Rangers - Mariners Preview

Tonight, the Seattle Mariners travel from Oakland to face the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Derek Holland is moved up to 4th in the rotation to face Seattle's Erik Bedard. Each pitcher is making their first start of the season. Bedard is coming off a 2010 season in which he didn't sat out the entire season due to a torn labrum. Holland makes his first start since the regular season, although he pitched in relief in the playoffs, putting together particularly good innings against the Yankees in the ALCS.

In game two on Tuesday, Alexi Ogando makes his first start after replacing Tommy Hunter who is on the disabled list. He'll go up against Michael Pineda, who has made the Mariners rotation as the 5th starter. Wednesday's game provides the best pitching matchup of the series when CJ Wilson goes head-to-head with reigning Cy Young winner, Felix Hernandez. Expect a pitcher's dual in this one to the late innings.

The Mariners have one of the least productive offenses in baseball, as compared to the Texas Rangers, although they are a team of big league hitters, and can certainly score some runs if not respected from the mound.

My predictions for the series:

Derek Holland: 6 IP, 2 ER, W
Erik Bedard: 4 2/3 IP, 6 ER, L
Rangers Win 8-3

Alexi Ogando: 6 IP, 4 ER, No Decision
Michael Pineda: 5 IP, 5 ER, No Deicision
Rangers Win 7-6

CJ Wilson: 7 IP, 3 ER, L
Felix Hernandez: 8 IP, 1 ER, W
Rangers Lose 3-1

Home runs in the series: Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Michael Young, Mitch Moreland
Adam Kennedy, Justin Smoak

Miscellaneous: Ichiro gets on base 10 times in the series, and makes some crazy spiderman catch up a wall in right field.

Opening Series Sweep!

The Rangers were as impressive as ever, dominating the series by winning all three games by a combined score of 26-11 against a team that essentially everyone expects to win the American League Championship this season. Ranger's pitching got better after each of the 1st three games of the season which surprisingly makes Matt Harrison the surprise best opening pitching performance. CJ Wilson seemed like he didn't have his best stuff, but still managed to leave with a no decision and a Ranger's win. Colby Lewis faired a little better Saturday night, earning a victory with excellent run support, but still didn't compare to Harrison who pitched 7 full innings walking 2, striking out 8, and only allowing 1 earned run. Harrison has had some impressive starts before, 2 complete game shutouts in fact, and this opening start was very reminiscent of the form seen in those games.

The Ranger's averaged almost 9 runs per game in the opening series, with record setting hitting. Ian Kinsler homered in each of his first two leadoff at bats, three if you figure he walked in his first at bat on Sunday before cranking his 3rd home run in as many games in 2011. Kinsler will surely be an all-star this summer. Nelson Cruz also homered in each of the first 3 games, making it only the 4th time in history that two teammates each homered in the first 3 games to start a season. Others who homered include Adrian Beltre, who belted a majestic grand slam after the Red Sox intentionally walked Hamilton in front of him on Saturday. Torrealba, David Murphy, and Mike Napoli also hit home runs.

These two teams don't meet again until August when the Red Sox revisit Arlington for 4 more games, and the Rangers travel to Fenway for 3 games in September. By then, these two teams will have established their presence at the top of their respective divisions, and will be competing in an exciting playoff preview. You can pretty much count on the atmosphere in each of those series to be electric. I predict a near Rangers sweep at home making it 6-1, and some close, exciting games in Fenway, Boston wins the series 2-1.

Rangers - Red Sox Part Deux

Tonight Ranger's number 2 pitcher, Colby Lewis takes on former Los Angeles Angel, John Lackey, for the 2nd game in the first series of the 2011 season. Lewis, a veritable ace for many staffs, went 12-13 with a 3.72 ERA in 2010, and as I've documented before, an astronomical number of the 13 losses came when the Ranger's offense failed to provide at least 3 runs. It's also worth mentioning that Lewis, along with Cliff Lee, dominated in the playoffs last year, going 3-0 in 4 starts with a 1.71 ERA.

Lackey went 14-11 in 2010 with a 4.40 ERA. I'll give the advantage to the Rangers tonight, although I think Colby could give up a few runs with the humid conditions in Texas tonight.

My predictions:
Colby Lewis: 7 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 7 K, 2 BB
John Lackey: 6 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 2 BB

Homeruns: Nelson Cruz, Mitch Moreland, Dustin Pedroia, & Adrian Gonzales

Opening Day Victory (and an omen?)

Opening day was a huge success at Ranger's Ballpark Friday afternoon, as the Rangers decidedly beat the Red Sox before over 50,000 fans. The first Ranger to bat in 2011 was Ian Kinsler and he did it with a home run to left field off starter Jon Lester, and while that may be an omen, it's not the omen the title of this post is referring to.

Nelson Cruz also fisted a solo home run to left before Mike Napoli made Ron Washington feel very good about his decision to start Napoli instead of the regular first baseman, Moreland, on opening day. Napoli's 3 run home run put the Rangers up 5-4, but that lead was soon erased after CJ Wilson left the game in the 6th inning, having given up 4 runs in 5 2/3 innings. The Red Sox tied it up when David Ortiz blasted a homerun off Wacoan reliever, Arthur Rhodes.

The score stayed tied at 5-5 until David Murphy, pinch hitting for error-prone centerfielder, Julio Borbon, hit a rope down the left field line that kicked up chalk and went for a 2 RBI double, putting the Rangers up 7-5. (The omen) Borbon is Ron Washington's guy in centerfield, but after he made 5 errors in center during spring training, people really started to notice the great injustice that is sitting David Murphy on the bench, behind this guy. Murphy can play outfield, he can run, he can throw, he can hit, and he's earned it. Borbon is sort of like the coach's son that gets to play quarterback even though he obviously sucks. Maybe Borbon's got some dirt on Nolan Ryan, and he's blackmailing him for the playing time...

Anyways, as expected, Julio ran into Nelson Cruz in right field on a routine fly ball that was obviously Nelly's the whole way, in the 1st inning of the 2011 opening day. See for yourself:

So, to recap, in very omen-like fashion, Kinsler shows that he still has pop in his bat from the leadoff spot that was conspicuously absent from the middle part of the lineup, where Kinsler hit in 2010, Julio Borbon proves the nay-sayers right when he muffs up the defense with a rookie mistake, and David Murphy shows once and for all the he's the deserved starter by getting a clutch, 2 RBI hit in Julio Borbon's spot in the lineup late in the game.

What more could you ask from Opening Day? With the Stars failing to make the playoffs for the 3rd straight season, opening day came just in the nick of time.

Opening Day! Rangers - Red Sox Preview

It's finally here! The Rangers are playing baseball games again that actually count for something, and I don't think I've ever anticipated opening day more than I have this year. (Of course, the Stars collapse after the all-star break has a lot to do with that.)

CJ Wilson is the Ranger's opening day, starting pitcher and he earned that spot last season by leading the Ranger's pitching staff all season in 2010 to an American League Championship. CJ pitched 204 innings in 2010, with 15 wins and a 3.35 era. This season, I expect CJ to pitch at least 230 innings and win 17 or 18 ballgames. This afternoon, Wilson faces off against the Red Sox ace, Jon Lester, who pitched about the same number of innings as CJ in 2010 also won 19 games and had an era of 3.25. I'd expect Lester to win 20 games this season with the Red Sox new and improved offense.

The Red Sox are far and away the most improved team coming into the 2011 season, having just missed the playoffs in 2010. Boston picked up MVP caliber center-fielder Carl Crawford, who won the gold glove in 2010 with the Rays. They also signed Adrian Gonzales from the Padres, who I expect astronomical numbers from in 2011, playing his home games at Fenway Park rather than pitcher-friendly SafeCo Field. These two sluggers combine with Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and David Ortiz to make the 2nd best offense in the league behind the Texas Rangers.

The Red Sox also have the best starting rotation in the American League with Clay Buckholtz, John Lackey and Josh Beckett behind Lester. I, like everyone else, expect Boston to win the AL East this year, as the Yankees look very similar to their 2010 version, except they're all one year older, and the Rays lost several of their best players in the offseason.

The Rangers have, in my opinion, the most potent offense in the American League. I expect Ian Kinsler to repeat his 30-30 2009 season, hitting leadoff in 2011 as he did in 2009. Elvis Andrus is a Derek Jeter potential number 2 hitter, and Josh Hamilton hitting cleanup is the envy of every team in the big leagues. Adrian Beltre, the Rangers newly acquired third baseman from the Red Sox hits 4th, and behind Beltre are Michael Young and Nelson Cruz. Cruz batting 6th is what makes this lineup the best in baseball, as the Rangers 4,5, and 6 are better than mosts' 1,2, and 3s.

My prediction's for the game today:

CJ Wilson - 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 K, 3 BB
Jon Lester - 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 K, 2 BB
Homeruns: Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Adrian Gonzales