Debut

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Seeing red

Neftali Feliz made his debut last night as a starting pitcher. Oddly, many were much interested, at least not as much as Yu Darvish.

Attendance sort of bottomed out to 25,753 last night, a far cry from the 44,000 from the previous four games. Being at the game, there were large swaths of seats left empty. Still, 25,753 is really, really good for a Tuesday night game against the Seattle Mariners.

Truth is, most people missed a really good game and an excellent start for Feliz. His line:

7 IP - 4 hits - 0 runs - 2 BBs - 4 strikeouts - 108 pitches.

Feliz, not unlike Darvish the night before, had to overcome the adrenaline and jitters of making a start in the Majors. He walked two of the first four, but got out of it with a sharply hit double-play grounder to Ian Kinsler.

By my count, he threw first-pitch strikes to just one of the first seven batters (he did wind up sitting down 10 straight Mariners from the first to the fourth inning) and then threw first-pitch strikes to the next six batters in a row.

The key with Feliz was the development of the secondary pitches. He relied heavily on a mid-90s fastball through the first two innings. As the game wore on, he and Mike Napoli did an excellent job in mixing in his change-up and slider. He threw 54 fastballs, 29 sliders and 25 change-ups.

Evan Grant has a better breakdown:

"For the first three innings, or roughly the first time through the order, Feliz established his fastball, throwing 32 times while throwing the slider nine times and the change just six times. For the second trip through in the fourth and fifth innings, he threw 15 sliders and 15 fastballs and seven changes. And the third time around, he went heavy with changes, throwing them 12 times to seven fastballs and five sliders."

At the game, with a bad angle, as the game wore on, Feliz was throwing a lot more off-speed stuff and getting a number of swings and misses. An excellent sign.

Oh, and it's worth noting that Feliz was nursing a 1-0 the entire game, as he and Mike Adams and Joe Nathan combined for the four-hit shutout, the second of the season for the Rangers matching only the 1979 season for two shutouts in the first five games of the season. It is worth noting that they notched shutouts Nos. 1 and 2 last season in games Nos. 9 and 10. Clearly, this team has turned a corner in how it wins games.

Thank goodness. Last night the Rangers offense was stymied by former prospect Blake Beavan, who was undone by an RBI single from David Murphy. Otherwise, it was a comedy of errors. In the fifth inning, Murphy wound up on third after a double and an error with one out. Mike Napoli and Mitch "Bunk" Moreland were unable to get him home.

The next inning, it was first and third with two outs and Mike Young came up empty. In the seventh and eighth, it was first and second with one out and nothing doing. It's not the offense, probably as much as it was the opposing pitching. Beavan was really good and the reliever, Tom Wilhelmson (gigantic at 6-6, 230) was not bad at all. A good win setting up a win of a four-game series.

Notes:
1. It was either the sixth or 10th 1-0 game at the Ballpark. I've heard two numbers.

2. Joe Nathan was exceptional in the ninth. There's a better than zero chance that he's way better than I anticipate.

3. Since 2010, the Rangers are 51 games over .500 at 190-139.

4. The Rangers are off to a hot start against the American League West at 2-0. They finished 40-17 against the Mariners, Athletics and Angels in 2011.

5. Give David Murphy at-bats and he'll put up numbers. Went 3-3 last night with two opposite-field doubles, giving him four for the season. I don't disagree that he can get overexposed. However, underestimating his value is equally as disastrous.

6. Four diving catches in center for Josh Hamilton. He might not make it look easy, but the job is done.

7. Two smart plays: Mike Young still running after Adrian Beltre was caught in a run-down and Beltre keeping the run-down going; Feliz not giving up on Miguel Olivo's comebacker after a bobble and getting the inning-ending out. That's your ballgame.

8. Guess who's a free agent: Mike Adams. It's shows.

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