Tuesday Morning Texas Rangers Update

After 46 2/3 inning of baseball at The Ballpark, A.J. Pierzynski finally hit a home run for the Texas Rangers last night. The Rangers hadn't homered since Mitch Moreland went deep in last Tuesday's homestand opener against the Brewers. From then, until Pierzynski broke the drought, the Rangers still managed to score 39 runs over the four-plus game span between home runs. That's an average of nearly eight runs per game without hitting dingers.

These ain't your 2001 Bo Porter Texas Rangers.

Todd Wills provides the Rapid Reaction to the Rangers' 16-5 victory over the Houston Astros which is chock-full of fun facts to know and tell.

T.R. Sullivan recaps a game which saw the Rangers produce an 11-run inning. 11 runs is the most runs scored in a single inning in baseball since the Cardinals scored 11 in an inning last July.

Drew Davison's game story focuses on Elvis Andrus and Leonys Martin running wild on Houston last night. The top two in the Rangers' lineup went a combined 5-8 with six runs scored, two walks, and two stolen bases.

Anthony Andro chimes in on the latest shellacking of the Astros and writes that last night proved once again that the Rangers have achieved complete mastery of Houston.

Behind the DMN paywall, Evan Grant writes that the Rangers' evolution from a home run-dependent team to one that scores runs by passing the baton is now complete.

Wills writes that Robbie Ross could be sent down to Round Rock to work through his second-half struggles and to make room for Travis Blackley to make a spot start tomorrow.

John Henry has a brief note on the Foul Territory blog about Neftali Feliz striking out two in his one scoreless inning of rehab work for Round Rock last night.

Sullivan's Notebook contains all sorts of notes. There's notes on Lance Berkman, Blackley, and Ross, among others. But most importantly, there's the note that Nick Williams won the South Atlantic League Player of the Week award.

Henry handles the Star-Telegram notes and covers Blackley being the Rangers' first Australian-born player (G'day mate!), Ross's struggles, and Berkman waiting for Sept. 1.

Lastly, the DMN presents a slideshow of 10 things you might not know about Rangers pitcher Derek Holland. The first thing listed is that he got his nickname -- Dutch Oven -- because "his last name and when his pitching is 'on fire,' he's cooking like a Dutch Oven." Uh, yeah. That's the ticket.