Round-Tripping Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas â€”  When Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez were in the Texas Rangers’ lineup, balls always were flying over the fence.

That powerful quartet departed over the past few years, but the Rangers are still hitting a lot of home runs -- perhaps even a record number by the end of this season.

“After they started going to other teams, people were going, ‘What are you going to do now?’ � longtime Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo recalled. “I took that personally. I said, ‘Man, I know I’m going to get it done with these kids, because they have that type of ability.’ And here we are again.�

The names in the lineup have changed, not the power.

Mark Teixeira, who replaced 3,000-hit, 500-homer club member Palmeiro as the Rangers’ starting first baseman, has been among the major league leaders in homers all season. Yet the 25-year-old switch-hitting All-Star is just one of seven Texas hitters with at least 15 home runs already.

“I never imagined that Teixeira would become this great this quick. I knew he’d hit 50 homers, but I didn’t know he would do it this quickly, or be on pace to,� said A-Rod, whose last season in Texas was 2003, Teixeira’s first in the majors. “All those guys are playing at such a high level. Rudy, he’s really a magician.�

Teixeira went into last weekend tied with Rodriguez and Boston’s Manny Ramirez for the AL lead at 28. Alfonso Soriano, who came to Texas from the New York Yankees in the A-Rod trade before last season, was right behind that trio with 26 homers.

Just like from 2001 to ‘03, before the other All-Star sluggers departed, the Rangers lead the major leagues in home runs -- this season by a long shot.

Through their first 101 games, the Rangers had 170 homers -- 30 more than the Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds. That put them on pace for 273, nine more than the Seattle Mariners hit when they set the major league record in 1997.

“We don’t profess to be a home run club,� said shortstop Michael Young, who had 15 homers. “We think we can score runs in a lot of ways.�

The Rangers were tied for second in the majors with the Yankees at 550 runs scored, just two fewer than Boston. But 266 of those runs (48 percent) came on home runs.

“Home runs usually take care of those things themselves, so we’ll definitely take them when they come,� Young said. “It’s a hit, an RBI and a run all in one shot. That’s a pretty productive at-bat.�

The Rangers twice this season hit eight homers in a game, scoring 18 runs in each of those home victories over Houston and the Angels.

Hank Blalock, Kevin Mench, David Dellucci and Richard Hidalgo are the other Rangers with at least 15 homers, and Gary Matthews Jr. had 10. Besides leading the AL with a career-best 63 walks, leadoff hitter Dellucci -- who previously played in the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Yankees -- already surpassed his career high with 18 homers in his second Texas season.

“Everybody at this level has power, sometimes latent power, but hasn’t been put into position to take advantage of it,� manager Buck Showalter said. “Rudy’s great at putting guys in that position to put good swings on the ball that go out of the park, especially this park. He’s not trying to teach guys to be power hitters, just trying to be better hitters.�

There have been 155 homers in 52 games this season at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, and the Rangers have 100 of those, the most for any home team in the majors. It is their eighth straight season with at least 100 homers at home, where they have had only five games this year without one.

The flags on top of the stadium can be misleading. Even when the wind is whipping in toward home plate, it circles the seating bowl and creates an air current toward right-center field that carries fly balls a long, long way.

Still, that’s not the only reason there are so many homers in Arlington.

“We make this park small, these kids make this ballpark small by their power and the way they go about it in their approach,� Jaramillo said. “I’ve been here 11 years, and that’s been our style of baseball for 11 years. Nothing changes, but the student himself.�

Rodriguez hit 41 or 42 homers in each of his last three seasons in Seattle before coming to Texas and being tutored by Jaramillo, who got the slugger off his front foot. A-Rod averaged 52 homers his three seasons in Texas.

“I’ve never been around anybody who’s better. He’s a special hitting coach,� Rodriguez said. “He had a connection with me, but it seems he has a connection with anyone he comes across. He really got me to distribute my weight more evenly, and then my power numbers jumped.�

Rodriguez was gone last season when the 20-something group of Teixeira, Soriano, Young and Blalock all had at least 20 homers to become only the second starting infield to accomplish that feat -- and are close to doing it again. The other infield to do it was the 1940 Red Sox that included Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Bobby Doerr.

Even though the Rangers haven’t been to the playoffs since 1999, they have hit some home runs on the national stage. Texas hitters have gone deep in each of the last three All-Star games.

Blalock was a rookie when he hit the game-winning homer in the eighth inning of the 2003 All-Star game. Soriano homered in 2004 when he was the game’s MVP and Teixeira hit one this year as a right-handed hitter, something he didn’t do in the regular season until his 28th homer this week.

Red Sox Manager Terry Francona was the Rangers’ bench coach in 2002, when Young was in his first full season, Blalock split time between Texas and the minor leagues, and Teixeira was spending his only season in the minors after being a first-round draft pick.

“They went from great prospects to great players,� Francona said. “And they did it all at the same time.�