Texas Rangers vs Boston Red Sox: Colby Lewis Looks to Keep the Rangers Rolling

On Friday afternoon, the Texas Rangers showed the Boston Red Sox why they were the defending American League Champions and why they had every intention of repeating.

Boston got two unearned runs in the very first inning, but the Rangers fought back and not only rallied once, but did so a second time to pull out a 9-5 win in front of a sold out crowd in Arlington, Texas.

Tonight, the team will be given their ALCS Championship rings. However, don't think for a second these players wouldn't exchange them for World Series rings in a second. They wanted it, but they weren't the better team.

Though this group of players don't look like contenders on paper, they certainly played like it on Opening Day.

The Rangers got solo home runs from second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Nelson Cruz and a three run blast from newcomer Mike Napoli. But it was in the eighth inning that put the Rangers ahead for good.

With the game tied at 5-5, David Murphy was brought in to pinch hit and delivered a two-run double to give the Rangers a 7-5 lead over the Red Sox. Shortstop Elvis Andrus and outfielder Josh Hamilton followed with RBI doubles of their own, running off reliever Daniel Bard after giving four earned runs.

Closer Neftali Feliz, though not in a closing situation, came in and blew down the Sox to seal a very convincing win.

The Rangers will look to keep their momentum rolling as they will have right hander Colby Lewis on the mound but their offense will have the tough task of facing a tough pitching in Boston right hander, John Lackey.

Patience is key tonight for the offense. Take pitches, run the pitch count up, and take advantage of mistakes. They did a great job of that last night and they need a repeat tonight. Lackey isn't unbeateable as he showed last season but once he gets settled and into a groove he's one of the tougher pitchers to hit against.

As for Lewis, the Rangers need the kind of performance they saw from him last season.

In his career against the Red Sox, Lewis is 1-1 in four starts (26 IP) with a 3.12 ERA but has given up nine earned runs. Three of those have come from home runs.

Keep the ball down and don't allow Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to beat them. Sure he had 3 RBI last night, but in the end it didn't end up making a difference. He's not the only threat in the lineup but he's the biggest threat to hit the ball to all parts of the ballpark.

If he can keep his pitch count down and limit the walks, the Rangers offense will have the chance to put this game on ice early to give Lewis a little bit of a cushion.

This should be a fun one tonight. Game time is set for 8:54pm CDT and it should be a beautiful night for baseball.


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Texas Rangers vs Boston Red Sox: C.J. Wilson, Jon Lester Battle in Arlington

Though Major League Baseball officially opened their season on Thursday with six games on the schedule, the rest of the league will open their 2011 season on Friday with 11 games on the slate.

One of those will take place in Arlington, Texas as the defending American League Champion Texas Rangers will begin their defense of their league championship. The team they're hosting, the Boston Red Sox, have been talked about as the best team in not only the American League but the entire Major Leagues.

It's been an interesting off season for the Rangers. Losing out on Cliff Lee, who decided to depart for Philadelphia, the signing of free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre, the trade demands of Michael Young, and their former CEO Chuck Greenberg stepping down. Needless to say there's been no shortage of news coming from the team while they were in Surprise, Arizona for spring training.

On Friday afternoon, right hander C.J. Wilson will take over as the team's new ace of the starting rotation. He'll take the mound at Rangers' Ballpark to take on young Red Sox right hander Jon Lester.

Wilson became one of the surprises for the Rangers last season as he stepped up to be the number two man behind Lee and made several big starts for the team when they needed them the most. He made 33 starts for Texas in 2010 finishing 15-8 with a 3.35 ERA.

As for Lester, he came up one win short of a 20-win season and looks to be one of the best young pitchers in the game today. In 32 starts for Boston, Lester finished 19-9 with a 3.25 ERA.

This is the beginning of a long road for both teams. While we can talk about what the Rangers and Red Sox can or will do on paper, a lot of things could change between now and October.

As most say, this is a marathon and not a sprint.

Here's a preview of today's game, players to watch, keys for the Rangers and what they need to do to get off to a good start to the 2011 season.


C.J. Wilson (career against Boston) 15 games, 32.1 IP, 3 starts, 3-1 1.42 ERA

Jon Lester (career against Texas) 7 games, 49.0 IP, 7 starts, 3-1 2.94 ERA


Key Offensive Players:

Against Jon Lester (hot): Adrian Beltre (.364, 4/11), Josh Hamilton (.313, 5/16), Elvis Andrus (.333, 4/12), Nelson Cruz (.400, 4/10), Mike Napoli (.500, 3/6), Michael Young (.391, 9/23)

Against Jon Lester (cold): David Murphy (.222, 2/9), Ian Kinsler (.125, 2/16)

Keys to the game:

C.J. Wilson needs to stay in front of the hitters. He's going to be facing arguably the strongest offensive lineup in baseball. Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, and Kevin Youkilis just to name a few.

The moment he falls behind, he's going to be forced to throw pitches these hitters are going to be looking for. Gonzalez is going to be his biggest problem. He's one of the best hitters in baseball and can put an outside fastball into the right field seats and take an inside fastball and crush it to left. Don't feed him fastballs he's too good for that.

Gonzalez is going to struggle when the ball is up in the zone. Keep the ball at the letters or higher and don't get him a chance to extend his arms. He's the one guy who can make your day miserable. If Wilson can keep him off the stat sheets and keep his pitch count down, he should be able to keep his team in the game.

Beltre and Hamilton need to lead the offense. Assuming they start Kinsler at second they have to assume his struggles against Lester are going to continue. They have the power to beat the young right hander but they need to work the count.

Swinging at first pitches isn't going to get it done. Lester is not going to be an easy pitcher to deal with no matter which team is facing him. He has a career .244 batting average against, .245 against left handers and .248 against right handers.

The Rangers' offense is going to need to pick their spots and make sure they take full advantage of any mistakes. Miss one chance and you may not get another one.

This will be a telling sign of where the team is regardless of the fact it's the first three games of the season. Winning two of three would be huge for this team.


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Was It Werth It?: Jayson Werth's Deal Is Just The Start of Big Time Contracts

 

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Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford would love to give you a hug or at least send you a 'Thank You' card because what you did for his new contract isn't something he can put into words.

Although, the stupidity of the Washington Nationals should be worth something to Crawford as well because if it wasn't for the team in the nation's capital, Crawford wouldn't be looking at nearly the amount of money that he'll command now.

We found out over the weekend that the Nationals had signed the former Philadelphia Phillies' outfielder to a seven-year $126 million contract. The most surprising thing about this deal was the fact that it was kept almost silent. With the social media available these days, that's almost impossible and unheard of.

To read the full article, click here

Adrian Gonzalez: Very Different Reaction from San Diego, Boston on This Trade

 

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Adrian Gonzalez can now be called a "former San Diego Padre."

Late last night, rumors were on fire that the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox were close to a deal that would send Gonzalez to the northeast. I was wanting to see if this was more than talk seeing as we went through this same kind of thing this time last year.

As I awoke this morning, I found the rumors to not only be more than talk, but it turned into fact a few hours ago. The Padres had dealt their All-Star first baseman to the Boston Red Sox.

What was unclear, at least to me at the time, what players were going to be involved in the deal. For a guy like Gonzalez, I figured they would be getting some big time talent back in the deal, guys that would make an immediate impact on the team in 2011. Right?

To read the full article, click here