Texas Rangers: The Silver Lining

This is the first of what I hope will be a running series of Texas Rangers stories throughout the 2008 season. I'm shooting for a minimum of one story a week, recapping and reviewing the games that came before it with other ideas that pop into my head peppered in between. Let's just hope I can keep it up.

But with the season opener in Seattle last night, what better place to start. On the surface the 5-2 loss to the Mariners looks like an aberration when compared to the Rangers' history of mashing in tons of runs while allowing as many or more. But dig a little deeper and you'll find something that could be a little more troubling for the boys in blue.

Kevin Millwood, fresh off an injury-marred 2007 campaign (10-14, 5.16 ERA in 31 starts), put in 6 innings of four-hit baseball, striking out four and walking just three. The two runs he allowed were unearned after an error started the M's rally.

Even after the impressive start, Millwood isn't jumping off anyone's radar with many experts writing him off as washed up. But remember, the veteran showed up 20-pounds lighter and looked sharp in spring training. If he avoids the injury bug, he'll put in some solid innings for the Rangers.

Surprisingly, the bullpen did Texas in with Japanese-import Kazuo Fukumori allowing three runs in a third of an inning. After a dominating spring, most of Kukumori's pitches were in the dirt, but consider it a case of the MLB jitters--or maybe because he was facing his most prestigious countryman, Ichiro--and expect him to settle down and become a solid reliever.

But Fukumori's troubles also brought to light one of those underlying problems I alluded to earlier. The box score say he threw two wild pitches but both should have been caught by Gerald Laird. While I've harped on this subject before, the Rangers decision to start Laird and send Jarrod Saltalamacchia was based on Laird's superior defense. To his credit, he did throw out two runners but he should be on a short leash. On top of that, he went 0-for-3 with two men left on base.

The other silent issue was the Rangers' quiet bats. Sure, they were facing Erik Bedard (who one-hit the Rangers in Arlington last year) but they consistently worked the count and had Seattle calling the bullpen by the 6th. It's also not that the Rangers didn't have any baserunners. The team managed seven hits and five walks but left 18 on base. To make matters worse, the teams struck out 10 times.

If you look deeper, six of those came from Ian Kinsler and Ben Broussard. I'll give Kinsler a pass as he was battling the flu and barely even started, but Broussard looked ugly at the plate. Let's hope he finds his stroke he had with Cleveland.

So where are we?

Along with the constant struggle of starting pitching, the Rangers need to learn how to hit with runners on base. Quality starts are a rarity for this team, so where are the bats when they can really use them?

The Silver Lining (I'll end every story with a positive tid-bit, something necessary for any Rangers fan): David Murphy went 2-for-4 with an RBI. The Rangers can always count on Michael Young, but in his brief Rangers career, I can't think of another player who I get as excited about to watch than Murphy. Every time he comes up to the plate, I'm expecting a double. With Milton Bradley relegated to DH duty for the time being, Murphy will make the most of the extra playing time and earn a permanent spot in the outfield. Red Sox fans are excited about Jacoby Ellsbury, but Murphy will make them even more disappointed with the Eric Gagne trade.

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