Game 3: Rangers (1-1) vs. White Sox (1-1)

Rangers drop one in the ninth... gggrrrrr.

So, we have the third and final game of this three game series. The Sox send out Gavin Floyd, while the Rangers send out Matt Harrison to the mound.

Over the past three seasons, Floyd has a 5.06 ERA in April, but throws well against the Rangers with a 3.04 ERA and a 2-2 record... in his career six starts, he is 2-3 with a 4.73 ERA. His ERA has gone up in each of his last three seasons, and has a losing season in last two.

Rangers vs. Floyd:

• Adrian Beltre: .238 (5-21) with a double and 2 RBIs
• Nelson Cruz: .111 (1-9) with 3 strikeouts.
• Josh Hamilton: .600 (6-10) with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs
• Ian Kinsler: .231 (3-13) with a homerun and 2 RBIs.
• Michael Young: .267 (4-15) with two doubles and a RBI.

The current Rangers roster bats .265 (30-113) with 8 doubles, a triple (Julio Borbon), 3 homeruns (Kinsler, Murphy, and Napoli) and 13 RBIs.

The Rangers offense is struggling coming out of the gate, Cruz is 1-6, Napoli 1-7, Andrus 1-8 and Beltre 0-7... for a combined 3-28 or a .107 batting average. 

So, considering the current trend vs. historical trend... Cruz will continue to struggle tonight. And it doesn't look great for Beltre, Andrus, and Napoli. 

Harrison is a career 2-0 against the Sox in five starts. He has a 3.54 ERA against Chicago and is coming off a 3.39 ERA season where he pulled down a 14-9 record. 

Sox vs. Harrison:

• Paul Konerko: .091 (1-11) with a double and a RBI
• Brent Lillibridge: .300 (3-10) with a RBI
• Brent Morel: .500 (2-4) with a triple and a homerun. 3 RBIs.
• Alexi Ramirez: .333 (3-9) with a RBI
• Alex Rios: .429 (3-7) with a RBI

Forecast: Harrison is going to have to pitch one heck of a game to keep these Rangers in this one. He's the right pitcher for this job, but the main concern is will our hitting show up? I can't see those four staying in this opening slump for terribly long, but today is not going to be the day they break out of it. Look for a low scoring game, with the White Sox taking it away from the Rangers once again. Score 3-2.

Game 2: Rangers vs. White Sox

Rangers won the opener 3-2, just like I didn't predict ;) but I did predict the win, so that should count for something.

This time it is Chicago's Jake Peavy against the Rangers Derek Holland.

Peavy went 1-2 with an 8.78 ERA in the preseason. Good for the Rangers. Peavy hasn't done well when pitching in April over the past several seasons, which is another good thing for the Rangers. In fact, the previous three seasons, Peavy is 0-2 with an 8.80 ERA... I'm not sure this is good coaching, putting Peavy up against the Rangers to open his season.

Rangers vs. Peavy

• Adrian Beltre is batting .235 (8-34) with 2 doubles, 2 homeruns, and 5 RBIs. He's fanned more times than hit, with 9 strikeouts.
• Yorvit Torrealba is batting .241 (7-29) with a double, 2 homeruns, and 3 RBIs.
• Josh Hamilton is batting .500 (6-12) with 2 homeruns and 4 RBIs.
• Mitch Moreland is batting .750 (3-4) with 2 homeruns and 5 RBIs.
• Mike Napoli is batting 1.000 (1-1) with 3 walks. I just thought that was interesting, so I had to share it.

As a team, the current roster is batting .289 (33-114) with 6 doubles, 8 homeruns, and 20 RBIs. There shouldn't be any problem with the Ranger's offense in this game.

Derek Holland is a career 27-22 with a 4.73 ERA. When he goes the distance, he shuts them down. He has 5 complete games in 63 starts, all five are shutouts. He doesn't have much success with the White Sox (11.05 ERA; 0-1 record in two starts). The Sox hit him good with a .364 batting average and have gone yard 3 times in 7.1 innings. The Ranger fan in me says this will change. Those numbers are from last year. Hum.

On a good note, Holland is going to be better than those numbers indicate. The current roster is batting .286 (10-35) against him (still, not much better than the Rangers vs. Peavy) with a double and a homerun. Holland's stock is going up, and I don't think Peavy's stock is going up, but going down. Looking at strickly the numbers I have seen, I like the Rangers in this one.

Forecast: Rangers over the Sox, 7-4. Holland goes six plus innings, Nathan gets another save.

Opening Day Roster 2012

RH Pitchers: 

• Mike Adams
• Yu Darvish (SP)
• Scott Feldman
• Neftali Feliz (SP)
• Colby Lewis (SP)
• Mark Lowe
• Joe Nathan (CP)
• Alexi Ogando
• Koji Uehara

LH Pitchers: 

• Matt Harrison (SP)
• Derek Holland (SP)
• Robbie Ross

Catchers: 

• Mike Napoli
• Yorvit Torrealba

Infielders: 

• Elvis Andrus (SS)
• Adrian Beltre (3B)
• Alberto Gonzalez
• Ian Kinsler (2B)
• Mitch Moreland (1B)
• Brandon Snyder
• Michael Young (DH)

Outfielders: 

• Nelson Cruz 
• Craig Gentry
• Josh Hamilton 
• David Murphy

Game 1: Rangers vs. White Sox

The season opener, Rangers Colby Lewis takes on a former Rangers prospect John Danks. Both are making their first career season opener starts, so NO PRESSURE! HA!

Danks is 1-4 with a 3.81 ERA in his career against the Rangers. He went 8-12 last season with a 4.33 ERA and has a career 54-56 mark with a 4.03 ERA.

Rangers against Danks:

• Ian Kinsler is batting .360 (9-25) with 2 doubles, 3 homeruns, and 4 RBIs. 
• Elvis Andrus is batting .455 (5-11) with a double and 2 RBIs.
• Adrian Beltre is batting .231 (6-26) with a double, 2 homeruns, and 5 RBIs.
• Josh Hamilton is batting .357 (5-14) with a double, a homerun, and 3 RBIs.
• Nelson Cruz is batting .353 (6-17) with 2 doubles, a homerun, and 2 RBIs.

In April of last year, Lewis didn't do so hot. he threw 30 innings of work and pitched a 5.70 ERA, so YUCK! I don't know if that will carry over to this season, but the last two years, he has a 4.16 ERA and a 5-3 record.  Against the White Sox, he has a 1-1 record and a 2.95 ERA over the last two years, so let's hope that is what continues and his weak April last year become what it already is: HISTORY.

Last season, Lewis tossed a 14-10 record while posting a 4.40 ERA. The current roster of the White Sox against Lewis bat .214 off him, and have only one homerun (Alex Rios) and five RBIs (led by Paul Konerko's 3, Rios has the other 2) in 70 at bats.

Forecast: I like the Rangers in this one. Lewis has the overall numbers I like to see. I think that he should continue his dominance over the ChiSox with the Rangers winning 6-3.

Prince Fielder and Roy Oswalt

I guess besides the money, Prince wanted to go where his father played. I think it is a good fit for the Tigers, not really sure for Fielder. I say this because he could hit more homeruns in other stadiums. But money is money and baseball is a business, too. I think if players were REALLY about the jewelry, they would bundle up to teams with particular players. Maybe that is how New York gets so much in talented free agents,

Roy Oswalt:
"It's enticing when you have a veteran starter who wants to pitch for you," general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday, the paper reports. "The reality is we have a lot of starting pitchers that all have high upsides, and we want to give them the ball."

It doesn't look like Roy is coming to Texas after all. I don't know if I like that idea. From a fan's standing point, we have let Cliff Lee slip from our grasp, and followed that up the next year with CJ Wilson going to a divisional rival. It's tough to see.

Yes, we get Yu Darvish and Adrian Beltre... does that make up for the loses? Bittersweet, I guess.