A lonestar in california

I’m afraid I don’t have time for my normal game recap this morning (a prior engagement at church may have to have to preclude my beloved Rangers somewhat today) so we’re gonna try something a little different here by seeing if I can formulate a quick post without turning it into a long one. So, without further adieu, here’s a few thoughts/stats from yesterday’s 9-4 win you might find interesting:

- Chris Davis is awesome. If there’s one guy in the lineup who wasn’t slowed down by the all-star break, it was Crush – he’s 12 for 31 (.387/.387/.871) since baseball’s midsummer interlude, with 4 home runs, 3 doubles and 7 RBI. As his bash buddy Josh Hamilton points out in Evan Grant’s game story, the thing about Davis has been his ability adjust, and adjust quickly – officially one month into what should be a great Major League career, Chris has 10 homers and 20 RBI in just 89 at-bats, which is nothing short of amazing.

“He’s got to be in the top 15 of players I’ve ever seen when it comes to raw power,” Hamilton said. “He’s young and strong, but he’s also learned how to make adjustments pretty quickly. That’s a dangerous combination.”

- That leads us to Josh himself, who even though he’s not hitting much for average right now is sure hitting for power with three home runs in his last 5 games. And credit Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (the #9 hitter of late) for getting on base in front of him, too – all three of those homers have been multi-run jobs, giving Hamilton 8 RBI’s to up his season total to 103. The top of the order has started clicking again, and that’s been the key to the Rangers takeoff in the last two games.

- I thought Matt Harrison was pitching okay yesterday before he left with a blister on his index finger after 86 pitches in the 5th. 3 runs (one earned) on 5 hits and 3 walks isn’t spectacular, but it’ll get the job done when you have an offense like ours behind you – in any case, it was important for him to rebound after the two tough starts preceding yesterday.

- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who went 2-3 with a walk, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored yesterday) has hit .364/.440/.545 in his last 6 games for an 985 OPS, but is now going to be relegated to backup catcher unless he or Gerald Laird is traded in this coming week. I like the him (as everyone knows) so I might sound biased saying this… but does it seem to anyone else that every time he finally starts to find a groove, something has happened to disrupt it (i.e. playing in a sporadic platoon, groin problems, and now being religated to backup catcher)? He hasn’t performed anywhere near his potential this year, but the circumstances sure haven’t helped him any either.

Eric Hurley comes off the DL this afternoon to take on A’s lefty Dana Eveland – Kevin Millwood was put on the DL yesterday to make room for Gerald Laird, but Hurley’s activation means that Max Ramirez should be going down to AAA today to get some regular playing time (and he could use it too, he hasn’t started since July 19th).

So, make sure you’ve got your brooms handy this afternoon folks – provided the offense can handle the left-hander today, we’ve got our best shot at a sweep in months.