After beating the Mariners and the A’s eight straight games, we move on to Anaheim. Given how anemic the Mariners offense was, and the A’s not being all that much better, you wonder, “Well OK, that’s all good, but is this JUST us beating up on bad teams? How good are we, really”?
With that attitude in tow, I sat down to listen to the game on Tuesday night on my iPad. It was Alexi Ogando vs Tyler Chatwood. Chatwood was someone the Rangers have never faced before, and while this wasn’t his first start (it was his 18th), he is still fairly early on his career. I never seem to like going against new pitchers early on, as we tend to get shut down. That wasn’t the case here.
Despite the final score being 7-0, we were only up 3-0 going into the eighth. Four of the seven runs were scored in the last two innings. The first run scored on back to back doubles by Hamilton & Beltre. The second run scored on a walk (Napoli), and a couple of singles (Chavez & Kinsler). The third run scored on a walk (Andrus), and a single (Young), coming after Andrus made it to third on another play. The fourth and fifth runs scored on a two run home run by Endy Chavez, scoring Napoli who had walked. The final two runs both came on solo home runs in the 9th by Josh Hamilton & Adrian Beltre, back to back. Nice even offense. As much as I like to see the orgasm of scoring from time to time (like a 10 run inning), a nice spread out offense is probably better for the long run.
Pitching wise, it was Alexi Ogando again. He seems to have recovered from his blip where he got bombed for a few starts. Eight innings, just four hits, three walks, and five strikeouts. More walks than usual, but it didn’t seem to hurt him. Mark Trumbo was the only Angel with more than one hit, and both of them were doubles, oddly enough. The other two hits were singles by Callaspo & Aybar. His numbers show an outstanding performance again.
Darren Oliver came in and pitched the ninth, and threw a perfect inning. Ogando was probably still OK to pitch the ninth, but it was said that Oliver was coming in to get some guys some work who haven’t pitched in over a week due to the All-Star break. It’s all good.
Rangers have now won 12 in a row, including FIVE shutouts in the last nine games. That’s amazing. Don’t think we’ve ever had a stretch quite like that before, have we? The entire rest of the division lost last night, so we picked up a game on everyone. We’re now:
Five games up on the Angels.
Twelve and a half games up on the Mariners
Fourteen games up on the A’s.
If we sweep the Angels (probably won’t happen, but still), we’ll come back home seven games up in the West (who knows about Mariners & A’s).
Looks like I picked a good time to come back to regular game updates. :)

Sunday afternoon featured one young Rangers pitcher vs another young pitcher who was supposed to be a Rangers pitcher.
Matt Harrison, acquired in a blockbuster trade when we sent Mark Teixeira to the Braves squared off against Blake Beavan, who was sent to Seattle in the blockbuster trade where we got Cliff Lee last summer.
While neither was really bad, Harrison was clearly better, as he only allowed one run, and it came late in his outing. Beavan wasn’t bad either, his only mistake was a big three run home run to Mitch Moreland early on, which was actually all the runs the Rangers got. Moreland was just 1-4, but the one was the big home run, so that pretty much was his day right there.
The Rangers offense was pretty scattered, as we had just seven hits. Only Mike Napoli had more than one. However, four of the seven were extra base hits. There was Moreland’s home run, and three doubles (Hamilton, Beltre, Napoli). As “eh” as that was, the Mariners were even worse. Just five hits total, nobody got more than one, and four of them were singles. Just one double.
Matt Harrison went 7.2 innings, allowing just five hits and one walk, while punching out four and allowing just a single run. That run came after the one line Mariners extra base hit was scored by one of their singles. Mark Lowe came in, finished off that inning, and Neftali Feliz finished it off with his 20th save. Both Lowe & Feliz were perfect, so it topped off Harrison’s performance quite well.
This is the second straight four game sweep in a row. That’s quite impressive, and if we can pull that kind of thing off against Anaheim, we’ll put some distance between us and the rest of the division. If we pull off some sort of big trade at the deadline too, it’ll be an epic boost to the confidence going into the last third of the season, for sure.

Another late game I missed the end of, as I fell asleep on the sofa listening to it. As I get older, these later night games start to bug me more. Thanks for letting Selig off the hook there, Tom Hicks.
Anyway, I’m not going to write a ton about this one, as I have some other stuff to do, but it was pretty much the CJ Wilson & Felix Hernandez show pitching wise. Ian Kinsler led off with a home run, and it stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth when an Ichiro single stopped the Rangers scoreless streak at 33, tying the game.
We picked up another run in the sixth, and stayed that way for the rest of the game. It was somewhere around there that I fell asleep and missed the other runs the Rangers scored.
Sorry for such a short writeup, but I have a few things to do around the house before today’s game came on the air.

My weekly TV game came on Friday night. So I settled in rather late, and started watching the game.
The game started off in a way that I thought it would. Rangers would pound out a few, and our starter would hold ’em down. We got half of that. Colby Lewis started off well, and kept the Mariners down (not that that’s too hard anyway).
The Rangers picked up a run in the first, and in the second. The third inning started off with Elvis Andrus walking. That was the last time a Ranger got on base until Endy Chavez started off the eighth by singling. Doug Fister, who threw something like 42 pitches in the first two innings calmed down, and was lights out there from innings 3-7. It was a good old pitchers duel, with Texas up 2-0 in the lead.
Given the way the Mariners (do not) score runs, they had some odd defensive plays. In the first inning, they had the infield in, something you almost never see. Pretty strong indictment of their offense that they had the infield in during the first. They also threw home in the 8th to stop a run from scoring where you wouldn’t normally see that kind of play.
That rundown in the 8th allowed the Rangers’ runners to get up to second and third while Chavez was stuck in the rundown. Those two guys scored later. In fact, the first three of the four runs the Rangers got were on sacrifice flies. Don’t see that too often, either.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, Colby Lewis was still out there. He managed to get the first two outs, but sandwiched in there were two singles, to put two guys on. Which then invoked the really weird rule that says a pitcher is eligible for a save if the tying run is on the on deck circle. I never agreed with that, but it did allow Feliz to come in, get the final out, and get a save.
But this was really about Colby Lewis. I would have loved to have seen the complete game, but I get why Wash took him out there. Still, it was another shutout, which was our ninth straight win, and our third straight game with a shutout. Most impressive.

This is my first game back on regular updates. I wasn’t sure what would bring me back to that, oddly enough it was the death of Shannon Stone that jarred me back into writing something. I picked the All-Star break as a the time to get back into it. Picked a good game to do it.
I listened to this game on MLB At Bat on my iPad for awhile. Got through about the sixth inning, until my wife got the kids to bed, at which point I started watching the new series of Torchwood that is on the air now. But what I missed was pretty much “more of the same”.
Up until the point I stopped listening, Derek Holland was brilliant. Quite darned good. He threw a complete game shutout, which is always good for anyone. But especially for someone like Holland who has shown more good than bad this year, but still had the maddeningly bad outings from time to time. That he looks like he’s starting to put it together is darned promising for the future. Yes, he’s not 21 anymore, and he needs to get the job done, but I’ll be satisfied with consistent improvement, he doesn’t have to go straight to 22-5 with a 2.15 ERA for me to go “OK, that’s working”. He’s overall been better this year, and if both he and Harrison keep it together? That bodes VERY well for our future, assuming we can hang onto CJ Wilson after this year.
The Ranger offense got going early with first and second inning solo home runs by Josh Hamilton & Nelson Cruz. We also tacked on a third run in the third on a couple of singles, one an RBI single by Michael Young.
That was the end of the offense I heard on the broadcast, as I went to watch Torchwood. The other two runs came on another solo home run (Mike Napoli), and another couple of singles.
But man, the story of this game was Derek Holland. He actually had a no hitter going into the sixth, but by his own admission, he looked at the scoreboard a bit, and let a few hits get by him. At one point, he had retired 15 batters in a row, and this is the Rangers eighth straight win. Anaheim was idle, so we went 1.5 games up on them.
We were strong going into the All-Star Break. Be nice to keep that up going into the second half.

Well, I got married in 1996, and that was the last year the NL had won the All Star game. Until last year when the Rangers finally got there. Then the NL won again. They continued this annoying new streak this week by winning the All-Star game two years in a row.
I was planning on writing more, but as I look back on the game, there wasn’t a ton memorable about the game. More was made about who didn’t show up, which wasn’t a HUGE deal to me.
Still, I always love watching the player introductions. That’s always fun to watch, and this year for the first time since 1990, there were three Pittsburgh Pirates players. There were, however six Texas Rangers players. Which I think is the most since we had a bunch when the game was in Houston a few years back. Anyway, the Rangers who went were:
Adrian Beltre. He started the game, was a replacement for Arod who had to bail out due to surgery. Beltre went 1-2 with a single.
Josh Hamilton. He started the game, having been voted in by fans. Josh went 1-2 with a single.
Michael Young – Got in on the player vote to be a backup DH. Thing is, Wash put him in the game at third base. He only got one at bat, and struck out.
Alexi Ogando – Late appointment to the squad. Forget who he technically replaced on the roster, as there were a lot of moving parts insofar as roster ineligibilities on the last day or so. He threw 0.2 innings, and faced two batters for a total of 11 pitches. Didn’t allow anything. One of my cuter moments came when he was on the mound. It was when a Texas Rangers pitcher (Ogando) threw to a Pittsburgh Pirates batter (Andrew McCutchen). Liked that. :)
CJ Wilson – Of the 19 total pitchers that were in this game, CJ clearly had the worst outing of any of them. He did pitch a full inning, but gave up three hits and three earned runs. Faced six batters, threw 22 pitches. Not a good outing. The big deal was the three run home run to Prince Fielder. Something was said that it was the first home run in the All Star game since once in 2008, too.
Ron Washingon – Perhaps the coolest one there, because you don’t get to be manager unless you get to the World Series. Enjoyed this one!
I enjoyed watching the game, even though there wasn’t a ton to report on IMO. Still, looking forward to the second half of the season, as it’s just about upon us as I write this.

The last several years I’ve said I’ve been bored with the Home Run Derby. There’s been several things that I’ve rolled my eyes at over the last few years. Interview with actors in the dugouts, Berman’s “back back back” needs to go, the interviews with the players instantly after they’re done (What were you thinking?).. I had pretty much given up on it.
However, this year, given I don’t have Cable TV anymore, I found myself wanting to see it, mostly because I didn’t have the access anymore. One of those “don’t know what you have until it’s gone” kind of things. Then at the last minute, I realized I would be able to see it. The MLB 11 App for the iPad had a full stream of the HR Derby. Technically it was an mlb.com video stream, and not ESPN stream, but I was rather enjoyed I still got to watch it. So I sat in a chair in the house I don’t normally sit in, and watched the HR derby on my iPad. To quote Steve Jobs, it was “magical”. (not really, I’m just being silly).
Anyway, a lot of the stuff I disliked has been removed. Stupid interviews with hangers on weren’t there, and the interviews with the players after their rounds were gone. So that was good. Berman was there, but I did get a laugh out of him, because his mike wasn’t closed during the pre-ceremony band playing. He said something like “I don’t want to say what I want to, because it could go out in the stadium”. No, it didn’t Rick, but it DID go out on TV. Or at least the live streaming feed. :)
I do have to admit, I didn’t like the players taking their kids up to the plate with them for the introductions. That’s a bad precedent, I wonder where one of them will take it. Bring their entire entourage up there with them? I instantly thought of Dusty Baker’s kid again, thinking “what’s he doing there?”
So OK, we have a new twist this year. Instead of MLB picking the 8 contestants, they picked two “captains”, and they picked the players. It’s an interesting idea. Once the swings get started, that captains & teams concept is pretty much out the window. But I do like the idea insofar as the picking of the players. The players in the derby were:
Robinson Cano
Adrian Gonzalez
David Ortiz
Prince Fielder
Matt Holliday
Jose Bautista
Ricky Weeks
Matt Kemp
Of that group, before anything got started, I thought the winner might have been Prince Fielder or Jose Bautista. Robinson Cano went second in the first round, and after his first round was over, I thought to myself, “That’s it, he’s winning this”. That thought turned out to be prophetic.
The first round weeded out Holliday, Bautista, Weeks, & Kemp. Weeks & Kemp I didn’t think were advancing anyway, and Holliday was a bit of a surprise getting knocked out. It had to go through a three way swing off, as Ortiz, Fielder, & Holliday all had 5 after the first round. Fielder nailed the swing off, having five swings, and getting five home runs. Fielder’s home runs were like what Ian Kinsler would be like if he had some bulk on him. They were some titanic uppercuts. I mean I’m really shocked nobody hit the roof the way some of the balls were going this night.
There were some really REALLY well hit balls, including a couple that got past the point where they had pre-figured the distances. That was amusing. But as I thought in the first round, Robinson Cano made it through and won the thing overall. Cano kind of reminds me of that old school Yankee that you don’t really hate, even though he’s a Yankee.
Some of my favorite moments from the derby:

• Fan falling into the pool catching a home run ball hit out that way. Made me laugh.

• The reactions of players to some of the titanic blasts. That never seems to get old for me.
• The diving catch a ballboy made for one of the non home run balls. Kid made a great diving catch.
• The giant bat at the ESPN coverage table. I wish someone had walked to the plate with it.
• By far though, the best moment was Robinson Cano’s dad being his pitcher. The man was beyond stoic during the derby. Until Cano won it, and it was the biggest smile you could ever imagine. Loved that moment. A LOT.

A decent amount of these things are covered in video cliups on the mlb site. Click the “Game Recap” link at the top of this post to see that.
I had fun watching the Derby this year. Whether it was because I thought I wasn’t going to be able to see it, and then at the last minute I could, or perhaps some of my annoyances were gone, I don’t know. Even Berman’s “Back back back” was reigned in.
Enjoyed it.
One last thing. Given what happened in Arlington with a fan dying, you’d THINK people wouldn’t be so stupid – THAT QUICKLY after an event like that. Pretty much the same thing happened, guy leaning over, and went over, only this time his friends caught him. First off, what the hell? Come on dude. Second, there was a picture I saw of him standing on a table or something, basically his feet were at the level of the security rail. No wonder. At some point you can’t regulate, or “safety bar” people’s stupidity. If they WANT to be that stupid, and take unnecessary risks, there’s nothing you can do. Just glad we got to see that picture of the guy standing that high. It was’t the rails, it was the “mental zero” aspect of this jackass that caused that one.