Andruw Jones Homers Texas Back Into First Place

Last season with the Dodger, Andruw Jones had the most frustrating season of his career, hitting an anemic .158 with just three homeruns.

Against the Angels on Wednesday night, Jones needed just 3 at-bats to equal his previous seasons output, clubbing three homeruns and driving in four, leading Texas to an 8-1 victory over the division rival Anaheim Angels.

"Andruw put us on his back, and everybody just followed," manager Ron Washington said after his team finished taking two of three from the Angels.

"That's what Andruw is capable of," third baseman Michael Young said. "That's not the first time he's shown power; he's been doing it his whole career. There aren't many guys in the game who have as much natural power as Andruw."



Taylor Teagarden and Marlon Byrd also added homeruns for the Rangers, giving starter Vicente Padilla all the room he'd need to hold the Angels down, picking up his 7th win of the year.

"It was just good to go out and perform well and get a win," Jones said. "Everybody produced tonight. It's about team, not just one individual person. It's about team and beating a team that you're competing against."

Jones has now hit nine homeruns and 19 RBI in his last 16 games.

"You're talking about a guy who was on his way to being a first-ballot Hall of Famer," Young said. "Andruw has a lot left in the tank. He works hard, has a good idea of what he's doing at the plate and has got monster power."

Texas is 7-2 head-to-head with Anaheim on the season and now head to Seattle with a 1 game lead on the AL West.

Hamilton Stays Hot, Rangers Outlast Angels

Sometimes all you need is a little hustle.

Down 3-0, with 2 outs in the 5th, Michael Young legged out an infield single, just beating out a throw from Angels shortstop Erick Aybar, keeping the inning alive. It proved to be the key base hit of the game.

"I just think it's the right way to play," Young said. "You hit the ball on the ground, and you run as fast as you can. I hit it off the plate, so I knew there was a chance, but they have a great infield, so I knew it was going to be bang-bang. We definitely caught a break there on a hit that's not the way you draw it up."

Said Angels starter John Lackey, "He's a guy I've faced probably 100 times. It's always a tough at-bat. He's a professional hitter. He gives you a tough at-bat, plays the game the right way. He's a guy I'd pay to see. Erick did everything he could on that play. Young just beat it."

"Michael Young, this guy's a baseball player in every aspect," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "That's how he plays the game. You expect that from him. We just didn't close it out."

Josh Hamilton followed Young with a hard single (one of three hits on the nights) into center field setting up a huge, cluth homerun by Andruw Jones, tying the game.



"I was looking for something over the plate, and he threw one down but over the middle," Jones said. "Everybody came through for us tonight. After I got that big hit, everybody seemed to relax, and we got things rolling."

Hank Blalock followed with a base hit. A visibly uncomfortable Lackey then walked Marlon Byrd and David Murphy before uncorking a wild pitch, scoring Blalock from third. A Jarrod Saltalamacchia single scored Byrd and Murphy, capping the scoring and giving Texas a margin the Angels could never make up.

Spot starter Dustin Nippert went just 3 2/3 innings but was back up by a very impressive 2 inning performance by Derek Holland.

Jason Jennings came in with one on and two outs in the bottom of the 6th hit Mike Napoli and walked Erick Aybar, loading the bases for Chone Figgins. After walking Figgins, allowing a run to score, Jennings pulled things together and got a big strikeout of Bobby Abreu.

"I'm not going to be at my best every night, but at least I was able to make a pitch when I had to," Jennings said. "Right there, if he hits a ball in the gap, they take the lead, so I had to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate. But I got a couple of fastballs inside on him to take it to two strikes and then got him on a slider."

Darren O'Day also struggled but was picked up by C.J., who pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.

Frank Francisco came in to putch the 9th, allowing a homerun to Juan Rivera before shutting the door on the Angels offense, pulling Texas back into a tie with Anaheim for the AL West.

"The wolf-pack mentality was really awesome tonight," Wilson said. "We knew that Dustin had a limited pitch count, so everybody was on high alert. But we came up big because everybody did their job. It was great to get out of those jams."

Angels Spoil Return Of Josh Hamilton

Welcome back, Josh Hamilton. Texas' All-Star center fielder returned to the lineup Monday night for the first time since the end of May and didn't disappoint, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Unfortunately, the Angels had to go and spoil all the fun.

Starter Kevin Millwood turned in his worst performance of the season, allowing nine earned runs in only five innings of work, putting Texas in a hole they were never able to climb out of.

"I didn't hit my spots. When I tried to go away, it would drift over the middle of the plate. And when I didn't hit my spots, they hit those mistakes," Millwood said.

The loss was only Millwood's second in his last eight starts.

"When you look at their lineup, one through six, that's as good as it gets," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Sometimes you get through it and sometimes you don't. Seven, eight and nine aren't easy either. That's a tough lineup to make it through, and we didn't get it done."



The offense gave Millwood an early 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI base hit by Hank Blalock and an error which allowed Josh Hamilton to score but, save for a 2-run homer by Ian Kinsler after the game was out of reach, didn't manage anything else against Angels starter Jered Weaver.

Prior to Monday nights game, Millwood had held opponents to a .189 average with runners in scoring position. Highlighted by a 3-run blast by Jeff Mathis and 2-RBI nights by both Torii Hunter and Juan Rivera, the Angels hit .750 going 6-for-8.

"You've got to give them credit; they swung the bats well," Rangers third baseman Michael Young said. "The middle of their lineup did a great job. It's just one of those times where you chalk it up to being one of those nights. When Millwood is on the mound, we feel we have a good shot of winning, but it just didn't happen."

Rangers Get Big Win In Dramatic Fashion

Hank Blalock had already had himself a huge night when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 9th and hit a game-winning, 2-run homer to not only give the Rangers the series win but also pull to within a 1/2 game of the Angels.

For the game, Blalock hit two homers, a double and drove in three runs.

"That was a good one," second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "That was fun and it couldn't have happened to a better guy in the lineup. Two home runs and one a walkoff. Nothing bigger than that."

Blalock's walkoff moment almost never happened.

After Michael Young singled to start the 9th inning, David Murphy sacrificed him to second base. Marlon Byrd then struck out looking bringing Blalock to the plate. With rookie Julio Borbon on deck Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher went to the mound to discuss the possibility of pitching around Blalock to get to the rookie.

Mike went out to see how Justin [Speier] felt and to get a game plan," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We had a couple of options."

Scioscia said of the potential intentional walk, "weighed a lot. Of course we thought of that. If Justin didn't feel good about where he was ... but Justin felt good going after him."

"I threw a little backdoor slider," Speier said. "That was the right pitch. I just made a mistake, and he took advantage of it. I threw the same pitch the other night [Monday] and he swung through it. Tonight, he got me."



Despite the last-inning theatrics, it was a moment that probably shouldn't have happened.

Frank Francisco came into the game in the top of the 9th, looking to close the game out for Texas. Instead, he served up a game-tying, 3-run to Juan Rivera, setting the stage for the Blalock fireworks.

Despite blowing his second save in a week, Francisco still ended up the winning pitcher.

"I don't care about that," Francisco said. "Millwood deserved to win the game. He worked his tail off. It doesn't matter how hard I throw, I need to locate my pitches, and my fastball was all over the place."

Kevin Millwood battled hard against the Angels, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs while striking out four.

With the win, Texas has now claimed two series wins against the Angels this season.

"They're owning us now," Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. "They're five out of six. The numbers say it."

Rangers Jump Out Early, Hang On For Win

Joe Saunders should just skip all future road trip through Arlington. Despite offering nothing the way of consistency for the entire month of June, the Rangers offense jumped all over Saunders last night to the tune of 8 earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. He is now 0-5 with an ERA of 11.62 in 5 career starts in the Ballpark.

Ian Kinsler got the ball rolling early, drilling a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the first, his 19th homer of the year. After a Michael Young walk, Marlon Byrd followed with a 2-run blast.

Rangers starter Scott Feldman allowed three runs in the top of the 2nd, allowing the Angels to tie the game up but Nelson Cruz hit a solo blast to give Texas the lead again in the 3rd. Texas would never trail again.

"We definitely needed to win tonight," Washington said. "Hopefully tonight is the night we can get back to playing Texas Rangers baseball. We did tonight."



Marlon Byrd put a little more distance between the two teams, hitting his 2nd homerun of the night, a 3-run blast, in the bottom of the 5th, putting Texas up 8-3.

"Obviously the way we swung the bats tonight was awesome," David Murphy said. "Hopefully it will create some momentum for us."

Despite his early struggles, Scott Feldman settled down, giving Texas six innings of work, picking up his 6th win of the year. He finished his day retiring 13 of the last 14 batter he faced.

"I didn't do anything different, I was just more aggressive," Feldman said. "It wasn't that I was trying to be too fine, but I followed through more and brought everything more toward the plate."

Despite some struggles at the end of the game from both C.J. Wilson and Frank Francisco (who's fastball was topping out at just 91 mph), Texas hung on for the big win, keeping them within striking distance of the Angels.

Angels Roll Into Town, Roll Over Padilla & Co.

Marlon Byrd and David Murphy had gone back-to-back with solo homeruns in the 3rd and Vicente Padilla was cruising right along for five innings...

Then the 6th inning rolled around and Ranger killer Vladamir Guerrero & Co. pulled things together, stringing together a 4-run inning, highlighted by back-to-back homeruns by Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales. The Morales homer ran Padilla from the game, leaving with a line of 5 runs on 10 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 5+ innings pitched.



"I tried to control all of my pitches, but they were up a little bit," Padilla said. "I wasn't throwing as hard as my last outing. I have problems if I don't have my fastball. That's my best pitch."

The Rangers offense again squandered several opportunities to put runs on the board, leaving the bases loaded in the 1st inning. Their struggles struck again when, with 2 on and nobody out in bottom of the 5th, David Murphy popped out to 2nd base and Marlon Byrd grounded into an inning-ending double play.

"That was the game right there," said Byrd, who was 3-for-4 on the night. "Three great at-bats and one lousy at-bat. If I get those runs home, it changes the game. I've got to get those runs in there. If I do, it's 3-1, we have a cushion and who knows what happens. I got my pitch and didn't execute. Just not good hitting on my part."

The lost opportunity proved to be a privotal moment in the game as Padilla imploded in the top of the 6th.

"That was a huge momentum swing," Figgins said. "You almost have to be there to understand it, but I've seen it so many times. That double play completely changed everything. Double plays are killers, man. We came up after that and went to work. You could feel the change in the game."

The Rangers went hitless (0-for-5) with runners in scoring position for the seventh time this month and are now hitting just .225 with RISP for the month of June.

With the loss, Texas falls 2 1/2 games behind the Angels in the AL West.