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The Rangers swept the Red Sox in dominate fashion this weekend in Arlington. The ball was flying all over the park for the Rangers, but, they also had great pitching. The 3 starters all had quality starts and the bullpen did its job. Mason Tobin had the worst outing, but it was a good time for him to get his feet wet, seeing that the Rangers were up in the game 12-3. The Rangers outscored the Sox by a score of 27-11. There were a whole lot of questions about Harrison going into the game today, and I think that he answered them. His strikeout to end the 7th inning (twice I might add) showed that he is a different pitcher from years past. He looked confident, he looked good, and he struck a whole lot of people out. I believe that these two teams will be in the hunt in October this season (even though a major sports network, I don’t believe I have to mention its name, said the Rangers were a 1 hit wonder).
Now, lets not get too excited as Ranger fans. It is still early in the season (there are 159 games to go still) but the Rangers showed they can pitch and hit both very well. It is time to see what Derek Holland and Alexi Ogando can do to the Mariners over the next few days. If the Rangers keep hitting like they did against tough Boston pitching, they are going to be almopt unstoppable this season. I look forward to seeing how long this team can keep it going! Go Rangers!
Sorry Ben for my absence past couple of days….been busy running around with Home Health patients.
Anyway I have been able to see the 3 games up here in Detroit thanks to ESPN Friday, MLB Network Saturday, and TBS on Sunday. Thanks networks for doing your jobs and putting the Rangers on the TV for me. I also have the MLB.com membership that I am sharing with a friend so I could see the games but love it when it is on the above b/c it shows the Rangers have arrived!!!!
OK onto the Rangers and the sweep of the Beantown Bombers….love it by the way b/c all major media sources picked the Red Sox to steamroll the Rangers and AL to WS. I am not saying the Rangers are going to be the best team in the AL just off this weekend but it is a good sample size. I think the offense more times than not is going to score 4-8 runs a night and if the starting pitchers are able to only give up 3-4 runs a night then I think the Rangers are very capable to win 2 out of 3 games each series….so that would make them candidates to win 90-100 games this season (I think Nolan Ryan says this team is capable to win 90-95 this season).
Another thing I want Rangers fans to consider is the versatility of this team….just think of this:
Michael Young can play 1st, 2nd, SS, 3rd, and DH
Mitch Moreland can play 1st, RF
Josh Hamilton can play LF, CF
David Murphy can play RF, LF, and if needed CF
Andres Blanco can play 2nd, 3rd, and SS
Mike Napoli can play 1st, DH, Catcher
I am just pumped about the versatility of this team.
Also another thing to consider is when some more pitchers get healthy we could have Ogando go back to the pen as the long man or 8th inning guy; Feldman, Webb, and Hunter add nice pitching depth; and have some nice re-enforcements down at RR.
Lastly I like these big leads early in the season for a couple reasons. (1) Tobin, O’Day, Strop, and Lowe can gain some confidence while pitching with a cushion (2) The pitchers can be given some leash to give (3) Allows Webb, Feldman, and Hunter to get healthy without rushing them. I hate to say it but this team goes as far as the offense will take them….I do think ptiching wins games but if the Rangers can keep hitting 1-9 nightly the way they did in the Boston series then the pitchers can pitch with a little less pressure and some of the young guys both Offense and Pitching can grow up without as much pressure.
Sorry for the long post Ben but hard to not after this awesome Opening Day weekend!!!!!
So do the Rangers start the season 5-1 or 6-0 before going on their 1st big road trip (9 games in which I get to got to all 3 Detroit games). I actually more fearful of Baltimore than either Detroit or Yankees…Buck-ball had their number last year. I say the Rangers win 2 out of 3 at Baltimore, 2 out of 3 at Detroit and win 1 out of 3 at NYY. So if we start 5-1 and add 5-4 to that then we start 10-5 before the big 10 game homestand. Is it possible that this will be the 1st April where the Rangers will have a winning record under Washington? I can see the Rangers going 6-4 on the 10 game homestand and 1-1 to finish out the month at Oakland to finish up the month 17-10….is this possible? I would be tickled to death with a 14-13 month b/c that would be the 1st winning April under Wash but I want that 17-10 month especially after the 3-0 sweep of Boston.
I think they will hit a down at some point during the next few weeks! They sure cannot keep up the pace from this weekend, but man was thin weekend awesome! They have trouble historicaly in Detroit, but I hope that they can change that this season. I expect them to finish April 2 -4 games over .500.
Last year they beat Detroit 2 out of 3 games here and the game they lost was the last of the series and was a game that they left like 6-10 guys on base. So I have faith that they can get the job done in the Motown….like I said I am worried about the Baltimore b/c of Buck-ball.