705:1 The Rangers won again, 6-4 over the Seattle Mariners.
They're 4-0, all four coming at the Ballpark. There's little to hate here.
I guess we start with the most promising. I thought Derek Holland was above average. Not great. Much closer to good. Threw about 60 percent strikes. His hiccups came in bunches. Four of his hits, his walk and all three earned runs came in the fourth and fifth innings. Innings one, two, three, six and seven were pretty uneventful. We just need more innings like one, two, three, six and seven. Less like four and five. Still, loved his control (one walk) and mental stat (lest we forget the World Series meltdown).
Secondly, got another look at Darren O'Day in the seventh inning. Made Ichiro look ridiculous. Finished off a one-hit frame.
Then the offense. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Triples are in the top 10 of most exciting plays in sports. Julio Borbon has two, tonight's a rope to the gaping hole in right-center.
Josh Hamilton's opposite-field double was a rope. Nellie Cruz continues to smash. Ian Kinsler's on pace for 162 walks. Elvis Andrus hit his first homer in 705 at-bats. The Rangers walked four times, struck out three. Mike Young collected another two hits.
Quite literally, there is nothing to hate. Nothing to rag about, bitch or complain. It's winning baseball. It's pitchers getting outs, it's good defense and tough at-bats one right after the other.
This is all a continuation of what was happening for 162 a year ago and Cliff Lee hasn't pitching (and will not pitch) a single inning for them. The Rangers are, for the foreseeable future, a tough out. Good luck.
