2011 Texas Rangers Rewind

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In honor of Adrian Beltre entering the Hall of Fame, running it back with the 2011 Texas Rangers, who reached threshold of a World Series title only to be denied by the St. Louis Cardinals. Beltre was always an entertaining player with a magnetic personality on the diamond. Not a Texas fan but felt like a cool rewind to pursue, sparked by the recent celebration of his career.

Fun lineup with tons of explosive potential offset by a pitching staff that was sneaky good. Hoping we may be able to acquire a high-profile arm for both ends of the staff along the way.

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Neftali Perez failed to protect a one-run lead in the top of the ninth, burping up four runs to sour the vibes on Opening Day in Arlington.

Offense was less than stellar as Josh Beckett shoved. Got a strong counter response from Alex Ogando but six hits not what we anticipated from this lineup.

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C.J. Wilson gets tagged during a four-run fifth and a two-run single by Mike Napoli, coupled with an RBI knock by Michael Young during a three-run counterpunch in the bottom of the eighth was too little, too late.

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Colby Lewis recovered from a four-run first with five ensuing innings of shutout ball, an effort complemented by a scoring outburst that featured homers by Mike Napoli, Adrian Beltre and Ian Kinsler.

Kinsler and Napoli off to sizzling starts.

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Josh Hamilton and Nelly Cruz each unloaded their first home runs of the season and the Rangers bang out 15 hits in a route.

Derek Holland scattered four its over seven innings.

Rangers have 32 hits over last two games.

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Starter Matt Harrison and reliever Tommy Hunter were both ineffective to say the least while bats go eerily silent again. Six hits ain't gonna cut it.

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Alex Ogando was perfect through 6 1/3 innings and finished with a two-hit gem in a mound masterpiece. The right hander fashioned complete control, fanning five and walking none while artfully pitching to contact.

Not surprisingly, Ichiro Suzuki snapped the perfect game with a single in the seventh and Adam Kennedy launched a solo homer in the eighth that busted up the shutout.

The Rangers' offense took some time to find its form against Michael Pineda but a two-run blast from Ian Kinsler and solo shot from Adrian Beltre supplied Ogando with all the support he needed.

Texas climbs back to .500 and trails front-running Oakland by a game.

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A two-run double by Josh Hamilton was backed by RBI knocks from Michael Young and Mitch Moreland during a four-run third that steered Texas to its second straight dub in series opener in Baltimore.

Quality start from CJ Wilson and the bullpen locked it down.

Defense has been pretty solid. Throwing error by Ian Kinsler marked just the third error so far for the Rangers.

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Thought maybe pitching would be out shortcoming but hasn't been the case over the first eight games.

Most recent example is Colby Lewis, who worked 8 2/3 innings before giving way to Neftali Perez for the final out in a 2-0 shutout of the Orioles. Lewis was efficient, yielding a walk and four hits against five strikeouts to improve to 2-0.

Ian Kinsler doubled in the third and scored on Josh Hamilton's RBI single to break a scoreless deadlock and Kinsler's sac fly in the seventh plated Michael Young with an insurance run.

Rangers have won three straight.

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Been consumed by my Mets dynasty lately and kind of forgot about the Rangers rewind.

Auto-played it through April. Rangers off to good start and sit atop AL West