Rangers Swept by Royals in 2 Game Series

The Rangers were swept for the first time this series against the Kansas City Royals in the two game series. On Monday, the Rangers lost it close 3 to 1 and had a descent start by Scott Feldman who gave up no earned runs in 4.2 innings.  Kinsler was not in this game. On Tuesday Colby Lewis took the mound for his first start since the weird outing he had last time giving up a career high five home runs, and having a career high 12 strikeouts. The Royals would win this game 7 to 4. Oddly though Lewis only gave up 2 earned runs. The couple of changes in the lineup these past two games have made the defense get errors in two straight games. I thought though we had to rest a couple of players to get them rested from the 10 straight road games, and the Angels series. Tonight though we should see the regular starting lineup for the Rangers with them playing the Oakland Athletics tonight. Oakland is quietly now only four games behind tonight. Yu Darvish will start tonight for the Rangers as they play the A's for the first time this season. The game time is scheduled for 7:05 Texas time! 

Orioles loss Game 2 to Rangers 7-3

The Rangers finish this four game series against the Orioles very favorable winning three out of the four matches. This second game though was ugly with 5 errors combined with the two teams, the Rangers were able to pull out the victory. In fact all 3 Baltimore runs came in the 2nd inning with errors from the defense which included a bad throw by Elvis Andrus, an error on a ground ball by Ian Kinsler, and a very rare inaccurate throw from center field by Josh Hamilton. Hamilton went 1 for 4 with the one hit being a deep home run to right field that scored him and Elvis Andrus in the 1st inning. Rangers pitching was spot on in this second game. Holland went 6 innings allowing 4 hits, with 2 walks, and striking out 5. The Rangers' pitching gave up no earned runs through all nine innings. Ogando worked in the 7th inning, Adams in the 8th, and Nathan closed the game. After the double header done, it is now time for  the Rangers to fly back home to Arlington where they will face the Los Angeles Angels for the first time this year. It will be Yu Darvish versus the former Ranger C.J. Wilson. This will be the first time C.J. has pitched against his former team, and it will be interesting to see what kind of ovation the Rangers fan will give him. It will also be Albert Pujols's first time back in Arlington since being in the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The crowd will be rocking at the ballpark this weekend with the whole series being sold out! Game 1 starts tomorrow night at 7:05 in Arlington, Texas! Me personally, I would like to see Mike Napoli hit at least one home run off his good buddy C.J.

Rangers Double Header Game 1 Loss 6 to 5 to the O's

Colby Lewis went on the mound looking to get the Rangers to a win in the first game of the two game double header. Looking statistic wise, it was a weird day for Colby Lewis. He set two career high highlights set in this game. Looking at the positive side, Lewis had 12 strikeouts in the game. The negative to this start though was him giving up 5 home runs, which set a career high for his career as well. The game actually started with Lewis giving up three straight home runs to the first three batters of the Orioles hitting the deep ball. Those batters were Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy, and Nick Markakis. The Rangers had a three run rally in the 9th inning thanks to David Murphy's pinch hitting 3 run home run to get them within one run from tying the game. The game ended though with Kinsler grounding out to 3rd base, and Andrus striking out looking. Game two of this double header will show Tommy Hunter on the mound against his former team. The Rangers will send out Derrek Holland to start for them. I hope that the Rangers will get to Hunter early, and we will see the bats fly in this second game.

Hamilton History beats Orioles

Neftali Feliz's quality start was overshadowed on May 8th, 2012 by a guy named Josh Hamilton. Hamilton was a beast batting on Tuesday night! Josh Hamilton on the night went 5 for 5 at the plate with 8 RBIs and 4 home runs! This makes him only the 16th player in MLB history to hit 4 home runs in a single game. As a general manager, I would definitely give him an extension in his contract, but after the season is over. I think that if they would resign him now then he might go down in his productivity for knowing that he got his extension. I am hoping today's double header won't tired out the Rangers for this weekend's sold out series against the Angels. Here are the scheduled starters for the two games. In game one at 3:05 it will be Colby Lewis (3-1) vs. Wei-Yin Chen (2-1). In game two the Rangers will face a former teammate, Tommy Hunter (2-1). Derrick Holland will be on the mound for the Rangers!

Bats Fly Against Orioles 14-3

Harrison gets the win behind the Rangers 14 runs on 19 hits. Looking at the Rangers box score, everyone had a hit except for David Murphy who went in as a pinch runner for the slowed up Adrian Beltre. The Orioles did look a little fatigued from the day before beating the Boston Red Sox in 17 innings 9 to 6. The standout player for the Rangers in this game was Brandon Snyder who went 3 for 5 and had a career high 6 runs batted in. Matt Harrison pitched a quality start in 7 innings, giving up 3 earned runs, on 6 hits. All three runs came off two separate home run shots. The first was a solo shot by Robert Andino, and the other being a two run homer by Wilson Betemit. Game 2 of this four game series continues tonight when the Rangers send out former closer Neftali Feliz who is sporting a 3.81 ERA in his first season in the starting rotation with a (1-1) record. The Baltimore Orioles will send to the mound Jake Arrieta who is (2-2) and is coming off an 8 inning shut out against the New York Yankees in his last start. Tonight's opening pitch is scheduled for 6:05 Texas time and will be played at Camden Yards.

Rangers loss 2nd Straight Series

Ranger fans who are freaking out over the second straight series loss need to calm down. These two series loss does not mean they are a terrible team, but are just in a slump. Yu Darvish though lost the game yesterday, did pitch a pretty descent game. Darvish on the day pitched 6 innings and only gave up 3 earned runs on 6 hits, and recorded 11 strikeouts. The Rangers will travel down to Baltimore to play the Orioles who are a definite surprise early in the season. Baltimore is coming off an 11th inning 9 to 6 victory over their AL East foes the Boston Red Sox. Former Rangers 1st baseman Chris Davis was credited with the win coming into the 11th inning. Matt Harrison will be going to the mound tonight sporting an ERA of 5.40, sporting a 3-2 record in his five starts. Harrison has struggled with the two losses coming out of his last two starts. Harrison started off the season with the best ERA, and looked like he belonged in the starting rotation. I think Harrison is just going through a little slump right now, and tonight would be a great game to bring his confidence back out onto the mound. The Baltimore Orioles will send out Brian Matusz who has an ERA of 4.67 with a 1-3 record in 5 starts this season. First pitch for this match up is scheduled to start at 6:05 Texas time at Camden Yards. For this game I expect the resurgence of the Rangers bats to come back into the picture to help out Matt Harrison. Before tonight's game, the Rangers have an (18-10) record with a 3.5 game lead over the Oakland Athletics who have a (15-14) record.