As Shohei Ohtani’s second home run of the night cleared the right-field wall, Nomar Mazara jumped to try to force himself 12 feet into the air by sheer willpower. When that didn’t work, when the ball and Mazara fell on separate sides of the wall, the right fielder lay down for just a short moment and looked up at the black Arlington sky.
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There was no single moment during the game that better encapsulated the feeling at the ballpark as the Rangers lost their 79th game of the season; it was a 9-3 beating that didn’t feel that close. More indicative of the contest was the final tally of hits: Angels 16, Rangers 6.
Three of those hits — and two of the runs — came in the first inning against 45-year-old Bartolo Colon, the folk hero whose presence in Rangers camp provided a spark of wonder, he who defied the odds and Father Time to win a spot in the Rangers’ rotation, he who took a no-hitter into the late innings against the reigning champions in Houston early in the season, and whose time in the game is, if we are honest, probably reaching its belated conclusion.
“Obviously, this is a decorated pitcher that has done significant things in this game,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said after Colon’s four-inning, five-run outing Wednesday. “When a guy’s not as sharp, it doesn’t matter who they are, it becomes a bit of a challenge. For him, obviously, with everything that has gone on this year with the milestones, tying the record, setting the record — obviously, when it becomes challenging for him, like anybody else, you want to for things to go better. He’s going to continue to compete. I know that that’s who he is. He’s not going to ask for anything other than the opportunity.”
Pressed on whether “continue to compete” meant “continue to get starts in the Rangers’ rotation,” Banister declined to give a definitive statement.
“He’s on our team,” the manager said. “He’s going to continue to pitch. I’m not going to make any decisions after a game just ended.”
If you want to read between the lines, it probably looks something like this:
“He’s on our team. He’s going to continue to pitch.”
If you wanted to read between the lines, the fine print might look like this:
It doesn’t make any sense for the Rangers to continue to let Colon pitch when those innings could be used to evaluate younger talent that could help the team in 2019 and beyond.
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“I’m not going to make any decisions after a game just ended.”
Let’s get this out of the way: Bartolo Colon’s start against the Angels wasn’t taking away any innings from any young starters. Here’s a quick checklist:
- Adrian Sampson: last pitched on Sunday. Wasn’t rested enough to start a game on Wednesday.
- Ariel Jurado: last pitched on Monday, and while it was only for four innings, he also wasn’t rested enough to start a game on Wednesday.
- Yohander Méndez: last pitched on Sunday. Wasn’t rested enough to start a game on Wednesday.
- Mike Minor: not really a “young starter,” per se, but appears to be the Rangers’ most reliable starter going into the 2019 season. Also, pitched on Tuesday. Wasn’t rested enough to start a game on Wednesday.
- Yovani Gallardo: also not really a “young starter,” but there does seem to be some intrigue in the organization about bringing Gallardo back to be a veteran presence in a rotation that could feature some young arms.
Additionally, there are Jeffrey Springs and Connor Sadzeck, but while they have started in the past in the minor leagues, the team considers them to be relief pitchers now. Neither is really an option to start (at least not in the traditional sense) and certainly not in the middle of the season when they have been working as relievers.
That’s not to mention Eddie Butler, who the team said might have an opportunity to start a few games before the season was over. But Butler — after giving up two runs on three hits and a walk in his 1⅓ innings of relief Wednesday night — has an 8.10 ERA since joining the Rangers.
So, it was Bartolo. But as you might have noticed, the above bullet-point list contains five pitchers. That’s a rotation, and it doesn’t include the name Bartolo Colon, even if the manager isn’t ready to make that declaration.
“I feel good,” Colon said. “I want to come back. But I want to make sure how I feel in the Dominican in the winter before I make a decision. If it is here, that’s great. That would be better than anything. I like it here. You never know.”
It is a strange thing to see a generation pass. In life, that can mean the slow countdown of grandparents until there is one, and then none.
And you take a step forward in line.
In baseball, it can mean the slow countdown of former Montréal Expos until there is one.
Whether that number will reach its inevitable end this year or next is still to be seen. But Bartolo’s time in the Rangers’ rotation appears to be nearing an end.
As with life, so it is in baseball: As Colon’s performance raised doubts about the proximity of the end of his career, C.D. Pelham made his big-league debut Wednesday night. It wasn’t a clean inning — he allowed a run on four hits in just two-thirds of an inning — but it was a debut, and as such, it came with the sort of hope that only a debut can bring.
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“I can tell you just sitting out there in the bullpen, every time that phone rang, my heart just dropped,” Pelham said after the game. “My guys told me I was probably about to get ready to go in, so I got up and just stretched, and finally got called to warm up. Started warming up, and the nerves kinda went away for a little bit, I felt like ‘I belong here,’ but running out to the field and all, I just looked around, and that’s when it really hit me, like ‘Wow, I’m a big-leaguer now.’
“Getting out there, (there were) a lot of nerves going, of course. … That first hitter, I couldn’t honestly feel my body, but finally getting that one out of the way, I’m just ready to get back out there the next time they call.”
His fastball had so much glove-side break on it that Robinson Chirinos missed the first one, which Pelham whipped in at 97 mph.
“It’s hard!” Chirinos said of catching a new pitcher. “Especially when you’ve never caught a guy before, and you don’t know what the fastball is going to do and the breaking ball, but I’m excited for the future of this team. You see a guy come in from the bullpen throwing 98, it’s always fun, and hopefully, he can be here for a long time.”
Asked if he warned Chirinos about the glove-side break, Pelham smiled.
“I honestly didn’t, but I should have. I know I’ve had a couple time with the catchers where I just absolutely knock their glove off, but I guess he kinda got the memo after that first pitch, ’cause that first pitch kinda took off. It’s not all the time, but sometimes it happens. Honestly, it’s accidentally, I don’t try to do it, I guess that’s just how it’s coming out of my hand.”
