Thoughts on a 10-9 Rangers win

Rangers 10, Yankees 9

• High scoring games are fun, although I think high scoring games where the Rangers win by more than one are probably more fun than the ones where they win by just one after having a seven run lead.
• Weird outing for Colby Lewis.  He was seemingly cruising with a 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth, then left an 0-2 pitch to ARod out over the plate for a leadoff double, had Shin-Soo Choo lose a fly ball in the lights to turn what should have been the second out into a run scoring double, hit a batter, and then gave up the dreaded two out, three run homer to Didi Gregorius, of all people, to turn it into a 7-4 game in the fourth.  He then settled back down until the 7th, when three singles brought a runner home and saw him lifted for Sam Freeman with two outs in the inning.
• The end line for Lewis:  6.2 IP, 5 runs allowed on 8 hits and 1 HBP with 3 strikeouts.  He now has a 3.49 ERA on the year, a figure that I think all of us are happy to have from him.
• The bullpen, which had been pitching well of late, made things too close for comfort over the final couple of innings.  After Texas had extended the lead to 10-5, Freeman started the 8th inning by getting Brian McCann to ground out, but then gave up a pair of singles.  Neither was particularly hard hit -- one was a seeing eye roller, the other a soft fly that fell in front of the Ranger outfielders -- but it was sufficient for Jeff Banister to bring Tanner Scheppers into the game.  Joe Girardi countered by having Garrett Jones pinch hit for Chris Young, and Jones responded by taking Scheppers deep, turning it into a 10-8 game.  A strikeout and a walk then brought Carlos Beltran to the plate as the tying run before Scheppers retired him on a fly out to left for the final out of the inning.
• Scheppers wasn't as sharp yesterday as he has been in his previous two outings since coming up.  The stuff is still there -- he struck out Slade Heathcott looking on a wicked fastball that darted back over the inside of the plate at the last minute, a pitch that would have left most hitters looking at it for strike three -- but the command yesterday was off.  Whether Scheppers can be a late inning weapon or someone you cringe about coming in is dependent on his command, and his lack of command was what got him sent back down earlier in the season.  Hopefully, yesterday was simply an aberration.
• Ross Ohlendorf and his retro, deadball-era windup got the save yesterday, the first save of his major league career.  Ohlendorf sandwiched impressive Ks of ARod and McCann to start the inning around a one out solo home run by Mark Teixeira, since a two run lead wasn't exciting enough for us yesterday.  Ohlendorf then walked Chase Headley on a 3-2 pitch that was pretty clearly a strike, but which wasn't located where Robinson Chirinos had set up, resulting in the umpire deciding that missing his spot meant it was a ball, and bringing the go-ahead run coming to the plate in the form of Stephen Drew.  Drew responded with a hard-hit ball up the middle, but it caromed off of Ohlendorf to second baseman Tommy Field, who threw to first to end the game.
• So as we all expected, the Rangers are saving games with Shawn Tolleson and Ross Ohlendorf.  Successfully saving games, I should add.
• Big game for Prince Fielder, who had a pair of homers, his first two homer game as a Ranger.  Prince is now sporting an impressive .341/.397/.521 line, which I think is much more in line with what the Rangers were hoping to get from him when they traded for him than what we saw last year.
• Mitch Moreland also had a couple of hits, including a homer, and a walk.  Moreland is actually out-performing Prince, hitting .321/.394/.543 on the season.  Even Mitch's early season d.l. stint hasn't cooled him down.
• Elvis Andrus, Leonys Martin and Thomas Field also had two hit games yesterday, with Field contributing a two run double in the 8th off of David Carpenter that ended up giving the Rangers a couple of insurance runs that ended up being the difference between winning and losing last night.
• Also picking up hits were Delino DeShields, Jr., and Shin-Soo Choo, who each went 1 for 5.  Only Adrian Beltre and Robinson Chirinos went hitless yesterday for Texas.
• 19-23 now for Texas.  Still a losing record, but it could be worse.  At this point, I'd just like to see the Rangers play .500 ball on the year.  Winning 81 games would be a "win" for the year, to me.