensive output for over a month before I started up the revolving door at 3B. Now I might be back for more. I should change the name of my team to Battered Wife Syndrome.
After 3 weeks last year, I was 20-14-2. I feel like this team has more talent than last year's squad, but I'm just not getting any breaks. Adam Dunn is 5-for-43 (.116) with 21 Ks since his appendectomy. Shin-Soo Choo has hits in 8 of his last 10 games, but is hitting just .225 over that span. I know I took some chances on untested guys (Kila Ka'aihue, Phil Coke, Kyle Drabek) and some guys I hoped would bounce back (Aaron Hill, Nate McLouth, Erik Bedard), but I thought I had them balanced against enough sure bets (Dunn, Choo, Andre Ethier, Jon Lester, Dan Haren) that I'd still be able to compete. I have serious doubts.
