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.

Taking a mulligan – as I write this on Friday, it’s my last day of work, and I have a ton of other things to do.
Sigh. 0 and the last few seasons in Detroit. What the heck?

Taking a mulligan – as I write this on Friday, it’s my last day of work, and I have a ton of other things to do.
One really cool thing was the triple play we turned in the fourth inning. I had to replay that a few times on my TiVo. Don’t see triple plays very often.
But other than that, the house of horrors contiunes in Detroit.

Well, you knew that wasn’t going to last forever. However, I was hoping it would last a little longer. The Rangers went into one of their house of horrrors on Tuesday, and were facing former Marlin great, Dontrelle Willis.
The same Dontrelle Willis that while he’s been a player on the motor city team has won exactly ZERO wins. The same guy that was put on the DL earlier this year with an “anxiety disorder”. The same guy who we should have torched. We didn’t. The D-Train picked this game to get it back together again. Willis threw 6.1 innings, gave up just one hit, no runs, with two walks and five strikeouts. Man. I was expecting to hit this guy up for like six runs in about 2.2 innings or something like that. Instead we got the one from Florida. Figures.
The only hit the Rangers got was a single by Michael Young to right field. That’s IT. No other offense to talk about at all.
Pitching wise, Brandon McCarthy labored for sure, but wasn’t totally awful. He did have a technical quality start, going seven innings, giving up three earned runs (four overall). Few too many hits though (nine) during his time. But he wasn’t that bad, really. Our very recent vintage offense should have picked that up. It didn’t. It was totally run over by the D-Train.
Oh well. There’s Wednesday night with Matt Harrison going against Justin Verlander. Hope that one goes better.

Wow. Who would have thought this? A series sweep of the Angels, and a complete homestand sweep (where it’s a real one, not just 2-3 games). Who would have thought that we’d be in first place, four and a half games up on the Angels? Now, it’s no September party, but man – it’s been awhile since it’s been this fun watching Rangers games. 2004 was the last real time, and that lasted into September, but one gets the feeling this is different, because of the good pitching we’ve been getting.
Speaking of pitching, this was a great game for that. We had four pitchers combine on a five hit shutout of the Anaheim Angels. Scott Feldman started, and went six, but didn’t get the win. That was because Jeff Weaver matched him. No runs were scored until the bottom of the seventh, so Feldman got a hard luck no decision. Jason Jennings, Eddie Guardado, & Darren O’Day followed with three innings of one hit (Jennings) relief. Was the kind of pitching we’re used to seeing thrown against us, not for us. Interesting that O’Day got a four out save, and that Wilson wasn’t used. I wonder if Washington really doesn’t trust Wilson anymore, or if he was just not available. At the least it shows how good of a pickup O’Day has been.
Offensively, there wasn’t much going on – as we were shut down by Jered Weaver for quite a long time. Weaver did get the complete game loss, but through six he was great. In all, he threw eight innings, giving up all three runs on six hits and three walks. In the seventh, David Murphy had a sac fly, scoring Hank Blalock for the first run of the game – and the only one that was really needed. We plated two more in the eighth after Omar Vizquel led off with a triple. That triple was a great moment, and makes you wonder why he isn’t still a starter with someone. Oh yeah, he’s not gonna hit 350 and steal 75 bases, but man he can still play. Anyway, after the triple, two doubles to left by Ian Kinsler & Marlon Byrd accounted for the other two runs. We didn’t have a whole lot of offense, just six hits in all, but four of them were extra bases (triple, three doubles) – it was enough.
Monday is a day off, then we head on the road to face Detroit, who is in first place in a fairly weak AL Central. Who would have thought that the six division leaders right now would be Toronto / Detroit / Texas & New York / Milwaukee / Los Angeles. Well, OK, the NL isn’t as much of a surprise (except the Brewers) I guess, but it is a surprise in the AL.
You know, something I want to add. In the middle of this game my daughter came out to see me after attempting (and failing) to take a nap. It was such a good day that I decided on the fly to just up and take her to the playground near our house (which also gave mommy a break, but that’s not why I did it). It was a beautiful day, my daughter just lit up like nothing else you’d ever seen when I suggested going there, and we spent some time playing with other kids – it was beautiful. As much fun as it is to have your baseball team play good, it doesn’t even come near the fun of watching my four year old get so excited about playing with me at the playground. Don’t forget that, Ranger fans. I quite willingly chose to stop watching this game to go play with my kid. I’m reminded of Psalm 118:24 here. It’s also good when things are bad as a pick me up, but it REALLY felt good to me when I thought of it driving to the playground.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I picked a heck of a game to get back into this with. Earlier in the afternoon, I plowed through the ten previous games I had skipped after deciding to take a break. As you recall, I lost my job back on the 6th, and wasn’t quite in the mood to write about baseball. I wanted to wait till I got to a moment that I felt like writing about. So I wrote a little about the games I skipped (as my new schedule page kind of forces me to have an entry for each game). The rain delay was fortunate, as it gave me just enough time to finish after the game had actually been going on for only 10 minutes.

Early on, Vicente Padilla gave up a run in the first, but it was on an uncorked wild pitch that allowed Chone Figgins to score. That was a dumb run – Padilla’s body language even implied he knew that run shouldn’t have scored. A pitcher can’t always control runs scoring, but one scoring on a wild pitch that far outside really was his fault. Still, it was just one run. Then we get to the bottom of the first, and I have to say, it was quite entertaining…

John Lackey was making his first start of the season, having been on the DL. The first pitch he threw was behind Ian Kinsler’s back. Which Ian didn’t flinch over. Usually pitches like that garner some sort of response, and I don’t mean a retribution kind of thing. A flinch, a dive, something. Nothing, he just stood there. Then the second one plunked Kinsler in the ribs, prompting an immediate ejection from home plate umpire Bob Davidson. I actually laughed at that – of course Lackey & Mike Scioscia came out and argued, but when has an ejection ever been reversed? The deed was done, and it did seem a bit fishy that he was that wild – Lackey’s a really good pitcher. Still, my first thoughts lept to – “OK, here comes their bullpen, which is strapped”, and of course you then think of what happens tomorrow if their starter gets torched, too. :) As a Rangers fan, you love Lackey being ejected. As an overall baseball fan, well, it might have been harsh, but Lackey pitching that way did seem fishy. Perhaps it’s the beanball war the two teams have had creeping in there. Either way, it kept Lackey off the mound in Arlington, which is always rough for Texas.

Kinsler ended up scoring after a sac fly by Josh Hamilton in the bottom of the first. The following inning, the Rangers scored two on a single by Jarrod Saltamacchia. The Angels scored two in the top of the fourth on two separate singles. The Rangers countered in the bottom of the fourth with two of their own. One on a single, and the other on another sac fly by Josh Hamilton. What’s the point of running all the scoring together like that?

Well, of all the RBI’s in the game, they were all singles, except for the sac flys. In fact, for both teams combined, everything was a single, except for a double by Nelson Cruz. 17 of the 18 combined hits were singles. A definite no power game, that’s for sure.
Vicente Padilla had a real Weeble outing. Why? He wobbled, but he didn’t fall down. He really looked like he wouldn’t get out of the fourth, then put it together, and threw four more shutout innings. In all, Pidente tossed eight innings, giving up three runs on ten hits (with three walks). There probably would have been fewer walks, but there was a definite pea sized strike zone this game. Wasn’t just Pidente, either, all the pitchers were being squeezed. CJ Wilson came in and got the save, because Frank Francisco was placed on the DL.

But the bottom line was that the Angels bullpen threw nine innings. That will probably hurt them somewhere soon, if they don’t bring up some fresh arms to counter.

We’ve now won six games in a row, and are three and a half games up in first with a 22-14 record.

WHERE ARE ALL THOSE WHINERS ABOUT HOW WASHINGTON NEEDED TO BE RUN OUT OF TOWN NOW?

Yeah, that’s mostly Randy Galloway I’m talking about. I mean what can you expect from someone who has the following quote on his Myspace page? “I love the fact that i can run anyone’s name in the ground and there’s nothing they can do about it.” Yeesh – tells me he’s more interested in writing about himself, than the sports or people.

The Rangers had a seriously hard problem getting the final out of the game. Going into the ninth, we were up 10-3. Got two quick outs, and then couldn’t get anyone out. After there were two outs in the ninth, Derek Holland, Darren O’Day, & CJ Wilson all pitched. CJ finally got the last out, but it was’t easy – the go ahead man was on base, we just couldn’t seal the deal. Fortunately, we finially did, but it was touch and go for sure there.
Kinsler was the big charge, leading with two home runs. Andruw Jones had a home run, and Josh had his third home run since coming off the DL on Tuesday.
Kevin Millwood broke his streak of going at least seven innings in each game he started this year. Today’s game he was just six. Had nine hits and two earned runs. Few too many hits, but it didn’t result in a lot of runs, so that’s good.
The Rangers definitely continue to look good. If we’re gonna make a real charge at winning the AL West, we have to beat the Angels, and while it got hairy in the ninth, we looked good this game.
First place, two and a half games up. While there’s miles to go, it is a good feeling just the same.
(This commentary is short, due to playing catch up on nine games of commentary at once).

Matt Harrison was freakin fantastic again! Probably not as fantastic as before when it was a complete game shutout. But he did pitch a complete game. This time, he gave up two runs, and it looked like he was going to lose. Nothing more annoying than a complete game loss. If you go all nine, you’re likely going to win.

However, Matt left the game after the ninth, down 2-0. And a Rangers offense that was totally ineffective against the Mariners came up in the bottom of the ninth. Hank Blalock led off with a solo home run to right – a rather titanic shot to make the game 2-1. OK, feeling good, but we still have more work to do. A few batters later, Chris Davis came up, and jacked a two run home run to walk off with the win! That’s two nights in a row with a walk-off. That had to feel good for the Rangers, given how ineffective they were aginst Felix Hernandez all game.

(This commentary is short, due to playing catch up on nine games of commentary at once).

Let’s face it. There’s a bunch you can talk about with this game. But all anyone will want to talk about is the fact that we got a walkoff win at home against a division opponent.
Going into the 10th, we had given up a run, and I figured that was it – we usually lose extra inning games in the 10th. However, we plated two of our own in the bottom of the 10th to win the game!
Josh Hamilton did have his second home run in two games – a nice thing to see given how few he’s had up to this point. And Elvis Andrus tripled – always fun to watch triples!
(This commentary is short, due to playing catch up on nine games of commentary at once).