Saturday, September 05, 2009

Who Are These Guys?

Scott Feldman got his 15th win last night. It was a club record 7th consecutive road win. He tied the Rangers' season record with his 11th victory away from Arlington.
Neftali Feliz got his second career save. His walk to strikeout ratio improved again. He has struckout 28 batters and thrown 4 balls to 1 batter since being called up to the majors. His ERA is 0.41 in 22 innings of work. The one run he has allowed was also the only extra base hit he has given up - a home run in Oakland a month ago.
Julio Borbon stole his 12th base.
Elvis Andrus went 2 for 3 with a walk batting second.
Chris Davis lined a two out double to the fence in left center field (the opposite field) following a Nelson Cruz walk.
Cruz's walk came after he fell behind in the count 0-2. I believe he fouled off 4 or 5 pitches. It was a thing of beauty.
Cruz also hit his 31st home run. He becomes only the third Texas Ranger to hit 30 homers in his first full season at the major league level. Pete Incaviglia (1986) & Reuben Sierra (1987) are the previous players to achieve this.
Rangers fans are having a blast at The Ballpark this year watching these guys mature. As Marlon Byrd said, "Our little boys have become big boys fast. They aren't scared. They're having fun."
Let's hope that higher expectations for next year don't change this. And let's hope for October baseball in 2009!