Q: What if the Rangers played the Rangers? Who would win?

A: The Rangers, two out of three games.

If there is one offense in the AL less efficient than Texas’s, it’s Boston’s. Texas came into last night’s game hitting .217 with runners in scoring position. As bad as that is, Boston is actually worse, at .203. (For the record, Cincinnati is even worse than those two team, “hitting” a pitiful .189. Heck, if you just stick your bat out, you should be able to hit .189 with runners in scoring position accidentally.)

The big difference is, the Rangers came into this season knowing its offense was weak, with only three bona fide major league hitters.

The Red Sox offense, on the other hand, came into the season full of swagger. It was a foregone conclusion from all the experts and talking heads that Boston’s lineup was the strongest in the American League. Its starting pitching was supposed to be the team’s Achilles heel.

Turns out, the Red Sox have two Achilles heels it needs to heal. Pitching and offense. Which boded well for the Rangers coming into Boston for a three-game series.

It’s hard to say if the Texas pitching was that good, or the Boston bats were that bad, or both. But it doesn’t matter. The Rangers came into Fenway and won two out of three games with good but not great pitching and just enough offense.

The story here, though, is that Texas’s bullpen has made a dramatic turnaround the last week games, going from pitching batting practice to pitching.

Wandy Rodriguez had an impressive strong start, following a career long pattern of some good starts followed by some bad starts. He did, after all, come into the game with a 92-96 record in his career.

But, again, the story is the bullpen. Kela for two shut down innings. Tolleson for one.

So, has the bullpen turned the corner? I don’t think so. They let a lot of runners on the bases in the past three games. A bad but Red Sox team left those runners on like a gracious host.

But, all that matters is the W, and, in the end, the Rangers head to New York with a two-game winning streak. The three games in New York will be a better indication of what kind of team the Rangers are running out there now.

The Yankees, unlike the Red Sox, are a good team.

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MOJO MEMORIAL SERVICE REMINDER:

The memorial service for Lesli Buchanan, better known here as mojo, will be tomorrow, Saturday May 23, at 11:00 a.m. at Wylie Baptist Church
, 6097 Buffalo Gap Road
, Abilene TX 79606
. May the Rangers be winning the World Series where ever she is.

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NOW IN, RR3 T-SHIRTS.

Wear your RR3 pride proudly for just $15. To order, go to: cash.me/$ourkevinlyfather
(This is a secure site, created by the makers of Square. I never see your credit card info.)

In the box for “Optional Note,” type in your name, address, phone number and shirt size (if you want to add your RR3 name, that would be nice, too, but you don’t have to, there is a limit of 50 characters).  Example: Neftali Feliz, 1000 Blown Save Drive, Closer, TX 00000, Size: XL, For: dearmidol.