April 02, 2008
Homer and More
Evan Grant points out that there was more to Josh Hamilton's game than the game winning home run:
Even before he drove the first pitch he saw from Mariners reliever J.J. Putz into the right field seats with one out and Ian Kinsler on first in the ninth inning, he first kept the Rangers in the game with two running catches and then helped give the club the lead by beating out a rally-starting infield hit.
"When I'm not having a good game at the plate, and I wasn't having one early in this game, I still want to be able to do everything I can to help the team win a game," Hamilton said. "I love playing the outfield. I love it even more than hitting."
Also note that Hank Blalock hit two doubles last night and is two for six with a walk so far. A return of anything close to his all-star form would give Texas a big offensive boost.
Posted by David Pinto at
07:44 AM
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Nice to see Hamilton jack one, if only to get Josh Lewin off his case. Lewin is the Rangers play-by-play guy, and he was getting real boring about how Hamilton hadn't produced any "moon shots" in the Rangers telecasts so far.
The homer wasn't a moon shot, but it won. And it came off Putz. I guess J.J. didn't get the memo about how nobody was allowed to score last night.
The Rangers tried to boot the game away in the bottom of the eighth, with ugly errors by the much-ballyhooed middle infielders, Young and Kinsler. But Hamilton took them off the hook.
After consecutive strong outings by Rangers starting pitching (I find it difficult to believe that I am typing this) and the shining rays of light in an otherwise dark bullpen, namely Eddie Gardado and Joaquin Benoit (as long as Laird learns to block wild pitches), it is a comfort to think that we have at least one winning combination of talent at the plate.
I chalked Young's inability to throw the pick-off at first to the flu and high fever, and Kinsler's failed fielder's choice error to, oh I guess the fact that he's young, but in any case Blalock's strong showing is a breath of fresh air to anyone who watched his stale performance post-DL last season.
I'm always hopeful early in the season. I imagine the Ranger's have to pull themselves from the pits sometime, so it might just as well be this season. Right?
For what it's worth which ain't much - that would be FWIWWAM - Padilla had a good spring, and Millwood did fine once he got back from the hammy. But the last couple days were Safeco in March and April. Let's see how they do in Arlington in July and August.
Maybe you can tell that I'm not setting myself up for disappointment.
Oh, Wilson got a reasonably tough save, too. But I'm trying hard not to set myself up for...
As a Reds fan who loved watching Hamilton last year, and was shocked when they traded him away, I guess all I have to say is........
Dammit.
To be fair to Hamilton's performance:
-he misplayed a shallow pop off the bat of Ichiro in the bottom half of the first into a "single" in the box score; and
-his own "single" hit right at Richie Sexson, aka The Manequin", was no hit.
He's a monster at the plate, and he tracked down a few well hit balls that simply would not fall from the sky. He looks like a great player, but let's keep this performance realistic.