The Rangers had 15 hits total. Two players had 9 of them – That’s 3/5 of the total hits from two guys. One you’d expect – that was Josh Hamilton. Josh went 5-6 in the game, but the other was Julio Borbon who went 4-5 with a walk.
The Rangers had no home runs, but four doubles. Just a pile of singles. Our five runs were scatted all over the box score. One in the second, third, sixth, ninth, & 10th. The most important ones I suppose were both by Josh Hamilton. One was the single in the 9th by Josh, which tied the game up sending it to extra innings. The other being the one in the 10th as the Rangers took the lead, and the win. AND THE SWEEP!
That’s two sweeps in a row, and a winning streak of eight wins in a row!
I’d be neglect in mentioning the performance of CJ Wilson, who didn’t get the win, but should have. Seven innings, two earned runs (four overall). Six hits, three walks. He looked decent, if not dominating. The error by Vlad Guerrero didn’t help, that’s for sure.
Still, he did a decent enough job, and the Rangers got the win overall, which is the whole point. Back home to take on the Buccos – dare we think of three consecutive series sweeps?

Colby Lewis continues to do it all. He threw a complete game victory, giving up just two hits and one run. Walked nobody and struck out nine. It doesn’t get a whole lot more impressive than that unless you start talking shutout/nohitter/perfecto. He didn’t do anything at the plate, but that doesn’t matter, really. His pitching has been outstanding, and this is miles better than anything he did his first time around with the Rangers. He also pitched the complete game with just 101 pitches, which is very nice for a complete game. Most pitchers reach that in the fifth inning.
Justin Smoak led the way offensively in this game. His two run home run in the top of the second was all the offense we needed. We did pick up three runs later on in the game, led by a Michael Young home run, but the shot by Smoak in the second was all we needed. That wasn’t all Smoak did, he was 3-4 with a run scored and THREE RBI’s, so one of the others was his, too. Everything else besides the two home runs was a single.
Colby now improves to 7-4, and if he stays healthy, and keeps going at this pace, he’s got an outside shot to reach 20 wins, would be really impressive.

The Rangers came into this series just having swept the Marlins, a team that’s not upper echelon, but still a decent team. We travel to Houston here to play a team that’s not too far removed from the Pittsburgh Pirates (our opponent after Houston, but nevermind). If there’s one thing the Rangers have had trouble with in the last few years, it’s taking care of teams they should take care of.
With that in mind, we get to Houston to take on an Astros team that is, and let’s be nice, not very good. The Astros threw out Wandy Rodriguez against the Rangers, and well, he stunk. He only lasted three innings, giving up the big ol crooked number the Rangers got in the top of the third. Four hits, four walks, and six earned runs in three innings. Not very good.
On the flip side of that, the Rangers sent out Scott Feldman, who has been better the last few starts than the “meh” he’s been up until now. This time, he got the win (his fifth), while walking just one, but allowing nine hits. He went seven, so it wasn’t as bad as all that. All thee runs the Astros got were on singles in the bottom of the sixth. Scott came out for a scoreless seventh, so I don’t think it really was “out of gas” there.
Scott even got in on the offense, pitching in with a double, that he later scored on. :)
Once again, Josh Hamilton tore it up. 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBI’s. The man is on fire for sure. A couple of singles and a triple for him. Smoak & Treanor were both 2-5, and Borbon was 2-4 with a walk. The Rangers had twelve hits in all, so it was some nice offense. Justin Smoak jacked a second deck home run in the fifth, good for a two spot.
Overall, a nice way to come into Houston and take the first game of the series.

For their fifth win in a row, the Rangers swept out the Florida Marlins with a 6-4 victory in Miami.
It started off with a moment that a lot of Ranger fans was wondering when it would happen. Rich Harden missed a start. Yeah, he’s officially on the DL, but given the way he was pitching, I suspect it wasn’t as “truly DL” as some real injuries are. In his place was Dustin Nippert, who has made some starts in the past, but for tonight was still a reliever, so he wasn’t expected to give the team a lot. And he didn’t. Nippert only went three innings, and allowed three earned runs on seven hits. He also had no real command, throwing 74 pitches in those three innings, an average of TWENTY FIVE PER! Too much.
Following him was Alexi Ogando again. Alexi went not as long as Nippert, but had way better results. On 40 pitches, Ogando went 2.1 innings, allowing three walks and striking out four. But as I’ve said before – the bottom line is runs, and he gave up none. Good thing that.
Chris Ray, Frank Francisco, & Neftali Feliz finished out, and only Frankie allowed any hits (two) and any runs (one). All the other relievers (Ogando, Ray, Feliz) no hit the Marlins. So the pen was good.
Four of the Rangers 11 hits were extra base jobs. A few doubles (Kinsler with 2 and Murphy with 1) were nice, but there was this titanic home run by Vlad Guerrero to left – went way past where balls usually go in this stadium (I don’t know what to call the place, it’s had the most name changes in the last 5-6 years than any other place I know). I mean this home run was not only a no doubter immediately, it was a “everyone stands and watches it” kind of shot. Jose Canseco in the Skydome kind of home run.
Matt Treanor had another good game. While not as dramatic as the GW triple the other night, he did go 2-4, which is a good showing. Kinsler also had two hits, the better of them being a double in the fifth, which plated Elvis Andrus & Alexi Ogando.
Ogando again? Yeah, he got a hit in that inning, which itself was a surprise. A good clean, crisp swing too – no cheap shot.
Was a great series in Florida. We then move on to Houston, where we SHOULD do well, as the Astros are pretty awful nowadays.

I didn’t see any of this game, as I was at church on Wednesday evening. I got home and accidentally had found out the final score, so I didn’t watch any.

Save for the moment that Michael Young became the all time hit leader, passing Pudge Rodriguez for that honor. It’s hard to believe that Michael Young has been a Ranger (major leauger, no minors) for 11 seasons now (he made a token appearance in 2000 playing in just two games, and having just two AB). It’s pretty cool, and if you look at his long term numbers, he’s got an outside shot to get to 3,000 hits if he stays relatively healthy, and plays for awhile. Although I suspect he’ll end up as mostly the full time DH at some point during his next contract. It’s not like he’s bad now – far from it, but if he plays this one out and then goes 2-3 years into the next one, he’ll be on the upper side of 35 approaching 40.

Since one of my things I do here is pay attention to uniform numbers, I’ll take this moment to remind people that when Michael Young first came up with the Rangers, he wore #2. See the picture below. He wore it in 2000 and again in 2001. The thing is most people don’t remember why he switched to #10 from #2. It was because the Rangers brought in Carl Everett in 2002, and it forced Young to switch. He never switched back. At the time I thought he should, as I felt #2 was a better number for him than #10. :) Bonus points if you remember who wore #10 before Michael Young (without looking it up). The answer is at the end of this recap.

Anyways, about this game..

This was the second game in a row the Marlins were held down to a rather minimal amount of hits. Last game they had just three. This time they had just four, but they also managed to score three. Probably helped by the four walks the Rangers gave up. It’s not like it was a ton of them, but the Fish were efficient (har har har) with their hits, making ’em work well. No home runs, though.

Tommy Hunter started the game, but had to come out early due to an injury. It was enough to knock him out, but not enough to cause long term problems, as he made his next start (I’m writing this text a week after the game occurred). Hunter oddly gave up no hits, but did manage to allow an earned runs. Think the three walks helped with that? :) Matt Harrison followed him in an emergency appearance, and lasted about the same length (Hunter was 2.1IP, and Harrison was 2.2IP). Matt allowed a run, but had a reverse line somewhat of Hunter. Harrison allowed no walks, but three hits and just one run. Frank Francisco, who got a hold this game allowed the other run in the 8th on a walk and a hit.

Anibal Sanchez was the hard luck loser for the Fish, going 6 innings, and allowing just one earned run (two unearned).
The Rangers had 12 hits in all, and were led that way by Josh Hamilton who seems as hot as (if not hotter) than the 2008 incarnation. Man, I’m really glad I didn’t drop him on my fantasy leagues as I was tempted to do earlier in the season. He went 4-5 this game with a run scored and an RBI. He’s batting just a shade under .500 for the month of June – which is stinkin’ nuts. One of his hits was a solo home run – a tremendous blast to center field which landed in the middle of the tarp out there. Probably would have cleared the incline in center in the Astros park too – and the center field wall in Detroit. We also had another home run from Julio Borbon, his first. A guy who doesn’t have a ton of power got one, as did the guy WITH a ton of power.

We’re just rolling along, that’s several wins in a row now, and we’re out in front. Feeling good, eh?

The last player to wear #10 before Michael Young was Luis Alicea. Mark Teixeira had a #10 on the uniform he had during his press conference after the Rangers signed him, but it was never worn on the field. If you want to see some pictures of this, check out the #10 page in my uniform number history pages, and see for yourself.

This was a game with several interesting firsts.

1. It was Alexi Ogando’s actual major league debut.
2. It was Alexi Ogando’s first major league win.
3. It was Matt Treanor’s first game back in Florida since leaving the team.
4. It was Matt Treanor’s first game winning pinch hit triple. ;)
5. It was the first time CJ Wilson walked six in one game.

Obviously, the first couple of those are better than the last one, but man was this a good game. If I were a Fish fan (are there any?), I’d be annoyed that I lost, but it was a good game.
CJ Wilson was, as I said, a bit wild, walking six. He also struck out six too. Fortunately, he only allowed two hits to go with those walked, and mostly danced the line without letting it get out of control. In fact, the two runs that Florida did score came on a two run home run to Hanley Ramirez in the sixth, his last inning of work. The six walks definitely contributed to an excessively high pitch count (111 in six innings), but the bottom line was the runs, and he kept that down well. Only allowed two.
Our bullpen was fantastic, allowing now runs and just a single hit over the three innings they worked. It was the major league debut of as I said Alexi Ogando, the “visa trapped” pitcher the Rangers have had for a number of years now. He walked one too, but I’d attribute the walk and the hit to nerves somewhat. But again, the bottom line is the runs, and he didn’t allow any.
He also was the pitcher of record when he was pinch hit for by Matt Treanor in the top of the ninth. Matt rapped the first pitch he saw towards the left field alley for a two run triple, which at the time took us from down 2-1 to up 3-2. It got CJ Wilson off the hook, who was headed for a hard luck loss.
I liked this text written by TR Sullivan (hope you don’t mind TR) from his mlb recap of the game:

A tough 34-year-old career backup catcher facing his former team and a nervous rookie making his Major League debut made it a memorable night for all in the Rangers’ dramatic 3-2 victory over the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

Offensively we didn’t really have much going on. Nor did the Marlins. The Rangers had just six hits in all, and the Fish had just three. One was the aforementioned home run by Ramirez. He also had a single, and the lone other hit was by catcher Ronnie Paulino. So overall the Rangers were stingy with hits. Of our six, two were by the currently flaming hot Josh Hamilton, and the other four were scattered. Everything for the Rangers was single, save the Treanor triple.
It was, dare I say it, a well played National League game. And we won.

Usually, when you look down the box score of a game, you don’t expect to see the pitcher leading in offensive categories for the game. But that’s what Colby Lewis did this game. Not pitching, but in batting, he was 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI’s. The only person who did better than Colby was Josh Hamilton this game. The best moment was the two run double in the sixth scoring Hamilton & Guerrero.
However, his pitching was better than that. Eight innings, giving up just three hits and two earned runs. Struck out 10! Both of the earned runs came on solo home runs (both by Prince Fielder). Take those out, and it was just one hit. I mean, there was other stuff that happened in this game, yeah, but Colby was the best thing in it.

This was an interesting game of good and bad.
The good is from a place that’s been not so good (if not totally bad) this year. That’s Scott Feldman. Scott, having a disappointing season (but not nearly as bad as former Ranger Kevin Millwood) so far tuned it up on this day in Wisconsin. He went six innings, throwing just four hits, and no runs allowed. Which is odd, as he also allowed three walks. But he managed to keep the runs column on the scoreboard a big ol’ donut. Shame he didn’t get to pitch more, as he did also throw 105 pitches, which is about what you’d throw in seven. Still, it’s one of his better outings of the year, and it was good he got the win (his fourth).
The bullpen however is the bad part, as the usual back end of Francisco & Feliz let it go. Frankie not so bad, as he allowed one run in his inning of work, but Feliz had a bit of a meltdown. He faced five betters, and only got one of them out. Two hits and two walks led to two runs, which made it uncomfortably close at the end. Chris Ray came in and put out that fire, earning his first save as a Ranger.
Offensively, we got started early with a two run double by Justin Smoak, who I’m hearing his name more in the highlights, but he still has an issue with batting average. Josh Hamilton also homered in the sixth for run #3. The fourth and final run was an RBI single by David Murphy.
Kinsler was the only Ranger with more than one hit (2).

All I have to say about this one is..
Stupid Rich Harden. On twitter I wondered if we shouldn’t just DFA him.

Two whoop-ass games in a row. That’s pretty darned cool. Two games in a row where we scored 12 runs against the Mariners. Two games in a row with home runs by Michael Young and Josh Hamilton (although Hamilton’s HR game streak is longer than that). Overall the series was a pretty darned good one. In four games, we outscored the Mariners 33-10, and that includes in there a game where the Rangers scored just two runs! Big old can of American Whoop-Ass indeed!
The Rangers got out to an early lead. After the previous game, this had the effect of making it seem like more of the previous nights’ game. The Rangers were up in the first 3-0 behind mostly a two run home run by Josh Hamilton. Probably would have been more had the Mariners not turned a double play in the inning.
The scoring in this game wasn’t nearly as “spread out” as in the previous game. We had three big run innings. A three run first, a four run third, and a five run sixth. The third inning started off with a Michael Young home run, and then there was some fun. Kinsler singled, Guerrero walked., Josh flied out, then Smoak reached on an error. David Murphy grounded out, and Matt Treanor singled. Nothing terribly sexy there, but it did result in a four spot on the board. The five spot in the sixth was a rather similar deal. There was a double in the middle, but it was a pile of singles and some other plays besides actual hits (like a groundout).
Tommy Hunter started this game, and while he wasn’t as totally dominant as he was his last start, he was pretty good on the mound. Six innings, five hits, three walks (bit too many for 6 innings), but just two earned runs (one unearned). Looking like he’ll be a mainstay going forward. Makes me wonder if Rich Harden will stay. :)
Anyway, totally nice drubbing of the Mariners here, and overall, despite the first game performance by Cliff Lee, it felt like a complete domination in the entire series. We go into interleague play 1.5 games up in first place in the AL West. Let’s see if we can widen it a bit the rest of this month!