Thoughts on a 4-2 Rangers win

Rangers 4, Tigers 2

• So, hey, that Cole Hamels guy got his first win as a Ranger.  Maybe he's going to be okay after all...
• Hamels command was still not quite as sharp as you'd like, and he wasn't dominant today, but he gave the Rangers 6 IP while allowing just 2 runs, with 2 walks and 2 Ks, lowering his A.L. ERA to 4.73.  At 96 pitches, Hamels could have gone out for the 7th, but acting manager Steve Buechele was apparently more comfortable turning the lead over to the Rangers' suddenly dominant back-of-the-bullpen.
• And Buechele was right...Keone Kela, Sam Dyson and Shawn Tolleson each threw an inning, and the only baserunner came on a two out single from Victor Martinez against Kela.  And even then, the Martinez single was a single only because it hit the lip of the outfield grass and took a bad up well over Rougned Odor's head.
• Buechele was acting manager, incidentally, because Jeff Banister was ejected for not getting Adrian Beltre (who was ejected because the home plate umpire thought Beltre was yelling at him from the dugout) out of the dugout quickly enough.  You can read about it here, and see the video of the incident...unimpressive game management by the umpiring crew, I think.
• Of course, the Beltre ejection led to Elvis Andrus coming into the game for Beltre and hitting in his spot in the lineup.  The first time Elvis came up, the Rangers were trailing 2-1 and Shin-Soo Choo was on first base with no one out.  Elvis made a nice bunt for a base hit, and then scored the go ahead run when Mitch Moreland doubled Elvis and Choo home.  So maybe, if Beltre isn't ejected, the Rangers lose.
• The other two runs the Rangers scored today came via the long ball, with Chris Gimenez homering to lead off the top of the third, and Mike Napoli homering in the eighth.  The Rangers only had seven hits, but Gimenez and Napoli had two apiece, and while Choo didn't have a hit, he did have a pair of walks to go with the HBP.
• Choo was also responsible for the Tigers' first run scoring, however.  With one out in the first inning, Ian Kinsler and Miguel Cabrera had back-to-back singles to right field, and when Kinsler tried to go to third on the Cabrera single, Choo airmailed a throw into the Rangers dugout, letting Kinsler score.  It ended up being an earned run on Hamels' ledger because of J.D. Martinez's two-out infield single, although if Choo doesn't throw the ball away (and allow Cabrera to go to second), Cabrera maybe gets forced out at second on that plate, and the Tigers maybe don't score at all in that inning.
• Anaheim lost, so the Rangers are 1.5 games up on them in the A.L. West, and are 1.5 games up for the second wild card spot.  The Astros, however, had a walk-off home run from Jason Castro to beat the Dodgers, so Texas is still 4 games back of first place in the West.
• The Rangers are off tomorrow, then have a six game homestand which features three games against the Blue Jays followed by three games against the Orioles.  Both teams are potential contenders for a wild card spot, and so a strong homestand is important not just for the Rangers' record, but to hang some losses on some competitors.
• Its nice to be playing meaningful baseball again, isn't it?