Cleveland (Pavano) @ Texas (McCarthy)

I expect a high scoring game here, and these are two of my favorite teams, so lets see what happens. Making their Rangers debut are Andruw Jones, who is DHing, and Omar Vizquel, who can't hit a lick but is still a great fielder.
Brandon McCarthy was a pretty big prospect like 2-3 years ago but he has yet to do anything at all in the majors. Carl Pavano was signed as an FA when the Yanks let him leave this offseason.
Here's your lineups:

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
G. Sizemore cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
M. DeRosa 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
V. Martinez 1b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
T. Hafner dh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
J. Peralta ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
B. Francisco lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
K. Shoppach c	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
T. Crowe rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
A. Cabrera 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Texas
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
I. Kinsler 2b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.600
M. Young 3b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
J. Hamilton cf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.400
A. Jones dh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
N. Cruz rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.400
M. Byrd lf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
C. Davis 1b	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
T. Teagarden c	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
O. Vizquel ss	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Also subbing for a regular is Taylor Teagarden, in for Saltalamacchia today.
Sizemore leads off and strikes out on 5 pitches. Third straight game Sizemore has led off with a K. The Indians have made the Rangers look awfully good thus far. DeRosa follows, starts off with a 3-0 count, works it full then strikes out looking. Well done McCarthy! Martinez is up and draws a full count walk. McCarthy is throwing a ton of pitches to every batter, we will see if it costs him later in the game. Hafner, who again, has done zip since like 2006, is up now, 1 on, 2 down. Hafner K's and thats the side for the Tribe. Nice.
Ian Kinsler leads off the bottom half with a single. Young follows with a double, Hamilton with a sac fly and its 1-0 Texas and Young moves to third. This offense is great. Jones first AB in the AL is a single and its 2-0 Texas already. Next up is Cruz, who walks on 4 pitches. 1st and 2nd, just one out. Byrd is up. It seems everyone in this lineup puts up incredible numbers. Its hard to say if its the park or the players, I lean park. Byrd with a 3 run homer, 5-0 already, only one out! I seem to keep picking games that end in blowouts very early. Not that this game is over, but Christ, its 5-0 in the first at home. I need to figure out a new way to pick games to blog, or start wagering on the games I'm writing about. Theyre all asskickings. On to the top of 2.
McCarthy retires the first 2 hitters before Shoppach drives one into the rightfield bleachers, 5-1 Texas. Like I said, I expect a lot of scoring. Crowe grounds out to end the top half.
Bottom 2: Vizquel draws a walk in his first Rangers' AB and the threat begins anew, Kinsler time! And another HR, Kinsler makes it 7-1. Boy, this game may end fast too. Jees. Michael Young follows with a aingle, his second hit today. Pavano is gone, its a matter of when.
Andjust like that Pavano is gone. 2 on, nobody out, 7-1 Texas and in comes lefty Zach Jackson. What a mess the Indians are , just 3 games into the season. Jones second AB comes with 2 on and no outs, he slaps one thru the left side and they are now loaded for the Cruzer. Sac fly to right, 8-1 Texas, runner moves to third. One down. Byrd hits one right back to the pitcher but they cant turn 2, they should have though. 9-1 Texas. I am about done with this game.
top 3: Grady sizemore with a 2 run shot makes it 9-3. No games is ever over here, and McCarthy is a mediocre pitcher, so the Rangers may need 12-15 runs to end this thing.

UPDATE: Top of 5th, still 9-3 Texas. I guess the game was over in the 2nd afterall. I hope they can keep this up all year. The Indians have driven several balls deep to the track, but they are just missing homers by inches! McCarthy is lucky today. I dont think he will be lucky all year.


Top 8: Sizemore has 2 hrs, and is up again with a runner on , one down. Its 11-7 Texas though its has never been any closer than 4 runs throughout. This may be the last chance Cleveland has to make this a game. Josh Rupe, another Ranger bullpen scrub, comes in and strikes Sizemore out however. 2 down, DeRosa up. 4 more outs for the Tribe to play with, and Texas' craptastic pen is good enough to hold a lead like this I'd guess. DeRosa walks, 2 on, 2 out. One swing of the bat here and this becomes a game again. But alas, Martinez grounds out to first, the bullpen holds up. Dont get used to it. I assure you, these guys all suck. Andruw Jones gets a double in the bottom of the 8th. the guy is gonna have a big year in this park.

Rangers up 12-7 heading into the ninth, and theyll use Eddie Guardado here because its a big lead. First batter Hafner nails a solo shot, next batter Peralta hits a single, followed by a grounder to third which is turned into 2 outs. The Rangers will need to score 10 runs per game to have a shot, in most home games anyhow. Guardado hits the next batter Shoppach, in the leg, this bullpen is friggin brutal. Its utter garbage, why this team cannot spend money on any semblance of a workable pen is mind boggling to me. And contrary to popular thought, I am not often mind boggled, by baseball anyways....

Guardado gets Crowe to pop up to end the game. Home sweep to start the year, not bad at all I say.