A lonestar in california

The Rangers have given away more than their fair share of games so far this season. They do, after all, lead the majors in errors with 31. But on Saturday night, they got to take advantage of some huge errors for a change, as 4 errors by the Oakland Athletics helped the Rangers squeak out a 4-3 victory.

The very first play of the game was in fact an error, as A’s CF Ryan Sweeny dropped an Ian Kinsler fly ball, allowing Kinsler to scamper to third, where he promptly scored from on a Michael Young sac fly. It stayed 1-0 till the 4th, when Milton Bradley and David Murphy parlayed back-to-back 1 out singles into a Brandon Boggs sac fly to make it 2-0. But that lead, the biggest of the night for the Rangers, didn’t last for long, as the A’s rallied against Vicente Padilla in the 4th.

Padilla, who had steamed through the A’s order in the first three innings, struck out Jack Hannahan to start the frame, but then gave up a solo homer to the next batter, Jack Cust. Padilla then walked Frank Thomas, got Emil Brown to ground into a fielder’s choice, and then got a ground ball to Kinsler. Kinsler misplayed the ball however, allowing it to skip through into CF, and put runners on the corners. The play was initally ruled a single, much to the suprise of everone in the ballpark, but would later be changed to an error to spare Padilla of two earned runs, as he gave up a 2-run double to the next batter, Bobby Crosby. Crosby stung one high and deep to LF Brandon Boggs, who went back, leapt up, and almost made a highlight reel play, but the ball went over his glove, and rattled around against the fence, allowing both runners to score.

That gave the A’s a 3-2 lead, as Padilla finally worked out of the inning after walking Ryan Sweeny, but that lead would be short-lived, as the A’s where about to give it back again in the 5th.

Gerald Laird doubled down the LF line to start the inning, and then Ramon Vazquez reached on a bunt single that probably should have been scored as an error on A’s pitcher Joe Blanton (which would have given the A’s 5 errors on the night – Blanton would later make a throwing error in the 6th, but the Rangers failed to take advantage of it). Ian Kinsler then tapped one to short, scoring Laird to tie the game, and moving Vazquez to second - a swinging bunt, if you will. Michael Young was next and that’s when things got really wierd. Young grounded one to third, where Jack Hannahan whipped it over to Daric Barton at first for the out, but failed to look Ramon Vazquez back to second. Vazquez alertly decided to advance to third on the play, and seeing Vazquez on the move, Barton fired back over to third base, in a vain attempt to get him – and threw it away. Vazquez scored the go-ahead run, and for the Rangers, it was all a matter of hanging on from there.

It wouldn’t be easy. Padilla loaded the bases for the A’s with 2 out in the 6th, and Jamey Wright had to come in and bail him out, but he got Donnie Murphy to ground into a fielders choice to escape that jam. In the 7th though, Eddie Guardado took over and nearly lost the game with one mistake to Jack Cust.

Daric Barton lead off with a single, but pinch-hitter Mark Ellis popped up. Then up came Cust, who on a 1-2 changeup from Guardado, hammered a line drive deep into right-center field. As Cust later said after the game, ”I killed it. I thought it was a home run, then I thought it was a double, then …”

Then Josh Hamilton came flying back on a dead run, grabbed the liner on the backhand, and went crashing into the center field fence. Daric Barton, who had taken off from first thinking it was over Hamilton’s head, was all the way over at third base when Josh got back up and tossed the ball back in to Ian Kinsler, who relayed to Ben Broussard to complete the double play. I have to say, it was one of the best running catches in center I’ve seen in a long, long time – enough can’t be said about how amazing the capabilites of Josh Hamilton are. We already know his offense has lived up to its hype – well, so does his defense.

When Josh later explained exactly what happened, he even mentioned he’d been shading Cust the other way in CF:

“Cust had hit that [last] one to left-center, so we were shading him to left-center,” Hamilton said. “We were also playing ‘no doubles,’ so we were playing him deep. When he hit it, I just picked out a spot and ran there.”

What a beast. It sure didn’t look that simple, but I suppose when you’re as talented as Josh Hamilton, I guess picking a spot is all you have to do.

After that, Joaquin Benoit managed to get through a nailbiter 8th, stranding two runners after allowing a hit and a walk, and CJ Wilson’s shutdown 9th was every bit as dramatic, as Donnie Murphy and Daric Barton both hit balls to the warning track before Mark Ellis popped out to Hamilton to end the game. It may not have been the prettiest of wins, but it was certainly dramatic enough, and save for the Ian Kinsler error, the Rangers got the outs they needed to for a change. This makes three in a row now for the Rangers, who have now won 5 of their last 7, and seem to be shaking off their April slump.

Speaking Josh Hamilton, TR Sullivan has a highlight peice out on him right now, focusing on the fact that Josh has not missed a game yet this season. Hamilton played just 90 games for the Reds last year (after missing 3 1/2 seasons because of his well-documented struggles with addiction) taking 3 DL stints for a sprained wrist, gastrointestinitis, and a strained hamstring, so there is still a bit of a question about whether or not he can stay healthy for the full 162 game schedule. To date, Josh hasn’t slowed down or had any problems this season, and although although we’re only a month in, he seems to in fact be the most durable guy out there so far.

“I’m more prepared for the long haul this year,” Hamilton said. “I know what to do and what not to do, what works and what doesn’t and I was able to carry it into the season.”

Ron Washington has maintained his plan to shuffle Josh back and forth between CF and RF, although the majority of Hamilton’s playing time has still been in center. So far, it’s worked out well, despite my previous speculation to the contrary - which just goes to show you that even I, who consider Josh a real-life superhero, underestimate his talent and ability to adjust.

Another interesting note from the above article: Frank Catalanotto has been held out of the linuep for three straight days for Brandon Boggs, who of course had another hit tonight, and a sac fly – it appears Ron Washington has finally found a young player he likes:

“He’s certainly talked about as being a part of our future,” Washington said. “He’s doing well, and I don’t want to [take] him out of there.”

Those are the type of words I want to hear a lot more of from Ron. Now, if he would just stop bunting, figure out how to manage his pitching staff, and stick up for his players a little more…

Just how much longer Boggs will be in the Majors, however, might be in question, as it appears Marlon Byrd will rejoin the team on this road trip sometime, likely in Seattle. Which bums me out, of course, because Byrd was doing nothing but clogging up the the bottom of the order when he was put on the DL. I don’t see why Boggs should be sent back to AAA at all right now – I think he should be allowed to ride out his hot streak here, and see if he can stick. He’s improved his offense at every stop during his minor league career, and so far, he appears to be ready for the show… why drop him for Marlon freaking Byrd? That just makes no sense to me at all. The least the Rangers could do is prolong Byrd’s rehab assignment, and give Boggs a week or so to see if he can maintain his good AB’s. And if he does, then it should be bye bye Byrdie.

There where a couple other things mainly regarding the pitching staff I wanted to get to tonight, but I don’t have the time for it, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow/later today (I’m writing this in the wee hours of the morning again, can ya tell?). AJ Murray goes today against the A’s heavily left-handed lineup, and I’m interested to see how he does – he’s pitched well in OKC lately, so hopefully he’s got his stuff. I’d rather see him in the rotation than Ponson or Feldman, myself. Chad Gaudin opposes for the A’s, and although he has a 6.13 career ERA against Texas, he’s been on a hot streak lately, winning three straight starts. Hopefully we can get to him though – the hitting has been timely of late. Till tomorrow, GO RANGERS!