(I’m making this a short recap, as my wife gave birth to our son on Thursday, and don’t have more than five minutes to do three game updates).
I would have been at this DH, except I was at the hospital with my new baby and my wife. I think I would have been literally attacked if I even suggested going, let alone actually going to this game. Which pains me as a baseball fan, as I freakin love doubleheaders.
Anyway, three home runs by the Rangers are all that was needed to get by the Oakland A’s in the first game of the DH. Nelson Cruz had 3 RBI’s himself, and Tommy Hunter went 5.1 innings, giving up 7 hits, three walks, and three earned runs. Not terribly effective, but “OK”. He was called up for this start, and was sent back down inbetween games of the DH.

As has been my policy for the last few years, I don’t write about losses to the Yankees.

This game started with a really long rain delay. Was about two and a half hours or something like that. I knew it would happen, as I was out driving to the airport, and there were some quite freaky looking clouds – and cloud colors. Some were quite scary looking, but the actual rain I personally ran into wasn’t much – although I saw on news coverage that it was hailing at the Ballpark.
The game finally got started around 9:30 or so, and Kevin Millwood took the mound. We have a habit of giving up runs early to the Yankees. We always seem to be in a perpetual state of playing catch up against them. Not tonight. Millwood put up a zero in the first, and we plated two (Hamilton & Cruz) with a single to right in the bottom of the inning. That’s always a nice feeling, being up on the Yankees.
Speaking of “feelings”.. I’m a little surprised Teixeira got booed as much as he did. I figured he would get some booing, but he got more than I anticipated. A-Fraud however, got rather lustily booed – surprising as he hasn’t been here in six years, you’d think it would die down a bit, but his personal dramas probably continue to stoke that fire. Tex however, answered it by going titanic on a home run ball hit into the upper tank in Home Run Porch.
In the bottom of the fourth, we plated another run on a Chris Davis home run. Chris is doing pretty well with home runs this season. Unfortunately, he leads the universe in strikeouts. I mean it’s really ugly how many he has. Still, a home run onto Greene’s Hill is always nice to see for the home team.
Kevin Millwood ran out of gas early in this game – he ran into trouble in the sixth where the Yankees scored a couple of runs in the top of the sixth on a double by Matsui, & a single by one of their scrubs.
The Rangers came back in the bottom of the seventh to counter the two runs Kevin gave up in the sixth. However, Millwood was out of the game by then, so he got a no decision. Our two were fairly non exciting runs. One on an infield groundout, and another on a sac fly. Still, two runs are two runs, and they gave us the lead.
The scoring was capped off by another home run by Chris Davis – two in a game. That one I missed, because at this point I was starting to fall asleep. They did the seventh inning stretch at midnight. :)
THE RANGERS HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE! 27-18 (.600) Only the Dodgers have a better record in the NL, too. Second best record overall. That’s way better than what I thought we’d be doing this year. Feels good.

As has been my policy for the last few years, I don’t write about losses to the Yankees.

Wow. Just wow. Brandon McCarthy threw a complete game shutout on the road, which means nine innings. He did give up nine hits, but I don’t think anyone really cares about that. He’s never even gone past the seventh inning as a start before this game, and he nailed it. Scattering nine hits, it was a most impressive performance. This is the guy we thought we were getting from Chicago a few years ago.
The power stroke was still here. Had home runs from Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, & Jarrod Saltamacchia. Four doubles jumped into the pool too. Every Ranger had at least one hit, except for pitcher Brandon McCarthy. However, Josh Hamilton made up for that, getting three of his own.
I don’t know what else to say about this. It was Brandon McCarthy’s game from front to back. Good for him. And good for us, too!
What’s cool is we ended the trip at ..500. Can never complain about .500 on the road, really.

Scott Feldman looked OK this game. Not great, but OK.
Brian Moehler did NOT look anywhere near OK.
And Nelson Cruz? Well, he seems to have found it again.
Scotty F was pretty good again – looking like a solid starter again after some shaky appearances in the bullpen. 6.2 innings pitched, three earned runs on five hits. Two of the hits were home runs, and accounted for all three of the Astros’ runs. The first one was somewhat controversial, as they had to go to a replay for Tejada’s first inning home run. They appeared to get the call right to me, but I was hoping it would be reversed just the same. :) Darren O’Day, Eddie Guardado, & CJ Wilson combined for 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Only one hit between them (Wilson). CJ got the save as Francisco was just off the DL, and I believe I recall hearing that it was to not give Frankie two straight nighs after just coming back from the DL.
Brian Moehler was NOT that good. He gave up three home runs. Two of them to Nelson Cruz, who raked this game. Nelson was 2-4, but the two were both home runs. One was a titanic shot in the fourth. Was one of those ones in Houston where if the ball gets too high, you couldn’t see it on TV. Even in Hi-Def, I couldn’t see where that ball went. Disadvantage of Houston’s park – balls are too easily lost in the windows. Two innings later, Nelson Jacked a solo home run off of the walls in left center for a home run. Right after that – the next pitch in fact, Hank Blalock also homered. He went back to back with Cruz – something nice to see. At that point, we were up 6-1. Feeling good.
Cruz’ power was nice to see back, as he was missing that for awhile. Hopefully it sticks around into the next series at home with the Yankees.
Michael Young & Ian Kinsler both sat for different reasons. Kinsler was just given his first day off of the season, and Michael Young was still hobbling a little.
Nice defensive over the head catch by Omar. Also enjoyed his throwing of the cap to the ground as he went to make the play.

Well, Vicente Pidente went on the DL on Friday, and while I don’t think anyone was jumping up and down because of that.. They probably (well, Jamey was) jumping up and down over the fact that Derek Holland was making his first major league start. I think it’s a safe bet to say that Padilla won’t be here next year, and some of the stud kids probably will get a very real shot at the slot (maybe not #2, but a rotation spot for sure).
So we send Derek Holland to the hill to start the game. Derek has that Tim Lincecum look to him – kind of the “Hey, wait a minute – is this guy legally allowed to drink?” (Elvis Andrus isn’t, actually – hehe). Anyway, Holland looked very much as advertised through five. I mean, he took a shutout into the sixth inning. He gave up a three run home run to Lance Berkman in the sixth – which is no shameful thing, Berkman’s a good hitter. But it ended his outing just one out away from a technical quality save. That would have been a nice chestnut in his cap for his first major league start. Still, a pretty impressive outing for first time out. He’s supposed to get one more start – if it’s anything like this, it might be hard taking him out. Wonder if Pidente will get moved in July if our kids are still smokin then.
Jason Jennings followed Holland, and gave up the other two runs that Houston got. Two hits and a walk led to those two runs. CJ Wilson, Darren O’Day, & Frank Francisco (fresh off DL) got work, and Frankie with the save.
Offensively, we were led by home runs again. We had three of ’em. One by Elvis Andrus in the fourth, another by Jarrod Saltamacchia (two run shot) in the sixth. Other than the final home run by Nelson Cruz, it was nine singles. Three by Elvis Andrus, who went 4-5 with an RBI, and two runs scored in this game. Michael Young was also on this game, going 3-4. So the left side of the infield accounted for seven of our twelve overall hits. Nice going guys.
But, as I said, the game was won by a Nelson Cruz home run to right. It was impressive power, as he was jammed inside, and still jacked the ball over the right field fence for the winning run.
That’s one up in Houston, a place we win fairly regularly at.