Rangers Split Final Two Against Mariners

Turns out Tommy Hunter is mortal. After a series of dominant starts, Hunter came back down to earth on Saturday, reminding all of us that despite his hot pitching over the last month, he's still a rookie.

Hunter hit the mound without his best fastball and was knocked around for five runs on seven hits while walking three in five innings. He also hit a batter and threw a wild pitch.

"Tommy just didn't have his location tonight," manager Ron Washington said. "They made him throw some pitches."

"I had a changeup and a curve, but I didn't have a fastball tonight," said Hunter. "I didn't locate my fastball. That's the first thing you do in baseball as a pitcher."

Warner Madrigal offered little in the way of relief, allowing another run on four hits and a walk in just 1 1/3 innings.



Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. turned back the clock for the night hammering the Rangers to the tune of 3-for-5 with a single, a double & a 3-run homer, the 622nd of his career. Tommy Hunter became the 400th different pitcher to allow a homerun to Griffey since his debut back in 1989.

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez, much like Tommy Hunter, didn't have his best stuff on the night, but Texas was never able to really take advantage. Despite a big night from Nelson Cruz, who went 3-for-4 while hitting his 25th homer of the season, Texas went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, never putting any real pressure on Hernandez.

"We had Hernandez on the ropes," Washington said. "It might have been different if we got a few hits early. Hernandez didn't have his [best stuff] either."

"That's what I thought after I saw him in the first inning," Cruz said. "He didn't have much control, and we didn't take advantage. We gotta get walks and make things happen."

Hernandez, despite picking up the win, was also very aware he dodged a bullet.

"I don't know how I allowed just two runs," Hernandez said. "That is hard to believe. I am disappointed with my performance today. I don't know, I just felt terrible. I was all over the place."

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On an evening when Texas made several pre-game roster moves (Ian Kinsler and Jason Grilli to the 15-day DL, called up top pitching prospect Neftali Feliz) it was a move made by manager Ron Washington that may have been the biggest of the night. Washington, suddenly short of arms, was forced to roll Scott Feldman out on only 3 days rest. Not only was Feldman pitching on short rest, he was also coming off his worst start of the season in which he was unable to get out of the 3rd inning.

But on Saturday night, Feldman was back to his old self, giving Texas seven innings of work, picking up his 10th win of the year.

"Feldman did a good job bouncing back," manager Ron Washington said. "[His sinker] was working pretty well. He's a ground-ball pitcher. If batters aren't squaring it up, that's how you know he's pitching well.

"He wasn't getting enough ground balls [in his last outing]. If you take the ball 16, 17, 18 times, that happens. He went out there and he gave us an opportunity to get to our two best pitchers."

"I thought Feldman was awfully tough," said Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu. "I have seen this kid and he gets better every year. I think you have to tip your hat. He just didn't throw anything over the center of the plate and kept our hitters off balance."



David Murphy homered in the bottom of the 1st, giving Feldman and early lead to work with. Michael Young added another solo homer in the 6tha dn is now hitting .417 since the All-Star break. Feldman's catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia tacked on a 2-run blast in the 7th to cap the scoring and pput Texas up for good.

Texas is now 36-12 this season when they hit multiple homeruns.

The four runs proved to be more than enough for Frank Francisco who, making his first appearance since his latest stint on the DL, dominated the 8th inning, not allowing a baserunner while striking out two batters.

"He looked outstanding," Washington said. "One-two-three inning. He used his pitches. We're happy to have him back."

C.J. Wilson pitched the 9th, also striking out two batters on his way to his 13th save this season.

Rangers Sweep Rays, Keep Pace With Angels

The Tampa Bay Rays came to town riding a bit of a hot streak. But Texas, riding a bit of a streak of their own after having taken 2 of 3 against AL West rivals the Anahiem Angels, took it to the defending American League champs, sweeping the 3-game series to keep pace with the Angels.

"We're a confident team," third baseman Michael Young said. "[The Rays] are a very good team and whoever wants to go to the World Series from the American League has to go through the Rays. They are a talented club and we know they are going to be in the AL mix the whole way. The one thing we did well in this series is we pitched well."

In game 1 of the series, rookie Tommy Hunter gave Texas a big boost, going 5 1/3 innings while allowing only 1 earned run. The win, the first in his MLB career, came on his 23rd birthday.

"Their guy was deceptive, Hunter, and we had a hard time picking it up," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Everybody came back in and had a different idea of what he was trying to do. We just had a hard time seeing the ball on him."



Hank Blalock continued his recent power surge, hitting a 2-run shot that proved to be the difference in the game.

"He made me pay," Rays starter Scott Kazmir said. "You don't throw that pitch to Blalock, anything that's hanging, anything that's up. I got away with it the first time and the second time he made me pay."

The trio of Jason Jennings, C.J. Wilson and Frank Francisco came in to pitch 3 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball with Frankie picking up his 15th save of the season.

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Game two of the Rays series saw two top pitching prospcets going head-to-head and at least this time, The Rangers Derek Holland came out on top.

Playoff hero David Price took the mound for Tampa Bay and continued his recent struggles, walking 5 and allowing 6 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. He's now walked 30 batters in his last 38 innings.



Holland got a lot of early offense from the Texas offense and managed to hang on for the ride, going six innings, allowing 4 earned runs and striking out four.

Nelson Cruz and David Murphy combined for 6 hits and Andruw Jones added a big 3-run blast, leading Texas to an easy 12-4 victory.

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In the final game, Scott Feldman continued to do what he's been doing since joining the rotation, going 6 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and picking up yet another victory.

"[Feldman] kept the ball down," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He's done good work this year against left-handed hitters. A lot of it looked like a backdoor cutter and then he'd get in on their hands, too. And we had a lot of jammed swings tonight."

Conversely, Rays starter Matt Garza struggled with his location, walking two and hitting another, allowing 5 earned runs over 5 innings of work.

"I went after them with my fastball," Garza said. "It's all it was, lack of command a lot. When you get behind the hitter gets in a more comfortable, confident position and gives them pitches to hit."

Texas scored all 5 of their runs in the first 4 innings of the game, 3 coming via sacrifice flies off the bats of David Murphy, Marlon Byrd and Elvis Andrus.



Ron Washington speaks a lot on the fundamentals of baseball and the Rangers, at least during the month of June, seemingly lost the abilty to play that form of baseball. Runs weren't being manufactured, men weren't being moved tp the next base but with the turn of the calender, they seem to have found their groove again.

"There's a lot of energy about them," said Maddon about the Rangers. "They're playing the game right. So they just outplayed us for three nights.

"It always starts with pitching. You either win because you pitch or you lose because you don't pitch well. And they've just been pitching well."

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.

Texas Locates The Missing Offense, Hammers The Padres

On a night when starter Kevin Millwood claimed to have, "the worst stuff I've had all year", the offense decided to break out the bats and give him more than enough support to notch his 8th win of the year.

"My fastball and location weren't very good," said Millwood, who hit two batters and walked three while battling for six tough innings. "It feels good to win, but I wanted to go deeper in the game and give the bullpen a break."

The bullpen was up to the task, however, as Jason Grilli, Willie Eyre & Doug Mathis each pitched an inning of hitless, scoreless baseball.



The offense appears to have found a bit of it's old spark, scoring runs in the first innings, giving Millwood plenty of room to breathe.

David Murphy had another big game, hitting a 3-run blast in the 2nd inning. Chris Davis also kept his hot hitting going, going 1-for-3 with a walk.

On the whole, Texas pounded out 13 hits and worked 6 walks, putting 12 runs on the board.

Kevin Millwood feels good about the 3-game winning streak saying, "It seems like we're getting back on track."

Before the season began, everyone seemed to think the pitching would be the key to Texas taking the next step. Suprisingly, it's been the pitching that has carried the heaviest load. It not appears as though it is the offense that will need to show better consistency if the Rangers are to truly make a run at the AL West.

Third baseman Michael Young thinks the offense will get things figured out.

"There's not a magic formula," Young said. "We're a confident group of guys. We're focused on having good at-bats, whether it's a two-pitch at-bat or if we work the count a little."

Rangers Win In Extra Innings, Take 2 Of 3 In Arizona

Last night in Arizona, Texas put nine runs up on the board, the first sign of any real offense we've seen from the Rangers for virtually the entire month of June. Despite the offensive explosion, it almost wasn't enough.

Starter Scott Feldman again looked good for Texas, going six innings, allowing three runs on four hits. However, the usually reliable combo of Darren O'Day and Frank Francisco let a 6-3 lead evaporate into a 6-6 tie, thanks to a couple of big homeruns, including a 2-run bomb by D-Backs Third Baseman Mark Reynolds off the Rangers closer.

Ron Washington doesn't seem to be worried about Francisco.

"A good fastball hitter caught a good fastball," Washington said. "He threw him a fastball, and he got it. I thought Frankie's velocity was good and the ball was coming out of his hand good. Frankie is only human. That Reynolds kid has good power."

But in the top of the 12th inning, the much maligned Chris Davis picked up his fourth hit of the night, a big 2-run homer to give Texas the lead.



"[They] threw that first one by me, and I barely got it," Davis said. "I could hear his frustration on the mound. I stepped out and collected myself. Then he threw a changeup over the plate and I just threw my hands at it and hit it well."

Daivd Murphy followed Davis with a solo homerun and it proved to be a huge run, as Arizona fought back for a couple in the bottom of the 12th, coming up one run short.

"It's really nice to get out of here with a win regardless if there is a 'W' by my name or not," Feldman said. "A long plane ride home is better considering it was a battle, but we still pulled through."

Padilla Comes Up Clutch In Win Over Arizona

He may not be the most popular guy in the clubhouse but there's no telling just how far out of 1st place the Rangers would were it not for the guts and toughness of Vicente Padilla.

Last night, Padilla played the role of the stopper, pitching a seven inning gem, ending Texas' 5-game losing streak. Allowing only one run on six hits, Padilla outdueled D-backs ace and NL ERA leader, Dan Haren.

"That's exactly what we needed," outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "When you have a team that's slipping a little, you need one of your top pitchers to go out and do what he did tonight. If we get that one through five in our rotation, we'll be in great shape."



"When your team has five straight losses, it's good getting a win like this," Padilla said.

Texas again struggled at the plate. They managed to scrape together two runs early thanks to RBI base hits by Taylor Teagarden and David Murphy, but still left two men stranded at 3rd base with less than 2 outs. Luckily for the Rangers, Arizona was never able to get anything going against Padilla.

"We could just never get the big hit at the right time," D-backs manager A.J. Hinch said. "We did get runners on base, and we were in a position to score runs but we just didn't hit them in. Give credit to [Padilla] for competing at that time and getting a lot of off-barrel contact at the right time. It's unfortunate for us."

Padilla is 3-0 in his last four starts.

"He [Padilla] certainly had a challenge on his hands, and he was up for the challenge," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Every time he has been going out there, he has been getting better. We needed him to match up tonight, and he did."

"Contrary to popular belief, the sky wasn't falling," said third Baseman Michael Young. "We're a confident group. There are stretches when we aren't playing well, but the biggest thing is how you come out of it. We feel we can play well on any night. It was a nice win, we just have to continue to play well."

Texas is now 2-14 this season when scoring two runs or fewer in a game.

Texas Ends Road Trip With Series Win In Boston

In a week where he found himself placed on waivers, Vicente Padilla mustered up some real guts, giving Texas a huge effort in their 6-3 win over Boston Sunday afternoon.

Padilla went seven innings, allowing only two runs, earning his fourth victory of the year.

"It's part of the game," Padilla said about being placed on waivers. "Baseball is a business, and that's the way it's supposed to be. I just have to keep working, and if I don't pitch for this team, I'll have a chance to throw for another one."



Nelson Cruz had a big day at the plate, finishing a single shy of hitting for the cycle. He finished the day 3-for-4 with a double, triple, and a homerun, his 17th of the year.

Michael Young hit his eighth homer of the year in the first inning to get Texas an early lead. David Murphy also had a big day, picking up two RBI on three base hits.

"I'm very happy with the way our guys recovered [from Saturday's 8-1 defeat]," said manager Ron Washington. "After every loss we've had, they've always recovered. That just shows how much character we have."

Darren O'Day shut Boston down in the eighth leaving C.J. Wilson to close the game out in the ninth inning, picking up his fifth save of the year.

But Ron Washington seemed to be most impressed with how his embattled starter came out and competed.

"It all centered around Padilla going out there and pitching well," Washington said. "He did a great job keeping those guys off balance throughout the game. Not many people can do that to those guys. They usually find a way to make pitchers work and get them out of the game.

"But today, he gave us exactly what we needed."

Swept In Detroit

The next time Texas sees a trip to Detroit on the schedule, they might wanna seriously consider just staying home.

After dropping the final game of the three-game series, the Rangers have now lost 11 games in a row in Detroit.

The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera had an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, putting Detroit up 4-3. Texas wasn't able to overcome the deficit, dropping their third game in a row after having previously won seven straight.

Kevin Millwood pitched a complete game but walked four and allowed four earned runs, three via homeruns in both the 1st and 3rd innings.

"It's not like we're getting blown out every game," Texas starter Kevin Millwood said. "We're playing good baseball. We're just coming out on the short end. It's a good thing we don't have to come back here."



David Murphy and Nelson Cruz supplied all the offense for Texas getting little help from any other member of the lineup.

Hamilton Saves The Day As Texas Sweeps Angels

For the past four or five seasons, the Angels have made it a habit of rolling into Arlington and laying the wood to the traditionally hapless Rangers.

But this years group of guys is looking more and more like the playoff teams of the late 90's and not the overpaid bunch of frontrunners the teams has been running out there since the A-Rod signing.

In the finale of the three-game set with Anaheim, Texas swept the Angels out of Arlington, getting yet another great start out of Scott Feldman, who threw six innings of shutout baseball.

Anaheim's Jared Weaver was equal to the task until David Murphy hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 7th, scoring Hank Blalock. Texas added two more in the bottom of the 8th thanks to a triple by Omar Vizquel and doubles from Kinsler and Marlon Byrd.



Quality pitching from the Rangers bullpen, coupled with an amazing catch by Josh Hamilton in centerfield put the game away for Texas.

Darren O'Day closed out the final 1 1/3 innings, picking up his first save of the season. O'Day said the crowd of more than 37,000 definitely brought out a little extra in him.

"When they started to chant 'Sweep!,' I had to step off the mound and take a deep breath," reliever Darren O'Day said. "It was pretty awesome."

104,859 fans showed up for the Angels series, making it the largest crowd total the Rangers have had for a three-game series in two years. This fact was not lost on the Rangers players, many of whom seemed blown away by the support.

"It was a great homestand, and the crowd was unbelievable today," second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "They were just incredible. It was really loud out there. If we can get crowds like that and as loud as they were for the rest of the year, we're going to win a lot of games at home."

Texas sold an impressive 10,682 tickets on Sunday, idicating that Rangers fans are starting to believe this team might just be for real.

"We had an absolute blast playing behind this crowd," third baseman Michael Young said. "They packed it in today, and we had fun."

The Gold Glove moment of the game came in the top of the 7th, with the score tied at 0-0, when the Angels' Howie Kendrick hit a shot to right centerfield that Josh Hamilton made an amazing play on, divin into the wall and pulling it in, saving at least one run on the play.

"[That was] one of the most unbelievable catches I've ever seen," left fielder David Murphy said.

Hamilton pulled a groin muscle on the catch but doesn't expect to miss any time. He's almost certain to play Tuesday in the first game of the Detroit series.

"You get so wrapped up in the game and wanting to do well as far as the team winning," Hamilton said. "That's the most important thing. If I have to run into a wall once in a while and tweak parts of my body ... that's OK."

"Another solid game -- pitching, great defense, timely hitting," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Just awesome."

After going undefeated (6-0) on the homestand, the Rangers now hit the road, starting a three-game series in Detroit. Texas now has a 4 1/2 game lead in their division.

Harrison Pulls Things Together, Rangers Take Series

Texas finally got some consistent pitching out of Matt Harrison as he went seven innings, surrendering four earned runs, walking only one hitter. Struggling early in the season with his control, Harrison stepped up, giving the bullpen some extra rest, and, in the process, picking up his first win of the year.

Darren O'Day and C.J. Wilson combined to pitch a scoreless 8th with Frankie Francisco coming on to pitch the 9th, picking up his fifth save of the year.

The game started off rough for Texas, with Harrison allowing all four of the runs he surrendered in the first two inning. But after the 2nd, Harrison and Co. combined to pitch seven scoreless innings.



"I just tried to change the tempo of my delivery and attack hitters," Harrison said. "The first couple of innings I was up in the zone and wasn't finding my release point. I slowed it down just a little and started getting the ball down in the strike zone. I just got into a groove and kept going with it."

Michael Young added a 2-run homerun in the 5th pulling Texas to within one run. In the 6th, they added three more, highlighted by a 2-run single buy the suddenly scorching David Murphy. Before hitting a homerun two game ago, Murphy had started the season 0 for 22. He's since gone 3 for 8 with 3 RBI. Before his recent hot streak, many speculated Murphy might be on his way to the Minors.

"I obviously know I have to perform," Murphy said. "As far as getting sent to the Minors, I wasn't worried about that. I know they have confidence in me, but you can only struggle for so long."

The series win has Texas feeling good heading back home for a 3 game series with Oakland.

"A good road trip," outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "A real good road trip, especially winning three here. We've got a good team; we should expect to win every series. I know that's not possible but this is the way you have to play to get into the playoffs. I'd love to be Boston and win 11 in a row, but I'll take about six series in a row."