The Red Sox Come To Town

Oh look, a fine Associated Press photo

The Red Sox have the best record in all of baseball right now, and the Rangers have been going through a bit of a slump, losing four of their last seven, but they still happen to have the third best record in all of baseball (Yankees are second by half a game). Also, the Red Sox are 8-2 in their last ten games, while the Rangers are 5-5. So, this is a big series showdown to see who is the best team in the American League coming out of this weekend, because one of these two teams will hold that honor once this series is over.

The Rangers send Derek Holland to the hill tonight (1-2, 3.38 ERA) and he has had some  bad luck in his last few starts. Derek is 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA in his last three starts, and he did not have a lot of run support in those games. He is pitching well, and I hope the fact that this game is at home will help Derek adjust and focus and win tonight’s matchup. The Red Sox put Felix Doubront (3-0, 4.24 ERA). Je is 3-0 with a 3.93 ERA in his last three starts. Depending on which Rangers offense shows up, this could be a tough game for Derek to win.

Saturday the Rangers send Alexi Ogando (2-2, 3.38 ERA) to the hill to try to defeat a guy Rangers fans are very familiar with, John Lackey (1-1, 2.61 ERA). Lackey is having a great start to the season, and I hope a trip to Rangers Ballpark will end that for now. Several of the Rangers hitters have good numbers against Lackey, and several of them have never hit against him. Should be an interesting one to watch. Hopefully, the good Alexi will show up and hold down the good Boston Offense.

Sunday will be a great one. Yu Darvish (5-1, 2.33 ERA) will go up against Jon Lester (4-0, 3.11 ERA). Darvish won five games in the month of April and looked really good doing it. Lester has not been that good over his last three starts (2-0, 4.82 ERA), and in his last start he allowed a season high six runs (five earned) against the Blue Jays. Darvish is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in his last three starts with thirty strikeouts. This should be a really fun matchup to watch and this game has particular meaning to me because Nathan Hague, the other half of the podcast  I do, will be at the game in the press box and should have some good Rangers interviews for us on our next podcast.

I am not sure how to call this series. It all depends on whether the Rangers offense shows up or not. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter how good the Rangers pitchers do, this is going to be a long weekend for Texas Rangers fans. Lets hope it is not.