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Post-Game Show: Rangers 7, Red Sox 2

Posted on August 15th, 2009 11:29pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Post-Game Wrap up, Texas Rangers

D-tails
• Boxscore, AL West standings, Wild Card standings

Story Of The Game
After what could have been the most demoralizing loss of the season, the Rangers responded with an energetic offense that produced a club-record eight stolen bases. Leadoff hitter LF Julio Borbon stole four, SS Elvis Andrus three and 2B Ian Kinsler one. Four of the steals were instrumental in Rangers runs. The win moved the Rangers back within a half-game of Boston in the AL Wild Card race. A win in Sunday’s series finale (1:05 p.m. CDT) would give the Rangers the Wild Card lead.

The shuffling of the lineup – with Borbon at the top and Kinsler in the No. 6 spot – also worked out well. Borbon had four singles in five at-bats, while Kinsler reached base four times in five plate appearances. Kinsler’s homer to lead off the second inning gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Borbon singled home Andrus, who had tripled past a confused Boston outfield.

“You look at the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays and there were a lot of times when people thought they were about to go away,” said CF Marlon Byrd. “But they never did. They just kept coming back and playing with energy. That’s what we are doing. After last night, nobody was up tight. Nobody was acting like it was a big deal. Last year, we had a game against Boston where we came back from a big deficit and lost and afterward it kind of took the wind out of our sails. That didn’t happen this time.”

Three Up
• LHP Derek Holland earned his sixth win with his third quality start in the last four games. Since his name surfaced in trade rumors with Toronto, Holland is 3-1 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts. He has held opponents to a .160 batting average and struck out 25 in in 28.2 innings.
• It’s not often you can 3-for-4, steal three bases, score three times and still not be the biggest offensive contributor of the game. But SS Elvis Andrus was second to LF Julio Borbon in hits and steals.
• In C Taylor Teagarden’s last five starts, all of which have come since C Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s arm problems flared up, the Rangers are 4-1. Teagarden has a 2.77 ERA in that span.

Three Down
• 1B Hank Blalock was hitless in four at-bats, giving him an 0-for-9 for the series. He is now batting .207 since the All-Star break without a walk in 111 second-half at-bats. He is the only player with more than 60 at-bats and no walks since the break.
• 2B Ian Kinsler took a 91 mph fastball off the left earhole from Fernando Cabrera in the eighth inning. He stayed in the game and finished it out, but was receiving treatment well after the game.
• There was no room in the “ups” for Neftali Feliz. Another two innings and three strikeouts and he became the youngest Ranger to ever record a save at 21 years, 105 days.

Stat O’ The Game
3.5: Average runs per game scored by the Red Sox this season against the Rangers in their first eight contests. Last year, Boston averaged nine runs a game in 10 games.

Star Of The Game
Here are your candidates: SS Elvis Andrus (3-for-4, 3 runs scored, 3 SB); LF Julio Borbon (4-for-5, 4 steals), LHP Derek Holland (6.2 IP, 2 Runs); 2B Ian Kinsler (2-for-3, HR, SB, four times on base). Vote here.

Friday’s Player of the Game: Michael Young with 49 percent of the vote.

33 Comments to “Post-Game Show: Rangers 7, Red Sox 2”

chadb @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

JD – Thanks for pushing Kinsler to 6th.
Ryan s @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

Evan, is Borbon ok? He looked to be limping late in the game.
Mike Beam @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

DOC HOLLAND – ” I’m your Huckleberry “
chadb @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

Time for Davis to take over for Hank.
Stan Edwards @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

I vote Maddux the MVP for this year!
JustSaying @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

is kins geting his head iced? automatatic ejection for cabrera……..and i like kinsler in a power spot…..he can take it as an insult from jd which it is but he actually fits better down the line………jd is still a punk…..just ask vincente……..
Tom B @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:51 pm

Gotta savor this one for a few hours. This is a good looking team, right now. Wash done good with the line-up changes. How many 25 and belows are there on this team? They seemingly all produce. I used to hate ‘Old Men’ coming in to the dressing room after games and trying to siphon off some of the glory. So, I’ll just slink back and say ‘Good Game.’
rob m @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:52 pm

Evan. Is Rudy doing anything to help Hank out of his slump? Maybe a little video work.
KJ @ August 15th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

Best shirt of the night: “B is for BANDWAGON”
Ryans Dad @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:04 am

@ Evan, who won the Home Run Pool tonight?
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:20 am

What a game. Elvis and Jules simply driving them crazy on the bases. Big hit for Hamilton in the 8th. Holland…biggest game of his career and he nailed it. I’ve never been so furious as I was when Kinsler was hit. They threw him chin high 3 times in the game…one the pitch directly before he got hit and nothing. I don’t care if he meant to hit him or not he doesn’t deserve the pitching in the major leagues. It’s one of 2 things- he meant to hit him…no place. Or, his command is simply so poor he shouldn’t be here. Sickening. And our friend Angel, the worst umpire in the game, did nothing. Hope Kinsler is OK and won’t need to miss any time.
gordosan @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:23 am

No question that it is getting close to cutting ties with Blalock and bringing Davis back up.

Nasty pitch to Kinsler. Given the lead we had, I understand not asking the rookie to retaliate, but not a pitch to be forgotten.

Evan asked this in the game thread. Are you ready for this line-up next year. I am. Especially when you take Byrd and Blalock out of the middle of the order and substitute Cruz and either Davis or Smoak.
Jack Daddy @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:27 am

anybody see J. Broxton tonight (and lately for that matter)? It happens. FrankFranc will be okay.
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:31 am

I have a genius idea…

ATTN Wash: Let’s use Guardado for the retaliation edict. If he gets suspended, would it hurt us? No. A message has to be sent. You don’t attack one of our top players like that and do nothing. And as a bonus…maybe those little short fused players goes crazy and they end up suspended too.

Also, Jason Varitek is a disgrace to the game. Not only did he allow EIGHT stolen bases but he mouths off at Kinsler after his pitcher hit him in the HEAD? Used to have a lot of respect for that guy…
scooper @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:46 am

@RangersFan: the only problem with your plan is that the Sox would probably laugh at being hit with an 85mph fastball!
C.J. @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:50 am

Was at the game… Varitek has no arm at all. Every time Borbon or Elvis got on base you could sense the steal was coming, and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it. Mad props to Julio, he did EXACTLY what a lead-off hitter is supposed to do tonight. I’ve got high hopes for him. As for the Kinsler bean, was kind of mad the ump came out to talk to Feliz before the bottom of the inning, but I guess that’s to be expected. Cabrera should’ve hit the showers after that stunt. I’m looking forward to Pedroia getting absolutely nailed tomorrow. And though it doesn’t need to be said, Feliz excites me more and more everytime he pitches. He has “it”.
Mark @ August 16th, 2009 at 12:56 am

Varitek sucks. He’s got the biggest bag of nothing in the league, and if he doesn’t end up on his ass at some point tomorrow, I question Wash’s testicular fortitude.
Johnathan @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:06 am

Considering how bad Hank Blalock has looked… at what point is he simply Chris Davis without the upside? He’s obviously inferior to Crush defensively and offensively they look like the same player right now. Blalock has been bumped to 7th in the lineup for goodness sakes – that’s where CD hit all season!
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:14 am

That’s true scooper…but we all know Eddie knows how to play the “game”. Maybe he could ramp up and get it around 90…Who would you prefer they hit? Pedroia? Victor? I’d like Varitek because of his part in the aftermath…but we’ve handled him at the plate so we don’t want to waste an out. Man look at me, I generally hate this part of the game. But seeing how Varitak reacted on replay…and throwing his helmet down the line, is simply classless. I’m glad Ian didn’t charge the mound. We need him. But he’s getting close…he’s been thrown at all year.
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:17 am

Oh and did anyone see Young’s comment about the fans/atmosphere saying how awesome it was and how this is what he imagines the playoffs are like? I want us to win so badly for him.
David in Cleburne @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:19 am

I was pissed when Kinsler was thrown at, it seemed so obviously intentional. You could tell by the level of booing when the umpire came out to have a chat with Feliz later that I wasn’t the only one. I was there, and we all wanted revenge. At least 20,000 people were resdy to see a Red Sox player hit and rooting for it. I’m glad it didn’t happen, though. Kicking their ass is the best revenge. Should be interesting to see if one of their players gets some chin music on Sunday. Still a bit pissed, though.

It was so great to sit up where I was and see all of the people wearing Pedroia jerseys give up and leave. I think that the bandwagon Sox fans were outnumbered tonight. Rangers fans were pretty vocal.

And, yeah, Mark, apparentyly Varitek does suck. I watched in amazement as second base was stolen on a pitchout. A PITCHOUT! Unbelievable.

Good times, man. That was a geat game to attend, and I don’t get to go to many.
JustSaying @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:54 am

i love the idea of using eddie to retaliate……and i think kinsler should get to pick who to hit and once the bullpen is called then eddie goes in for that “one batter” take one for the team eddie……
jmiller @ August 16th, 2009 at 1:58 am

Pedroia will be beaned tomorrow as scheduled.
JustSaying @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:02 am

and especially if the offense picks up then davis defense begins to make a lot of sense and the era will drop even more………

i’m very interested to see if teagarden can start hitting as an everyday player…….still think that world series ring he has means a lot……..he just smells like a gamer…………

and blalock…..geez….his approach just doesn’t fit with where we are going……will we even get a draft pick for him when he leaves?
B. Money @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:02 am

gordosa : Smoak will not be ready next year. Davis is the 2010 firstbaseman. I’d rather him be the longterm one over Smoak anyway. Smoak reminds me of Teixeira. . . a great player who’s wondering when he can get his Yankees free agent contract. He wants iPhone money. AAA is eating him up right now, though.
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:05 am

Baseball Tonight seemed to think the pitch was on purpose bc he admired his homerun, which I didn’t notice. He ran pretty fast. Does anyone think MLB has anything to say about this?
KJ @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:08 am

@Rangers Fan- I don’t see how you can “admire” a home run when it barely clears the wall. When he hit it, I just thought it would be a long fly out (as did most of the crowd around me) but it just kept carrying. And even if he did, there is no justification for throwing at a player’s head, unless the guy killed your mom.
Rangers Fan @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:31 am

@KJ…that’s what I was thinking too. First, there’s no reason to ever throw at a guy’s head. Second, I don’t think he even did. Commentators were even talking about how fast he ran the bases after the homerun (thank you TIVO). Lastly, if you don’t like to have someone admire a homerun, don’t give one up.

I said it before…I’ve lost respect for Francona (however you spell that) and Varitek. “‘Tek” jawing back at Kinsler and tossing his helmet at him is an embarrassment (or maybe that was the 8 stolen bases) and this is a team that was involved in a brawl because someone got hit on the hands and then they hit someone in the HEAD?
scooper @ August 16th, 2009 at 2:38 am

I have MLB.tv and I went back and watched the game with the Red Sox announces. I learned:

1. Frank Viola is a big Kinsler fan.
2. They didn’t want to come right out and say it, but they thought it was intentional (frustration because of many baserunners and stolen bases).
3. Viola didn’t think that the ump should have talked to Feliz before the 9th.
4. Viola thought that we should have a chance at payback and that we will hit someone tomorrow. He was apalled that Kins was hit in the head.

I vote for hitting Pedroia some time during the middle of the game. Just NOT in the head.
t ball @ August 16th, 2009 at 6:12 am

I didn’t realize Teagarden pitched.
Fluaggie @ August 16th, 2009 at 8:21 am

Ideally Nippert can drill Pedroia in the 7th inning tomorrow with about a 96 mph heater. Nippert is seriously a foot taller so it would make for a great fight if Dustin got crazy and went to the mound (don’t think he will because he knows why it is coming). Anyway, if Nippert gets suspended for 5 games they can just move him back a day in the rotation. It would hurt a lot more to lose a bullpen guy, though we can do without Eddie. But I want it to hurt.
Bobby in Bryan @ August 16th, 2009 at 8:39 am

All of these enthusiastic calls for retaliation this afternoon bothers me. All that is going to do is get players hurt and suspended. It also sends a terrible message to kids who the Rangers try to appeal to so much. The ‘way to get back’ at Boston is to go out today and out-pitch, out-hit, and out-run them and win the wild card or the division outright! See you at church this morning?
Jack Daddy @ August 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am

agree Bobby in Bryan.

This needs to carry on to next season. We’re not going to see these guys again. THere is little to no chance both Rangers and Boston make playoffs.