New-Look Lineup Showing Plenty of Pop

When Josh Hamilton and Mike Napoli both left the Texas Rangers via free agency over the winter, there were many valid questions as to who would produce runs in the Rangers' new-look lineup.

Nevermind that three-hit performance on Tuesday night in the Rangers' rare 1-0 loss to Oakland, but the Rangers' offense has been pretty explosive at times, even with some lesser named, less bulky hitters.

The Rangers are second in the American League in home runs and tied for third in all of baseball with 58 bombs on the season — seven ahead of Hamilton's Angels and eight ahead of Napoli's Red Sox. Last season, those two players combined to hit 67 home runs for the Rangers.

This year's squad is led by Nelson Cruz's 11 home runs and the hot bat of Mitch Moreland, who has 10 on the year, followed by Adrian Beltre's nine. After that, you have Ian Kinsler (7), David Murphy (5) and A.J. Pierzynski and Jeff Baker with four apiece and Lance Berkman with three.

The centerfield platoon of Craig Gentry and Leonys Martin has combined for three bombs, almost as many as Hamilton has hit so far.

But make no mistake, this year's Rangers lineup is a bit different and has a ton of speed, which has led to a team total of 13 triples, good enough for tops in all of baseball, led by Elvis Andrus and Martin with three each.

So far, the Rangers haven't suffered the power outage we all thought they would thanks to a well-rounded, new-look lineup.

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