Staying focused
Michael Kirkman had a low key off-season.He went duck hunting a few times in his native Florida, but that was about it as far as extra-curricular activities.That doesn’t mean it was a relaxing winter for Kirkman, though, as he had his hands full with his 16-month-old twin daughters, Anna and Ellie.Pitching coach Mike Maddux believes the twin daughters helped Kirkman’s focus this spring, and the results have shown. Kirkman has essentially locked himself into the Rangers’ bullpen with a strong spring, and is looking to stay in the big leagues from start to finish for the first time in his career.Kirkman, 26, talked about the joy and challenges of raising twin girls. How is it being a father of twin girls? It definitely put a new spin on things. They’re running in different directions all day long now, so it keeps me in check. They listen about a quarter of the time, so they’re running everywhere and into everything. When did you know you were having twins? We knew really early because my wife, Lorie, had some stomach issues and then we saw two little dots at about seven weeks. You generally find out you have twins about 12-15 weeks into it. Did that help you prepare for it? It made it a little easier. You know, we don’t know what it’s like with one, so it’s hard for me to say how much tougher or easier it is, but we were prepared. What were their first words? They both said ‘daddy’ or ‘dada’ so that’s kind of cool. But they’ve got completely different personalities. One of them is a momma’s girl and one is a daddy’s girl. Finally, how was the drive home after the season with them? It’s usually a 14-hour drive from DFW to Lake City [Fla.], but with them it was probably 15 hours. But they were fine with it. They just slept the whole way.Number1.65 Michael Kirkman’s ERA in 2010 when he made his big-league debut with the Rangers and made 14 appearances.Injury report RHP Colby Lewis (flexor tendon surgery in July): Threw bullpen session Thursday. LHP Martin Perez (broken left ulna, March 3): Expected to miss two months. RHP Kyle McClellan (shoulder soreness): Scheduled to pitch in second spring game Sunday. RHP Joakim Soria (Tommy John elbow surgery in April): Threw a bullpen session Thursday. RHP Neftali Feliz (Tommy John elbow surgery in August): Throwing out to 75 feet. C Eli Whiteside (mild left calf strain): Day to day. RHP Wilmer Font (mild shoulder tendinitis): Pitched Friday vs. San Francisco.Videos of the daySee what Derek Lowe had to say after his spring debut and, as always, catch manager Ron Washington’s daily briefing on our Rangers blog, Foul Territory, at star-telegram.com/rangers.Drew Davison, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @drewdavison
