23 games under .500

Jerome Williams was awesome in his last start, tossing six innings of one-run ball. It was brilliant inasmuch as it was a surprise, because, well, Jerome Williams has an excessively vanilla assortment of big league pitches. Last night against the Cleveland Indians, he was who we thought he was. His Game Score was a Joe Saunders-esque -5, as he allowed 10 runs on 13 hits in just four innings of work. I could go check -- even though I won't, because I'm lazy and I don't care about Jerome Williams -- but I'm sure it was the worst start of his major league career. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be terribly shocked, either.

The Rangers lost 12-2, and the club is now 43-66 on the year. 

Elvis Andrus went 2-4 with a walk, and is up to .270/.319/.345 (81 wRC+) on the season, which doesn't sound like much, because it isn't. However, being that we're slaves to the small sample, since July 3rd (109 plate appearances), Andrus is batting a much more respectable .291/.359/.369, which would translate to a bona fide 5-win shortstop if extrapolated over a full season. Ideally, that's the player Elvis is at the plate -- someone who hits for a solid average and gets on base around a .350 clip. He's capable of being better at the plate than he's been over the last two seasons, but because Andrus makes so much money, some expect massive offensive production, which frankly isn't realistic. 

In the inverted standings, the Rangers are a game up on Houston and Colorado in the loss column.