The Rangers Are 5-4

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Does everyone like pizza? Of course you do. What sort of human being doesn't like pizza?

  • Derek Holland had a nice outing. He came out, threw strikes, and even when he had some bad BABIP luck in the 5th inning, he stayed composed and managed to strike out Robinson Cano on a 95 mph fastball. According to some of the beat guys on Twitter, the radar gun at Safeco Field is about 1-2 mph slow, so Derek may have actually dialed it up to 96-97 mph. All told, Derek managed to go 6.2 innings, giving up no runs on 4 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Nice outing, Derek.
     
  • Adrian Beltre had an Adrian Beltre game. That is, he went 2-for-4 with 5 RBI, the last 2 of which gave us all the opportunity to get half-off Papa John's on Wednesday. So hey, take advantage of that. He also made some nice plays in the field and hit a 3-run home run, but that's just what Adrian does. Nothing to see here. Move along.
     
  • Nomar Mazara had himself another nice game, this time putting his glove on display. He made a diving catch going toward the foul line in the bottom of the 2nd inning, then managed to run down a ball deep in right-center field in the bottom of the 3rd. At the plate, he was 1-for-5. Despite the results, he actually looked pretty good on a couple of outs, driving the ball semi-deep to left field. Sometimes they just don't fall, but it's goo that he still managed to make contact.
     
  • Ryan Rua continues to make the most of his opportunities. Rua had a nice game defensively at 1st, and went 2-for-4 at the plate. This "logjam" of talent Texas has right now sure is nice.
     
  • Ian Desmond, once again, looks hopelessly lost at the plate. He's having a hard time catching up to anything, and looks to just be swinging as hard as he can and hoping to connect. The good news is that he looks like the best defensive outfielder Texas has.
     
  • Quietly, Elvis Andrus has himself a nice start to the season. He was 3-for-4 on the night, and he's got a nice wRC+ of 119 -- or 19% above league average. He's got a BABIP of .400 as well, so some regression is to be expected at some point, but it's been nice to see him driving the ball to right field when needed.
     
  • Derek Holland exited the game with 2 outs in the 7th inning and 109 pitches on his ledger. Andrew Faulkner came in, inheriting a man on 1st base, and quickly struck out Norichika Aoki to end the inning. Phil Klein worked a 1-2-3 8th inning, then came back out for the 9th inning and worked another 1-2-3 frame to seal the 8-0 shutout for Texas.
     
  • Texas now has a their first series win of the season, and will go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon at 2:40 PM. A.J. Griffin will take the ball for Texas against Taijuan Walker.