From the Tommy Bahamas release:

The first team shirts to be released will be the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox — just in time for their season opener on April 4th at Fenway Park in Boston.  They will be followed by the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies in mid May; the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs at the end of May and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels in early June. All eight team shirts are currently available for viewing at www.tommybahama.com and select Tommy Bahama’s retail locations. The shirts will be sold exclusively through Tommy Bahama retail channels.

“We are very excited about these new Major League Baseball team shirts,” said Terry Pillow, CEO Tommy Bahama. “These unique and beautifully made “Collector’s Edition” shirts are just the type of thing we had envisioned when we began our relationship with MLB.  Our talented design team worked very hard to create these special shirts and we’re hopeful that Tommy Bahama and MLB fans will be equally excited when they see them.  These are just the first of our series of MLB team shirts, and we look forward to creating “Collector’s Edition” shirts for all of the teams in the MLB in the upcoming baseball seasons.”

One of my favorite pastimes is connecting players through the history of the game. To celebrate the birthday of Baseball-Reference, I’m going to share one of these winding roads through baseball history. This may turn into a series, but it’s important to know that every road through history can take a different path.  The path I chose here is just one of thousands that you can use to reach the same final player.

To start off the Trail To Teddy Ballgame, we begin with the youngest member on the 2009 Boston Red Sox.

Michael Bowden is a 22 year old right handed pitcher who has dominated the minor leagues in his brief professional career.  In 5 seasons, he has an 3.15 ERA with a WHIP of 1.156.  In his major league debut on August 30th 2008, Bowden held the Chicago White Sox to 2 runs over 5 innings.  Aside from two dreadful games against the Yankees and Blue Jays in 2009, Bowden had a relatively successful late summer appearance with the club.

Michael Bowden played with Tim Wakefield

Bowden’s 5th career appearance came in relief during a game that was started by veteran Tim Wakefield.  It also turned out to be Wakefield’s 387th start for the Red Sox, a category that he leads the franchise in with 388.   You may or may not know that Tim Wakefield enters the 2010 season needing only 18 victories to become the franchise leader in wins. Though never the ace of the pitching staff, Wakefield has been a solid contributor for much of his 15 year tenure in Boston.

Tim Wakefield played with Mike Greenwell

Tim Wakefield’s first start with the Boston Red Sox was the beginning of a single season stretch of dominance that he hasn’t duplicated in any season since, except perhaps during the first half of the 2009 season.  In his first 17 starts as a Red Sox, the team won 15 games and 10 straight. Wakefield threw 6 complete games, including a 10 inning 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners and a shutout of Minnesota Twins. In the first start of Wakefield’s Red Sox career, the lineup included veteran outfielder Mike Greenwell.  Though they played together for just two seasons, Mike Greenwell rounded out his decade with the same team at the end of the 1996 season, and retired soon after signing a deal to play in Japan for the 1997 season.

Greenwell’s first major league hit was a home run that came in a 13 inning walk-off blast that gave the Red Sox a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.  It was just his 7th at bat, and earned him just his second start ever the following day. In his third at bat of the day, Greenwell cranked his second career hit over the wall, giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in an eventual 4-1 victory over the Blue Jays. It’s possible Red Sox skipper John McNamara was trying to catch lightning in a bottle for the third time when Greenwell started the first game of a series against the Detroit Tigers. Alas, Greenwell went 0 for 3 and started just 3 games the rest of the way. However, it’s worth mentioning that his career finished with a high note similar to the way it began. On September 2nd, 1996 Greenwell scored all of Boston’s runs in a 9-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners.  He had 2 home runs, but came a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

Mike Greenwell played with Dwight Evans

The day Greenwell launched his first career home run would not have been possible had long time right fielder Dwight Evans not hit his 262nd career home run in the 8th inning to tie up the score. Greenwell’s emergence on the scene in 1985 did not pose a threat to Evans, and at the time probably not even then-right fielder Jim Rice. However, within 3 seasons, Greenwell was the everyday left fielder. Within four seasons, Jim Rice was out of baseball. An amazing aspect of the Greenwell-Rice transition is Dwight Evans. Arguably one of the best players not in the Hall of Fame, Evans was the everyday right fielder before, during, and after Jim Rice’s tenure as the everyday left fielder for the Sox. It wasn’t until the 1990 season that Dewey saw most of his playing time as the designated hitter. His Hall of Fame status is likely a discussion for another day!

Dwight Evans played with Carl Yastrzemski

Dewey’s long career started in 1972 with a late September callup. Over the next decade playing together, Dwight Evans and Carl Yastrzemski combined to slug almost 400 home runs. The first time the two players homered in the same game came on April 14th, 1974 against the Detroit Tigers.  Juan Marichal, in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career, started for Boston and struggled through 3.1 innings of work. Luckily for the Red Sox, the Tigers’ starter also faltered.  Evans’ home run in the first and Yaz’s homer in the 3rd proved to be the difference in an eventual 7-5 Red Sox win.

Yastrzemski spent his entire 23 year career with the Red Sox, and faced immense pressure even in his rookie season. It’s easy to understand why, as the future Hall of Famer was replacing the legendary Ted Williams in left field.  There was another player who faced pressure and played alongside both Yaz and Teddy Ballgame. Of course, the pressure on this player was of a different, culturally important variety.

Carl Yastrzemski played with Pumpsie Green

Pumpsie Green’s best season in his brief 5 year career was during Yaz’s rookie season, when he hit .260 with 6 home runs. Though they never homered in the same game, Green and Yaz combined to be an offensive force several times throughout the 1961 season.

Pumpsie Green played with Ted Williams

Pumpsie Green’s major league debut on July 21st, 1959 marked an end to Boston’s title as the lone team that had yet to integrate their roster, an incredible 12 seasons after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. While Green played primarily in a backup role, one of his 12 career home runs as a member of the Red Sox was in a game against the New York Yankees that Ted Williams also homered. Green’s 1st inning homer on September 6th, 1960 and Ted Williams 2 run bomb in the 5th accounted for three runs in an eventual 7-1 victory over the Yanks.

It’s fitting that Pumpsie Green connects the current Red Sox to the greatest hitter is Red Sox history, because Williams famously called for recognition of Negro League players during his Hall of Fame induction speech.  His support for players such a Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson played a major role in the eventual induction of these players and more in the ensuing years.

Bonus, Michael Bowden to the 1927 New York Yankees:  Ted Williams played with Cedric Durst

The Red Sox signed Ted Williams in 1936 and sent him to play for the Double-A affiliate San Diego Padres. Williams played alongside many future MLB players including Vince DiMaggio and longtime friend Bobby Doerr. By 1936, Cedric Durst was 6 years removed from his most reason season at the MLB level. He helped Ted Williams at the Padres to their 1937 Pacific League Championship. At the Major League level, Durst was a member of the ‘Murderer’s Row’ New York Yankees championship team of 1927.

Bonus Bonus, Michael Bowden to the 1918 Boston Red Sox: Cedric Durst played with Jack Stansbury

In 1921, Cedric Durst hit .274 as an outfielder with the unaffiliated Beaumont Exporters. The Exporters had several future and past MLB players, including Jack Stansbury.  Stansbury was 3 years removed from his last MLB at bat when he played with the Exporters.  The interesting point here is that Jack Stansbury’s only major league time took place while with the 1918 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Between June and the end of July, Stansbury hit .128 over 20 games with the team that would not make another World Series appearance until Ted Williams’ 7th season at the major league level.

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I hate to say it, but I don’t like this trade. It was very frustrating to me that on the day the Phillies got arguably the best pitcher in baseball, I couldn’t be excited about it because they traded away a top ten pitcher in the league. Cliff Lee did everything the Phillies asked him to do and then some. He had an unbelievable postseason run, and he was rewarded by being shipped off to Seattle. Don’t get me wrong. I like the Halladay move a lot. As a Phillies fan and follower of the team for many years, I have coveted Halladay for about six years now, so I cannot be upset with the Phillies for acquiring him. However, I do not understand why the Phillies had to trade Cliff Lee too. I mean, I do understand somewhat, but I disagree with the Phillies logic that they could not afford the extra nine million dollars because according to Team President David Montgomery they would be “operating in the red” if they were to take on Lee’s salary, and they were determined to stay at their $140 million dollar budget for the 2010 season.

If you have a chance to have Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee at the top of your rotation, you should not pass up on that opportunity. Even more so, if Cole Hamels comes back strong, you would most likely have the best 1-2-3 punch in all of baseball, and you would be deemed the favorites to win the World Series by Las Vegas. I understand that the Phillies claim this was a baseball move because they wanted to replenish their farm system, but the way I see it, this was strictly a money decision. I want to go one step further and say that not only was this a bad move now, but they made a mistake at the trade deadline in 2009. I am not saying this in retrospect. In fact, I wrote an article toward the end of July right here on baseballdigest.com that once the Phillies went out and acquired Cliff Lee, (in what may go down as one of the best trades in baseball history), why not go out and get Roy Halladay too?

This way you would have both of these aces for a one and a half year period, along with the rest of the core of their team, and you could have gone down as one of the best dynasties in history. The Phillies could have potentially won the World Series three straight years, and if they did that, who cares about sacrificing the future? The Phillies have a small window when all these players will be in tact, and they may miss out on their opportunity to win even one more World Series. It seems that the Phillies would rather be in the postseason eight out of ten years, be competitive, maybe win the World Series twice in that span, including the one they already have, than they would be content winning three straight World Series and only being in the postseason in five of those ten years. I disagree with this philosophy 100 percent, and I’m curious to hear what you fans out there have to say about that. Having bashed the Phillies for this move, overall I do like the Halladay move. I don’t like losing Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor because I think both of them could end up being All Star caliber players, but if you had to give them up to get the best pitcher in baseball, I am okay with it. I simply wish they didn’t have to give up one of the best lefthanders in the game in the process too. Stay tuned for more “Getting to Know Your Phillies” pieces and everything Phils in the 2009-2010 offseason.

Looking at the American League, it happened a little more frequently that a team beat another team in back-to-back years. However, the difference is, unlike the NL, not all of the series were won in the same amount of games. Here are the years, followed by the teams, and then the games: 2000-2001-New York Yankees over the Seattle Mariners, 4-2, 4-1. 1976-78, (only time in history three years in a row), Yankees over the Kansas City Royals, 3-2, 3-2, 3-1. By the way, the Yankees also won the World Series over the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978 by a margin of 4-2, 4-2. 1973-74-Oakland Athletics over the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2, 3-1. And, finally, 1969-1970, (the first two years there was a championship series), the Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-0, 3-0. Since I didn’t have a chance to personally witness all the World Series of the 70’s and early 80’s, it’s always fun to go back and take a look at history.

By the way, I believe in my LCS predictions I had the Phillies over the Dodgers in six games, (I guess I gave the Dodgers too much credit), and the Yankees over the Angles in six games, which I was dead on…not to toot my own horn or anything. Stay on the lookout for a full World Series Preview of the Phillies and Yankees, and until then, feel free to make any comments on this story or anything else.

The Phillies have built their success on developing players and acquiring the right talent that meshes well with their team. Since 2001, the Phillies have had just one losing season, which happened in 2002 when the team went 80-81. Since then, they have won at least 86 games each season. In 2008 and again this year the Phillies won 90+ games. Their lineup is littered with homegrown talent and key free agent pickups;

Their catcher, Carlos Ruiz, was signed as a free agent in 1998 and spent 7 years in the minor leagues before breaking into the everyday lineup.

Ryan Howard, the hulking first baseman, was drafted in the 5th round in 2001 and has since won the 2005 Rookie of the Year award, the 2006 MVP award and most recently the 2009 NLCS MVP award.

Second baseman Chase Utley was drafted in the first round of the 2000 draft and established himself as an everyday player and perennial All-Star by2006.

Jimmy Rollins was drafted by the Phillies in the second round in 1996 and made his mark in his first full season in 2001 when he swiped 46 bases, was made an All-Star and challenged Albert Pujols and Roy Oswalt for Rookie of The Year honors. Rollins won the NL MVP award in 2007 along with his first of 2 Gold Glove awards.

The Phillies leftfielder, Raul Ibanez, spent much of his career with the Seattle Mariners and was 2 years removed from his 30+ HR seasons when the Phillies signed him as a free agent before the 2009 season. He responded to switching leagues for the first time by cranking a career high 34 home runs.

Speedy centerfielder Shane Victorino was twice left exposed during the Rule 5 draft, to the benefit of the Phillies. First drafted by the Padres from the Dodgers in the 2002 Rule 5 draft, he was returned to the Dodgers in May of 2003. Victorino was again left exposed during the 2004 draft and the Phillies picked up their centerfielder who has been an All-Star and Gold Glove winner while swiping over 100 bases for the team in 5 seasons.

Phillies rightfielder Jayson Werth was traded twice before the age of 28 when he became a free agent. The Phillies signed him, and he had a breakout year in 2008 with 24 home runs to go along with 20 stolen bases, with an equally impressive 2009 campaign with 36 home runs and 20 stolen bases that earned him his first All-Star appearance.

Even the Phillies pitching is in part a result of drafting choices.

Cole Hamels was drafted by the Phillies in the 1st round of the 2002 draft, establishing himself in the rotation by 2007 when he led the team in wins, ERA and ERA+.

J.A. Happ was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2004 draft,  and had two brief stints with the big league club in 2007 and 2008. This season he emerged as a solid compliment to Cole Hamels in the rotation.

The mid-season acquisition of Cliff Lee helped provide the Phillies with a formidable 1-2-3 punch down the stretch. In 12 regular season starts Lee went 7-3, with 3 complete games including a shutout against the Washington Nationals in September.

At the All-Star break, future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was still sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a call to pitch in the 2009 season. On August 12th, Pedro made his first start with the Phillies, a good effort 5 innings of work versus the Chicago Cubs. In 9 starts, he went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA. In his one postseason start this season, he held the Dodgers to 2 hits in 7 shutout innings.

The Reds of the 70’s had Johnny Bench,  Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, and Ken Griffey to go along with Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham, and Don Gullet as they ran the table in 1975 and 1976. The Phillies collection of Utley, Howard, Rollins, Werth, and Ibanez to go along with Hamels, Lee, Happ, and Martinez may very well be the first team to give the National League back-to-back World Series champions since the Big Red Machine.

As the Phillies prepare to face either the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or the New York Yankees, they may want to look to Pete Rose from the Big Red Machine and member of the 1980 World Champion Phillies for quotable motivation.

“Somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.”  -  Pete Rose

A long-running major award that has traditionally received less acclaim nationally is the Hutch Award, given annually to the major league player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of renowned baseball player and manager Fred (“Hutch”) Hutchinson.  Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center — which was named in Hutch’s honor by his brother Dr. Bill Hutchinson, a surgeon, after Fred succumbed to cancer at age 45 — is an independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to the understanding, treatment and prevention of cancer and related diseases.

Ten Major League Baseball players, including two foreign-born stars, Albert Pujols and Justin Morneau, have been named finalists for the 2009 Award.  A national committee has released the list, with the winner to visit Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in January. The finalists for the 45th annual Hutch Award are:

• Jonny Gomes, Cincinnati Reds
• Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves
• Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Mark Lowe, Seattle Mariners
• Mike Lowell, Boston Red Sox
• Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
• Kevin Millwood, Texas Rangers
• Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
• Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
• Mark Teahen, Kansas City Royals

This year’s Hutch Award recipient will be selected in November through a vote of all surviving former awardees. A total of 44 players have been honored since 1965, when Mickey Mantle accepted the inaugural award.  Eleven Hall-of-Famers, including Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrzemski, Al Kaline, Willie McCovey and Lou Brock, all have received the Hutch Award, and in more recent years Jamie Moyer, Trevor Hoffman, Craig Biggio, Mark Loretta, Mike Sweeney and Jon Lester, the 2008 winner, have joined their ranks.

Only one internationally-born player has won the award, Venezuela’s Omar Vizquel in 1996.

Since 1992, when the Award moved to Seattle for presentation, Major League teams have been asked to submit nominations for the Award.  In addition to MLB team nominations, an informed committee comprised of the current winner, sports media personnel, Hutchinson family members, and Hutch Award Planning Committee members nominate players each year.  The nominations are then screened by Hutchinson Center staff to verify adherence to the Award criteria.

Click here for the full list of Hutch Award winners.

The award is presented each January in Seattle, Hutch’s hometown and the site of the renowned cancer center that bears his name. The Hutch Award will be presented at a fundraising luncheon honoring the awardee on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010 at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Hutchinson was 95-71 in a 10-year major league career, all with the Detroit Tigers.  He went on to manage three teams over 12 years, winning 830 games and copping the pennant with the 1961 Reds.

The Yankees threatened against Ian Snell (5-2 since joining Seattle) in the 1st inning, putting two runners aboard with no one out.  But Snell retired Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui to escape the jam and the Yankees offense flopped like a fish after that.  The Yankees would manage just five hits on the day, three of them byTeixeira.

Chamberlain retired the first two hitters of the game, but then gave up back to back doubles to Jose Lopez and Ken Griffey Jr., and an RBI single to Adrian Beltre for a 2-0 M’s lead.  Things went from bad to worse an inning later with Griffey punctuating the 5-run outburst with a 3-run home run.  It was Griffey’s 16th home run of the season, the same output as his 1989 rookie season, and 627th of his career.

Game Notes

On the bright side, Sergio Mitre tossed five innings of 1-hit ball in relief.

The Yankees begin a three game series tonight with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  The AL East lead has been reduced to 5 1/2 games (ahead of Boston), but the magic number is just one to clinch a playoff spot.

The Yankees second best acquisition of this past off-season made their best acquisition, CC Sabathia, the American League’s first 18 game winner.  The big left-hander, and Cy Young candidate, allowed one unearned run in seven innings of work while allowing just four hits.  The Yankees were already up 6-0 when the Mariners got on the board thanks to an Rodriguez throwing error, andTeixeira and company put the pedal to the medal to put the game out of reach.

Teixeira would have had a three home run game if not for the 1st inning effort of Mariners’ centerfielder Franklin Gutierrez.  With Johnny Damon aboard, Teixeira hit a smash to deep center off starter Doug Fister that a leaping Gutierrez got a glove on as the ball began to go over the fence for a sure home run.  Gutierrez couldn’t hang on though as he hit the wall and it landed in play for an RBI triple.

Hideki Matsui’s 26th home run in the 2nd helped increased New York’s advantage to 3-0 as Teixeira came to bat with two aboard in the 5th.  This time he pulled the ball  down the right field line, just over the 326-ft sign, for his 36th home run of the year and a 6-0 Yankees’ lead.

Home run #37 would come after a mere single in the 7th. Teixeira, batting from the right side in the 9th against left-hander Luke French, hit a no doubt about it shot over the 388-ft sign in left-center for his 118th run batted in of the season.

Game Notes

Since the All-Star break, CC Sabathia is 10-1, 2.54 in 13 starts.  He’s struck out 91 in 92 innings with just 22 walks and 78 hits allowed.

Ian Kennedy is all the way back from aneurysm surgery and in this case that means back on the major league roster.  IPK even surprised himself with is return.  He’ll get more innings over the next two months in the Arizona Fall League.

Freddy Guzman drove in his first run as a Yankee last night with a 9th inning sacrifice fly.

Ichiro Suzuki would never forget the game after being picked off first base not once, but twice. Then an unfunny thing happened on the way to the post-game high fives for the Yankees.  Pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney narrowly missed hitting one out, driving a ball on to the warning track in right for a 2-out double.  That set up a showdown between two future Hall ofFamers, Ichiro and Rivera.  Moments later it was the Mariners celebrating when Ichiro hit a rare home run for a 3-2 Mariners victory.

The loss somewhat wasted a bounce back effort from A.J. Burnett, who allowed one run and scattered seven hits over seven innings.  I say somewhat, because Burnett really needed a good outing for his own confidence as well as his manager’s confidence in him.  He still could have picked up a victory had his team taken advantages of opportunities they had against “King” Felix Hernandez (16-5).

Derek Jeter led off the ball game with a single and Johnny Damon followed with a double.  But the Yankees came away with only one run on Alex Rodriguez‘ sacrifice fly.  Nick Swisher was stranded after a lead off double in the 7th and the Yankees had at least one man on in seven of the nine innings.

The Yankees went ahead in the 7th when Damon doubled for the second time, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on Mark Teixeira’s sac fly.

But despite the one run lead, the Yankees had the ball in the right hands.  Rivera hadn’t blown a save since April 24 when Boston’s Jason Bay slugged a 2-run home run off of him up in Fenway Park.  He had only been scored upon once in the last two months.

And things seemed normal when Rivera (3-3) struck out John Hannahan looking to give the M’s infielder the “Golden Sombrero” and then blew an inside fastball past a swinging pinch-hitter Mike Carp for the 2nd out.

Mo breathed a sigh relief when Sweeney’s opposite field fly seemed destined to leave the park, but short hopped the wall instead.  Then Rivera’s first pitch cutter to Ichiro didn’t move and the M’s right fielder deposited the ball deep into the right field seats for his 10th home run.  It was Ichiro’s fourth hit of the game, second walk-off hit of the week and third game winning home run of the season.

Game Notes

The Yankees announced that Sergio Mitre’s turn will be skipped when the Yankees open a series with the Angels on Monday.  Chad Gaudin, who pitched effectively against the Blue Jays, will take his turn.

CC Sabathia goes after his 18th win this afternoon (4:10 p.m. ET) when he faces rookie Doug Fister.

With another winning July (17-8) and a couple days into August the 2009 Texas Rangers find themselves right in the thick of a race for both the AL West championship and the AL wild card spot.

The 17 wins in July was the second most in the entire American League, but there is the problem, the highest were the Angels (19-7).

Even though Texas was able to win series against the Tigers (2-1) and the Mariners (3-1), the team still finds itself a full four games behind the incredible, red hot Angels.  In the wild card race the Rangers are currently 2.5 games behind the Red Sox, who trail the Yankees for the AL East lead by only a half game.

Monday: W, 5-2 (55-42)

Tommy Hunter took the mound for the Rangers against a Detroit Tigers team that to this point had won all six games against Texas this season.  The first batter of the game, Curtis Granderson, bombed his 20th home run of the season, but that is all the Tigers would do against Hunter.

Hunter went seven solid innings, giving up the one run on five hits and striking out six.  His opponent Armando Galarraga, a former minor leaguer of the Rangers, looked just as solid through four shutout innings.

Nelson Cruz tied the game in the fifth with his 24th home run of the season.  The next inning Texas took the lead for good with three runs highlighted by a Hank Blalock two-RBI double.  Michael Young added his 14th home run, a solo shot in the eighth and C.J. Wilson got his 11th save.

Tuesday: W, 7-3 (56-42)

Doug Mathis made a spot start for an injured and fatigued Rangers rotation, he would go four innings and only struggle in the second.  Mathis allowed three Tigers to score in the second, but the Ranger offense responded right back scoring four in the bottom half of the inning.

Texas would add single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings and then get five near perfect innings of relief from the bullpen.  Jason Grilli, Eddie Guardado, Darren O’Day, and Guillermo Moscoso combined allowed only one hit and struckout two.

The Ranger offense was highlighted by Elvis Andrus going 3-4, HR, three runs, two RBI, SB and Ian Kinsler going 1-3, 3B, run, three RBI.

Wednesday: L, 5-13 (56-43)

Texas was attempting to sweep the Tigers, a team that has swept us twice this season, but that would not happen from the word go.

Granderson again hit a lead-off home run and then hit a two-run shot in the second inning.  Miguel Cabrera also had a big game nabbing four hits, including a home run and double, and also knocked in four runners as well.

The Tigers would score a run in each of the first seven innings in this blow-out win.  Texas only highlight was Andruw Jones hitting his 16th and 17th home runs of the season, his second multi-HR game of the season.

Thursday: W, 7-1 (57-43)

Amidst the talks of being traded to the Blue Jays in a package deal that would send ace Roy Halladay to the Rangers, Derek Holland took the mound and made his statement.  With team president Nolan Ryan and general manager Jon Daniels in attendance the Rangers young prospect was near perfect.

Holland didn’t allow a Mariner baserunner until Jack Hannahan’s broke bat single up the middle in the fifth inning with two outs.  Through eight innings that would be all that the Mariners would get on-base.  He struggled in the ninth inning allowing a walk and single, and with only one out away from his first career complete game manager Ron Washington took him out.

I was in attendance and as hard as it was to take Derek out of the game he was losing his control in the ninth and sitting at 118 pitches, so I understand why Wash did it.  It was an amazing performance and hopefully a glimpse into what the future holds for this young man.  Holland was given a standing ovation and there are few times it is more deserved.

Aside from the masterpiece that Holland showed the near 24,000 fans, the Ranger bats had some pop in them as well.  Blalock hit his 20th and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 8th in second inning, Young launched his 15th and 16th home runs in the third and fifth, and Marlon Byrd in the seventh inning got his 10th of the year.

Friday: W, 5-4 (58-43)

Finally recovered from the lingering effects of “swine flu” Vicente Padilla took the mound in the second game against the Mariners.  Again the Ranger pitching allowed a first inning home run as Jose Lopez hit a two-run shot. 

Padilla would calm down after the first and pitch six quality innings, allowing three runs on six hits to get the win.

The Rangers cut the deficit in half with a sacrifice fly from Taylor Teagarden in the second inning scoring Josh Hamilton.  But the offense took the lead back for good with a four run fifth inning highlighted by long balls from Teagarden and a three-run shot from Byrd.

During Young’s at-bat in the seventh inning the game went into a two hour and 18 minute rain delay before the Rangers could finish off the win.  The playing time before and after the delay was only two hours and ten minutes.

Saturday: L, 2-7 (58-44)

Once again the Ranger pitching allowed a first inning home run, this time it was Ken Griffey Jr., fifth all-time in home runs, hit his 622nd of his career (three-run HR). 

Ranger starter Tommy Hunter would have his worst outing of the year in this one, however he would calm himself down after the early long ball from Griffey.  Hunter would go five innings allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks.

The only highlight for the Rangers, was a huge one, in the fourth inning when Cruz hit his 25th home run of the season.  It was a shot that nearly hit the back railing of the VISITOR’S bullpen, the tape measure shot was estimated to have travelled 458-ft., the fourth longest home run in the history of the Rangers Ballpark.

Sunday: W, 4-2 (59-44)

On three days rest and coming off his worst outing of the season Scott Feldman took the mound in the final game of the four game series.  This outing would go much better for Feldman as he would earn his 10th win of the season.

Feldman would go seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four.

The Ranger offense again used the long ball early when David Murphy hit an upper deck shot to right field in the bottom of the first, his ninth of the year.

After falling behind 2-1 in the top of the sixth Young answered in the bottom of the inning with his 17th home run of the season, a solo shot.  The Rangers completed the comeback when Saltalamacchia hit his ninth of the season in the seventh, a two-run shot off the right field foul pole.

The Rangers also got big news off the field as well.  Kinsler and Grilli both were put on the 15-day DL, Ian with his lingering right hamstring tightness and Grilli with elbow inflammation.  Frank Francisco was activated off the DL before the game and pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out two.  Warner Madrigal was demoted back down to Triple-A and the Rangers promoted Doug Mathis back to the Majors.  The Rangers #1 prospect Neftali Feliz was also promoted and could make his Major League debut any game now.

Even with Texas winning five games this week and 11 of their last 14 games, the Angels have won five straight games and 13 of their last 15 games, averaging over 7.5 runs a game.

Texas (59-44) now trail the Angels (63-40) by four games with two months to go.  The Mariners (54-51) have now fallen ten games out of first and the A’s (44-60) are 19.5 games back.

In the wild card race the Red Sox (62-42) lead the Rangers by 2.5, the closest team trailing the Rangers are the Rays (57-48) by three games.

This week Texas begins a long road trip that starts off with four games in Oakland before playing the Angels for three games in Anaheim.

The Angels are in Chicago for three games before hosting Texas, the Red Sox go to Tampa Bay for two games before travelling to New York for four, and the Yankees are at Toronto for two before hosting Boston.

WP – Batista (5-2)  LP – Sabathia (7-5)

The Seattle Mariners couldn’t come up with clutch hits in the first two games of their first series at the new Yankee Stadium, but last night they smacked CC Sabathia around en route to an 8-4 win over the Yankees.  The loss snapped the Bombers’ 7 game winning streak and dropped them 3 games behind idle Boston in the AL East.

Although he allowed a lead off, frozen rope double to Ichiro Suzuki to start the ball game, Sabathia looked dominant in the 1st inning.  But a mid-90s fastball, up in the zone with no movement can get you in trouble fast and that’s what happened to the Yankee ace.  Franklin Gutierrez belted a solo home run off Sabathia in the 2nd inning for a 2-0 M’s lead.  Back-to-back singles by Kenji Johjima and Ryan Langerhans followed and Chris Woodward came through with a run-scoring sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead after two.

The Yankees kept rallying against Mariners starter Jason Vargas, but couldn’t completely erase the deficit, thanks to Sabathia’s ineffectiveness.  With his team back in the game at 3-2, Sabathia gave up four hits in the 4th inning, including RBI-producing base knocks by Woodward and Ichiro.  Melky Cabrera nearly made a long running catch of Ichiro’s fly ball, but it ticked off the top of his glove for a 2-run double that pushed the Mariners’ advantage to 6-2.

Ichiro’s countryman, Hideki Matsui, answered with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, but the Yankees couldn’t solve the Mariners’ bullpen.  Miguel Batista, Mark Lowe, and David Aardsma scattered three hits over the final five innings, and a potential Yankees’ rally fell short in the 9th.

Russell Branyan, who had struck out 7 times, combined in Wednesday and Thursday’s games, extended the M’s lead with a titanic 2-run blast off the facing of the restaurant in dead center field in the top of the 9th.  In a non-save situation, Aardsma gave up back-to-back singles to Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher to start the Yankees’ last licks, but retired Matsui and Cabrera on fly balls, and struck out pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to preserve the lead.

Game Notes

Not counting his start in Florida when he left the game early due to bicep tightness, last night marked the first game since April 16 that Sabathia didn’t pitch into the 7th inning.

Jose Molina’s rehab stint will conclude with four games with the Scranton Yankees.  He’s expected to be activated for Tuesday night’s game in Minnesota.

Mark Teixeira’s throwing error in the 9th inning was his first miscue in 107 games.

The Yankees begin a 4-game holiday series with the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon (1:05 p.m. ET).  A.J. Burnett makes his 2nd start against his old teammates and will face lefty Brian Tallet.

WP – Bruney (3-0)  SV – Rivera (19)  LP – White (2-1)

Jorge Posada congratulates Mo Rivera after ceremonial 1st pitch

Joba Chamberlain and Brandon Morrow have both heard the debates.  Should they be closers, future closers, set up men, starters (though we’re sure that Morrow has no equivalent of the bag of hot air that is debating it onJoba’s behalf.)?  Last night’s Yankees-Mariners game was a good fodder for throwing them both back in the pen.  Both starters were mediocre, but the Seattle bullpen did a worse job than the Yankees’ relief corp.  The end result was an 8-5 Yankees win that moved them to within 2.5 games of Boston in the AL East.

Brian Bruney had just blown a two run lead when the Yankees came to bat in the bottom of the 8th against Sean White.  Hideki Matsui greeted him with a double up the alley in right-center and the Yankees had an instant rally.  Nick Swisher ill advisedly laid down a bunt, but it was a perfect one.  Pinch-runner Brett Gardner moved to 3rd base and Swisher reach 1st base safely for a base hit.

Melky Cabrera’s double to center put the Yankees ahead 6-5 (the Melkman’s 3rd Ribbie of the night) and Derek Jeter followed with a 2-run single to give Mariano Rivera plenty of breathing room in the 9th.  Rivera had the honor of throwing out the game’s first pitch in commemoration of his 500th save and then had the opportunity of throwing the night’s last pitch as well.  He cruised through a 1-2-3 9th inning for the 501st save of his illustrious career.

Things weren’t so illustrious for Chamberlain, who reverted back to “the nibbler” after his excellent start against the Braves his last time out.  He couldn’t hold the 3-1 lead his teammates had given him and lasted just 5 1-3 innings.  Of his 96 pitches, just 55 were strikes.  He allowed 9 hits, 3 walks, and went deep into counts all night.

Morrow’s night was worse (98 pitches, 58 strikes)- 4.2 IP, and although just 1 of the 3 runs he allowed were earned, he issued 5 walks and gave up 5 base hits.  Both teams failure with runners in scoring position is the only thing that kept the game from being a 14-12 shootout.

Alex Rodriguez belted a long 2-run home run off of Chris Jakubauskas in the 7th to put the Bombers back on top 5-3.  But Joe Girardi pulled Phil Hughes, who had pitched a dominant 9-pitch 7th inning, in favor of his 8th inning “follow the script” guy.  It backfired as Bruney allowed 3 hits and a walk.   Russell Branyan’s bases loaded sacrifice fly tied the game before Bruney finally got Jose Lopez to ground out to end the inning.

Game Notes

The Red Sox have had their way with the Orioles all season, but last night the O’s suddenly woke up.  Boston built a 9-1 lead before the rains came to Camden Yards and delayed matters.  Down 10-1, the Orioles rallied late and pulled out a stunning 11-10 victory.

Eric Hinske’s flight out of Pittsburgh was delayed by the weather and he wasn’t able to get to the game in time.  Ramiro Pena is expected  to be sent down to learn to play the outfield.  The Yankees envision a Mark Mclemore type of player.

Telling stat from mlb.com’s Noah Coslov – 12 of Melky Cabrera’s 29 RBI have came in the 7th inning on and have tied the game or given the Yankees the lead.

Mariners 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery Tuesday to remove bone spurs in his shoulder.

The Yankees-M’s series continues tonight with Andy Pettitte facing Jarrod Washburn (or is that Keifer Sutherland?).

The Rangers went into last week with the lead in the AL West for the first time since the opening weekend.  Holding a narrow half game lead on the healthier by the day Angels and the hot starting Mariners, the Rangers were hosting a three game series against both teams.

Almost all of national media outlets stating that the Angels were now going to take command and run away with the AL West division again.  This was the Rangers opportunity to make a statement in the race for the West.

I said in last weeks review that this was a huge week for the team in their attempts to stay ahead in the AL West and get some attention as a legitimate team.  Said that the team needed a 4-2 week to prove that we are going to be a contender this season, and how does the team respond?

They sweep the whole week, 6-0 over the Mariners and Angels.  For those that were unable to either go to a game, see, or listen to the games this week, my condolence.

It was an incredible week, full of walk-off wins, multiple come from behind rallies, quality pitching, great defense all-around, some spectacular highlight reel defensive plays, and a Josh Hamilton 460-ft HAM-BOMB.

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: W, 7-1 (18-14)

This game marked the return of Josh Hamilton from the DL and Michael Young was back in the lineup after taking off three days to rest and recover.  The Rangers and Mariners were involved in another pitchers duel with only one run on a Chris Davis’s ninth home run in the sixth.

But the Ranger offense came alive with a six run seventh inning.  The inning was highlighted by a Hamilton two-run, opposite field home run.  Derek Holland got his first career win with 1.2 innings of perfect relief for Scott Feldman.  Feldman got another bad luck no decision as he went 6.1 innings allowing only one run on four hits.

Wednesday: W, 6-5 (11)(19-14)

The Rangers came from behind three separate times to get the win in this game.  Hamilton’s fifth inning, two-run bomb was his second home run in as many days and fourth of the season, tied the game at 3-3.  Next inning Elvis Andrus’s RBI triple tied the score again at four.

The game eventually went to the 11th inning and the Rangers allowed a run in the top of the inning, but Hank Blalock’s walk-off two-RBI double to deep, right-center field completed the third and final comeback of the game.

Thursday: W, 3-2 (20-14)

As if one walk-off win over the Mariners wasn’t enough, the Rangers did it again.

Matt Harrison started, went all nine innings giving up just two earned runs on five hits and struckout seven.  He was on the line however for the loss until the bottom of the ninth.

Blalock led the inning off with his tenth home run of the season, but Texas was still down one.  After a double from David Murphy, Davis blasted a Brandon Morrow fastball to deep center field for the walk-off home run.

It was Morrow’s second loss and blown save in as many days as the hands of Ranger bats.

Friday: W, 10-8 (21-14)

Coming into this series the Rangers led the Angels by 1.5 games in the AL West, this was a huge series for both teams to make a statement about the divisional race in 2009.

The Ranger bats would face the hottest Angel pitcher so far this season in Joe Saunders (5-1).  But the Rangers wasted no time welcome him to the Ballpark scoring two in the first inning, highlighted by a RBI triple from Hamilton.

Texas struck again in the third with two two-run homers from Ian Kinsler and Andruw Jones, Kinsler would later hit his 13th home run of the season.  The Ranger offense also got another home run from Hamilton, his third in four games since returning from the DL.

The bullpen however struggled to close the game out as the Angels scored five runs in the ninth, but C.J. Wilson came in to stop the bleeding.  Wilson is getting the saves as closer Frank Francisco went on the DL with elbow tennitis.

Saturday: W, 3-2 (22-14)

Angel ace John Lackey was making his season debut, but it didn’t quite go as well as he was hoping.  Lackey was tossed from the game two pitches in.  His first pitch of the game was thrown behind Kinsler head, after the next pitch hit Ian in the ribs, home plate umpire Bob Davidson had seen enough and tossed him.

Whether he was sending a message to Kinsler who hit two home runs the night before, Lackey was still upset about his last outing against Texas last season (2 IP, 12 hits, 10 runs), or he was simply trying to establish the inside part of the plate the Angel bullpen had to go all nine innings.

Both teams scored all their runs by the end of the fourth inning.  Texas played small ball with seven of their eight hits were singles and two sacrifice flies from Hamilton.  Ranger starter Vicente Padilla struggled early in the outing, but settled down after four innings and was near perfect over the next four.

Sunday: W, 3-0 (23-14)

In the final game of the series both starter completed in a good, old fashion pitchers duel.  Angel starter Jered Weaver pitched a complete game, allowing three earned runs on six hits and striking out seven.  Weaver allowed only one hit through the six innings, but the Ranger bats got to him after that.

Murphy’s sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Blalock.  In the eighth the Rangers scored two more runs with RBI doubles from Kinsler and Marlon Byrd.

The highlight of the game however came in the seventh inning when Hamilton made a catch crashing into the right-center field wall that was best described by TV announcer Josh Lewin, “He is Superman!”  Hamilton would leave the game at the end of the inning with what the organization is calling a strained groin.

The Rangers won all six games on the homestand against divisional opponents, they have won seven straight games, the team has won 13 of their last 15 games, currently lead the AL West by 4.5 games, and the pitching staff is boasting the best May ERA in all of baseball.

Things won’t be getting any easier as the Rangers now travel to Detroit for three game series against the AL Central leading Tigers.  At 20-16 they just came off a three-game sweep in which they obliterated the A’s.  After that the Rangers will travel to Houston and open up interleague play against the Astros.

With the sweeping of both the Mariners and Angels the Rangers have put 4.5 game between themselves and the second place Angels (18-18), 5.5 ahead of the Mariners (18-20), and 8.5 ahead of the Athletics (13-21).

Coming off the excitement from the night before when the Rangers defeated the Mariners in walk-off fashion.  Hank “The Hammer” Blalock’s two-RBI double off of closer Brandon Morrow in the bottom of the eleventh inning sent the Ballpark in Arlington into a state of pandemonium.

Wins like that don’t happen every day, so there is no way it could happen again, right?

Texas and Seattle played a day game on Thursday, the Mariners looking to avoid the sweep and the Rangers attempting to improve their record against Seattle this season to 5-0.

Seattle sent their ace, King Felix, to the mound to face-off against Matt Harrison and his 19 scoreless inning streak.

Felix Hernandez started the year off 4-0 before losing last week to the Rangers and Kevin Millwood, the young phenom definitely was looking for some revenge for that outing.

Harrison was simply looking for zeros, the only two pitchers in baseball this season with longer scoreless streaks are Zack Grienke and Hernandez.

Hernandez who struggled in his first outing against the Rangers was on today, going seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits, none for extra bases, and striking out six.

Harrison keep his scoreless inning streak going for three more innings, until the fourth when the Mariners put two on him.  His streak ended at 22 innings, tying Hernandez mark for the second longest of the season.

However, Matt would again complete what he had started, pitching another complete game (his second consecutive), allowing only five hits and striking out seven.  Three of the five hits he allowed came in the fourth when the Mariners scored their two runs.

Another superb outing from Harrison, but going into the ninth he was on the hook for the loss, unless the bats could rescue him.

Again Seattle sent their closer Morrow to the mound looking for some redemption after the night before, and as fate would have it the first batter he faced was The Hammer.

Like the night before, Morrow used 96 and 97 mph fastballs and worked the count full, when The Hammer took the payoff pitch for a ride.

Hank’s 10th home run of the season was a bomb eight rows up in the right field upper deck home run porch.  Though it was only a solo home run and the Rangers still trailed 2-1, the feeling around the park and in the home dugout was of another rally.

Texas rallied from behind three times in the game the night before, won in walk-off fashion, and it seemed as though it was happening again.

To bring the team back down to Earth the next batter Nelson Cruz flied out to shallow center on the first pitch and Morrow was two outs away from avoiding disaster.

David Murphy batted next as the potential tying run, he would see only fastballs as well from Morrow.  With the count 2-2, Murphy lined a double down the right field line and the stadium was hopping.

Now the Rangers had the tying run in scoring position with only one out and Chris Davis coming to the plate.

Last night Davis set a new franchise record striking out in 21 consecutive games, so far in this contest he had yet to strikeout.  Morrow again would only throw fastballs looking to get the free-swinging Davis to extend his streak.

But on the 2-1 pitch, Davis would later say he was looking for a fastball high in the strike zone, he got his pitch and “Crush” Davis blasted the ball to deep center field.

As soon as he hit it Davis flipped his bat and began his trot, a no doubt shot that won the game in walk-off fashion for the second time in less than 24 hours.

With the 3-2 victory the Rangers completed the sweep of the Mariners, improved their record to 20-14, and will now face the red-hot Angels.

The Angels are still only 1.5 games behind the Rangers as they took two of three games at home from the Red Sox.

The Rangers come into the series winning four straight and a 10-2 record over the past two weeks.

The Angels also enter the series having won nine of the last eleven games.

Both teams do have some potent offense but the real story line will likely come from the pitching match-ups.  Friday Joe Saunders (5-1, 2.66) takes on Ranger ace Kevin Millwood (3-3, 2.92).  Saturday John Lackey makes his first start of the season for the Halos against Vicente Padilla (2-2, 4.97), who is coming off back-to-back one-hitters.  Finally in the series finale Jered Weaver (3-1, 2.45) will take the mound against  Scott Feldman (2-0, 4.85).

This is a big series as both teams attempt to make statements about the upcoming race for the divisional title.

Texas sent Brandon McCarthy to the mound as he looked to redeem himself after getting blown-up in his last start in Oakland.  Brandon also had a personal battle, he has yet to pitch seven complete innings in a Rangers uniform. 

Wednesday night against the Mariners he was able accomplish both goals.

It took McCarthy 105 pitches to complete seven innings, he allowed only five hits, four earned runs, and struck out seven.  The only problem for him was that three of the five hits left the yard and accounted for all four runs, Adrian Beltre (2nd inning), Kenji Johjima (4th), and Russell Branyan (6th).

Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the fourth the Rangers started their first rally of the game.  With the bases loaded and only one out, Chris Davis single to right field moved everyone up 90 feet, unfortunately it was the only run of the inning. 

However in the bottom of the fifth, a healthy Josh Hamilton drilled a line drive, two-run home run to the right field upper deck to tie the game at three. After a Seattle run in the top of the sixth Texas mounted their second rally of the game with a two-out RBI triple from Elvis Andrus, scoring Marlon Byrd from first.

The game then had four consecutive shutout innings, even though both teams had scoring opportunities in the ninth and tenth innings.

The eleventh inning started with Beltre reaching first on a throwing error by Michael Young, however instant replay would show that in fact first baseman Davis kept his foot on first and it should have been an out.  But still it was a bang-bang, tough call for umpire John Hirschbeck.

After a Branyan sacrifice bunt, Wladimir Balentian drove a double down the right field line scoring Beltre.

Seattle sent out closer Brandon Morrow to shut the door in the bottom of the inning, however the Ranger bats weren’t impressed.  Texas started the inning off with a Young single, followed by him stealing second, and then Hamilton drawing a walk.

Andruw Jones then flew out to center field, but still the Rangers had the tying run at second and winning run at first. Hank Blalock then came to the plate looking to change his dismissal 0-5, two strikeout outing and become the hero.

On a 1-0 pitch he did just that, driving a 97-mph fastball to the right-center field gap scoring both Young and Hamilton with ease.

It was another huge win for the Rangers and the fans that stuck around for all 3 hours and 29 minutes of baseball.  The win improved the Rangers record to 19-14, with the Angels win over the Red Sox the Rangers stayed 1.5 games ahead in the AL West.

The Rangers have not only won their last three games, but nine of their last eleven and boast a .750 winning percentage in the month of May, so far.

Texas hosts Seattle and then Los Angeles in three-game series this week.  Therefore a good week can give the Rangers a solid lead in the division and make a statement, not only for the team but the opposition as well.  On the other hand if the Rangers struggle this week they could easily find themselves in third in the division.

In a game where the wind was blowing the ball to right-center field, this started off as a pitching duel early on.  Neither team could get a run across the plate until Chris Davis hit his ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth.

Seattle’s starter Jason Vargas, making the start for the injured Carlos Silva, would allow only the one run in his five innings of work.  Texas’s starter Scott Feldman struggled through the first inning, throwing 26 pitches, but settled down and was near flawless for six innings.

After the first inning Feldman only allowed one hit and one walk, both to Ken Griffey Jr., through the next four innings.  He got the first out of the seventh, but was pulled after allowing back-to-back hits which included an RBI double from Kenji Johjima.

Derek Holland came in relief with the go-ahead run in scoring position.  No problem as Holland forced the Mariner hitters into consecutive ground outs to get out of the jam.

Then the Ranger bats awoke.

Josh Hamilton hasn’t played in a game since April 26, he had been struggling in the season so far with only two home runs and 10 RBI, and he was struggling in this game.  Going into the seventh inning he was 0-3 with five runners left on base.

With one out and Michael Young at first, Hamilton launched the ball to left-center field and into the wind for a two-run homer and a 3-1 lead.

And the Texas bats were not done yet.  After the home run from Hamilton, Andruw Jones singled and then Marlon Byrd drilled his 13th double of the season.  Nelson Cruz’s sacrifice fly to deep right field drove in his 22nd RBI of the season and advanced both runners.

Byrd would then score on a fielding error from first baseman Russell Branyan off the bat of Davis.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove Davis in from first with a double down the right field line, Salty advanced to third on the throw home.  Texas got the sixth and final run of the inning on an RBI single from Elvis Andrus.

Hamilton did have an opportunity at the end of the inning with the bases loaded, but struck out swinging and swinging for the fence I might add.

Holland came back in and pitched a perfect eighth inning.  His 20 pitch, 14 strike, five out, zero baserunner outing was good enough to get the youngster his first career win.

Hamilton went 1-5 in his return to the lineup, though he did leave eight runners on base, his seventh inning two-run homer eventually won the game for the team.  In his return to the starting lineup Young went 3-3, drew two walks, and scored the winning run on the Hamilton home run.

With the win over Seattle and the Red Sox defeating the Angels in the ninth, Texas now has a 1.5 game lead on the Angels and 2.5 game lead on the Mariners in the AL West.

Tonight the Mariners send Jarrod Washburn (3-2) to the mound and Brandon McCarthy (3-1) looks to rebound from his last outing when he was rocked by the Oakland hitters.

Texas started the road trip with two games in Seattle, followed by another short, two-game series in Oakland, and finally finished the trip off with three games in Chicago.

The Rangers would have a wonderful road trip winning five of the seven games and passing the Mariners for the lead in the AL West. 

The Rangers offense, which always seems to lead the way, was not as potent this past week as usual. However, not a problem because the Rangers were lead by some spectacular pitching outings that put the team in winning situations.

 Monday: W, 6-5 (13-12)

Coming into the series the Mariners had a 2.5 game lead on the Rangers in the AL West and both looked to make a statement early in the season.  Even though it was a short, two-game series both teams used their top two pitchers in the games.

Kevin Millwood and Felix Hernandez dueled in the first game. However, this game would not be the pitchers duel that was expected as the Rangers were lead by two-run homers from Michael Young and Chris Davis.

 Tuesday: W, 7-2 (10) (14-12)

The fans watching this game got the pitching duel that was expected the day before, as Vicente Padilla and Erik Bedard battled deep into the game. Bedard went seven innings, striking out seven, and the only run he allowed was a solo home run by Nelson Cruz.  Padilla performed even better, allowing only one unearned and one hit over eight innings.

Both pitchers would get no decisions at the teams stayed tied at one going into the tenth.  That is when the Ranger bats finally woke up, as they scored six runs in the extra frame, which was highlighted by a grand slam by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

 Wednesday: W, 3-2 (15-12)

In the ideal winning score for manager Ron Washington, in the stadium that he used to coach third base in, Texas won and surpassed the Mariners for first place in the AL West.

Again Texas got another solid pitching outing, this time it was Scott Feldman allowing only two runs over the six innings he pitched. The Rangers took the lead early with an Elvis Andrus home run in the first inning and never relinquished it.

Frank Francisco got his AL-leading ninth save of the season. Francisco still boasts a 0.00 ERA and has accomplished the nine saves in nine opportunities.

 Thursday: L, 4-9 (15-13)

The Rangers strong starting pitching outings and five-game winning streak both came to crashing ends at the same time. Brandon McCarthy got shelled for seven runs through four innings of work, and the Ranger offense only plated one run off of A’s starter Trevor Cahill through seven innings.

Texas had 11 hits in the game and eight of those went for extra-bases, seven doubles and one home run. But 3-15 hitting with runners in scoring position kept the Rangers from getting any time of rally started.

 Friday: W, 6-0 (16-13)

Texas left Oakland and headed to Chicago looking to get the solid pitching outings back on track with Matt Harrison and his consecutive scoreless innings streak sitting at ten.

The Rangers not only got a solid outing out of Harrison, they got arguably his best career outing. Harrison went all nine innings, shutting out the White Sox, giving up only four hits, walking one, striking out five, and doing so with only 111 pitches.

Harrison got the offensive support he need as the Rangers score the eventual game-winning run before he even took the mound.

 Saturday: L, 2-3 (16-14)

In another pitching duel involving the Rangers, former Texas pitching prospect John Danks bested Millwood. Danks was only able to go six innings, but in his time he allowed only one run, four hits, and struck out 10 Ranger hitters.

Millwood had another quality start going seven innings, but the three runs he allowed was enough to get the White Sox the victory. Again it was poor timely hitting that kept the Rangers from beating Chicago as Texas went 2-11 with runners in scoring position.

 Sunday: W, 7-1 (17-14)

In the rubber match of the series, the Rangers got another superb outing from Padilla.  Vicente became the first Ranger pitcher to ever have back-to-back 7+ innings pitched, one-hit outings. He went exactly seven innings and allowing only one earned run. 

Vicente got the run support he needed as Texas scored four runs in the fifth inning, which was highlighted by Davis’s eighth home run of the season and a bases loaded walk drawn from Cruz.

Hank Blalock also provided the necessary offensive help with his eighth and ninth home runs of the season.

The Rangers will be activating Josh Hamilton off of the 15-day DL on Tuesday, sending Joaquin Arias back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Young should also return to the field after a couple days off due to back spasms while in Chicago, both players are expected to be in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game.

Texas is currently 17-14 and in first place in the AL West. However the Rangers have only a half game lead on the Angels (16-14).  After that the Mariners are 1.5 games out of first at 16-16, and the A’s five game out at 11-18.

The Rangers had a very productive 5-2 road trip and return home for a six game home-stand against AL West rivals Seattle and Los Angeles.  Texas has Monday off before Tuesday’s match-up with the Mariners.

In game two both teams again sent their best to the mound, Vicente Padilla for the Rangers and Erik Bedard for the Mariners.

Padilla has been struggling so far this season for the Rangers, but his track record shows that he can and knows how to turn it around.  Bedard is off to a good start this season after a disastrous 2008 season.

Bedard continued his hot start to the season by going seven strong innings, striking out seven and allowing only seven hits.  His only blemish came with one out in the seventh when Nelson Cruz blasted a pitch into the left-field seats, it was Cruz’s seventh home run of the season.  Anybody else see a little pattern here…seven!

However great Bedard’s performance was, the Mariner pitcher was once again outdone by the Ranger pitcher.  Padilla went eight innings, giving up only one unearned run (Ian Kinsler fielding error in the sixth).  He threw only 102 pitches and allowed just one hit.

The key to Padilla’s success was the fact that he got 16 ground ball outs and got Mariners to hit into three double plays.

At times Padilla can looked lost and confused on the mound, and be one of the most inconsistent pitchers in all of baseball.  But he always seems to follow those performances with outings like this one, allowing only one hit over eight innings pitched.

The two teams each scored only the one runs through nine innings of baseball and the Rangers were a miserable 1-8 hitting with runners in scoring position.

But that is what is great about baseball, you can have a horrible outing through nine innings, but all you need is one at-bat or one inning to turn it into a great day.

That inning was the Ranger tenth inning.

The inning started out bad for the Mariners after only two pitches.  Reliever Shawn Kelley replaced David Aardsma, but after two pitches he fell to the ground with what seemed to be a groin type injury.  Therefore an already depleted Seattle bullpen who threw seven innings of relief against Oakland two days prior, needed Denny Stark to pitch them out of the tenth.

He looked great through two batters, Elvis Andrus and Michael Young each lined out to right fielder Ichiro and the M’s were one pitch from getting out of the inning.

But four straight singles from Andruw Jones, Hank Blalock, Marlon Byrd, and Cruz scored two runs for a 3-1 lead.

After a Chris Davis walk, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia came to the plate with the bases loaded.    He then blasted a 2-2 pitch to deep, center-field for his second career grand slam and the Rangers complete a six-run tenth inning.

Seattle would score one in the bottom of the inning, but the Rangers would get the two-game sweep in Seattle with a 7-2 win in ten innings.

With the win the Rangers have pulled to within a half game of the AL West leading Mariners, improved their division record to 3-1, and take a four-game winning streak to Oakland.

The Rangers start another two-game series tonight at 9:05 CT in Oakland with Scott Feldman (1-0) takes on Dan Giese (0-2), newly acquired off waivers from the Yankees.

Twice he has dueled the ace pitchers of the teams the Rangers have faced, going 1-1 (def. Cliff Lee on opening day 9-1, lost to Zack Greinke 0-2).

Millwood has been a huge part of the reason why the Texas Rangers have started the season 12-12 and are only 2.5 games out of first place in the AL West.  First place, which is currently held by the Seattle Mariners (15-10).

On Monday night Millwood faced the four-year veteran, 23-year old Mariner ace Felix Hernandez.

King Felix came into the game boasting a 4-0 record with a 2.38 ERA and 36 strikeouts.

Both pitchers had their A-games going early in this one, Hernandez allowed only two singles and struck out three in the first three innings, and Millwood had a perfect game going through four innings.

The Rangers provided Millwood the needed offense by scoring two runs in each of the middle innings.  The offense was highlighted by two-run home runs from Michael Young (5th inning, 7th of the season) and Chris Davis (6th inning, 6th of the season).

Millwood’s hiccup came in the 5th inning when he allowed four runs on two home runs by Russell Branyan (solo) and Franklin Gutierrez (three-run).

After the Davis home run in the sixth that put the Rangers on top, the Mariners added the final run of the game in the seventh on an RBI fielders choice from Ichiro scoring Gutierrez.

Ranger closer Frank Francisco got his AL-leading eighth save of the season, a four-out save that ended with a fly out to center from Ichiro with the tying run in scoring position.

“King” Felix Hernandez’s went six innings, striking out nine, but allowing six earned runs on ten hits.  Millwood went another 7.1 innings giving up five earned on eight hits.

The highlight of the game and quite possibly the Rangers defensive highlight of the season so far was made by shortstop Elvis Andrus.  Andrus made a diving stop on a Kenji Johjima ground ball between short and third with one out in the ninth. 

Andrus from one knee, laying down threw a one-hopper to a stretched-out first baseman Davis to bring the Rangers to within one out of winning.

It was the kind of play that fielding specialist and manager Ron Washington loves to see from his infielders.

The win brought the Rangers to within 1.5 of the AL West leading Mariners and the two complete this short series today at 3:40 CDT when Vicente Padilla (1-2) and Erik Bedard (2-1) take to the mound.

And then the game started, and Felix Hernandez stole the show. The young righty of the Mariners threw 97 pitches in eight innings. He gave up just one run on five hits and three walks, while striking out six. The Twins countered with lefty Francisco Liriano. He gave up just four hits and walked none in his seven innings. Unfortunately two of those hits were home runs and accounted for three of the four runs he allowed in the loss. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a solo home run. Later, Franklin Gutierrez hit a two run homer that just eluded the glove of Carlos Gomez.

But again, much of the credit in this one goes to the Mariners starter who didn’t work into trouble often, but worked out of it when he did.

Here are some other thoughts on the Twins Opening Day loss to the Mariners:

• Denard Span had a rough spring. No question about that. But if there was a postive for the Twins offense, it was the Twins leadoff hitter. In his first at bat, he worked a walk. In his second at bat, he laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that he nearly beat out. He coaxed another walk in his third at bat. That is a solid day from a leadoff hitter. He also did a very nice job chasing down fly balls and line drives in the vast left field at Metrodome.
• Delmon Young was the odd man out of the Twins starting lineup on Opening Day. I don’t think that is a surprise to many. I wouldn’t make too much of it as he will certainly be back in the starting lineup on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see whether Denard Span or Jason Kubel sits against lefty Erik Bedard.
• Michael Cuddyer batted third in the game and came up to bat with opportunities in his first two at bats. And he looked horrible in striking out each at bat. But he came to the plate in the 5th with the bases loaded. He came through with a line drive single to centerfield  for the team’s lone run. For those of you who care about such things, his batting average with runners in scoring position is now .333. Think big picture! Just because the three (he really looked bad when King Felix struck him out in his fourth at bat) at bats were bad doesn’t mean he is bad or he shouldn’t be the team’s #3 hitter.
• After Cuddyer came through with the RBI single, the bases were still loaded with one out. Justin Morneau hit the first pitch right to 2B and it was an easy double play to end the inning and end the team’s biggest threat. I am actually encouraged that the Twins #3 and #4 hitters came up in big situations. Over the course of the year, they will come through often.
• One of Twins fans’ biggest concerns in the offseason was the state of the bullpen. The Twins lost Boof Bonser to injury (and found out that Pat Neshek would miss the entire season too), and they added only Luis Ayala to the organization. Ayala faced three batters in completing the 8th inning. The ninth inning began with a walk by Jesse Crain. He got the next two hitters out. Lefty Craig Breslow was brought in to face lefty Ken Griffey, and he walked him on four pitches. Matt Guerrier was summoned, and Jose Lopez rolled a single just out of the diving Joe Crede’s range, and just out of the diving Nick Punto’s range. It wasn’t hard hit, but both hitters that got on via the walk scored. That was a deflating inning of work.
• Of course, I can’t help but wonder what happens in that inning if Mike Redmond didn’t allow a Passed Ball on Guerrier’s first pitch. That allowed the runners to advance to second and third. If Lopez hits the same ground ball, it might be an easy, inning-ending double play.
• Jose Morales came in as a pinch hitter with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. On the first pitch, he grounded out to 1B to end the game. The ground out ended his perfect career. Remember, coming into the game, Morales was 3-3 in his big league career (1 game in 2007). He is now a lowly .750 career hitter!
• Joe Crede made his Twins debut. He did a nice job with the glove. He also was credited with his first Twins hit, a single. I have no clue how it was called a single. I mean, it was a two-hopper right at Adrian Beltre and he let it eat him up. But, take the hit, I guess!

Tuesday night at 7:00, the Twins will send right Nick Blackburn to the mound to face the Mariners’ lefty Erik Bedard.