Rangers Weekly Scoreboard: opening week

If there's one thing that'll make you truly realize it's the beginning of baseball season, it's getting donkey-stomped 15-2. Nothing like some adversity to remind you why it's a loooong season, is there?

Before we go any further I should mention I'm debuting what should be a new feature today: the Rangers Weekly Scoreboard. Every Saturday I'll take a look back over the last 7 days and do my best to summarize the weeks scores and happenings, and attempt to provide some analysis of them. And hopefully, for both your sake and mine, I'll accomplish that without getting too wordy and carried away. Hopefully this'll also be something I can get into a rhythm with each week, rather than agonizing over what to write about every Friday night.

Opening week was a bit short this year as most teams, including the Rangers, had Tuesday off. That just gave Ranger fans more time to savor what will go down as one of the best opening days in team history, however. They bashed Cliff Lee and the Indians 9-1 in one of the most crisp opening day performances in team history. Among the highlights where Kevin Millwood with 7 innings of 5-hit, 1 run ball, and two perfect innings from CJ Wilson and Frank Francisco. The most important stat for the three Rangers pitchers might've been the zero combined walks, however. Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2-4, HR, 3 RBI) knocked in the first Ranger runs of the year with a 2-run single in the second, and Ian Kinsler (3-5, 2 doubles, 2 RBI) and Hank Blalock (2-4, 3-run HR) also had big days in the 2009 opener.

The bats didn't cool off much over the off-day as they lead the Rangers to an 8-5 win Wednesday. Nelson Cruz socked 2 homers in 4 trips while Elvis Andrus left the building for the first time in his budding career in the 6th. Vicente Padilla managed to hold the Indians to 3 runs in his 5.2 innings, skirting disaster in the 4th. CJ Wilson looked shaky in his second outing of the season, opening the 8th inning with a HBP and a run-scoring double, but coming back to strike out the last two batters of the frame after committing an error on a comebacker to the mound.

The real scare of the 8th inning was when Jarrod Saltalamacchia wobbled off the field, apparently due to an inner ear infection, but he would return on Friday without missing a scheduled start.

Thursdays baseball activities where somewhat overshadowed by the tragic passing of LA Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. The game began with a moment of silence in his honor, as the loss of a fellow player reverberated through the baseball community. Once things got underway, the Ranger bats went to work on the Indians again, pounding Carl Pavano for 9 runs in the first two frames en route to a 12-8 final edge. Ian Kinsler (3-5, 3 RBI) and Maron Byrd (2-5, 5 RBI) both homered off Pavano to lead the way offensively, and Andruw Jones went a somewhat surprising 3-5 with a double batting cleanup.

Brandon McCarthy struggled a bit with his fastball command in his first start of the season, throwing 105 pitches and walking 4 over just 5 innings. Despite this however, he allowed just 3 runs and did display superior command of his new slurve which he utilized to rack up 7 K's. The Rangers mid-relief staff made the game much closer than it needed to be - Scott Feldman got lit up for 4 runs in 2.1 innings and Eddie Guardado looked more than a bit overmatched as he closed things out in the 9th. Thankfully they had plenty of runs to work with this time out, and the Rangers where able to enjoy their first season-opening sweep since 1996.

Friday the Rangers departed the friendly warmth of Texas for the cold of Detroit, and subsequently found themselves crashing back to earth. Kris Benson wasn't quite as bad as his 10-hit 8 run line indicated, but he wasn't very good either. The bullpen was what was truly abhorrent in this 15-2 disaster - Warner Madrigal and Josh Rupe combined to allow 7 runs on 6 walk, 4 hits and a wild pitch in three innings, further expounding on the fact that the Rangers middle-relief situation is this team's biggest weakness early on. Former Ranger Armando Galarraga shut down the red-hot Texas offense over 7 innings as Nelson Cruz's 9th inning homer was the only real bright spot for the Rangers on the day.

The erratic pitching and the cold bats seemed to spill over into Saturday's game as well. The Rangers wound up nipped 4-3 in a game in which they mustered just two hits - one of them being a home run by Hank Blalock. They actually lead twice, 1-0 in the second and 3-2 in the 5th, but both times starter Matt Harrison was unable to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard in the next half-inning. Despite the fact that the young southpaw surrendered a whopping 9 hits and 5 walks in 5.2 frames, it was actually something of a credit to him that the Tigers only turned all those scoring opportunities into 4 runs - the Tigers seemed to have a considerable amount of things go there way offensively, but that doesn't completely gloss over what was an erratic and overall disappointing '09 debut by Harrison. If you're looking for a bright spot, Jason Jennings looking solid in 1.1 innings of relief work and CJ Wilson turning in a crisp 8th inning are probably the only things to look back fondly upon today.

So overall, the Rangers wrap their first week up with a mark of 3-2 - which, compared to years past is definitely encouraging. Most notable in the "positives" department has been Nelson Cruz, who through the first 5 games has avoided the slow starts that have plagued him in his previous Major League stints - he leads the team in total bases thus far with 15, and his 3 home runs are tied for second in the AL (although it should be noted that Brandon Inge, a career .237/.305/.394 hitters has 3 homers already as well, so take that for what it's worth).

On the other end of the spectrum, Chris Davis is just 1 for his first 18, with 9 strikeouts - again, take these first 5 games for what they're worth but he's not exactly doing anything to help dissuade any doubts about his strike zone mastery and contact abilities. After the hot start in Arlington, all of the Ranger bats have looked overly impatient the last two days, really - hopefully just getting out of the frigid Motor City will work wonders for run production, but you would hope this isn't a sign of possible problems to come.

Speaking of what's to come, Kevin Millwood will try and reprise his opening day magic and stave off the sweep against Edwin Jackson and the Tigers tomorrow - then it's back to the Ballpark in Arlington for three against the Orioles and a weekend series against the Royals. Sounds like the perfect tonic to a dreary weekend in Detroit to me.