The Rangers are 48-77

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You know, as far as extra-inning walk-off losses go, this one wasn't all that bad. Some thoughts:

  • Miles Mikolas wasn't great tonight, but he was good enough to keep the Rangers in the game. Sometimes, that's all you need, and indeed, the Rangers were able to take a 3-3 tie into a 10th inning.
  • Rougned Odor almost homered in the top of the 7th inning. The ball hit off the top of the wall, Giancarlo Stanton misread the ball, fell down, and by the time he was able to recover, Odor had circled the bases and scored. It was ruled a double and a two-base error, but was cool to watch, nonetheless.
  • A Daniel Robertson walk later in the inning with the bases loaded got the Rangers even to a 3-3 tie.
  • Speaking of Robertson, the Rangers had a chance to plate the go-ahead run in the top of the 9th inning with runners on the corners and only one out. The runner on 3rd was Elvis Andrus, and it looked as if the suicide squeeze play was called. Unfortunately, Daniel Robertson didn't make contact on the bunt attempt, instead electing to pull his bat back. By all other indications on the field, it was on Robertson to somehow make contact with the ball there. Robertson is a guy that is likely playing for a shot to be in consideration for a Spring Training invite in 2015, but he won't earn many brownie points with Ron Washington for that play.
  • With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and runners on 1st and 2nd, Wash called on Neftali Feliz to relieve Neal Cotts. On a 1-2 pitch, Giancarlo Stanton laced a single to right field that plated the winning run. Honestly, it wasn't even the worst pitch of the at-bat for Feliz. That honor was reserved for the pitch before it, a breaking ball at 82 mph that was left hanging over the plate. It was normally a pitch that a hitter like Stanton will make a pitcher pay for, but he wasn't prepared for it, and simply watched it go by for a strike. Feliz, of course, is trying to reclaim his old magic, but hasn't had his old velocity. When he doesn't have velocity nor any idea where the ball is going when he releases it, things tend to end poorly, and tonight was an example of just that. Part of me still wants to see if another offseason will give Feliz some of his velocity back, but right now, I think we're looking at a pitcher that, unless he makes some major changes to his repertoire, isn't going to be incredibly effective as a high-leverage reliever going forward.