The Texas Rangers got out to a 5-0 lead under the helm of Vicente Padilla who in the first five innings really showed that he still had his stuff. Victor Diaz and Adam Melhuse both hit back to back home runs and got the Rangers off on the right foot. Padilla who has struggled after the fifth inning did it again and the Rangers say they are going to keep an eye on him for anything possible that could be causing it. The Rangers have won 5 out of their last seven and when asked if he thought they were on a streak the Rangers manager Ron Washington said that it would not be a role unless they had 10 games or so of that baseball.
Now the big question is could the glamour of Sammy Sosa's 600 hr chase have caused some distractions? The truth of the matter is I really think that it did in some ways even though the team did not want to admit it. The Rangers have won five of their last seven games and they got on that streak as he got to 599. The truth is something like that can be a distraction but the team will never admit it. Now that he has his 600 hrs it should be less of a circus and give the guys a chance to focus on what they know best and that is the game of baseball.
The Texas Rangers got a bit of good news yesterday and that is that they found out that the manager is going to the all star game. Ron Washington was named to the all star team and he thought it was a real honor to be named. This came on the same day that the Rangers recognized Rusty Greer and added him into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. Both felt really honored and thanked all their coaches for giving them their ability to do what they do best.
The Texas Rangers open up a three game series against their state rivals the Houston Astros. The Rangers will send out Kevin Millwood to the mound who will try to keep the Rangers streak alive and the Astros will counter with Woody Williams who has struggled as a starter for the Houston Astros. The game time is at 7:35pm CDT and the Astros may bench Craig Biggio some of this series so that he can get the record of 3000 at home. So enjoy the boys of summer and guys LET"S GET EM DONE.
