Scott Feldman: Texas Rangers SP Earns AL Worst of the Night Honors

On Monday night, Texas Rangers fans found themselves asking the same question:

How much longer until Roy Oswalt is ready?

Rangers fans were asking this question because Scott Feldman gave them no choice but to ask it. His fifth start of the season was his worst yet, as he was knocked around early and often by the Oakland A's, one of the most inept offensive teams in Major League Baseball. 

Feldman got through the first inning easily enough, retiring the A's in order with a pair of strikeouts. They responded with a vengeance in the second inning, however, scoring eight runs and ultimately chasing Feldman from the game before the inning was over.

The wheels fell off in a hurry in that second inning. A walk to Yoenis Cespedes was followed by a single off the bat of Seth Smith, and Brandon Inge hit a three-run home run to put Feldman and the Rangers in a 3-0 hole. The hits kept coming after that, and Ron Washington decided he'd seen enough when a two-out single by Smith, his second of the inning, brought home Oakland's seventh run.

Robbie Ross allowed another RBI single to Inge after Feldman departed, and the run was charged to Feldman himself.

When the book on him was closed, Feldman's final line looked like this: 1.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR. His ERA rose from 4.50 to 7.01.

Meanwhile, A's rookie starter Jarrod Parker was cruising right along. He took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, and he ended up being an easy choice for American League "Best of the Night" honors.

Feldman, on the other hand, earned AL "Worst of the Night" honors with his performance. If it's any consolation to him (or any of his more rabid fans, if you're out there), it wasn't an easy choice. The award could have gone to Los Angeles Angels starter Ervin Santana, who gave up seven earned runs on eight hits and six walks in 4.2 innings against the Seattle Mariners.

The kicker was the fact that Feldman's game score of 11 was a bit lower than Santana's game score of 15 (h/t Baseball-Reference.com). Feldman's Monday night suckitude was therefore unparalleled.

So then, what's the answer to the big question? When will Oswalt be ready to take Feldman's spot in the rotation?

It's going to be a while. As reported by the Associated Press, Oswalt just made his first minor league start for the Rangers a couple days ago. He's hoping to be ready after four minor league starts, which means he's at least a few weeks away. Conceivably, he may not be ready until after the All-Star break.

The Rangers will have to stick with Feldman for the time being. They unfortunately don't have many other options right now.

Texas still has a comfortable lead in the AL West, but it's dwindling. The Angels are catching up, and the fact that Rangers starters have an ERA near 6.00 in the last two weeks doesn't bode well at all for them.

Maybe they should consider giving Craig Gentry some more time on the mound. He wasn't great in his inning of work, but at least he was able to hold the A's to two runs.

My guess is that both Feldman and Derek Holland were jealous.

If you ever want to nominate somebody for American League "Worst of the Night" honors, hit me up on Twitter.