Ogando, in action Alexi Ogando had his best outing in a long time taking a perfect game into the fifth inning and winding up going 6.2 innings, allowing five hits, two hits and striking out a career-high of eight Florida Marlins in the 15-5 win last night.
It's July 2 and the trade deadline is a mere 29 days away. The Rangers need help. It's anyone's guess where they actually need it.
If Ogando is your No. 4 starter the rest of the way, you target bullpen help. If Ogando isn't in the rotation, you might eye a starter. Ogando's the lynchpin. His insertion into the bullpen -- in addition to Tommy Hunter's, Scott Feldman's and Darren O'Day's -- gives you a relatively safe feeling about your seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
It also gives you a glut of pitching. I don't know where it all fits. Particularly, within the next year and a half, the Rangers will need to make some more decisions regarding the pitching staff. There are guys knocking on the door in Frisco and Oklahoma City. They can't stay there forever as you try to figure out where Ogando and Neftali Feliz go.
As for the offense, well, if Taylor Teagarden's knocking RBI doubles into the gap, all is well at least for one day.
Notes:
1. For my money, Mike Kirkman is a starter. And I don't think he's very good.
2. Adrian Beltre went opposite field on all three hits, including a huge RBI double down the first-base line after the Marlins walked Josh Hamilton to load the bases. The guy's on pace for 120+ RBI.
3. Josh Hamilton got on base all four times.
4. Andres Blanco's eighth-inning bomb was absolutely cracked. The guy contributes whenever, wherever.
5. Happy birthday, Nelson Cruz. Six RBI including a base-clearing triple and a three-run bomb. I think he has been given the perpetual green light at every at-bat. He's a base hit or an out at this point.
