Battle for the Silver Boot: Part 1

[Molina00]

The Rangers got off to a great start in this year's battle for the silver boot. Sidney Ponson got the start for Texas but got roughed up for 7 runs on 9 hits over 5 innings, although only 3 of those runs were earned.

The Ranger offense got going early against Houston starter Shawn Chacon scoring three runs in the first inning. The Astros countered with two off Ponson in the 2nd to make it a 3-2 game. Josh Hamilton hit his 9th homerun of the year in the 3rd and added a three-run blast in the 4th. Saltalamacchia also hit his first homerun of the year in the 4th to give the Rangers a 8-2 lead. The Astros offense came alive in the 5th inning however scoring 5 runs off Ponson who left after 5 innings. The scored one more against reliever Frankie Francisco to tie the game at 8. The Ranger pen shut down the Houson offense for the final three innings, but the Ranger bats were about to heat up again. The Rangers broke the tie in the 7th scoring two runs to take a 10-8 lead, then blasted reliever Oscar Villareal for 6 runs in the 8th inning. Three of those six runs coming off homeruns from David Murphy, Chris Shelton, and a two-run blast by Michael Young. The Rangers finished with a 16-8 win in the series opener.

The Rangers will send ace Vicente Padilla to the mound to face Roy Oswalt in tonight's game.

[Molina00]

The Rangers made another good showing in yesterday's game against the Astros. Vicente Padilla allowed just 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings while striking out 6 to improve to 6-2 on the season with a 3.16 ERA. Roy Oswalt struggled for Houston giving up 6 runs on 11 hits in 6 innings of work as he fell to 4-4 on the season.

The Rangers got to Oswalt early with Milton Bradley hitting a 2-run homerun in the 1st, and Marlon Byrd added his first homerun of the season in the 2nd, also a 2-run shot. Oswalt then shut down the Ranger offense for the next 4 innings before giving up 2 more runs in the 7th before being pulled.

Ian Kinsler also stole his team leading 13th base of the season. That is 10 more than Michael Young and David Murphy who are tied for 2nd on the team in steals with 3.

[Molina00]

As is generally the case when the Rangers go into the final game of a series looking for a sweep, they failed to close the door on Houston in today's game falling 5-4.

Kason Gabbard made the start for Texas but struggled allowing 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings of work. The loss dropped his to 1-1 on the season and knocked his ERA up to 3.12.

Gabbard pitched three scoreless innings to start the game but gave up a combined 5 runs over the 4th and 5th innings and left the game with his team trailing 5-0. The Rangers rallied in the 7th off Houston starter Brandon Backe scoring three runs to make it a 5-3 game. Former Ranger Doug Brocail came on in relief and the Rangers got one more run off of him to make it 5-4 but Jose Valverde slammed the door on Texas for his 12th save of the season.

A day after reaching the .500 mark the Rangers failed to sweep the series and fell back to a win away from .500. Texas did hit two more homeruns (Milton Bradley and David Murphy) to give them 10 homerun in the series.

The Rangers now lead the battle for the Silver Boot in games 2-1 and in runs scored 26-15.