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Thoughts on an 11-3 Rangers win

Rangers 11, Astros 3

By Adam J. Morris
Bob Levey/Getty Images

Rangers 11, Astros 3

  • A sweep of the Astros...its like the good old days, isn't it?
  • Outstanding outing by Colby Lewis last night, who allowed just one run in 8 IP, striking out 6, walking one, and pounding the strike zone, throwing 59 of 87 pitches for strikes.  Lewis now has a 2.61 ERA on the season, and a 3.47 ERA since the All Star Break last year.
  • Spencer Patton made his 2015 debut, walked the leadoff hitter, and gave up a home run to Chris Carter.  This was disappointing mainly because it ruined my ability to make jokes about the Astros' offensive consistency in this series, because it looked like they were going to score 1 run in each game.
  • Every starter except Elvis Andrus got a hit yesterday, and even Elvis drew a walk.  Shin-Soo Choo's streak of leading off games with a double was broken, and he only went 1 for 5 with 3 Ks, but he made his one hit count -- it was a 2 run, 2 out second inning home run to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead.
  • Carlos Peguero continued to mash, going 3 for 4 with a pair of homers, and raising his OPS on the year to 937.  I'm going to write about Peguero at more length in the next couple of days, but the Rangers are going to have an interesting decision about what to do with him when both Josh Hamilton and Mitch Moreland are ready to be activated.
  • Prince Fielder did Prince Fielder things, going 1 for 3 with a single and a walk.  Perhaps most notably, he did it while DHing for the 12th straight game.  It appears that, at some point in the past few weeks, Prince Fielder has gone from primarily a 1B to primarily a DH, and my guess is that will only continue once Mitch Moreland -- the best defensive 1B on the roster -- returns.
  • Robinson Chirinos busted out with a big game, going 2 for 3 with a walk.  I've seen several Rangers fans ask if the Rangers would have interest in bringing Jarrod Saltalamacchia back, which baffles me...Salty is bad enough that the Marlins were willing to release him and eat the roughly $15M he's owed on his contract, but you think he's good enough to displace Chirinos or Carlos Corporan, both of whom are serviceable?  Yes, Chirinos has gotten off to a slow start to the season, but not as slow as Salty...and even if you wanted to make a change, wouldn't you rather look at Tomas Telis, who is tearing it up at AAA?  I don't get it...
  • Kyle Blanks went 1 for 5, but also hit one of the longest balls of the game, a 400+ foot shot to center field that was flagged down by either Marisnick or Rasmus (I don't remember who was in center for Houston at the time).  Blanks can hit the ball a long way, and I think the Rangers have a chance to have a nice platoon at 1B with Blanks and Moreland, once Moreland returns.
  • Adrian Beltre broke out yesterday, coming a home run short of the cycle while going 3 for 5.  And he fell down while scoring on a wild pitch, which was pretty amusing: