I needed to see the rangers a couple of times before I made any predictions on the season, and well i am going to wait for the day before the home opener to make my official prediction. However one thing I can see is that Josh Hamilton is a stud. BaDD radio Hunk of the week material. He showed it all night in all facets of the game. But we will get to that later.
Observations from the first two games are as follows. Millwood and Padilla both look solid, not overpowering but we might be able to get a combined 30 wins from those two guys if they stay healthy. That would be huge compared to what they gave us last year, a combined 16. However to do any real damage we would need in the neighborhood of 34 from them. They both had good velocity, and from what seemed to be one new pitch each. Millwood looked like he threw a couple split-finger fastballs or sinkers in his first outing. They weren’t really featured, it does not really seam like Gerald Laird likes to call 90 percent fastballs. However the starters have given up a combined 1 earned run over the first two games so as long as it works keep doing it. As for Padilla, he seems to have developed a two seamer that sinks more than last year to go along with his four seamer and normal two seamer. Maybe when it warms up we will see their full arsenal of pitches. Fuki looked brutal but that was his first big league inning. One thing that makes me nervous is the terrible infield defense when the Rangers are intent on bringing in ground ball pitchers and trade away strikeout or fly ball pitchers (Volquez and Danks respectively). The errors were just brutal especially last night. Now Kinsler Young and Blalock are rumored to have the Jordanesque Flu-like symptoms, but the error Mike Young made to start the eighth inning was awful. Followed by the error by Kinsler even Broussard looks bad pretty consistently at first base. We were the worst defensive team in the league last year and we gave up the most amount of unearned runs in the league. That can kill the will of your pitching staff much like it did last season.
Now for the great, Josh Hamilchrist( Good work on the name Holbrook) was spectacular last night damn near winning the game by himself. He saved several runs with his range alone last night and the Willie Mays basket catch at the wall was very impressive. Then came the eighth and the game was tied and the Rangers needed a rally, he came up with a good at bat and hustled out a high chopper to start a rally in the eighth. After we blew it in the bottom of the inning we needed some momentum in the top of the ninth. Kinsler did just that in a 9 pitch at bat where he got himself a base hit. Young did the same but struck out looking on a splitter that looked inside. Then stepped up Hamilton and took the first pitch and crushed it. I was watching the Mariners broadcast, who are more bland than Tom Brokaw commentating on womens figure skating. All they said at the crack of the bat was, “thats trouble.” It sure was, everyone knew it was gone right when he hit it. He quieted the crowd, all while giving JJ Putz a collar and leash just to make sure he knew his place. With one magic swing of the bat he wiped away all the Rangers sins, for just one day at least. Lets not forget CJ, he laid down the Mariners with no problem. I am worried with some of the fly balls he gives up because of the summer in Arlington but I have faith in CJ.
All in all it was a good start, an awful middle, and great ending. In Hamilchrist we trust.
