Dutch, Old Man go to town.

Derek Holland was a star of last night's game for Texas. I can't find a card of Holland though so I'll go with Michael Young for today's card, number 215 of the 2003 Donruss set. Michael isn't the second choice for star of the game, he is a co-star. The Old Man of the team and the new kid, sounds like a TV show. Let's start with Dutch.

I have seriously lost faith in Derek Holland over the course of the season. I just couldn't see what all the hype was about. All the talk about him being the future of the Rangers and I couldn't see it. Sure he was good for a couple of innings out of the pen but he always seemed to melt down for at least one inning when he started. Since he is billed as a starter that does have bearing on the situation. Still not completely sold on Dutch but if he pitched in the minors like he did last night I can see why folks were raving about him. Derek went 8.2 innings last night and gave up only two hits and one run. He walked one while whiffing ten. Talk about dominating. The Mariners didn't stand a chance offensively.

As it turned out, Seattle got pounded defensively as well. The Rangers' guns woke up and smashed seven runs across the plate. Five of those runs were the batters crossing after launching home runs. Michael Young was in the thick of the action as he went 3-for-4 and while sending two balls out of the park. Mike scored all three times he was on base and picked up two more RBI on the season. He also bounced his batting average up to .326. For being the old guy on the team he sure is moving.

Speaking of moving, the win put Texas to only three games behind the idle Angels. Anaheim opens a series with the Twins tonight so there is a possibility that the Rangers can pick up some ground if they can keep winning.

As far as any other moves, there weren't any for Texas. The Rangers made no trades as the trading deadline passed today. There had been some talk about a possible deal with Toronto for Roy Halladay but that illustrious personage declined to consider playing in a Rangers' uniform. Just as well I am thinking. Jon Daniels would have had to strip the farm system to get him and he would have been off goldbricking with the Evil Empire within two years. Best to dance with the one who brung ya as the saying goes.

Cesar's sig.

Last night was ugly. The Tigers manhandled Scott Feldman. Scooter suffered his worst start of the season as he went only 2.1 innings and gave up six earned runs. The bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding either. The final score was 13-5 Detroit. Ouch!

The trading deadline is also looming. Lots of teams are still in contention and looking to make a deal. There are rumors but Jon Daniels is saying that he isn't sure he can swing a deal for the Rangers.

Cesar King is one player who probably wished for a trade when he was in the Rangers' farm system. King, seen here on card #CK1 of the 1999 SP Signature Edition set, played minor league ball for Texas from 1996 to 2000. That was right in the middle of Ivan Rodriguez's heyday. Effectively blocked by Pudge, King never saw the Bigs. He eventually got away from Pudge's shadow and played a few years for Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. By then it was too late though, his best seasons were behind him. Just as he got the chance to make the big leap, his offense and defense dipped. By age 24 he was done.

Kinsler goes down as Texas downs Detroit.

Texas won last night's game against Detroit 7-3 behind a hodge-podge of pitching. Vicente Padilla was scratched from the start due to the flu. In his place Doug Mathis was pressed into service. He lasted four innings and gave up all three of Detroit's runs. Jason Grilli then went two innings. Eddie Guardado, Darren O'Day, and Guillermo Moscoso all went one inning each. Some nice stop-gap pitching to take the series from the Tigers.

There was a downside though. In the sixth inning Ian Kinsler was trying unsuccessfully to beat out an infield hit. He strained a hamstring and is now day-to-day. That's going to hurt the Rangers I am afraid. Kinsler, seen here on card number 175 of the 2008 Upper Deck Heroes Charcoal set, had appeared in 96 out of 98 games so far in the season. Hopefully he can get back in action soon.

As a result of the Kinsler injury, Omar Vizquel got the start at second tonight. For insurance, the club called Joaquin Arias up from Triple A. They had to option Doug Mathis in order to do that.

Frank Francisco threw batting practice this afternoon. He says that he is over the flu and ready to pitch any time the Rangers are ready to have him back.

Hunter keeps Texas in the hunt.

Tommy Hunter was undoubtedly a key component in the Rangers' win last night. In seven innings of work he allowed just one run. That lowered his ERA to 2.00. Tommy struck out six while only walking two to get his third win of the season. Sadly, I don't have a Topps Tommy Hunter card to post today.

Fortunately, Tommy wasn't the only bright spot for Texas as they topped Detroit 5-2. Michael Young went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. One of his hits was a home run. That performance scores Michael today's card, number 41 in the 2004 Topps set.

Other notable offensive contributions included a two RBI double from Hank Blalock, a solo homer from Nelson Cruz, and a 2-for-3 night from Elvis Andrus. On the defensive side of things Josh Hamilton made a gravity-defying catch while playing right field, David Murphy picked up an outfield assist as he gunned down Curtis Granderson, and C.J. Wilson picked up his eleventh save as he struck out three of the four batters he faced.

Some good ball from the guys and they move up a game in the standings. A good night at the park.

Road trip recap.

Had a good trip to Kansas City this past weekend to see the Rangers come to town.

In Friday's game we watched as Scott Feldman tossed eight shutout innings, his longest outing of the season. C.J. Wilson came on in the ninth to keep the Royals handcuffed and save the shutout. Marlon Byrd, shown here on card number TEX8 of the 2008 Topps Texas Rangers set, knocked a home run in the fourth inning to tag Zack Grienke with the loss. It was Zack's sixth loss of the season. The guys managed to add an insurance run in the eighth off the Royals' bullpen to make the final 2-0.

Saturday's game started off well as the Rangers scored in the first, third, and fourth to make it 3-0 Texas. The Royals came back in the fourth to score a run. In the fifth though Derek Holland suffered his now traditional meltdown and allowed three runs to give up the lead. That was enough to sink Texas but KC added two more off of Jennings in the seventh. Holland is now 3-6 on the season with a 6.13 ERA. Perhaps a trip back to the minors to learn how to avoid the meltdown inning could be in order.

All in all a good weekend. Nice weather, the refurbished Kauffman Stadium is much better than last year, and Spiff Jr. scored a Josh Hamilton autograph on Saturday. Didn't manage to pull off a meeting with Micah over at Baseball is my Boyfriend, perhaps another time when the Rangers are at The K. At least with the win last night though the Rangers took the series from KC and made their trip to KC as enjoyable as mine.

Rangers go for sweep against Boston.

Quick post tonight. Trying to get ready to be off to see two Rangers/Royals games this weekend. That will probably put a hold on any further posts until Monday.

In spite of being hammered by the flu. the Rangers haven't slowed down. They are currently leading the Red Sox 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning and have already knocked Clay Buchholz out of the game.

David Murphy, shown here on card number 188 of the 2008 Goudey set, has done his part to keep the train moving. He is currently sitting on 2-for-3 in the game with a run scored and a stolen base.

Speaking of stolen bases, so far the guys are robbing Jason Veritek blind. They have five steals in the game. Unreal. Hopefully the last few innings go as well as the first part of the game has.

The Hammer pounds the BoSox.

Hank Blalock has been on an offensive resurgence since taking over at first base from Chris Davis. Apparently getting to play every day has its advantages.

In the past two days Hank has gone to town on Red Sox pitching. For the two games he has gone a total of 4-for-7 and that against some decent pitchers. Those numbers put Hank's 2005 Topps card, number 20 in the set, up today.

Last night John Smoltz took the loss for the BoSox as Texas handed Kevin Millwood a 6-3 win. Hank went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI. One of his hits was a double and he managed to avoid the strikeout all night.

Tonight the Rangers beat Josh Beckett 4-2 as Tommy Hunter snagged his second win of the season. The Hammer was present again, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Once again he avoided the K.

That's a two decent performances in a row against some pretty good pitching. That's also the kind of production the Rangers are going to need out of Hank in order to compete to the end of the season.