The Rangers started a 10 game road trip yesterday in Toronto and what better way to start a road trip than with a win.

Yu Darvish took the mound yesterday against the Blue Jays and got the win to move to 4-0 on the season and he was again dominate. 

The Darvish line:

7IP, 4 Hits, 1 ER (on a solo home run – his first of the season), 2 Walks, 9 Strike Outs (all swinging)

Needless to say, the Blue Jays are impressed.

From the Jays manager John Farrell:

“We had a fairly thorough scouting report on him, But the fact is, he can throw his fastball both sides of the plate. As we saw, he doesn’t settle into any one pattern. He’s got a split he can attack left-handers with, back-door breaking balls as well.”

Darvish remains humble :

“The biggest thing is just getting used to the atmosphere of being in the major leagues,” Darvish said, remaining unimpressed with what he has accomplished. “Whether it’s four, six or five days’ rest, it’s no difference. Right now I’m not thinking about any of that other stuff, about whether I’m satisfied with my progress. Teams are seeing me for the first time and it’s only April.”

His skipper had some nice things to say about him and his potential:

“He’s a quality kid. I’ve been impressed with his stuff. He can run it, he can hop it, he can slow it down, he can make it quick, he can cut it, split it. He can do everything with the baseball. It’s just a matter of using that stuff at the proper time.”

The Rangers offense showed a nice ability to get a big hit when they needed it last night without their hottest hitter in Josh Hamilton who sat out the game with a sore back caused by muscle spasms.

Texas Rangers video of the day

SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP!

The Rangers finished off the sweep of the Boston Red Sox on the road last night with a 6-3 win.  Derek Holland pitched through a two run homer in the second inning and blanked the Red Sox the rest of the way. The Rangers offense continued to rake as it seems that Mike Napoli is getting his timing back as he hit his fourth home run in three games. Youk is feeling Nap’s presence.

“The guy seems like he hits .700 against us lifetime,” Youkilis said.

Ron Washington was impressed with the Rangers starters.

“They’ve been outstanding, They worked hard in spring training to do what they’re doing. We’re playing good baseball and we’re doing it in different ways.”

Quick Hits

• The Rangers start a four game series with a tough Detroit team tonight on the road. It will be Yu Darvish vs Adam Wilk
• Sources are indicating that Pudge Rodriguez will retire as a Texas Ranger on Monday at the Ballpark in Arlington. More on this because Pudge is worth way more than a quick hit.
• Michael Young sat out yesterdays game again with a stiff back. Ron Washington says it’s no big deal and he should be in the lineup tonight.

We made it Ranger fans. We made it through the torture of an early season off-day. Let’s take a short look at how the Rangers made news yesterday.

- The first week of MLB Power Rankings came out in the last couple of days. As expected the Rangers are at the top of most of those lists including the ESPN Power Rankings where they are 1st in baseball.  In SI.com’s new WAR rankings the Rangers are 2nd behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

- Jeff Wilson has a very good article over at the Fort Worth Star Telegram about the tough stretch that awaits the Rangers. When talking about the fact that these types of games coming up used to be a measuring stick, Ian Kinsler had this to say:

“They’re chasing us,” second baseman Ian Kinsler said. “The AL championship goes through us. I think everyone understands that.
“You expect the best from your opponent every day. When you have a target on your back, when you’re the two-time defending AL champions, the focus of the other team might be raised. It just makes it harder for us.”

Ron Washington chimed in as well:

“Our game plan is not going to change,” manager Ron Washington said. “We’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to pitch; we’re going to play defense, and we’re going to see what happens after nine innings.”

The Rangers start with an annoying two game series with the Red Sox followed by a tough four game series against an improved Detroit Tigers team.

- In the Sporting News there is a quick comparison about how the Rangers should be able to maintain a successful season easier than the Dodgers can. Part of that is a note about what could slow the Rangers down.

The schedule gets plenty tougher through the rest of the month. The general consensus is that there are six very good teams in the AL, including the Rangers, and over their next four series they’ll play three of them—on the road starting Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers before returning home to host the New York Yankees. They’ll finish the month against an improved Toronto Blue Jays team, then play Cleveland after that.

Well…That sucked.

As I woke up from a restful nights sleep, the first thing to enter my brain was “Dang, they lost last night”.  I’m going to do my best to give you an even, non knee-jerking reaction to what happened last night.

The Rangers were three outs away from win number five in six games this season. With a two run lead, Ron Washington calls for his closer Joe Nathan. Nathan pitched very well the night before to secure the win for the Rangers and other than one bad pitch that was responsible for the lone loss in the Chicago White Sox series, he has pitches pretty well. It was very clear early on when Nathan took the mound last night that he didn’t have “it”. He wasn’t locating his pitches and when he was missing it was up in the zone. After it was all said and done, the Rangers couldn’t rally back in the bottom half of the 9th and fell to 4-2 on the season.

This one was tough. It was tough because Colby Lewis deserved much better after a masterful 6 2/3 inning 6 SO no ER performance. It was tough because the Rangers are clearly a Championship contender and a Championship contender MUST have a reliable closer. It was tough because losses like that linger. With all that being said, it’s not time to jump ship. The Rangers will stick by Joe Nathan, Wash will most certainly stick by his veteran closer.

Joe Nathan didn’t seem too concerned after the game.

“The only thing that I could see is they hit a lot of sliders, not terrible sliders. I think they’re looking for that pitch and waiting for it,” Nathan said. “A lot of those pitches were sliders down that they served into right and found outfield turf. Credit to them putting good swings on.”

That’s what you want your closer to say after blowing a save.

His teammates were equally unfazed like Colby Lewis

“He’s 30-something saves away from 300 saves,” Lewis said. “It’s nothing he can’t bounce back from, nothing we can’t bounce back from.”

Michael Young:

“He’ll be fine, We have all the confidence in the world in Joe. We look forward to getting another lead and getting him back out there.”

Wash:

“I thought he was throwing the ball well,” Washington said. “Once again, maybe location just had something to do with it. I thought he was throwing the ball well. It was 93, 94 mph. It’s a big league club over there. I don’t know how many innings we had them shut down, but right there in the ninth inning they put some runs on the board.”

So step off the ledge for a second, it isn’t time to panic and move Joe Nathan out of the closer role but its ok to be a little nervous. If it makes you feel any better, the Rangers aren’t nervous.

Quick Hits:

• Elvis hit a home run! Elvis has said that he has been working on his upper body strength over the off-season and its starting to pay off.
• Dutch takes the mound this afternoon to right the wrong that happened last night.
• The Angels lost last night to the Rangers next series opponents the Minnesota Twins. Jared Weaver gave up 5 ERs. So at least that happened too.
• Check out this great article about the Rangers/Angels rivalry. Good stuff http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1142416-la-angelstexas-rangers-why-their-rivalry-is-better-than-bostonnew-york 

Yesterday marked a potentially huge day in Texas Rangers history.

The evening started off with the first Major League start for the Rangers prized off-season acquisition Yu Darvish. There was a massive amount of anticipation from both the media and the Rangers fans. The stadium was buzzing as Yu ran from the dugout to the mound in the first inning to a rousing standing ovation, something I’ve never seen before in my many years of Rangers fandom. There were Darvish jerseys scattered all over the crowd of 42,003.  Believe it or not, the actual pitching wasn’t nearly important. Darvish would get off to a very rough start fueled by a combination of nerves and adrenaline and then settle down for a respectable 5 2/3 inning outing. He did what every Ranger pitcher is expected to do, he kept his team in the game long enough to let the offense do what it does. Last night was the beginning of what could be a very long and special career for the talented righty. He struggled, he battled, he got the support he needed from his teammates. It was a special atmosphere last night and Scott and I were pumped to be there.

The Rangers didn’t let the buzz of a Yu Darvish start linger long as they replaced it with the excitement of the news of an Ian Kinsler extension. The details of the deal as reported by several Dallas/Fort Worth newspaper writers are five years and 75 million with a club option.  We’ve been teased with the possibility of an extension for the past couple of weeks and it looked like hope was lost when opening day arrived with no deal.  The Rangers front office continued to work with Kinsler’s agent while the season began and got it done. The deal is a rare example of where it’s really good for both sides and I think that will be even more evident when the Yankees finalize and announce the extension for their second baseman Robinson Cano who I would imagine will sign a deal worth 18-20 million dollars a year.  Kinsler is truly a commodity as a 30-year-old (he turns 30 in June) with the potential to have a 30 home run and 30 stolen base season every year. Even more than home runs or stolen bases, Kinsler has become a team leader and that was never more evident than last night. After his young pitcher struggled through a 42 pitch first inning he came in as the leadoff hitter. Instead of swinging at a very hittable 2-0 pitch straight down the middle, he took. He knew that he had to give his pitcher a chance to catch his breath, a chance to decompress. Kinsler took and worked a walk that would start a bounce back inning for the Rangers cutting the lead in half. That is baseball IQ.

Congrats Ian, well deserved. Can I borrow some money?

Quick Hits:

• The offense appears to be clicking. Josh Hamilton hit his second home run of the season last night and brought his average to .500
• Kinsler hit another home run. Ho hum.
• Nelly Cruz seems to be getting his timing back. He looked lost at the plate at time during the first three games but last night looked like the Nelly of old. Even making a nice defensive play in right field. Wish he could have done that in game 6 last year. Sorry…still bitter.
• Fun game tonight as Neftali Feliz starts his career as a starting pitcher against former Rangers prospect Blake Beavan.

One more sleep! One more sleep! One more sleep!

It is so close to that day that us Ranger fans have been waiting for, OPENING FREAKING DAY.

It’s also time for bold prediction number four. Get ready to be blown away people.

At the all-star break, Joe Nathan will be in the top five save leaders in Major League baseball.

WOAH, I know that this sounds crazy. Joe Nathan has had a very rough spring and is coming off a major arm surgery. Lets all put that aside for a moment and remember Joe Nathan.

Nathan is a four-time all-star with a career 2.87 ERA and 261 saves in 11 seasons in Major League baseball. In 729 career innings, Nathan has 761 strike outs. That’s not chop liver people.

A 11 year veteran and 37-year-old professional, Nathan has earned the right to use spring training to get back into his closer “zone”. I think with the overall talent on this team Nathan is going to have the opportunity for a lot of saves and I think he deliver like he has done his entire career. Debate me if you dare!

Quick Hits:

• Yu Darvish started against Double-A Frisco yesterday and showed them why he isn’t in Double-A with them. He pitches 4 scoreless innings and only allowed two singles and two walks while striking out five. Pretty nice tune up for his first start Monday against the Mariners.
• Pretty great breakdown article by Richard Durrett over on ESPN.  He breaks down the Rangers schedule month by month and makes win loss predictions as well as players to watch and key games.
• Another great article by the Austin-American-Statesman about the Rangers rise to the top through an incredible farm system and terrific scouting.  They have a terrific quote about the challenges the Rangers face going forward;

That approach will help Texas deal with difficult free-agent decisions over the next two years while not falling off a cliff. Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli and Colby Lewis, among others, all are eligible for free agency after the 2013 season. The payroll will be around $105 million this year, up from $92 million. Keeping all of those potential free agents would put it around $200 million. Some will have to go.

These are decisions we all know the Rangers are going to have to face. In the meantime let’s go get a championship.

Its time for another BOLD prediction for the 2012 Texas Rangers season.

Mitch Moreland will remain healthy all year and will hit 30 home runs.

That’s why it’s called ”BOLD” people! I know some people are rolling their eyes at the prospect of a productive Mitch Moreland but I think this is going to be his break out year. In two seasons in the Major Leagues Moreland has only his 25 home runs but hit 16 in an injury plagued season last year. I’m a big believer that a large portion of a player’s ability is related to his mental state of mind. After an off-season filled with rumors of big time free agent first baseman making their way to Arlington the dust has settled and Moreland is the last man standing. With those distractions and the nagging wrist injury in the rear view mirror, Mitch is poised to break out and live up to the expectations the club has for him.  I’m sure there are those out there that believe that spring training stats mean nothing but Moreland has seemingly found his groove in the last couple of weeks. He his .283 and had three impressive home runs in Cactus League games this year. Get ready to see those Mitch Moreland at bats that we have all grown to love a lot more this year at the Temple.

Quick hits:

The Rangers played the Mexico City Red Devils yesterday at the most wonderful place on Earth (the BPiA)

• Matt Harrison finished off a very impressive spring with another solid outing against “The Yankees of Mexico”.  In his scheduled four innings he struck out five and walked none
• Ian Kinsler homered…yet again…and his hair was awesomely out of control.
• Sounds like Tateyama is going to be on the DL to start the season with what the club is calling “back stiffness”. If I went on the DL every time I had back stiffness I wouldn’t have a job.
• Yu Darvish gets to face some Double-A’ers today in Frisco. It will be the last tune up before the regular season for Yu before he gets to face the Seattle Mariners in his first start on Monday. He is scheduled to go four innings.

There are rumors flying around about the possibility of the Rangers making Ian Kinsler the highest paid second baseman in baseball history. I’ve been of the opinion that if there was one guy that I want the Rangers to lock up LONG term its Ian and it sounds like its close to happening. This makes me very happy. Kinsler had this to say about the possibility;

“Whether that makes me the highest paid second baseman or not, I don’t know, but I want to be here.”

I wanted to give another shout out to our friend Kyle and the Patty Shack Burger family as they were effected by the tornado yesterday and sustained some pretty serious damage. They are going to be down for a little while during the rebuild but I have no doubt that they will be back stronger than ever.

- Hi Ranger fans, the first thing you should ask yourself this morning is “Shouldn’t I hurry and get a spot on the Baseballdo field trip before they are all gone?” Go here and sign up ASAP to meet a bunch of other Ranger fanatics like yourself, have a delicious Patty Shack lunch, go to a Rangers game, and get a ”Nolan is my Homeboy” t-shirt. ALL FOR 34.99!!!!!

- The great Bob Nightengale wrote a preview story about the Rangers for USAToday Sports. Want to get chills? Read the quote from Ron Washington.

Point out that Los Angeles’ star-studded rotation now includes Texas’ former ace, C.J. Wilson. Bring up how the Angels lineup got $240 million better with the signing of three-time National League MVP first baseman Albert Pujols.

“They’re good; we all know that,” Rangers manager Ron Washington says. “But I’ll tell you what, the Texas Rangers are damn good, too. I’m not worried about nothing.

This Rangers team is developing some major swagger which is what a championship team needs. The beauty of the swagger that the Rangers have is that it has developed from success not hype…

-  Josh Hamilton was asked yesterday if there was any new news on the contract front and he said he thought it would be highly unlikely anything would get done before the season. He did mention that he wouldn’t be opposed to signing an extension during the season as long as it wasn’t a distraction to baseball.

- Speaking of Josh Hamilton, talking to Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com, Hamilton felt satisfied with the work he’s put in during spring this year. Check out the story here.

The 2010 AL MVP said he didn’t have the “whip” in his swing when spring began.

“But I found it last week,” Hamilton said. “I know I struck out three times [Tuesday], but that was trying to swing too hard. I kept seeing those balls outside and felt like I could drive it. That was a learning moment for me.”

- The Rangers beat the Royals yesterday in Surprise led by a serviceable (in his opinion) Derek Holland start. He gave up six runs in five innings but still had some nice takeaways.

“I thought I had command of all my off-speed pitches and that’s the main thing. I’ve been throwing my sinker a lot this whole spring, just trying to make sure I get the feel for it both inside and outside. That was the pitch Butler got, wrong situation. That’s what he’s here for. They get paid for that.”

- Nelson Cruz had to leave the game in the third inning after he was hit by a pitch in the right hand. Early indication is that it’s just a bruise and he is listed as day-to-day.

- Yu Darvish held a bullpen session yesterday and threw 47 pitches. He is scheduled to start against the Rockies tomorrow.

There isn’t much better than doing a morning update after the Rangers win a spring training game 12-2.

My pick to click this season Scott Feldman looked awesome last night, he went six innings, gave up no runs, and struck out nine Reds. Scott Feldman has showed in spring training that he is a viable option for the starting rotation in case of injury or someone who fails to produce. In 20 spring training innings Feldman has a 3.15 ERA, 20 strikeouts and only two walks. Stellar.

As is evident from the score the Rangers offense certainly clicked last night. Rather than naming those who contributed just know that the hitters are officially locked in and appear ready for spring training to end. Its always been said that at this point of spring training the hitters are typically ready to face real games but the pitchers still have some work to do. Looks like that might be the case with this team.

Quick hits

• Craig Gentry’s strange spring training continues after he left Sunday’s game with dehydration. It certainly wasn’t an overly hot day in Arizona. I think the skipper summed up his feelings on Gentry with a straight to the point quote.

“He’s got to get on the field and play,” Ron Washington said.

• Robbie Ross has all but locked up his spot as the lefty in the bullpen with a strong spring and the lack of competition from Michael Kirkman or Neal Cotts. The 22 year old lefty split time between Myrtle Beach and Frisco last year and has been impressive.

• Neftali Feliz will pitch in an “A’ game on Tuesday after experiencing shoulder tightness in his last start. By all accounts he hasn’t had any trouble since but this will be a big start for him either way.