After the series with the Yankees & Red Sox, I think a lot of pundits and national press expected the Rangers to fall back, as well, we were playing “real teams”. Well, against the Yankees and Red Sox, we went 3-2 combined, and in the standings? We didn’t lose anything at all. Going into Monday night’s game against the Rays, the AL West standings:
Rangers: 67-49, .578
Angels: 60-59, .504 – 8.5GB
A’s: 57-59, .491 – 10GB
Mariners: 46-72, .390 – Who cares?
It’s a good feeling to be that far out in front on August 16th. I’m not saying anything is over, but man is it a good feeling.
As for Sunday, the inferno game… CJ Wilson took the mound, and it seemed apparent that the heat didn’t mean anything to him. He looked quite good, and didn’t have the tentative feel he sometimes gets if his pitch count gets too high. His line was 7.2IP, 4H, 1BB, 1ER, and EIGHT strikeouts. Looked pretty darned good. He came out with 113 pitches thrown, which in that heat probably felt like 213, but when he came out, I didn’t think he looked that beat down, so I’ll give that two thumbs up.
Pedro Strop, who was just called up from the minors followed, and allowed all the runs the Sox got. He let one of CJ’s inherited runners to score, and then gave up two of his own. Blah. That killed the shutout. Neftali Feliz closed it out with a shutdown inning to close it out for the win. Shame we gave up anything at all, as CJ deserved the win with the backup of keeping the shutout going.
But hey, we got the win, beat Boston, who had a really odd lineup out there – most of their regulars were on the DL or sitting.
On to Tampa to take on the Wild Card leaders. Monday night is Cliff Lee against David Price. Man, that ought to be good. Playoff preview, perhaps? :)