A Day’s Rest Gives Elvis Andrus a Home Run; Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz Mentions

Okay, well, the title isn’t necessarily true – or at least it can’t be proven – but his first home runofthe2011 season does come right after he had a day off at SS. Last year, he never hit a homer. No home run in 705 appearances at the plate. Plus, his last home run was actually in September of 2009.

However, his first appearance at the plate on Monday at the Ballpark in Arlington for Game 1 of a three-game series against the Seattle mariners, Andrus ended that homeless streak. This home run comes after having the final game of the opening series off – Andres Blanco took his place at shortstop, Ian Kinsler moved to DH and Michael Young made his first start at second base.

Over 25 innings, Andrus adds one to the home run count for a total of 12 homers this season so far and I would definitely expect this number to continue to grow with Kinsler and Cruz both on fire then add Andrus into the mix as well as a few other players such as Josh Hamilton when he finds his groove and corrects his timing at the plate – the Rangers’ offense is going to be virtually unstoppable this season.

After Andrus hit a homer early on in Monday’s game in the first inning, Nelson Cruz ended up homering in the 4^th inning bringing the home run count to 13 in 29 innings. Cruz has not become the first ever American League player as well as third overall to hit a home run in each of the season’s first four games.

While Kinsler hasn’t hit a home run just yet tonight (at the time of this article in the top of the 6^th inning), he did hit home runs in all three of the season’s first games against the Red Sox. Kinsler and Cruz are the first ever pair of teammates to have ever hit home runs in all three of their season opening games. Further, Kinsler set his own record by hitting lead off homers in both of his first two season games. Now, technically, his third home run was a lead off as well because he was walked in his first at-bat so his first “official” at-bat was a home run…but I’m sure many would beg to differ.

Keep it up guys! Be sure to check out the recap in the morning and a preview will be up for game 2 of the series by noon!