Texas Rangers Return to Washington, Win Series over Nationals

Thursday evening, the Texas Rangers piled onto their charter jet fresh off a walk-off win and series victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Earlier that day, Michael Young's RBI single to right field in the bottom of the ninth scored Ian Kinsler from second, bringing the Rangers back to .500.

With momentum and an extra step in their giddy-up, the Rangers head back to where the franchise got started many years ago—Washington D.C.  It's their first trip back to the nation's capital since the team relocated in 1971.

In game one, a second inning bases clearing double from Kinsler kept the momentum rolling.

But it seemed to stop there.

In the fourth inning, catcher Gerald Laird injured himself and was eventually placed on the 15-day DL. 

Adding to that, the Rangers offense stalled the rest of the game, which eventually went 14 innings.  The Nationals won in the bottom of the 14th with a walk-off single from Elijah Dukes.

After a long evening of baseball, the Rangers had a morning visit with former Ranger owner and current President of the United States, George W. Bush.

This was the third time in his eight-year term that President Bush has invited his former team to visit him at the White House. The first two times came when the team was in Baltimore.

The Rangers got even better news later that morning when they learned that the injured Laird would be replaced by the catching prospect Max Ramirez.

Ramirez was acquired last season from the Cleveland Indians for former Ranger Kenny Lofton.

This season he has been at Double-A Frisco and has done nothing but tear the cover off the ball.

With a farm system full of talented catchers—Laird, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, and Ramirez—it seems that the organization wants to give this catching prospect a chance to see what he can do at the Major League level.

Game two, the Rangers took a four-run lead, highlighted by a lead-off home run from Kinsler.  But like the day before, the Rangers gave back three runs, until the seventh inning.

In the seventh, Texas complied seven runs when Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and David Murphy hit three consecutive RBI singles.  Later, Ramon Vazquez cleared the bases with a three RBI double.

Texas would go on to win 13-3 in a game when Ranger hitters recorded eight two-out RBI's, pulling the Rangers back to .500.

Game three, the Rangers sent designated team ace Vicente Padilla in attempts to win the series.

Through five innings, Padilla and John Lannan battled in a 1-0 Rangers lead, behind a Brandon Boggs solo shot.

Each team added runs in the sixth with solo home runs from Ian Kinsler and Willy Harris.

After an RBI single from Ramon Vazquez in the seventh, Ronnie Belliard tied the game for the Nationals.

In the eighth, Texas would take the lead for good behind back-to-back RBI singles from pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

With the win, the Rangers improved to 39-38 and Padilla got his 10th win of the season.  Texas is headed next to Houston for a three-game series to wrap up the Lone Star Series.