New Rangers catcher Jonathon Lucroy rounds third after his second home run of the game thinking, “I just helped secure the coveted Silver Boot for my new team.” Strangely, not a single man, woman or child in the state of Texas remembered there was a Silver Boot.

Sabermetricians must hate Lucas Harrell. He single-handedly upends everything they stand for. They are all about numbers. And his numbers paint a really ugly picture.

Look at the mess he has created:

Starts: 2
Innings: 9.2
Hits: 9
ER: 4
BB: 8
K: 7
Pitches: 186
Strikes: 92
Balls: 94
WHIP: 1.76

Those numbers are abysmal. He has thrown more balls than strikes. If he had enough innings to qualify, his WHIP would be the worst in the American League. He came out of the game in the fourth inning having thrown ninety-two pitches.

Yet he is 1-0. And the Rangers have won both of his starts.

And when it is all said and done, of the millions of stats in baseball that are divided and re-divided and crunched and shredded and calculated and re-calculated ad nauseam, the only one that matters is W.

And his team is perfect in both of his starts.

How?

Magic.

Oh, and Jonathan Lucroy.

*****
TODAY’S GAME:

Yu Darvish (2-3, 3.29) vs. Joe Musgrove (0-0, 0.00)
Game time: 1:10 pm

The Rangers have never faced Musgrove
How the Astros hit against Darvish.