Former Phillie and current Rangers pitcher Roy Oswalt got off to a really lousy start for the Rangers this year. REALLY lousy. He got six starts and had a 6.49 ERA. Thanks to the big bats on the Rangers, he actually got three wins. Clearly he had no business being in the starting rotation, so the Rangers sent Oswalt to the bullpen when they traded for Ryan Dempster.
Oswalt's last lousy start came on July 30th when he gave up eight runs in 5 2/3 innings. Since then, he pitched two innings on August 2nd.
Today, August 5, Oswalt pitched two more. Then apparently Oswalt decided to take himself out of the game. Evan Grant, the Rangers beat writer wrote a piece where Rangers manager Ron Washington got to talk about it:
“He said he had enough. To get anymore, you have to ask him.”
Oswalt's agent has gotten involved:
The Rangers, through conversations with Oswalt and his agent, Bob Garber, are aware of the pitcher’s unhappiness with the role.
“Roy prefers to start,” general manager Jon Daniels said. “We had a call to make and we did what we thought was best for the club. As we all know things can change. Right now we’re happy with the way things are set up but we understand his point of view.”
Rangers fans are NOT happy. Look at all these tweets from ticked off Rangers fans:
That barely scratches the surface. Do a quick search for "Oswalt" and you'll see lots of nasty things people are saying (plus some Patton Oswalt stuff, whoever that is).
Remember when we were upset when Oswalt took less money to sign with the Rangers? Luuuuuucky Phils.
