The Rangers tweaked the lineup some last night in what I'm guessing is a move to jump-start Hank Blalock's slumping bat. Showalter moved Mark DeRosa up to the two spot, dropping Blalock back to the 5 hole. Blalock is hitting .342 when batting 5th but just .238 in the cleanup spot. Blalock has been batting 4th since Nevin left town in May hasn't really produced much in the span. The Rangers problem is they don’t really have a cleanup hitter. Teixeira isn't hitting for power much this year (though he's now homered in back to back games since moving to the 4 spot) and Blalock for some reason isn't the same hitter batting in the cleanup spot. DeRosa has the highest OBP on the team (.396), which makes him a good fit batting higher in the lineup, and should give Young, Teixeira and Blalock more RBI opportunities. Unfortunately tonight no one took advantage of those opportunities as the Rangers left 20 men on base, converting 14 hits and one walk into just 6 runs in a 11-6 loss to Colorado. Apparently spotting the Rockies a 6 run lead in the 1st isn’t the best way to start things off. The Rangers look to take the series tomorrow with Vincente Padilla on the mound against Byung-Hyun Kim.
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