If Ballard pitches for Texas tomorrow...

SHSUHorn

SHSUHorn

Thief
I'm gonna absolutley unload on the Angels RL and the over. I follow the Rangers as close I do my Horns and this guy is going to get lit up IMO.

He's a 24 year old lefty that was drafted two summers ago in the 14th round. He pitches in AA right now and gets hit pretty bad by Texas League batters. He has a great AA record this year because Frisco (AA) had a ridiculous lineup this year with both Chris Davis and Maz Ramirez in it for most of the year.

Opponents in AA are hitting .304 off of him and the Angels feist off lefties.

So why the hell is he starting then? This is the order of the Rangers pitching staff going into the year and its been a complete mess...

Millwood- resting
Padilla - got hurt his start was replaced tonight by top prospect Harrison.
Mccarthy - DL
Gabbard - DL
Jennings - DL
Feldman - resting
Mendoza - Got blasted in one inning two days ago. Likely the long man.
Rheinicker - DL
Mathis - DL
Murray - DL
Hurley - DL just put on making way for Ballard.
Nippert - pitched well last night as the long man for Mendoza.
Harrison - making MLB debut tonight.
Hunter - pitched last night in AAA
Diamond - top prospect that Texas doesn't want to waist an option on for a spot start.

Ballard basically gets the nod because the Rangers will DFA him and he will clear waivers because noone will want him. He's not a prospect but a depth guy.

Who knows what's going on right now in his mind?

The kid could be on cloud nine and pitch the game of his life....

Or he could be on the pot right now shitting himself cause he's about to face the Angels in Arlington....
 
Last edited:
sportnut, yeah sorry. Pailla was scratched tonight and Harrison took his spot. Harrison was one of the pitchers Texas nabbed from the Braves in the Tex deal. At the time Harrison was the #1 pitcher in the Braves organization.

Hurley was placed on the DL with a hamstring injury. Ballard gets his spot in the rotation tomorrow.
 
Great info.

Speaking of guys going to get rolled tomorrow....Mark Mulder will not last more than 4 innings at Philly tomorrow. Ive seen him since this past rehab and after his last rehab....LaRussa has pressure from all angles to get this guy out there and see if he can perform.....after Philly getting shutout by Piniero tonight, Im hammering Phils -130 tomorrow.
 
Thanks Horn. Figured you knew more then I did . Thanks for the help .

Would agree Aplous that should be Philly ML and at least a RHE over if not the game over . The over scares me some even with Happ because STL scored 2 off Nate Robertson , 2 off Ted Lilly , 1 off Sean Marshall and 2 today thanks to Hrs just 3 hits vs Hamels.
 
ballard at home - 5-1, 2.38 era 37:9 k/bb .247 batting average against
ballard on road - 3-2, 6.08 era 27:20 k/bb .365 batting average against

last 4 home starts:

july 4 - 8.1 ip, 6h, 1er, 6:0 k/bb
june 22 - 6 ip, 7h, 1er, 5:0 k/bb
june 12 - 7 ip, 4h, 0er, 5:1 k/bb
june 1 - 9 ip, 8h, 1er, 8:0 k/bb

pretty solid at home and angels did relatively nothing against the left-hander harrison who started last night
 
Here's another article I stumbled upon earlier about Ballard...


'Here's some info to share about Ballard, the University of Virginia alum who just keeps on getting better and better.

In 2007, Ballard, a 2006 14th rounder, spent three months with Class-A Clinton, posting a 5.12 ERA in April (.316 opponents average), a 4.37 ERA (.284 opponents average) in May and a 2.11 ERA in June (.250 opponents average).

You want to see any pitching prospect prove that he can adjust to a league's hitters better than they can adjust to him, and Ballard showed that in Clinton.

Then he did it again at Advanced-A Bakersfield. And again at Double-A Frisco.

When Ballard moved on to Bakersfield in 2007, he posted a 6.10 ERA in two June starts, a 5.63 ERA in six July starts and a 3.48 ERA in five August starts. Cal Leaguers hit .314 against him in July and then only .227 in August.

He has repeated that pattern in Frisco this year.

After getting roughed up to the tune of a 9.68 ERA in four May starts, Ballard was arguably the best pitcher in the Texas League during June, going 4-0 with a 2.41 ERA in six starts during the month.

In his one start this month, he dealt the masterpiece of his career, going 8.1 innings and allowing a run on and six hits without allowing a base on balls, punching out six along the way.

Ballard is a soft-tosser, who often pitches backwards, and his stuff is by no means overwhelming. He keeps hitters off-balance with his assortment of a high-80's fastball, a mid-70's change and high-60's 12-6 yakker.

When he's going good, he works with quickly and with confidence, throwing any pitch in any count for strikes. He's shown an ability to miss bats (6.52 K/9), but he's by no means a strikeout pitcher.

Ballard is an extremely intelligent pitcher who has proven that he does a better job of adjusting to a league's hitters than they do adjusting to him, but realize this ...

Don't expect too much out of him. Ballard's pattern suggests that he may eventually carve out a niche for himself as a crafty, soft-tossing lefty in the mold of Jamie Moyer.

I'll be shocked if he survives five innings, but if the Rangers give Ballard the chance to go through his learning curve before giving up on him, he's the kind of guy who could turn out to be a significant diamond in the rough.'
 
This guy is a total disease. Anaheim prolly ought to be closer to -180 or so. Looks like a reliever and has made three spot relief appearances in a week, including the other night when he got two Angels out...
 
How exactly does a team allow its pitching staff to become such a disaster that you are now starting a spot reliever?
 
pigeon said:
ballard at home - 5-1, 2.38 era 37:9 k/bb .247 batting average against
ballard on road - 3-2, 6.08 era 27:20 k/bb .365 batting average against

last 4 home starts:

july 4 - 8.1 ip, 6h, 1er, 6:0 k/bb
june 22 - 6 ip, 7h, 1er, 5:0 k/bb
june 12 - 7 ip, 4h, 0er, 5:1 k/bb
june 1 - 9 ip, 8h, 1er, 8:0 k/bb

pretty solid at home and angels did relatively nothing against the left-hander harrison who started last night
Click to expand...
Ballard has never pitched in the majors so I don't know why you would bring up his home numbers from the minor leagues...

It doesn't matter though because hes no longer the starter tonight. Rangers are going to go with starter by committee pretty much. They hope to get 3 innings out of Madrigal, then turn it over to the long man Josh Rupe and the rest of the bullpen. Madrigal fared well out of the bullpen in AA and AAA this year before being called up. He had a bad appearance in his debut because he couldn't locate his pitches. Hes been effective since then. Hes not really a terrible pitcher but he is inexperienced.

I'd bet the over before I bet the Angels juiced up ML. Rangers can hit Weaver and the entire bullpen is rested and ready to pitch if Madrigal runs into any trouble.
 
counselor said:
How exactly does a team allow its pitching staff to become such a disaster that you are now starting a spot reliever?
Click to expand...
Its not really poor management on their part. They were hit with injuries this week to starters that were supposed to go back to back. Several other guys who have made spot starts this year are injured. A few others are unavailable. Its detailed out in the first post. The timing of it all was just really bad luck. Mendoza getting shelled the other night really hurt the situation because Nippert likely would have started tonight. However, Nipperts performace along with Harrison's 7 innings last night saved the pen so they're all ready to pitch tonight.
 
I took Angels -156 as a regular play. Was going to slam the hell out of the Angels RL with Ballard on the mound.

I actually like Madigral's stuff.
 
As of last night when I made this post Ballard was going to be called up. Washington even said so in his postgame press conference.

Word came that if he was called up and DFA (sent back to the minors) that another team would claim him.

Texas scratched Ballard and will now start Madigral today therefore the only big play for me will be the over.

I was going to unload on the over and Angels RL if Ballard was pitching because I don't think he's ready and he's the Rangers 15th option for starting pitching this year.

Madigral, Rupe, and Wright are all suppose to go 3 innings each. That to me is better then Ballard so I've layed off the play somewhat.

I made a small play now on Angels ML, and a much bigger play on the over.
 
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