The Week That Was (5/21-5/27)

After Monday's 14-run outburst against the Minnesota Twins, the lackluster play of the Texas Rangers continued to reign supreme over the past week of baseball. Lone Star Dugout begins another look back at the past week of Rangers baseball.

The HighsSadly, outside of a few individual performances, you’ll really be straining to find something that you can satisfactorily look back on from this past week of baseball.

Kameron Loe had a nice rebound performance Sunday. Some might argue that he was pulled early after just 85 pitches through six innings of work, especially considering he had retired the last eight Red Sox batters in order up to that point. He allowed just three runs, all on a Jason Varitek homerun, and recorded 10 outs by groundballs. That’s the kind of effectiveness the Rangers have been looking for.

The Lows

For starters, going 1-5 for the week isn’t a very copasetic achivement. But being 18-32 and losers of five straight gives the Rangers the privilege of owning the second-worst record in all of baseball behind the Kansas City Royals.

After Sunday’s 6-5 series sweeping loss at the hand of the Red Sox, it dropped the Rangers to a measly 5-30 when they score less than seven runs in a game.

On Wednesday afternoon when the Minnesota Twins scored in their half of the first against Robinson Tejeda, it marked the 29th run opponents have scored in the first inning off the Rangers this season. When that happens, the Rangers are an equally woeful 6-23.

Injury Report

Brandon McCarthy’s bullpen session had to be cut short on Sunday. He was only about to throw about 12 pitches before giving in to the pain on his calloused finger. He left Friday’s 10-6 loss after just two innings with a blister on his right middle finger.

Brad Wilkerson (hamstring) will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday for Triple-A Oklahoma and could be activated by Thursday. Marlon Byrd would be sent down to make room on the roster.

On Sunday, Kevin Millwood (hamstring) threw five scoreless innings for Double-A Frisco in his rehab appearance. He’s tentatively scheduled to return to the rotation in time for a start Friday in Seattle.

Jerry Hairston Jr. (neck) saw some action with Double-A Frisco on Saturday and Sunday and will continue his rehab assignment this week at Triple-A Oklahoma.

Player of the Week: Mark Teixeira
As another week of trade rumors continued to kick up dust around baseball, and Mark Teixeira kept on hitting. The first baseman batted .348 this week with a triple and 7 RBI. Three of those runs came in the form of the 4th longest homerun to ever be hit at Rangers Ballpark: A 453 foot blast into the upper deck of the home run porch on Sunday afternoon that tied things up in the Texas half of the sixth.

Game of the Week

Monday, May 21st: Rangers 14 - Twins 4
And no, this isn’t just because it was the only Rangers victory of the week.

Well, not entirely.

Following another 14 run outburst the day before in Houston, Monday marked the fourth time in club history that the Rangers have scored at least 14 runs in two consecutive games and the first since July 31-Aug. 1, 2002, when they beat the New York Yankees, 17-6, and the Red Sox, 19-7, a day later. The offense had it clicking off Twins starter Carlos Silva, who was lit up for 7 runs over 4 1/3, and then continued to feast off reliever Julio DePaula. Gerald Laird had the biggest offensive night of anybody with a double and a grand slam off the rookie DePaula.