My adoptive team, the Texas Rangers, has won seven consecutive games and eight of its past 10. What a way to go into the All-Star break! The defending American League Champion Rangers (51-41) are 10 games over .500 and on track to win 90 games. They lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by one game in the American League West. It promises to be a dogfight the rest of the way. The team with the best pitching will win, and right now the Rangers have excellent starting pitching, with C. J. Wilson (9-3), Colby Lewis (8-7), Matt Harrison (7-7), Derek Holland (7-4), and Alexi Ogando (9-3). If 2010 Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz shakes off the doldrums, he will help the Rangers win many close games.
Katherine and I attended games on Tuesday and Wednesday of the past week. The first was our regular game, as part of our 20-game ticket package; the second was family night at the ballpark for Katherine, me, Katherine's two daughters, a boyfriend of one of the daughters, and Katherine's four-year-old grandson, Luki. The Rangers won both games, beating the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 and 13-5. In the first game, the Rangers came back from a 2-0 deficit. Michael Young had three hits and Harrison pitched six strong innings. Feliz saved it. In the second game, the Rangers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. At one point, they led, 12-3. Ogando, who was just named to the All-Star team, pitched seven strong innings. Young had three more hits; Elvis Andrus had four hits; and Mike Napoli hit a three-run home run.
The family had a great time, not least because it was Dollar Hot Dog Night. Katherine and I took Luki to the centerfield concourse area so he could participate in some of the kids' games. He threw balls into a hole made to look like a catcher's mitt; he hit off a tee; he used a slingshot to try to send a ball into a hole; and he won a prize (two, actually) by sliding a Texas Rangers disc into the "home run" slot of a game board. It was brutally hot both nights, but we stayed cool by dressing properly and by drinking lots of fluid. Katherine and I are now 8-6 on the year. It was only a matter of time before we got this team rolling.
Addendum: Is it far-fetched to think that the Rangers could have five 20-game winners this season? Okay, how about five 18-game winners?
