Gil LeBreton 
Rangers turn a profit on adversity
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
ARLINGTON -- Ho-hum. Another night, another Ranger-palooza.
Another four nominees for ESPN's play of the day.
Another winning series -- six in a row, the first time that's happened to the Texas Rangers in nine years.
The key date, lest we forget, is April 29. Since that date, the Rangers have won 11 of 14 games, including Tuesday night's 5-2 win over the fast-sinking Seattle Mariners.
Since April 29, the Rangers have gone from a stumbling 9-18 team, awash in presumed internal strife, to a spunky 20-21 bunch, brimming with confidence.
And, uh, one other thing.
Since April 29, third baseman Hank Blalock has been injured and out of the starting lineup.
A simple coincidence?
Stop it. Perish that cynical thought.
Baseball doesn't work that way. Teams are not supposed to get better when their starting players go on the disabled list.
Different, maybe. And sometimes they get younger.
But the idea that Blalock's hamstring injury and the Rangers' current hot streak are anything but a fortuitous coincidence is overreaching. And all Blalock has to do when he returns to the lineup, possibly as early as Friday, is prove it.
Otherwise, the Ramon Vazquez Fan Club will continue to grow.
Vazquez, too, plays third base for the Rangers. Sometimes. And shortstop. And second base. And pretty much anywhere that manager Ron Washington wants to fit him in.
The "U-word" -- utilityman -- doesn't insult Ramon Vazquez, a proud son of Puerto Rico. On the contrary, he has staked his baseball career on it.
A good utilityman is the Swiss army knife of baseball. He can stab grounders. He can plug a hole at shortstop. He can hold his own at the plate.
Or, as Vazquez did on Tuesday night, he can rap two hits, drive in the eventual winning run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, and help save the game by making a diving stop of an Adrian Beltre line drive to end the Seattle seventh.
In 22 games this season, Vazquez has seven runs batted in and two home runs, including the game-winner Monday night. He's batting .344 with a .419 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .516.
And whaddya know? Also in exactly 22 games this season, before going on the DL, Blalock had seven RBI and three home runs. He was hitting .299, with a .365 OBP and a slugging percentage of .460.
Not that the comparison of numbers means anything, mind you. But, by all means, feel free to call the talk shows.
Assuming that he's medically cleared today, Blalock is expected to be dispatched to Midland to begin a brief rehab assignment with the Frisco RoughRiders. The apparent plan is to have him in a Rangers uniform this coming weekend against the Houston Astros.
Vazquez? He'll probably be back on the bench.
It's what he does. And he doesn't ever complain.
He signed with the Rangers in November 2006 after being non-tendered by the Cleveland Indians. His 12-year professional baseball career had been stagnating -- only 67 at-bats with the Indians in 2006 and a combined 85 with Cleveland and Boston the year before.
"I wanted to go somewhere where I had a chance to play, where I had a chance to be a real utilityman," Vazquez said Tuesday night.
"Playing with Cleveland and Boston, it's tough to show what you can do with that kind of playing time. I was just looking for a team that would give me an opportunity, to get me around 150, 200 at-bats a season, which is around what a utility player should get."
Vazquez started the 2007 season at Triple A Oklahoma, but was called up in mid-May. In his first game in a Rangers uniform, he went 3-for-4 with a home run at Houston. The first impression stuck. Vazquez spent the rest of the season with the big club, finishing with 300 at-bats and a career high eight homers. His most memorable day will forever be a part of baseball history -- four hits, two home runs, seven RBI in the Rangers' record 30-3 win over the Orioles.
Manager Ron Washington, a one-time utilityman himself, doesn't try to hide his fondness for Vazquez. Among the club's arbitration eligibles, Vazquez was the first to be signed.
No, he doesn't have a set of voodoo dolls in his locker, sticking pins in for each of the infield starters.
"I've been playing a lot, but not always for the right reasons," Vazquez said. "When Hank got hurt, he was swinging a hot bat.
"But that's what I'm here for. That's the job. When somebody goes down, that's when I come in to play."
With Blalock out, the Rangers' infield has been more than ably filled by Vazquez and rookie German Duran.
Don't overreach, though. Blalock is a seven-year veteran and former All-Star. The Rangers need power-hitting run producers at the infield corners. They also need dependable, play-of-the-day quality defense.
Funny, but since April 29, that hasn't really been a problem.
glebreton@star-telegram.com
