10-10
Twenty games into the season the Rangers are sitting at .500, which is certainly better than last year. What makes this 10-10 start feel even better is the way the club has played over the last five games (winning four). The rotation seems to have settled down--another quality start from Kevin Millwood tonight--and the bullpen has too.
What was particularly interesting about tonight's game--aside from home plate umpire Eric Cooper's inconsistent strike zone--was that Ian Kinsler did not even reach base. In the nine previous Rangers' wins Kinsler had hit safely in each game and scored in eight of them. Yet, tonight Kinsler was 0-4. Just how important is Kinsler's offense to this club? In the team's ten wins (including tonight) Ian is hitting .488 (20-41) whereas in the team's ten losses he is hitting only .195 (8-41). Generally, as Ian goes so goes the Rangers. The fact that the Rangers won tonight without even a base hit from Kinsler shows the rest of the club stepped up.
Tomorrow the Rangers match Vicente Padilla up against Josh Outman. Young Mr. Outman has made two starts this year and has failed to make it out of the fifth both times. If Padilla pitches tomorrow the way he pitched in Baltimore then I like the Rangers chances of getting on the plus side of .500. And I expect Kinsler to get at least one base hit too.
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