The Rangers Are 42-32

Derek Holland: 7.0/4/4/3/4

Offense: 6 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors

Man, what is it with all this exciting baseball? On Friday night the Rangers defeated the Cardinals 6-4, aided by an uncharacteristic 4-8 (.500) in the hitting with runners in scoring position department.

Ian Kinsler went 2-4 with a walk and 2 runs scored, and Nelson Cruz finished the night 2-5 with 3 RBI, including the game-deciding two-run single off Trevor Rosenthal in the top of the 9th.

Derek Holland got spooked in the bottom of the first, allowing a costly double-double-walk-double sequence to open his night, but eventually he settled down. After the first four hitters of the game Holland allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 7.0 IP. He cruised.

The game stayed tied at 4 from the 3rd inning on to the top of the 9th. St. Louis’ only legitimate scoring opportunity came in the 8th against Neal Cotts — who after allowing just 1 hit in 28 at-bats against right-handers, surrendered back-to-back knocks to Allen Craig and Yadier Molina, inevitably loading the bases.

With two outs: On a hot-shot grounder to Mitch Moreland at 1st, Cotts contorted his body to adjust for a ball thrown behind him, and the final out was recorded.

The win gives the Rangers 4 in their last 5 games, and doing so against two of MLB’s best. I don’t know what that means, but after laying down a 1-6 mark at home against Cleveland and Toronto last week, we’ll take what we can get.

Generally the way it works is: Fans associate the Rangers losing to “bad” teams — or opponents they are better than — as if Texas can’t beat these teams, they have some real problems. Glass more than half-empty.

The fact is, even though these athletes are being paid the type of money I could only dream of having, the human element does exist in their motivation; the Rangers a good team, and they know they are good. Like really, really fucking good.