Whoa, Nelly: Confident Cruz Hits Pair Of Homers As Rangers Go 2-0 For First Time Since 2000

Nelson Cruz launched a seventh-inning rocket for his second homer of the night. (Photo R.P. Washburne)

•Boxscore: Rangers 8, Indians 5

• MLB standings

ARLINGTON – Nelson Cruz hits balls far. Maybe even farther than Josh Hamilton. Until very recently, the only difference was that most of Cruz’s jaw-dropping bombs came during batting practice.

But with each thundering blow he strikes, it’s becoming more and more realistic that Cruz has finally found the key to taking his power from batting practice into games.

Wednesday night, he demonstrated what he’s learned twice with important home runs in the Rangers 8-5 win over Cleveland. One of them traveled into the club level in left field, making him only the 11^th player to reach the middle deck of Rangers Ballpark.

The win improved the Rangers to 2-0. It’s their first 2-0 start since 2000. If they can finish off the Indians Thursday afternoon, they’ll be 3-0 for the first time since 1996. Around these parts, being compared favorably to anything that happened in 1996 – the team’s first AL West championship team – is a very good thing.

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Rangers Keep Rounding Firsts

ARLINGTON _ Elvis Andrus hit his first home run, though he had be informed it went out somewhere around his flight pattern around second base. He sailed a throw beyond Chris Davis for his first error. And, thanks to the homer and his first two RBIs, he gladly collected his first post-game shaving cream pie. “Good, good, good. Feels good,” he said after a nice face scrubbing.

And the Rangers, with Vicente Padilla nearly making it through six innings in an 8-5 win, have a chance on Thursday afternoon to open the season with a series sweep of the Cleveland Indians. That never happened at home last season though they went into a three-game series finale with that opportunity three times. (The only time that they did it all year was in Kansas City in August.)

More on Andrus and Padilla beyond the jump.

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Rangers 8, Indians 5

Be back with full coverage shortly, but in the meantime, please feel free to entertain yourselves with talk of:

• The unstoppable Nelson Cruz, who had two homers.

• C.J. Wilson’s tightrope act in the eighth inning that harked back to last year’s meltdowns. Wilson avoided a meltdown by striking out the tying run twice.

• Vicente Padilla’s outing. For me, it was “eh.” But I’m going to look at any outing in which he or Kevin Millwood fail to last six innings as a failure.

• Elvis Andrus, the greatest 20-year-old Ranger since, well, maybe ever. Or at least since Ivan Rodriguez.

• The team’s 2-0 start. They can go to 3-0 tomorrow. The last time they did that was 1996. You know, around these parts, anything that compares favorably to 1996 is a good thing.

Salty Shaken: Rangers Catcher Has Inner Ear Issue

That’s why he left the game in kind of a wobbly state in the top of the eighth inning. He is being evaluated. He looked woozy and unsteady walking off the field with trainer Jamie Reed holding him by the belt loop.

UPDATE: Doctors said Saltalamacchia’s symptoms were consistent with an inner-ear infection. After laying down for a while and being given some medication, he was cleared to leave the ballpark. He was not scheduled to play anyway on Thursday; that was going to be Taylor Teagarden’s day anyway. Whether he’ll be ready to go for Friday’s game in Detroit is uncertain, but the Rangers were optimistic. With catchers though, any injury that is going to force them to miss even a couple of days make a club consider the DL because you can’t get caught without a backup catcher. Don’t think that’s an issue at this point. He was just a little ill, the kind of thing that is usually gone in 24-48 hours.

The Fast And Furious: Action Piling Up In Rangers Game

Couple of developments here in the fifth:

1. Michael Young, who made his first error as a third baseman in the top of the inning (wound up and threw a wild one on a Mark De Rosa grounder), doubled to lead off the inning. Atonement, perhaps. But it was the Rangers seventh double in 14 innings this season. As you may recall, the Rangers tied the Major League record for doubles in a season last year with 376. That’s an average of about 2.3 per game.

2. Josh Hamilton followed with a triple, that probably should have just been a double. Hamilton is quick, but he may look a little quicker to you this year. As part of his offseason work at API (Athlete Performance Institute), he spent a lot of time on “form running.” It’s designed to streamline running technique. He certainly looks different to me on the bases.

3. Hank Blalock was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the inning. Retribution?

Bounce House: Rangers See Impact Of Crisp Season Opener

ARLINGTON - Nolan Ryan has attended season openers for more than 40 years now. This is what he had to say about the Rangers performance on Monday:

“Best season opener I’ve ever attended, watched, been a part of.”

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Padilla Plunks Batter, Forces In Run. Sound Familiar?

Last year, the Rangers set a franchise record with 23 runs forced in by a bases loaded walk or hit batsmen. It was a frustrating mark that spoke volumes about pitchers not helping themselves in critical situations. Well, they just allowed the first run of the season in that manner. RHP Vicente Padilla, who leads the majors in hit batsmen since 2002, allowed two singles and a one-out walk to load the bases, thn hit Ryan Garko to force in a run. Padilla did minimize the trouble after that, but it was a troubling snippet of a troubling aspect of the 2008 team.

Another troubling sign: His pace slowed to a crawl after he got in a jam. It was that interminable pace that often lulled his teammates into hypnotic trances and led to sloppy play behind him. Padilla ended up throwing 35 pitches in the inning.

Also, red just won the dot race. Red looks unbeatable. It’s 2-0.

Helping You Kill Off Your Work Day

Here is something for you – pick one or more of the following to help get you through the day:

• Mike Hindman told me about this webpage when I told him I wanted us, here at Inside Corner, to construct a complete and easy to read Rangers Contract page – complete with arbitration/service time listings and payroll. Mike’s answer “Scott Lucas already did it”. And, he did. Check the link.  http://rangers.scottlucas.com/site/40man.htm It is awesome and worthy of a bookmark.

• Last week, the Dallas Stars Postgame Show (Bob and Dan) visited with Stars General Manager Les Jackson for nearly 30 minutes. If hearing about prospects, draft spot, roster building, Marty Turco’s work load, and a whole lot more, then this interview is for you: Give a listen to the full interview here . I think it is a good listen for those who are a bit bummed hockey season in Dallas has come to a close.

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Reporters Notebook: Rangers Replace Metcalf With German

ARLINGTON – So, my concerns come true: 3B Travis Metcalf did not clear waivers. Kansas City claimed him and apparently optioned him to Triple-A Omaha. In the meantime, the Rangers have re-signed utility INF Esteban German to a minor league deal and will send him to Oklahoma City to primarily play third base. German had actually started camp with Kansas City, but was released when the Royals signed Lone Star Ball favorite Juan Cruz. German then joined the Chicago Cubs for the remainder of camp.

If the Rangers were to lose 3B Michael Young for any length of time, manager Ron Washington said he would use a combination of INFs Hank Blalock and Omar Vizquel. That’s a little bit disconcerting, even for two weeks. Blalock was awkward in his brief appearances at third during the spring. Vizquel has never played the position at all. Arias took ground balls at third one day in spring training and played just a couple of innings at the position. My bet: If Young were to go down, the Rangers would turn to Duran, who proved he could get by out there for a couple of weeks last year.

UPDATE: Red Hat alert. Due to the players’ request, the club is decked out in red hats tonight, with red sleeves and red socks. Very, very 1996-ish lock. In other words, a very good look. If they win again in red, well, you may never see the blue again.

More notes after the jump

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Rangers Lineup; Chance To Jump In The Home Run Pool

We’ll do a little Skins Game thing with the prize (there really is one) from the Opening Day home run pool on which you folks whiffed like Rob Deer. We’re going to add a second prize to the kitty and we’ll try it again. Don’t expect this thing to keep carrying over until you walk away with the InsideCorner offices. For a new season and a new venue, we’ll try to do things kinda special-like. Before you play, though, you have to know your choices. So, here’s the Rangers’ lineup against RHP Fausto Carmona:

RANGERS: 2B Ian Kinsler, 3B Michael Young, CF Josh Hamilton, DH Hank Blalock, RF Nelson Cruz, LF David Murphy, 1B Chris Davis, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus. … and pitching, RHP Vicente Padilla.

All you gotta do is pick the home run hitter, the inning and the men on base. We’ll use the count as a tie breaker. And the estimated distance as the second tie breaker.

Enter. …. Now.

Casting The Rangers Movie: Jon Daniels

We’ll skip past club president right to the GM. Lots of division in the office on this one.

Here is the Rangers GM looking pensive and intense.

Flip the page for your casting choices.

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The Talkin’ Heads: Evan Grant, MJH On Opener

Notice how we strategically located the Dr Pepper sign in the background. Product placement, friends. Product, placement. (Shout out to Tim Rogers for teaching me how to embed a video!). Oops. Forgot to give credit to producer, director, cinematographer, and all around technical whiz Ted Price – the man behind the camera.

Spring Fever: Why April Has Been So Cruel To Rangers And Why 2009 Might Buck The Recent Trend

The Rangers may not be anybody's April Fool this year.

Baseball conventional wisdom says: “You can’t win a playoff spot in April, but you can lose one.”

It applies only to 29 teams.

The adage changes for the Rangers. It goes something like this: “As goes April, so goes the season.”

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Biggest Game Of The Year?

Win tonight, Mavericks, or prepare for Kobe, Pau, Lamar, and friends.

Plain and simple, the Mavs can still somehow pass the Jazz in the fight to avoid those Lakers in round 1. I don’t know if I like the Mavericks chances against the Denver Nuggets, but I know I hate their chances against the Lakers.

If there is one thing we have learned, it is the Mavericks are pretty salty at home (28-9); And, if there is another thing we are learning, it is the Jazz are awful on the road (15-23).  The Jazz have remaining road games against the Spurs and Lakers, too. Basically, it is not a stretch to consider the Jazz will finish 2-3 in their final 5 if the Mavs take care of their business tonight.  And if that happens, I could see a 4-1 finish in Dallas and a realistic passing of the Jazz into the #7 spot.

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