The rubber match of the Texas Rangers (1-1) and Houston Astros' (1-1) season opening series will take place in Houston at 2:10 p.m. Eastern time, and can be live streamed here and here.
One day after Rangers' pitcher Yu Darvish nearly pitched a perfect game, falling short with one out remaining, the Rangers will face Philip Humber, who tossed a the first perfect game of 2012 as a member of the Chicago White Sox on April 21st against the Seattle Mariners.
Houston has had an up-and-down series against their in-state rivals, torching Matt Harrison on Opening night for six runs in five and two thirds innings. The Astros ran up an 8-2 score, and quieted their critics for a night. Houston is expected to be the worst team in baseball this season, with an over/under projection of just 59.5 games.
The Texas Rangers have been the opposite of the lowly Astros the last couple of years, making back-to-back appearances in the World Series in 2010 and 2011, while reaching the playoffs again in 2012. Yu Darvish seemed to set the baseball world back on course Tuesday night when he retired 26 straight batters, and sent 14 of them trudging back to the dugout via strikeout.
Alexi Ogando, the Texas Wednesday starter, is a welcome addition to the rotation for the Rangers. In 2011, his first full year as a starter, Ogando was 13-8 with a 3.51 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 126 strikeouts. Last year, Ogando shifted to the bullpen and posted a 2-0 record, while his ERA dropped to 3.27 and his WHIP fell to an even 1.00.
Now, back in the rotation, Ogando says that he's featuring new and improved command. "My command is there. I worked very hard in spring training on the changeup and I think the results showed it paid off. When I wanted to induce a ground ball I used my changeup and the results were good."
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