Ahhhh, much better boys. I like when you are conistent. It makes me a much happier person. It makes me much happier when you win and I have to write on the game. It’s so much easier to talk about things you did well!

Yu Darvish took the mound today trying to bounce back from his slump…And bounce back he did. Darvish pitched 6 and 2/3 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 runs and struckout 8. Not a bad day Yu…I think it all had to do with his haircut. Yup, that’s it. No matter what the reason is, I like it.

The boys got on the board early when Josh Hamilton bombed one out of the park off Porcello in the bottom of the first inning. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Hamilton has found his swing again. He’s not swinging at junk, he’s being patient and he’s seeing the ball well. Thank God! I was starting to get a little frustrated with him.

The Rangers put up 3 in the third, 1 in the fourth and 2 in the 7th on wild pitches. Yup, that happened. The Tigers reliever Villareal decided he couldn’t play catch anymore and beat the hell out of Avila behind the plate. Andrus and Hamilton scored. It was kind of funny to watch. I’m just glad it worked out in the Rangers’ favor and not the other way around.

It was a good day all around. The Rangers pulled out a series win over the Tigers, the Angels and the A’s lost today, and I booked my vacation!

Tomorrow the Rangers head up to the Bronx to take on the Yankees. Let’s go boys!

FINAL: Rangers 8, Tigers 3

Boys, boys, boys. Where do I start? After a day off I would think you would be nice and relaxed, right? Apparently I was way off on that.

After the road trip and a day off the Rangers were back in Arlington to take on the Detroit Tigers, Max Scherzer and his freaky ass eyes. Seriously guys, those things really freak me out. Please stop trying to stare into my soul Max. It scares me.

Scott Feldman was looking to go for another win after a stellar last couple of outings. He looked pretty good, not stellar, but good…He was keeping his pitches down, getting out of jams and was getting some back up from the offense.

It wouldn’t last long. Even though the Rangers put up 1 in the first on a Hamilton bomb to center and another in the third on an Andrus single, the Rangers just couldn’t keep it up. In the 6th inning Scotty was starting to look a little tired and gave up a massive 3 run homer to Prince Fielder.

Mini Rant: I still really do NOT like Prince Fielder and I’m really glad he didn’t come to Texas. I did a post about this before the season started…I’m under the impression that if he can’t clear the ball out of the park then he’s not worth a damn. The dude is S…L…O…W… And it kinda looks like someone did a drive by with a squirt bottle of bleach. I’m just saying.

In the 7th Austin Jackson hit a blooper to right, Nelly dove, Nelly missed and Jackson ended up with an inside the park homerun. Whoops. Then two plays later Nelly went to catch a pop fly and it completely popped out of his glove. Double whoops. Not exactly Nelly’s night. (He left the game in the top of the 8th with some sort of injury…Let’s hope he’s ok.)

After the third inning it looked the Rangers offense just gave up. They would get guys on and then strikeout three in a row. Let’s go back to the basics. Hit while we have men on base. I can give you the strikeouts but let’s not do it with the bases loaded. Ok?

Tomorrow Holland takes on Verlander. Oh boy. Bring the bats tomorrow boys. We’re gonna need some backup.

FINAL: Rangers 2, Tigers 6

(Image courtesy of flickr.com user Jay DeSimone.)

After learning that yet another pitcher…this time Colby Lewis…would be making a trip to the disabled list, the Rangers (and their fans) definitely needed some good news.  I think a 7-5 win over Detroit is heading in the right direction.

Yu Darvish started out a bit shaky (not at all shocking) in the 1st, walking the first batter and then hitting another just in time for Prince Fielder to smack a double to center field, scoring both runners.  Thankfully, the Rangers would get one of those runs back when Ian Kinsler knocked in his 8th home run of the year to lead off the bottom of the 1st.

» Continue reading “Texas Rangers: Darvish Gets Win No. 10″

Oh boys…When I’ve had the day from hell at work, I really just want to come home, sit down and watch you win. Or at least watch you not suck completely.

When you give up 5 runs in the top of the first inning, it makes it really hard to watch. Painful actually.

When Grimm allowed the first three Detroit batters base hits I knew we were in trouble…Oh and  when the Rangers couldn’t hit Porcello. I knew we were in major trouble. It wasn’t that we weren’t getting hits. We just couldn’t get hits at the right times. I mean they had 10 base hits…that was what was so hard to watch.

The Rangers did get on the board when Hambone hit his 23rd ding dong of the season in the bottom of the 7th, but it just wasn’t enough for the Rangers tonight.

It was definitely an off night for the boys. Let’s try not to do that again tomorrow night. Thankskbye!

FINAL: Rangers 2, Tigers 8

END OF GAME NOTES:

• Leonys Martin has a freaking cannon for an arm. I like it….but I do miss Gentry and the high socks.
• Adrian Beltre was on fire tonight. How much do you think I have to pay him to keep that up until October?
• Justin Grimm got rocked tonight…and it’s ok, he’s still cute. I’ll forgive him…until he does it again. (Insert evil laugh here)
• What is up with Prince’s dreads? It looks like someone dropped some bleach on his head.
• Holland will make a rehab start in Round Rock on Weds. He’s looking forward to getting back in the rotation. We’re looking forward to it too, Dutch.

(flickr.com/Bart Hanlon)

A suicide squeeze to win the game?  Uh, more please!

Rangers 3, Tigers 2

Game Notes:

• This was the first extra inning game of the season for the Rangers.
• Colby Lewis pitched 7 innings, gave up 7 hits and 2 earned runs.
• Josh Hamilton hit his 7th home run of the season in the 1st.
• Adrian Beltre was out with a strained hamstring.
• Robbie Ross got the win, his 3rd of the year.
• The Rangers went 8-9 during this road trip.

Next up:  The Rangers’ Derek Holland will take on the Yankees’ CC Sabathia at RBiA on Monday.  First pitch is at 6:05pm CDT.

Reminder:  Pudge’s retirement ceremony will start at 5:40pm  CDT.

GAME 1 

After last night’s rain out against the Detroit Tigers, the Rangers and Tigers faced off for a double header rainbow on Saturday. Let’s get right to the action for game 1…

Ian Kinsler – single, Elvis Andrus – walk, Josh Hamilton – HOME RUN!, Adrian Beltre – single, Michael Young – reach on error, Nelson Cruz – single, David Murphy – single, Kinsler – triple, and finally 3 outs later…Rangers 8, Tigers 0.

I know, slow down right. The Rangers came out of the gate en fuego and the Tigers…well, not so much. I won’t delve too far into this, but I’ll say this…Matt Harrison pitched a very good game, the Rangers offense continued to roll, and the Tigers just didn’t have it in them to come back.

FINAL SCORE: Rangers 10, Tigers 4 (Winning Pitcher – Matt Harrison, Losing Pitcher – Rick Porcello

GAME 2

<photo courtesy of Keith Allison>

After a major butt kicking in game 1 and a little clubhouse R&R afterward, the Tigers and Rangers got back at it. This time Neftali Feliz would face big bad Justin Verlander. And this time, the Rangers would fall a wee bit short. But 2 out of 3 so far isn’t bad, especially for a Tigers team that many expect to be a World Series player. Anyway, on to the action…

The Rangers didn’t waste much time scoring in this game either. In the top of the 1st with Michael Young hanging out on the 3rd base, David Murphy sacrificed him in to score. Rangers 1, Tigers 0.

Fast forward to the bottom of the 4th, and whoa Nelly, the Tigers got on the board when Delmon Young and Ramon Santiago had a few RBI. Rangers 1, Tigers 3.

Side Note - The 4th was quite a long inning for Feliz as he threw more pitches than he did the previous 3 innings. But he was able to get out of quite a bit of trouble while only giving up 3 runs. And that’s how the Nefti train rolls…up and down.

And although the 4th was a long inning for the young starter, Feliz lasted through 8 while only giving up 3 hits and 3 runs. Oh, and he out lasted the big bad Verlander. Oh, and he struck out 6. Oh yeah!

So back to the action…the Rangers put one more on the board in the 8th on another David Murphy RBI, but they were unable to score any more than that. And so the game concluded…Rangers 2, Tigers 3.

UPCOMING ACTION: The Rangers and Tigers face off for the 4th game of the series. Tha Cobra Lewis will square off against Drew Smyly at 12:10 PM Central.

P.S. Check out the double rainbow video here…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

Boo rain! The Rangers and Tigers will take each other on in a doubleheader Saturday.

(flickr.com/mikelachance816)

This is being written tonight with a heavy heart for several reasons:

1. My friend Matt [who went to 3 baseball games and is now hooked] is leaving tomorrow after 17 days in the states and heading back to London, and
2. The great Levon Helm, who is an American treasure, has passed away. If you don’t know who he is you’re just living life the wrong way.

So we are celebrating/ mourning these items by pounding wonderful pints and eating good food units at Goodfriend. This game is a rematch of the 2011 ALCS with Yu Darvish making his third start of the season and second on this road trip.

» Continue reading “We Are Kings, You Are Just A Prince: Rangers 10, Tigers 3″

<photo courtesy of Ron Jenkins>

Surprise surprise, Mike Napoli brought out his big stick and proceeded to swang it around the park for a 2-run home run and 2 other RBI while leading the Texas Rangers to a 2 game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Derek Holland would tow the rubber for God’s team while pitching 7 strong, strong innings and winning the game 6 to 3. On to the action…

Josh Hamilton led off the 1st with a single, which isn’t surprising, given his bad ass nature. And my bud Chauncey appreciated that since Hamilton has led him to a 1st place lead in our fantasy baseball league. It’s early though. Not much else happened in the top of the 1st at Fenway, other than Derek getting out of a little jam with runners on the pond.

Nothing much happened in the 2nd either…for the Rangers. However, when the Red Sox came up to bat, the ghost of offenses past showed up and Youkilis slammed a home run over the green monster for an early lead. Oh, and David Ortiz just happened to be on base. Rangers 0, Red Sox 2 Who cares, moving on…

In the top of the 3rd, my fantasy short stop Elvis Andrus, finally came through for me with a hit off the green monster, but knowing that I needed some fantasy help, tried to stretch a single into a double and got thrown out. Oh well. I like the effort and Ian Kinsler was able to move from 1st to 3rd.

» Continue reading “Rangers Recap: Yo! Nap Nap Wiener Time!”

<photo courtesy of Keith Allison>

On Jackie Robinson day in Minnesota, and with the players all wearing 42, Josh Hamilton would smash a hell of a ball into space and lead the Rangers to a 4-3 come from behind win. The Twins were definitely happy to see the Rangers leave town. It was a clean sweep series for the Rangers.

After coming off an impressive start to his Starting Pitcher days, Neftali Feliz was able to get through 6 innings, but would not get the win. Robbie Ross, who entered in the 6, would be the winner with Joe Nathan earning the save.

Nefti retired the first 10 batters he faced, but in the 4th he gave up a single and a walk. He was able to get out of the inning on a 4-6-3 double play. I’ll take that.

Hell yes! Mike Napoli started the scoring off in the 5th for the Rangers with a sexy solo shot into the left field bleachers. Rangers 1, Twins 0.

In the 5th, Clete Thomas took Nefti deep with a runner occupying 2nd to give the Twins the lead. Rangers 1, Twins 2. Clete was signed just yesterday off waivers from the Detriot Tigers. Heck, I probably could have hit that out. It was a perfect hitters change up.

Denard Span started the 6th off with a triple and Jamey Carrol immediately drove him in to extend the Twins lead. Rangers 1, Twins 3. After walking Joe Mauer, the old school brother came out to the mound and relieved Feliz.

» Continue reading “Rangers Recap: Oh My Josh Freaking Hamilton”