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With the advent of replay in baseball, a lot of wind has been taken out of my sails as far as complaining about umpires. That's a good thing. I used to complain about umpires a lot because they would make many mistakes as human beings are wont to do.
I don't like complaining about umpires. You don't like complaining about umpires. No one wants to read incessant complaining about umpires. I think half the reason MLB finally instituted replay was to curtail all the complaining. And guess what, I'm not going to complain about umpires right now.
Even though the calls are corrected all over the field now, we still don't have robots calling balls and strikes so the strike zone of any particular day's home plate umpire is as standard issue as an assortment of patchwork mixed bags filled with potpourri.
Today's strike zone by home plate umpire Andy Fletcher seemed to be a particularly unpleasant scent. That's not a complaint, I swear.
No, I won't complain because the Rangers won today despite recorded evidence that human beings shouldn't be responsible for trying to make decisions about small things moving very fast and erratically across an invisible plane.
Whatever. Nothing can stop these Rangers. Not the mighty Cardinals. Not Matt Carpenter's discerning eye. Not a long road trip. Not late deficits. Not heat and humidity. Not even the infallibility of our species.
Texas is now 20 games over .500, up by 8 1/2 games over Seattle in the AL West, and have a season-high six-game winning streak. Oh, and they swept the Cardinals in St. Louis. That's pretty neat. Texas is now 6-0 at Busch Stadium since the 2011 World Series.
Player of the Game: Mitch Moreland hit the longest home run by a visitor to Busch Stadium III, a solo shot, and it came on Father's Day which is probably pretty neat for him. Moreland also extended the 8th inning on a fielder's choice play at second base as Moreland made it in ahead of the throw. That play would have ended the inning but Moreland's hustle brought Jurickson Profar to the plate to hit the eventual game-winning two-run pinch hit single.
Up Next: The Rangers make up a game from an April rainout against the Orioles at The Ballpark with Derek Holland in line to make the start against RHP Kevin Gausman. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT.