 Imaged found at sports.yahoo.com By Ben Wertz
Over the weekend the Rangers lost their first series of the season, dropping two out of three to the Tampa Bay Rays. On Monday night, Yu Darvish made sure the Rangers got back in the win column.
For seven innings, Darvish dazzled north of the border, holding the Blue Jays to one run on four hits in seven innings, leading the Rangers to a 4-1 victory. Yu also had nine strikeouts, keeping the Blue Jays off balance all night long. He struck out at least one batter in every inning except for the sixth, including two strikeouts in each of the first three innings.
The only mistake Darvish made all night was in the fourth inning when he gave up a solo home run to Edwin Encarnacion. Other than that, Yu threw an assortment of pitches with great movement across all parts of the plate. He improved to 4-0 on the young season lowering his ERA to 2.18.
Darvish’s counterpart, Kyle Drabek, pitched pretty well in his own right. He limited the Rangers to two runs on five hits in six innings, striking out eight. However, three of those five hits were doubles, including RBI doubles from Mike Napoli in the second and Elvis Andrus in the third.
The Rangers put the game away for good in the seventh inning thanks to some unlikely heroes. Mitch Moreland and Craig Gentry hit back-to-back home runs to give Texas the final margin of 4-1. The home run for Gentry was the second of his career but the first one that actually made it into the seats. If you remember, Gentry had an inside-the-park home run last season on the night the Rangers clinched the division title.
Mike Adams pitched a scoreless eighth and Joe Nathan had a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save. It was another impressive pitching performance by the Rangers, something we have become quite accustomed to so far in 2012.
Two things that stood out in this game: 1) Yu Darvish continued to impress and 2) there was offensive production throughout the lineup. When Moreland and Gentry are contributing as the 8 and 9 hitters, good luck pitching to this Rangers lineup. The Rangers are now 17-6 and have yet to lose back to back games.
The second game of this three-game series will be Tuesday night, featuring Neftali Feliz (1-1, 3.00) and Drew Hutchison (1-0, 6.10). Feliz will be making his first start since April 21 in which he pitched a complete game against the Tigers in a 3-2 loss. Hutchison, a 21-year-old lefty, will be making just the third start of his career.
Ben Wertz is a Staff Writer for Shutdown Inning. You can email him at Ben.Wertz@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @RangersExaminer
 Image found at bleacherreport.com By Peter Ellwood
That’s probably a terrible title. It’s a work in progress. I promise the rest of this post will be better than the title. At least, I hope that it is, but as the author of both I’m probably in no position to decide. So, I will leave it in the hands of you, the reader, to determine which is worse, the title or this post. But that’s not really what’s important, nor does this paragraph have anything to do with the next 5 paragraphs that you’ll read.
The following was inspired by this year’s Rangers team, who are very good at winning and also very good at producing a high entertainment value. The team has a .727 winning percentage, having won 16 of 22 games. On the flip side, of the team’s 6 losses, three of them have been by one run, and another two saw the Rangers send the game-tying or game-winning run to the plate in the 8th or 9th inning (or, as I wrote elsewhere, this team is bad at losing). That leaves only one loss, really one game, all season that has been only mildly entertaining. This may be the greatest team to be a fan of ever. However, if you had to choose between the wins, or the entertainment, which would you choose?
On Sunday night, I posed this hypothetical question on Twitter, which I would like to expand further here. I’m going to lay out two scenarios, and then I want you to decide which option you would prefer. Let’s say you’re a Texas Rangers fan (which most of you probably are), and you are getting settled for a brand new season of baseball. What kind of Rangers team would you rather root for, team type A or team type B? Team type A is a team that wins 90 games, and loses 72, but in all 72 losses the Rangers fall behind by 6 in the 1st inning and lose by the same margin. Team type B is a team that wins 86 games, loses 76, but every game is decided by 2 runs or less. Both team type A and team type B make the playoffs, despite the difference in wins, so this is truly a hypothetical decision that impacts the regular season alone.
Team type A wins more games, and more wins is good. Even better, when they lose, you are able to emotionally detach from the game by the 2nd or 3rd inning because it has become pretty clear that it’s just not their night. While that may seem like a more pleasing outcome on the surface, that also means that 44% of the team’s games have little to no entertainment value for you, the fan, essentially robbing you of almost half a season of the sweet nectar of good baseball. But they win 90 games, and 90 wins is going to be better than most teams.
Team type B doesn’t really win very many games. 86 wins is only just over mediocre, as that is just a .530 winning percentage. In this hypothetical, they make the playoffs, but only just barely because honestly, it takes a really bad division for an 86-win team to make the playoffs. But this team is scrappy, they fight and are in every game. Even when they lose, you feel like they have a shot at winning. When they win, you’re on the edge of your seat the whole game because they never put the other team away. There is probably a lot of blown saves and come-from-behind wins for this team. The entertainment value is high, even if the team isn’t truly very good.
So, which would you choose?
Peter Ellwood is a Senior Staff Writer for Shutdown Inning. You can email him at Peter.Ellwood@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @Peter_Ellwood
 by Dan Allsup
When the Rangers finalized Ian Kinsler's extension of 5 years and $75 million dollars, the front office locked in yet another cornerstone of the Rangers' future. With this extension, the Rangers have sent a message to all the players in the organization that they will take care of you, if you take care of your game on the field.
This is Kinsler's second extension, and this one nullified the last year of his previous extension, and was completed two seasons before Kinsler even would've sniffed free agency. Locking up Kinlser also sets the infield composition for at least the next few years before Kinsler slides gracefully into the outfield.
Jurickson Profar, boy wonder in AA Frisco, could be the man to force such a move; and as wild as it may seem, Profar is a player the Rangers should consider extending.
Now before you look up my twitter feed to talk some sense into me, let me say two words: six games.
On April 19, 2008, 22 year-old Evan Longoria signed, "The Extension Heard 'Round The Blog-O-Sphere", just 6 games after his debut. His payday was $17.5 million over 6 years, with options that could raise it to $44.5 million over 9 years. Longo started the 2008 season as Baseball America's #2 overall prospect, and he finished the year in the World Series and won AL Rookie of the Year honors, and placed 11th in MVP voting. The deal was team-friendly from the day he signed, and with each passing year you almost feel sorry for the guy, as he has missed out an some major earning potential. In fact, his college teammate, Troy Tulowitzki signed a similar extension with one year of service time as well (6 years, $31M), but he topped it off with a mega extension three years later, to add an additional six years, which will pay him $119 million.
Profar is 19 years old, in AA, and is ranked by BA as the #7 prospect in baseball. (Just for reference, Longoria was ranked #7 overall too when he started his first season in AA). The main reason to look into an early extension with Profar is that of all of the Rangers' minor leaguers the floor of his talent may be the highest. This significantly reduces the risk associated with signing Profar, at a minimum, he will be a league average, everyday player. At best, Profar could be a perennnial all-star and generational talent.
Early extensions are low-risk, high reward deals. Teams are regualrly throwing money at low-risk, high reward pitchers in their 30s. I believe it would be a much wiser approach for teams to lock up their potential all-stars early and often. But if you're the White Sox, and you have no prospects, this doesn't apply.
With the early extensions, you are risking slightly above what a league average player would make, and by all indications, profiles, and reports, Jurickson Profar will be at minimum league-average. Why so soon though? Because agents work quickly too. the #7 prospect in baseball. (Just for reference, Longoria was ranked #7
 Elvis Andrus' agent is Scott Boras, and Boras more than any other agent makes it a goal to get his clients to the big payday in free agency. When Elvis hits the market, he'll be 26 years old, (very young by free agency standards, due to being a 20 year-old rookie) playing a key position, and will likely score a monster deal when his time comes.
Aside from recent extensions of Carlos Gonzalez and Jered Weaver, Boras has almost always got his client to free agency. Even if Boras wasn't involved, the Rangers have little incentive to pay Andrus near 18-20 AAV (average annual average) for a position that Profar can play (possibly, even better) for a fraction of that figure.
I know you say it's silly to think that far ahead, but is keeping a star player into his prime years and saving millions in payroll silly?
In Andrus' first 8 years he'll earn roughly $50 million, if the Rangers offered Profar an early extension it would probably be in the neighborhood of $30 million, and the would likely attempt to secure some of his future free agency years. (Yes, I am hypothetically talking about the free agency years of a SS in AA).
Why would Profar give up millions in future earnings though? Baseball contracts are almost always guaranteed. For Profar, securing that guarantee of approximately $30 million is highly valuable. Regardless of injury, or future performance, the player will be able to take care of himself and his family for the rest of his life. For the team, that $30 million represents an investment in a potential superstar, enabling the team to hold on to an elite level player for a very long time without breaking the bank.
The Kansas City Royals extended Salvador Perez, to a five year deal and up to $27 million. Perez had only played 38 games last year before the Royals targeted him for an extension. Perez was never a top prospect, but Kansas City offered a contract to the 21 year-old catcher from Venezuela, because they recognized an opportunity to save money on a player who they saw would be at least a major-league regular.
With the likelihood of Andrus' future departure, Profar not locking arms with Boras yet, the new trend of players signing extension before one-year of service time, and Profar's mature game, it seems reasonable that the Rangers will attempt to sign Profar long-term. Sure, its premature to even discuss this, but 6 days into Longo's career was premature too.
Before this limb breaks beneath my feet, I'll peer into my crystal ball one more time, and declare that Profar could even be the first player to be extended before he debuts.
Crazy, I know, or is it? The Rays discussed Longoria's extension in early March before he even played a game in Tampa Bay, and most of the particulars were ironed out before he was called up. The Rays already knew what they had in Longo, likewise, the Rangers are familiar with what a commodity Profar is. A cup-of-coffee, half season, or a September call-up won't be needed to assure the Rangers brass of Profar's potential.
Kinsler's extension may have just moved the Rangers closer to extending his positional replacement in a few years. Thinking several years away is unpredictable, but that's how the game is played now; and extending a teenager before he debuts is the ultimate two-steps ahead move.
Dan Allsup is a Senior Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. You can email him at Dan.Allsup@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @SDIDan.
 by James Holland
Now I know that some people will tell you that scoreboard watching this early into the season is a ridiculous thing to do and I do agree to a point. However when the Angels, who were picked by many experts to win the World Series, are sitting 9 games back, one can’t help but revel.
The other night a writer for another Rangers-dedicated site said that it was funny that fans were paying more attention to the Angels and not realizing that the A’s and Mariners were sitting in second and third place respectively. I think the reason that fans overlook those two teams is the fact that they aren’t perceived as threats to make a run for the division title and they didn’t spend a load of money in free agency over the offseason.
I’m not trying to take anything away from the A’s or M’s. They just don’t have the teams capable of defeating the Rangers on a consistent basis. But they are getting better and each team has a great core of young players with which to build upon.
Do I think the Angels will sit in last place all season? No I don’t. And I know, without a doubt, that they will turn around and start reeling off wins a la the 2011 Boston Red Sox who also started the season in a slump. It’s inevitable. But if they don’t start winning soon they will find themselves in a long uphill battle and while they’ll finish second, they’ll find that the gap between second and third place will be closer than the gap between second and first. As a matter of fact, before the season began I did a preview of the American League West and predicted the Rangers would finish eight games ahead of the Angels. I was told by a lot of people, both Rangers and Angels fans, that I was insane to think that
a.) The Rangers would win the west and
b.) That the gap would be that big.
I’m not looking so crazy right now am I?
So yes, Rangers fans, it is perfectly okay to scoreboard watch this early in the season. Wins and losses are just as important now as they will be in September. But watch out because the Angels will get hot and it will happen soon.
James Holland is a Senior Columnist for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at James.Holland@shutdowninning.com or@SDIJamesHolland on Twitter.
By Chris Kautz
Over the last few years, there has been a movement in certain baseball circles to focus on more advanced statistics. Baseball minds have concluded that statistics that were heavily relied upon in the past may not be as significant as once thought, and have developed newer, more comprehensive statistics that show more of the picture.
There are also still plenty of "old school" baseball minds that believe the best information is gathered with the eyes rather than a calculator. These two schools of thought are sometimes at odds with each other. The movie "Moneyball" brought this conflict, although an incredibly simplified version, to the masses. What I'd like to talk about, though, is how this all influences my enjoyment of the game. A few of the other Shutdown Inning guys have already given their takes on the issue, and I'd like to throw mine out there now.
I'm a fan of baseball. I'm not a scout, general manager, or anyone that has any influence over how a team is put together. That leads me to mostly ignore the advanced statistics that float around. Please don't take that to mean that I'm attempting to discredit them, because that is far from the truth. Stats like VORP, FIP, ERA+, BABIP, and a million other acronyms certainly give a more complete picture of a player's effectiveness in certain situations than the classic stats such as batting average, ERA, and a pitcher's win-loss record. If you're looking to thoroughly and accurately evaluate talent, using the newer, more advanced statistics is a must.
I'm not looking to do that, though. I want to watch baseball games and be entertained. I like my opinions of players being influenced by factors I can see more than by something I have to calculate. That may sometimes give me a distorted view of the truth, but I'm okay with that. Sure, I sometimes visit websites like Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs out of curiosity, but I try not to let it influence who I cheer for.
The only real issue I have with advanced statistics is that sometimes they tell me things I'd rather not know. They point out that I like players like David Murphy, Mitch Moreland, and Rusty Greer more than
I should. I don't like that. I like to determine who my favorites are. Maybe I just can't handle the truth, but I find bliss in a certain level of ignorance.
Chris Kautz is a Senior Staff Writer for ShutDowninning. He can be reached at Chris.Kautz@ShutDowninning.com or on Twitter @SDIChris.
 by Dan Allsup
Two winters ago, C.J. Wilson pitched an idea to the Rangers brass of moving himself from the back-end of the bullpen to the rotation. The Rangers did not ask him to go to the rotation, and some in the front office were split on whether he could make it or not successfully in the rotation.
Imagine if C.J. did not propose the move to the rotation. He had some closer experience with some varied degrees of success, but he was the prototypical reliever - up, down and erratic. You know who doesn’t get fat, free-agent contracts? Erratic relievers, or C.J. Wilson circa fall 2009.
I cannot help but think money was a primary motive of C.J.’s desire to move to the rotation. I cannot fault him either. If C.J. never broached the subject of the rotation, his fate likely could have been the same as another fan-favorite reliever with a scatter plot of results, Darren O’Day. O’Day was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles when the Rangers attempted to outright him off the 40 man roster.
That could have been C.J.
The Rangers reaped the benefits of C.J.’s determination and C.J. will reap the financial benefits of his boldness. He was once a spare part and now he's the Angels' property for the next five seasons.
I see C.J. like a talented high school athlete. The one with all the talent, yet does not apply himself at all, then all of a sudden he sees that a college scholarship lies in the distance. Then turns it on, reaches the potential and cashes in on the scholarship. I’m not saying he’s lazy, just saying he picked it up once he realized his career may have been slipping away.
The degree of success that C.J. has had over the last two seasons hasn’t been matched by a Rangers starter in quite some time. Rick Helling was never this good, Kenny Rogers, nope, not Colby Lewis, nor Kevin Millwood, not Vicente Padilla either; and I‘m not even sure Chan Ho Park ever had two consecutive quality starts as a Ranger.
 The most recent Rangers pitchers to post consecutive sub-four ERAs are Nolan Ryan in 1989-92, Kevin Brown in 1992-93 and C.J. Wilson in 2010-11.
Brown is remembered in Texas for being arrogant, a word I’ve heard more than once to describe C.J. Wilson. Brown left Texas via free agency after the 1994 campaign for the Orioles. I cannot escape the feeling that C.J. will likely become Kevin Brown to Rangers fans.
His charity work is forgotten, and after years pass, only his twitter antics will remain in memories. His last two very effective seasons are all but marred by signing with the Angels and making snarky comments all the way to the beach.
If Yu Darvish posts a sub 3.00 ERA, and strikes out 200+ guys this year he will be a shoe-in for ROY and a Game 1 start in the playoffs. Also, with a season of that caliber, Darvish will have met wild expectations, and the admiration of fans.
It's easier to remember all of C.J.'s failures in the postseason, but C.J. DID have a sub 3.00 ERA, and he DID strike-out 200 guys last year for the Rangers.
If Darvish has a season like the man Rangers fans affectionately now call 'douchebag', he'll be the de-facto ace for the Rangers.
C.J. has never had an ace pedigree. He is a former reliever, TJ survivor and mid-30s lefty. Expectations, goals and titles are silly. They're irrational and unnecessary.
The Rangers are now very deep in the organization pitching-wise. C.J. was the best pitcher the Rangers had in the last 10 years, he definitely won't be the best for the next 10. The Rangers are banking on Darvish to be that man.
Now that I'm done reminding you that C.J. was actually historically a very good SP for the Rangers...you can go back to harassing him on Twitter.
But I will leave you with this:
67 starts, 427 innings pitched, 376 strike-outs, 31 wins, 15 losses, 3.14 ERA, 9.4 WAR
Dan Allsup is a Senior Staff Writer for ShutDownInning. You can email him at Dan.Allsup@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @SDIDan.
 Image courtesy of ESPN by Patrick Despain
On Wednesday night, the Rangers continued to play like the best team in the American League, if not all of baseball. Big home runs, timely situational hitting, and solid pitching are what we’ve come to know, and they didn’t disappoint against New York.
Adrian Beltre started the festivities in the 2nd inning with a monster solo shot to Green’s Hill that was estimated at 441’ to take a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd inning, Mitch Moreland singled off of Phil Hughes and Ian Kinsler doubled to right field with one out. Elvis Andrus then grounded out scoring Moreland making the score 2-0. In the at bat, Josh Hamilton was hit by a pitch, Beltre singled scoring Kinsler, and then Michael Young hit a double in the left-center field gap scoring Hamilton giving the Rangers a 4-0 lead.
The Yankees came back and scored 2 in the 4th inning but Mike Napoli countered with a solo home run into the “wedge” in right field. The Rangers tacked on 2 more runs in the later innings on a homer by Mitch Moreland and a single by Beltre. The Yankees added another and the final score: Rangers 7 New York 3.
Texas starter Scott Feldman (0-0, 3.18 ERA) pitched 3 1/3 solid innings, giving up 2 earned runs in a spot start. Robbie Ross (4-0, 2.25) retired all 8 Yankee batters he faced and earned his 4th win of the season. Feliz, Adams and Nathan came in, and despite the solo homer given up by Feliz, they all looked great. Joe Nathan, who struggled early on, looks to be getting back to his old self. He’s not 100% back to vintage Nathan, but the signs are there.
Overall, the Rangers are playing lights out right now.
There are a few of things to take out of this game:
(1) The Ranger pitching staff is really that good. They saved a start on the rotation by giving Feldman spot duty and he did what they needed going into an off day….save the rotation innings, and give the team a chance to win.
(2) The Ranger offense is ridiculous, even when they aren’t clicking on all cylinders.
(3) Josh Hamilton’s play in CF to double off Teixeira was amazing. He has already had several Gold Glove plays this year.
(4) Ron Washington and his fascination with the sacrifice bunt needs to be looked at. He took the bat out of the best player on the team (Hamilton), not once but twice. If Wash doesn’t trust Andrus to make contact or give a solid at bat ahead of Hamilton, then he needs to be moved from the 2 hole.
The Rangers have now one the first 6 series to begin the season, which is a new franchise record. They are now 15-4, and have a commanding lead in the AL West. This weekend the Tampa Bay Rays come to town, and they are 11-7 and tied for 1st in the AL East. As of this morning the have won 4 in a row, and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. This could be a very good test for Texas, as right now, the Rays could be the best team they’ve faced so far. The good news about Tampa and their winning streak, is that they’ve beat up on the Angels in their current series which concludes today 12:10 CDT.
Patrick Despain is the Editor for ShutDownInning.com. He can be reached at Patrick.Despain@shutdowninning.com or on Twitter @ShutDownInning.
 image found at sportsillustrated.cnn.com By Patrick Despain
Tonight the New York Yankees are in Arlington facing the Texas Rangers in the rubber game of a three game series. New York will send Phil Hughes (1-2, 6.75 ERA) to the mound, and the Rangers will counter with Scott Feldman (0-0 0.00 ERA).
Feldman is making his first start of the season, in spot duty. He has only pitched 2 1/3 innings so far this young season, due to the excellent job done by the starting rotation this year. The Rangers need Feldman to do what the rest of the staff has done so far, go deep into the game, and give the team a chance to win. Since he’s regularly the long man in the bullpen, that leaves a void. Feldman hasn’t been stellar against the New York in the past. In his career, he’s 3-2 with a 4.76 ERA. In those games he’s struck out 15, but walked 12 in 22 1/3 innings pitched. However, a healthy Scott Feldman, like the one taking the hill tonight, can shut down any offense if his cutter and sinker are working.
Phil Hughes has struggled so far this season. His inflated ERA comes from his outing against the Angels, where they lit him up for 6 runs in 3 1/3 innings. Minus that start, he still hasn’t been spectacular, but serviceable. In his 3 starts this year, Hughes has only pitched 13 1/3 innings and hasn’t gone beyond the 5 1/3 in any one start. So far, in a small sample size, Hughes has been susceptible to the long ball (4 HR allowed in those 13 1/3 innings), and of the 66 batters he’s faced, 32 outs have been recorded by an outfielder on a 59% fly ball rate, compared to his career average of 46%. Let’s not forget that Hughes was an 18 game winner in 2010, and Feldman was a 17 game winner in 2009. Both pitchers have displayed their talent in the past, and have something to prove tonight. Hughes is likely pitching for his job, and Feldman has the opportunity to show that he deserves a job.
However…………………….
It’s windy in Arlington today, and the jet stream should be in full affect tonight. Both Hughes and Feldman have to keep the ball down and on the ground to be successful tonight. In that regard, the advantage goes to Feldman, who has a career fly ball rate of 33%.
Keep Your Eye On:
Josh Hamilton
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
In 14 wins 58 14 27 2 0 7 18 4 4 .466
In 4 losses 17 2 3 1 0 1 1 0 7 .176
The Lineups:
Rangers Yankees
2B Kinsler SS Jeter
SS Andrus CF Granderson
CF Hamilton 3B Rodriguez
3B Beltre 2B Cano
DH Young 1B Teixeira
RF Cruz RF Swisher
LF Murphy LF Ibanez
C Napoli DH Chavez
1B Moreland C Martin
Patrick Despain is the Editor for ShutDownInning.com. He can be reached at Patrick.Despain@shutdowninning.com or on Twitter @ShutDownInning.
 Image credit to US Presswire By Peter Ellwood
Sorry about the pun in the headline. It was an accident. Never mind that, the intent is clear: Yu Darvish did something amazing tonight and it is worthy of our full appreciation.
The New York Yankees have a good lineup, even a great lineup. They are aging in certain areas, and 1-9 are still not as strong as the Rangers lineup, but any team that can send out Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and Mark Teixeira in a row is worthy of respect. Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher are no slouches, either. Darvish had his work cut out for him tonight. Plus, it’s the Yankees.
There are several notes that deserve our attention, and they’re all about Darvish. (I could have said “all about Yu” there, but I refrained. See? I’m trying to fight the urge to pun you to death.)
Darvish had a season high 10 strikeouts tonight (previous high: 5). He had a season low two walks tonight (previous low: 4). Of his 10 strikeouts, 8 of the victims were left-handed (Granderson twice, Swisher twice, Raul Ibanez twice, Eric Chavez and Teixeira). The two right-handers were A-Rod and Jeter. Four strikeouts were on sliders, three were on cutters, and one each on a curveball, splitter, and a running two-seam fastball. We have heard about and talked about Darvish’s array of pitches for some time now; tonight we saw it all in action.
The velocity displayed by Darvish reached a new level in tonight’s game. For the first time this season, Darvish reached back and hit 97-mph on the radar gun. It wasn’t a strike, but he showed that he can gas it when he wants to. Despite throwing 119 pitches, Darvish didn’t wear down over the course of the game. His 112th pitch was 96-mph, his 2nd-fastest pitch of the game. Below is a graph of Darvish’s velocity by pitch number, courtesy of brooksbaseball.net.
The Yankees swung and missed 15 times, and 9 of those swings-and-misses were on strike three. You can watch them all here: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_24_nyamlb_texmlb_1&mode=box#gid=2012_04_24_nyamlb_texmlb_1&mode=video. Most of these swings-and-misses were of the entirely uncomfortable variety, including one of the worst looking hacks A-Rod has taken in his illustrious career.
Once again, Darvish displayed his tenacity on the mound, especially when he is in a jam. In the 3rd inning, the Yankees had the bases loaded and nobody out, with Granderson at the plate. Darvish battled to get a much needed strikeout of Granderson on a 2-2 count (on a very favorable call – see the red highlighted box below for the location of the called third strike). After that, A-Rod hit a tailor-made double play ball right to Adrian Beltre, who stepped on 3rd and threw to first base to eliminate the threat. Darvish hasn’t pitched all year as well as he did tonight, but the one thing he has done is mitigated the damage done, even in sticky situations. There wasn’t much more to this game than Darvish’s performance. According to Fangraphs, Darvish had a win probability added of 54.1%, meaning the rest of the Rangers team combined for a -4.1% detriment to win probability. There were only two plays that didn’t involve Darvish that ended up being significant: Ian Kinsler’s leadoff home run, and Joe Nathan’s one-pitch double play. It wasn’t Darvish’s first ever MLB start, so it may not achieve the same kind of legendary status it may have in such a circumstance. But tonight was special, and should be remembered in the annals of Rangers history, particularly if Darvish goes on to have the kind of career he displayed he is capable of tonight. Huge thank you to brooksbaseball.net for much of the data in this article. Peter Ellwood is a Senior Staff Writer for Shutdown Inning. You can email him at Peter.Ellwood@shutdowninning.com or reach him on Twitter @Peter_Ellwood
 By James Holland
It’s that time of year again, time for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees to meet in the regular season. For so many years it had been a lopsided affair highly in favor of the Yankees. But ever since the 2010 ALCS, and Neftali Feliz’s series clinching strikeout of Alex Rodriguez, the scales have tipped in favor of the Rangers.
This year is no different.
The Rangers currently find themselves with the best record in baseball at 13-3 and currently in control of the AL West while the Yankees are 9-6 and tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. Yes, they are both first-place teams but that’s the only thing they really have in common.
The Rangers are a young explosive team poised for another run at a World Series title while the Yankees are a team full of aging talent desperately trying to cling to memories of yesteryear while fighting off the Tampa Bay Rays.
So what exactly can you expect in the first game of the series? It’s guaranteed to be the best pitching matchup of the three-game series as Derek Holland takes the hill for the Rangers against the Yankees’ C.C. Sabathia.
This will be a good test of just how far Holland has emerged as he is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in five career starts and one relief appearance against the Yankees in the regular season. Derek Jeter (7-15, .467 AVG) and Mark Teixeria (7-17, .412 AVG, 3 HR) will be the two key batters that Holland faces and while A-Rod is 2-10 lifetime against Holland he does have six walks. Nick Swisher, on the other hand, is 4-14 with four strikeouts.
Believe it or not, the Texas Rangers player with the best average against Sabathia is Elvis Andrus who is 7-18 with a .389 batting average. Josh Hamilton is playing just like a “contract year” player typically does and hopefully he can improve upon his .167 career average (with 6 K’s) against Sabathia. C.C. absolutely owns Nelson Cruz who is 2-15 with a .133 average and seven strikeouts.
So just what can you expect tonight? Holland and Sabathia are on two different paths now. One is a young rising star while the other is having some difficulties early on this season. Texas will once again be without the services of an ailing Adrian Beltre but I see no reason why they shouldn’t win this game. Texas has the better offense and deeper bullpen and, while it may be a gritty pitcher’s duel, I see Texas coming out on the winning end of this game.
My player to watch? The aforementioned Josh Hamilton. He’s back at home and is playing for the big money.
Let’s go for 14-3!
Lineups:
Rangers New York
2B-Kinsler SS-Jeter
SS-Andrus RF-Swisher
LF-Hamilton 2B-Cano
3B-Young 3B-Rodriguez
1B-Napoli 1B-Terxeira
RF-Cruz CF-Granderson
C-Torrealba LF-Jones
DH-Snyder DH-Nunez
CF-Gentry C-Stewart
LHP-Holland LHP-Sabathia
James Holland is a Senior Columnist for ShutDownInning. He can be reached at James.Holland@shutdowninning.com or@SDIJamesHolland on Twitter.
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