Rangers Hammer Tigers, Take Control Of Series

Two nights ago, Vicente Padilla, still recovering from swine flu, informed the team he still didn't have his legs under him and should make other arrangements in case he was unable to go. The Rangers did just that, sending Doug Mathis to the mound for the spot start. Mathis, who has yet to allow a run in 20 innings of relief this season, managed four innings of work, allowing three runs (all in the top of the 2nd).

"Obviously I wanted to go a little longer," Mathis said. "I thought I threw the ball very well but that one inning got away from me. When I came out of the game, I wanted us to either be in good shape or having the lead. That's what happened."

In the bottom of the 2nd, Mathis' offense responded for him, scoring four runs off RBI doubles by both Elvis Andrus and Michael, and a 2-run triple by Ian Kinsler.



Josh Hamilton added an RBI on a bloop single and, with the way he's been struggling, you've gotta hope seeing something like like that drop in for him might mean the beginning of the end of his run of bad luck.

Doug Mathis was replaced by Jason Grilli, who entered the game in the 5th, retiring all six batters he faced over two innings of work. Grilli was not only pumped up having his father there in the stands watching him pitch but also because he pitched for the Tigers from '05-'08.

"I've spent some time over there," Grilli said after the Rangers' 7-3 victory. "It's bragging rights, playing against your friends. It's friendly competition. I've had great experiences over there."

Grilli was followed by Eddie Guardado and Darren O'Day, both of whom pitched an inning of hitless baseball. Guillermo Moscoso closed the game out with a scoreless 9th inning.

Overall, Texas' relievers were able to retire 15 of the final 16 batters they faced.

"The bullpen did a great job tonight," manager Ron Washington said. "We came back after we spotted them three runs. We were able to put together some runs."

The win moved Texas to 14 games over .500 and have now won six straight home games. They are 2 1/2 games behind the Angels in the West.

Kinsler, Bullpen Come Up Big Against Minnesota

Hopefully, last nights game for Ian Kinsler was a microcosm of how his entire season will go.

Mired in a huge slump, Kinsler led the game off with a solo homerun, giving Texas the early 1-0 advantage.

Derek Holland gave the lead away in the top of the 3rd, allowing a solo homerun to Nick Punto, his first homerun of the entire season. Holland's struggles continued in the 4th inning, as he allowed two more run to cross the plate, thanks in part to a fielding error he committed. He went just 4+ innings and seemingly never regained his composure post-error.

"In the first two innings, he was mixing his pitches very well," manager Ron Washington said. "Then he didn't catch the ground ball. He was erratic after that. When he left, we were in the ballgame."

Down 3-1, the Rangers bullpen stepped up big time, shutting the Twins out the rest of the way, giving the offense a change to scratch and claw their way back. to a 3-3 tie.

"The bullpen came in and they continued to grind tonight," Washington said. "[Doug]Mathis saved us. [Dustin]Nippert saved us. Nippert was on fumes. He was the last guy standing."

The game went extra innings with both teams getting quality pitching from their bullpens. In the bottom of the 12th, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled and was sacrificed to 2nd base by Elvins Andrus, setting up Ian Kinsler's heroics.



With former Ranger pitcher R.A. Dickey on the mound for Minnesota, Kinsler took a fastball out to left field for a 2-run, walk-off homerun.

"Ultimately the pitch rests in my hand, and I threw the wrong pitch," Dickey said. "That's all there really is to say about this one. I cost us this one, no doubt about it."

"It was a fastball that he tried to get by me," Kinsler said. "He had a good fastball before. He's tough with that knuckleball floating in there. If I was surprised, I wouldn't have hit it over."

With the late-inning win, Texas managed to prevent the Twins from leaving town with a sweep. However, despite the feel good moment, the Rangers continue to struggle at the plate and are now just 1 for their last 20 with runners in scoring position.

Regardless, Ron Washington and Co. are just happy to get themselves a win.

"What a win," said Washington. "They never quit, and tonight was an example of it. It was great. We needed it."

Tap The Brakes On Dealing For Halladay

Last week, Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi admitted to putting some feelers out regarding the possibility of dealing ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay.

Halladay is a career 141-69 and is a bonafied #1 starter. The Blue Jays have let it be known that it will take a massive package of young prospects to pry Halladay away and have sent scouts throughout the majors and minors to gauge exactly what sort of talent is out there for the taking.

Many experts feel as though the Texas Rangers organization are in a position to offer the best package of player possible but there are several factors which prevent me from truly being able to embrace a possible trade.

I understand that the Rangers have played really well this season and find themselves in the thick of the AL West race a year sooner than they'd previously projected. But three seasons ago, Texas set out to build their organization from the ground up, dealing away expensive contracts like Mark Teixeira while stocking their minor league organizations with top-tier prospects. This modus operandi has worked extremely well, as Texas is now ranked as having the very best farm system in all of baseball, spearheaded by the previously mentioned Teixeira trade, a deal which netted them their starting shortstop (Elvis Andrus), starting catcher (Jarrod Saltalamacchia), number five starter (Matt Harrison) and top pitching prospect (Neftali Feliz).

Trading for a player like Halladay, while bold, would effectively cripple the farm system as Texas would surely be forced to deal away quality youth similar to what they added when they traded Teixeira to Atlanta in 2007.



So what would it take to get Roy Halladay? Well, Toronto has said they want young pitching (Neftali Feliz & Kasey Kiker), a power bat (Justin Smoak) and a shortstop (Marcus Lemon) in exchange for their ace.

Feliz just put on a pitching display at the All-Star game when he pitched one inning in the Futures Game, striking out two and averaging almost 97 mph with his fastball.

Kiker is currently pitching for AA Frisco, has shown good command throughout the season and was the starting pitcher in the AA All-Star game, pitching a hitless, scoreless inning.

Justin Smoak was promoted to AAA Oklahoma City last week and appears to be on the fast track to Arlington. He may well be the odds on favorite to be the Rangers starting first baseman as early as next season.

Marcus Lemon was a 4th round pick in the 2006 draft and is a slick-fielding, lightning fast infielder who's already made a successful jump to AA Frisco.

There's also the issue of Roy Halladay having an iron clad no-trade clause and, at least if the rumors are to be believed, would not okay any deal which would ship him to Texas, a place where he is a career 4-3 with a 6.14 ERA in 11 appearances. The Ballpark in Arlington is far and away Halladay's least favorite park in which to pitch, meaning even if they were able to convince him to accept a trade to Texas, it is very unlikely he would even consider signing an extention. Instead, Halladay would likely opt to test free agency after the 2010 season, with Texas getting nothing in return save for a 2010 1st round draft pick from the team that signed him away. Dealing away four (possibly more) top prospects for what would amount to less than a season and a half from Roy Halladay just doesn't add up for me.

Finally, Roy Halladay does nothing for what may well be Texas' biggest issue going into the second half of the season: the offense. The Rangers offense has been very inconsistent for the entire season, one day looking like world beaters only to look lost the next. It appears as though this is simply what they are and if that is the case, no amount of All-Star pitching will make up for all the missed opportunities and silly hitting mistakes this offense seems poised to make over the next 70+ games.

If I'm calling the shots I'm holding my water for now. Hallday is a proven All-Star and would be a welcome addition on any team but mortgaging your future for little more than a rent-a-pitcher (albeit a great one) is simply something Texas cannot afford, especially with Rangers owner Tom Hicks currently wading waist deep in a well-documented financial crisis.

Texas is not and will never be able to spend with teams like the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox, at least not as long as Hicks is the owner. Despite being the 7th largest market in baseball, Texas is currently 22nd in the league in payroll. And while a high payroll doesn't guarantee wins, a low payroll means a team can't afford to make many mistakes and hope to remain viable. The Yankees can afford to trade away their entire minor league for a single player; if things go south they'll just buy more. Texas doesn't have this luxury.

The Rangers have had a great first half of the season and with any luck will find themselves battling it out with the Angels and Mariners in the AL West for the rest of the year. It's simply not the time to be trading away young studs, even if it's for possibly the best pitcher in baseball.

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."

Texas Drops Another To Toronto

Never let it be said that Rangers manager Ron Washington minces words...

"We got it handed to us tonight in all phases of the game," Washington said. "[Blue Jays starter Brian] Tallet shut us down. We were too aggressive. We usually figure it out and catch up, but we didn't."

Texas' offense could manage nothing, hitting an anemic 2-for-28, getting shutout (9-0) for the 3rd time this season.

Doug Mathis, called up from the minors to take the place of the injured Brandon McCarthy, didn't do much to help things, allowing five runs (four earned) in five innings pitched.



"I didn't help myself too much," Mathis said. "I got to do a better job going to attack hitters. I was falling behind hitters.

The defense didn't help matters much either. The normally surehanded Elvis Andrus committed a huge error in the second inning when he booted a sure double play ball, keeping the inning alive. Toronto shortstop Marco Scutaro made him pay, driving in two runs on a single that gave the Jays a 4-0 lead.

Texas has now lost four in a row to Toronto dating back to their last series with them in May.

Texas Pounds Oakland, Takes Game 3 In Rout

Texas may find themselves wishing the month of May would never end.

Playing before a crowd in excess of 42,000 fans, Texas put on show, drilling Oakland for the third time in two days.

"A refreshing victory," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We're having fun and it's easy to have fun when you're doing the things we're doing. We're pitching pretty good, catching the ball pretty good and doing enough to put runs on the board. Tonight we broke out a little bit."

With the win, Texas now moves to 20-8 for the month of May, besting last years mark of 19-10. They have won 14 of 19 games and find themselves atop the American League West.

"It all starts with pitching and defense," said third baseman Michael Young. "I know that sounds like a broken record around here, but that's why we're having so much fun."

Brandon McCarthy provided much of the quality pitching tonight, going six innings, allowing only one run, picking up his team-leading 5th victory of the season.

But the real stars of the night were on the offensive side of the ball, hammering Oakland pitching for fourteen runs on seventeen hits. Ian Kinsler led the charge with a four-RBI night but was backed up by nice offensive outings by several other Rangers, most notably Michael Young and Elvis Andrus, each of whom turned in 3-for-5, 2 RBI performances.



Nelson Cruz added a 445-foot blast in the bottom of the 5th inning, his 7th homerun in eleven games.

"Our approach has been a little off, so we've made it a point to have better at bats," said Michael Young.

Ian Kinsler echoed Young's thoughts adding, "If you're generating walks, you're having good at-bats and not swinging at bad pitches. That's what we need all up and down the lineup, just tough at-bats. Swing at strikes and take balls. If we can be consistent in that, our offense will be much better."

The Rangers are 13-2 against the AL West this season.

"I've always said that you want to play well within your division," Washington said. "If you win a lot within your division, the opportunity to be successful is much greater. We're winning in our division and we hope it continues."

It appears as though the fans are starting to believe in the success as well as Texas has enjoyed eight straight home crowds of 30,000 or more, the longest streak since 2005.

Texas Finds Their Offense, Takes Game 1 In Houston

Well, maybe Texas just needs to avoid the Tigers?

The Rangers rolled into Houston last night, losers of three in a row, searching for an offense that had all but disappeared the last three games.

With Vicente Padilla placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained shoulder, rookie Derek Holland made his first career major league start and didn't disappoint. Holland pitched 5 2/3 innings, struck out four and didn't walk a single hitter. The final hitter he faced, Astros slugger Lance Berkman, hit a three-run homerun. Before that, Holland hadn't allowed a single run. He left the game with a two run lead.

"I saw him use all his pitches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said about Holland. "A couple times they went up there trying to get him to throw some pitches and he would throw a first-pitch strike."



Texas got homeruns from both Elvis Andrus (who went 4 for 5 w/ a stolen base) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to pace Texas to the early lead, a lead which was given away by poor relief pitching from Jason Jennings and C.J. Wilson. After surrendering back-to-back one-out singles in the eighth, Wilson was pulled for Darren O'Day, who entered and got Tejada to hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the 10th, Nelson Cruz hit an opposite field solo homerun to put Texas up 6-5.

Frank Francisco, fresh off a stint on the DL, came in to pitch the bottom of the 10, blowing the Astros hitters away with 97 mph fastballs.

"I just went out there and pounded the strike zone," Francisco said. "I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I've got seven guys behind me and I was just trying to throw my pitch."

Francisco is now 10-for-10 in save opportunities this year. He has yet to allow a run in 15 2/3 innings over 15 games.

Lance Berkman summed up the mood in the Astros locker room after the game.

"A loss is a loss, but whenever you fight hard and come back and you're in the game again then you end up tying the game. To lose a game like that is difficult," Berkman said.

The winner of this series receives the Silver Boot.

Texas Fights Off The Rain, Wins Another Series

After dropping a tough one 4-3 to Chicago in the first game of Texas' 3-game set, the Rangers got after in strange game 2.

With thunderstorms covering up the night skies, the Rangers and White Sox were forced to sit through three seperate rain delays.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third, Hank Blalock (perhaps taking a cue from Rangers play-by-play announcer Tom Grieve who correctly predicted the outcome) clubbed his 7th homer of the season, a 3-run shot into the bullpen that gave Texas a 3-1 lead.



Texas then came back in the bottom of the fourth and put another six run on the board, thanks to key doubles by David Murphy (who continues to hit his way out of a slump), Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis. Ian Kinsler, Omar Vizquel, Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd all added RBI hits in the inning as the Rangers built a 9-1 lead.

"It was a situation that we wanted to go out there and score as many runs as we can," Blalock said.

Play was halted once again as the rain began to fall, forcing everyone back into the dugouts.

When play resumed, so too did Brandon McCarthy's dominance of his former White Sox team. After all was said and done, McCarthy went five innings, allowing only one run, striking out three and retiring the final 12 batters he faced.

"I think I finally settled in and attacked the zone," McCarthy said. "I just let the ball go. I was just pitching for contact and attacking the zone."

Texas reliever Luis Mendoza allowed a grand slam homerun in the 6th to Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski but they were albel to get no closer, falling to Texas 9-6.

"That was a long one," third baseman Michael Young said. "It's good to get out of there with a win. When the game got tough with the rain delays, we had some relievers who had never been in that situation before."

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In the rubber match between the Rangers and Sox, Matt Harrison turned in his 2nd consecutive quality start, giving Texas five innings of shutout baseball and picking up his 2nd win of the season.

"He made pitches when he had to make pitches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Give them credit. They made him work. He only gave us five innings, but they were five pretty good innings."

Harrison was spotted a lead early as Ian Kinsler lead the game off with his 9th homerun of the season.

"I'm not trying to hit a home run in my first at-bat," Kinsler said. "I'm trying to drive the ball every single at-bat. I like doing that, though. Hitting one out of the ballpark in the first at-bat takes some air out of the other team and helps your starting pitcher relax, knowing he already has a 1-0 lead."

Kinsler added a RBI single later in the game and is now hitting .337 on the season.

Michael Young broke out of a mini-slump, adding an RBI single of his own. Nelson Cruz had a three hit night and Elvis Andrus added 2 base hits and sacrifice. This was the fisrt night Andrus hit in the no. 2 spot in the batting order.

"I like it," Andrus said. "All my career I have been hitting second. I feel comfortable there and we got the win."

The win over Chicago had to be particularly sweet considering the pitcher they defeated: former Rangers top prospect John Danks. He he is now 1-2 with a 5.30 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers.



"It's always been just another start," said Danks, traded to the White Sox after the 2006 season. "I have more at stake than worrying about what these guys are doing or thinking or trying to impress someone. I have my own career to worry about. I really don't care what these guys think. I'm just going out there to try to give us a chance to win."

Texas pulls to 12-12 on the season and now heads to Seattle for a two game series with the Mariners.

Scouts Praise Young Rangers

Several notes from Major League Scouts regarding some of Texas' top prospects:

Justin Smoak: “He’s just fun to watch — he certainly looks like he belongs in big-league games, and the team doesn’t miss a beat with him out there. He’s going to be better than (Chris) Davis. He’s going to be an All-Star, no question about it.”



Smoak hit .280/.357/.600 in 25 at-bats this spring.

Taylor Teagarden: “Teagarden is just an unbelievable defender, and he really shuts the running game down. And I think he’s going to hit. He’s narrowed the gap offensively more than Salty, who has gotten better behind the plate defensively. It’s a nice problem to have.”

Teagarden hit .300/.364/.700 this spring, exhibiting command of the pitching staff when working behind the plate.

Elvis Andrus: “He’s been much more consistent with the glove, and the Rangers don’t need much from him offensively. He’ll hit .255-.260 with seven home runs and be fine.”

Andrus showed some real brilliance with the leather, making several gold glove- caliber plays.

Neftali Feliz: “Every bit as good as advertised — he was up to 98 mph when I saw him. If I have to find something not to like, sometimes he’s a little flat through the zone and he needs to learn how to adjust to getting hit and for now, he just tries to throw harder.”

Derek Holland: “I saw him all list year and he just looks more and more polished each time I see him. He topped out at 96 mph for me and his breaking ball was much better.”