Murphy Makes the Difference

Last night, (Wednesday June 17) was one of the most exciting Rangers wins I've seen in a while. Nothing is better than a walk-off win, especially one in extra innings. That's exactly what happened as the Rangers won 5-4 versus the Astros in ten innings. This win now means Texas is 5-0 versus Houston this season. It's the battle of Texas.

I, personally, thought the Rangers were going to win when they went up 4-3 when Omar Vizquel scored on Ian Kinsler's sacrifice fly. I know, they were only up by one run, but I thought they had it. Well I was wrong, because with a save opportunity for Eddie Guardado in the eighth, Hunter Pence homered to tie it up 4-4. I controlled my anxiousness, but I still believe C.J. Wilson should have been brought in to save the game in the first place.

I then got my wish because Wilson was brought out for the ninth with a job of keeping the score tied. He did his job well with a little, i mean a lot of help from catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty made two great throws to get the man out at second, helping end the inning with the score still tied. The Rangers, however couldn't get on the board in the bottom of the ninths, so onto the tenth they went.

To my excitement, Wilson was brought back out to the mound. He once again got the three outs to move on to the bottom of the tenth. This half of the inning, was very exciting. First Kinsler got a basehit, and then did one thing he does best; steal base. That's just what he does when it's needed most. Michael Young was up next, and thankfully he got a hit also to reach base. With a man on third and first, Hank Blalock was up to the plate. To my surprise, Houston pitching decided to intentionally walk him. At this point, there were NO outs so I started thinking; OK they definitely are going to win this.

Nelson Cruz had his turn to bat, but got out. That was OK though, it was only one out. So up comes David Murphy, who isn't exactly my favorite Ranger. Forget that though, he wanted to prove me wrong apparently because he hit a pitch that was outside to send it into left field. Kinsler came home and the team attacked Murphy. It was a happy ending to my Wednesday night.

Worth mentioning: Texas looks to sweep the Astros tonight at 8:05.