New Beginning: Crisp Texas Rangers Clobber Indians 9-1

ARLINGTON - The great thing about Opening Day, anybody who has skipped work or school to attend one will tell you, is the optimism that abounds. For Rangers’ fans, that’s usually been good for, oh, at least three or four innings. Sometimes it’s barely lasted longer than the contrails from the ceremonial flyover that buzzes the stadium.

Not Monday.

On a blustery, but sparkling Monday afternoon, the Rangers were confronted with all the potential issues that could not only diminish optimism, but destroy it entirely. At every turn of a crisp 9-1 win over Cleveland, the Rangers handled those issues smoothly as a routine grounder.

“You really couldn’t have scripted this any better,” said outfielder Marlon Byrd, whose double gave real oomph to a four-run second inning. “Everything we wanted to have happen, did.”

The starting pitcher outlasted his opponent (who just happened to be the 2008 Cy Young Award winner). Michael Young made two sharp plays at his newest home, third base, by showing off his strong arm to get outs on slow rollers. The 20-year-old rookie who is replacing young at shortstop, Elvis Andrus, made two slick plays of his own.

And on it went. The bullpen, source of much spring training hand-wringing, handled the final two innings without a hint of trouble. Ian Kinsler had three hits in his first game since mid-August. After a while, even the solid red uniform tops started to look sharp.

“We showed what we are capable of in all three aspects of the game,” said Kinsler, whose two-out single in the second topped off a four-run inning. “We understand we aren’t going to be perfect in all of them. It’s important to find ways to win when things don’t go well in all areas, but we know we are capable of playing well all around. It’s going to be fun to watch this team play this year.”

It was important for the Rangers to get 2009 off to a good start. They had lost five consecutive season openers. The last two were sloppy affairs that each grew into a month-long malaise, knocking the Rangers out of the AL West race before there ever was an AL West race.

Last year, the Rangers made 30 errors, allowed 22 unearned runs, finished April 10-18 and nearly got manager Ron Washington fired before his April 29 birthday.

A similar start this year and there will be no way to spare Washington.

On Monday, the Rangers gave signs that there will be no sloppy April threepeat.

It began with Millwood. Charged with getting in better shape and being able to outlast his opponent, Millwood was better than he’s been in his three previous Opening Day assignments.

He struck out Grady Sizemore on a curve ball to start the game, bounced back from a four-pitch walk and then won a 10-pitch at-bat with Victor Martinez, inducing a double-play grounder to end the inning.

Millwood rolled together five more scoreless innings, helped twice by Young and twice by Andrus. Young charged slow rollers in the fourth and sixth and came up with strong throws to nip runners. When Millwood found his first spot of trouble in the fourth, Andrus, playing right behind second base in a shift against left-handed Travis Hafner, turned it into a nifty inning-ending double play. In the fifth, he went well to his left, to get Shin-soo Choo’s grounder and throw him out by a step.

“It was so much fun to play defense behind [Millwood] today,” Young said. “He worked quickly, threw strikes and was aggressive. He set a great tone.”

Once the tone was set, the Rangers went back to doing what they always do: They pounded the baseball.

After two-out singles by C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Kinsler each drove home two runs in the second, Hank Blalock delivered a three-run homer with nobody out in the fifth to build the lead to 7-0. Saltalamacchia later added a homer of his own.

“We certainly did what we wanted to do,” manager Ron Washington said. “It was a great beginning.”

Now those are words you haven’t often heard after the first game of the Rangers’ season.

(Photo: R.P. Washburne)