ARLINGTON Lewis Brinson Jersey , Texas (AP) —ecutive fastballs for the Houston Astros before the game’s first out, giving Justin Verlander a three-run lead before he even took the mound.Add in a few doubles, including one by George Springer that should have been a home run, and the Astros won for the 11th time in 12 games with a 7-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.“Boys did a great job tonight. Putting runs up early and often is a great recipe for success,” Verlander said. “Once we got a big lead, I just kind of pulled back a little bit trying to go in energy conversation mode, just hit some spots and try to get deep in the game.”Verlander (3-0) limited the Rangers to one run and three hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked three.“He’s a very smart guy. He never throws you the same thing more than once,” Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus said. “He’s constantly changing timing of a hitter, velocity. Keep it high and low. You never feel comfortable.”Texas didn’t get a runner to second base until the fifth inning. The Rangers, whose four-game winning streak had been the longest in the AL, got their only runs on solo homers by Danny Santana in the sixth and Joey Gallo, who hit a towering blast measured at 442 feet in the ninth.Springer doubled twice, including one that appeared to clear the wall and ricochet back onto the field. Instead of a homer, after a crew chief review requested by manager AJ Hinch, Springer had one of Houston’s four doubles in a three-run fifth inning that made it 7-0.“I thought it hit the pole behind it, but sometimes they’re attached to the wall http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey ,” Hinch said. “(The umpires) just said they didn’t confirm the call.”There were two on and two outs when Springer’s liner bounced off a metal railing just beyond the 8-foot wall in the right field corner. It was initially ruled a double, and that call stood after the replay review.Michael Brantley, Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel had consecutive doubles to open the fifth for the Astros.Springer led off the game against Drew Smyly (0-2) with a double and scored when Altuve homered off the left field pole. Bregman went deep on the next pitch to make it 3-0 before the first out.“I think they just came out early kind of ambushing, looking for fastballs and I gave up three straight hits off it for double, home run, home run,” Smyly said. “That really just set the tone for the game.”Smyly struck out eight but walked three and allowed four runs while throwing 102 pitches in his 3 2/3 innings. The lefty has pitched only 15 innings in his four starts for the Rangers, after spending last season in the Chicago Cubs organization rehabbing from Tommy John surgery he had in July 2017.“You could see how more effective he was when he started mixing up his pitches,” manager Chris Woodward said. “Eight strikeouts in 3 2/3 shows he had them off balance.”EARLY TURNAROUNDThe Astros were 2-5 a week into this season after losing two of three at Texas. They followed that with a 10-game winning streak that pushed them back into the AL West lead, and were coming off their first loss since they got back to Globe Life Park for the second time already this season.SHORT HOPSThe Astros had a season high 13 strikeouts against the first three Rangers pitchers. … Altuve, who also had an RBI single, and has seven HRs and 14 RBIs his last 10 games. … Rangers LHP Brett Martin, called up before the game, made his big league debut with a perfect ninth on nine pitches.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Gerrit Cole (1-2, 3.24) has 36 strikeouts and only six walks in his first four starts. He lost at the Rangers on April 3, when he allowed three runs and four hits over six innings.Rangers: Adrian Sampson (0-1 J. T. Realmuto Jersey , 5.93) makes his second start filling in the rotation spot of Edinson Volquez, who is on the injured list. Sampson allowed seven runs pitching into the seventh Sunday against Oakland. Today in 1991, the Orioles traded for Glenn Davis. Oops! Today in 2019, there’s not much going on."Hello, friends.There are now 77 days remaining until the next Orioles game. We now know that the O’s Opening Day game will be nationally televised, as the people at ESPN deemed the likely pasting the O’s will receive at the hands of the Yankees to be TV-worthy. How lucky for us.Today also marks the 28th anniversary of the trade that sent Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch, and Curt Schilling to the Astros for Glenn Davis. That one did not work out like the O’s might have hoped. There’s nothing particularly interesting about a 28th anniversary, but let’s be honest, there’s nothing else going on.Soon, it could turn out that the O’s dealt a future Hall of Famer in that swap. According to the diligent folks at the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker, Schilling has received votes on 73.5% of the ballots revealed up to this point. That’s below the 75% threshold, and voters who reveal their ballots later or don’t reveal them at all have been less supportive of Schilling’s candidacy in the past. This was especially true last year in the aftermath of Schilling using his social media presence to share a photo that advocated for the lynching of journalists. Many have been willing to overlook his post-career choices and evaluate just his career. Schilling’s career is basically what older writers thought Jack Morris’s career was. Whether it was ketchup on that sock or whether it was really blood, that was the stuff of baseball legend.On the subject of Hall of Fame voting, the greatest Orioles pitcher of my lifetime, Mike Mussina http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-starlin-castro-jersey , has been named on 82.5% of ballots. That includes a net gain of 16 votes from voters who did not name him last year. Mussina suffers from the same phenomenon where the late/private voters are less supportive of his candidacy. Whether their reasoning is bad or lazy, that’s just how it’s been. He may squeak in there, or it may take until next year.Results will be announced on January 22.Around the blogO’sphereConstructing Orioles roster a gradual process (School of Roch)There’s not a ton of effort that seems to be going into improving the O’s roster by adding from outside the organization. That’s one reason why the O’s had an over/under of just 59 wins.Cadyn Grenier hopes his second pro year is better than the first (Baltimore Baseball)If Dan Duquette’s last draft class could turn out well for the O’s, maybe we could look at his legacy in a bit more of a positive light.Anthony Santander is finishing strong this winter. Can he factor into the Orioles’ 2019 plans? (Baltimore Sun)Speaking of Duquette, I just don’t imagine Mike Elias is going to feel the need to spend so much time with some of the recent Rule 5 obsessions.A look at a few possible back-end rotation additions (Steve Melewski)Is it worth grabbing some veteran starter who can be either traded or DFA’d in July? Probably.Birthdays and anniversariesIn 2012, the Orioles signed Wei-Yin Chen to a four-year contract. That one worked out a little better.A pair of former Orioles have birthdays today. They are: 2016 one-gamer Ariel Miranda, and 2001-05 reliever Rick Bauer.Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: historian Stephen E. Ambrose (1936), baseball Hall of Famer Willie McCovey (1938), musician Rod Stewart (1945), boxer George Foreman (1949), musician Pat Benatar (1953), Maryland’s junior US Senator Chris Van Hollen (1959), and actress Sarah Shahi (1980).On this day in history...In 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, a river that may or may not have been the same as the Rubicon in today’s northeastern Italy. In any case, this marked the beginning of civil war for Rome Miguel Rojas Jersey , and the phrase “crossing the Rubicon” remains as a metaphor to this day.In 1776 AD, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense that you probably heard about in history class, supporting independence for the colonies from Great Britain. The pamphlet may still be the all-time best selling title in America.In 1917, the Silent Sentinels, a protest group seeking universal suffrage for women, took up residence outside the White House. The group continued the protest six days a week until June 1919, when the House and Senate passed the 19th Amendment.In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles officially took effect, marking an end to the conflict we now know as World War I.In 1984, America and Vatican City resumed normal diplomatic relations. An 1867 act of Congress had banned any public funding for use on a diplomatic envoy to the Holy See.**And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 10 - or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.