Pickin' ma-chines.

Picking up on the theme of yesterday's report, you don't get a beer shower for playing great defense, but sometimes you do get juice boxes and bananas.

If you've ever had a four- or five-year-old T-Ball player, you'll understand the meaningfulness of a recorded out. We were told at the coaches' meeting before the season started that every team is going to score the maximum four runs per inning every inning, so forget about the scoreboard. But if your team manages to record an out at some point in the game, that's just about the equivalent of a walkoff, inside-the-park grand slam.

In Saturday's season opener, the Town North Y Texas Rangers (I'd hazard to guess the only Rangers squad in town decked out in the new red threads) got in three innings before the clock got us. We didn't just record an out. We recorded seven, in what would be a decisive 12-9 win over the feared Dragons of Da Vinci.

Capri Suns all around.

The hitting was timely, the baserunning efficient, the shoelaces usually tied. But it was the decisive defense that, even if rejected during our several practices like a plate full of vegetables, fired the kids up and created the momentum we needed to take Game One of our big one-game series with the Dragons.

One of the uniquenesses of baseball is that the defense is the side that controls the ball. Good glovework is contagious, and a blast when it's clicking. Catch the ball and throw it where it's supposed to be thrown, and you have a much better shot at winning, even if you're not filling the box score in the process.

We don't know yet whether Josh Hamilton will be in the lineup tonight or, for that matter, at any time during this trip to New York and Boston, but defensively Texas shouldn't suffer a dropoff as a result. And if a disabled list stint for Hamilton is imminent, the new extra outfielder will be Brandon Boggs or Julio Borbon, both quality defenders who were out of Oklahoma City's lineup yesterday (though in Borbon's case it could be the result of a hamstring tweak over the weekend).

(An aside: Hamilton has already one disabled list stint and had an MRI yesterday, the results of which could prompt a second shutdown. Edinson Volquez returned from the DL last night only to exit after one inning of work with numbness in two fingers on his pitching hand. Weird.)

We don't know if Chris Davis's break from the lineup will continue tonight, but if it doesn't, part of the reason will be that his value as a first baseman outfactors his 0 for 4 lifetime numbers (including three strikeouts in three trips on Wednesday) against A.J. Burnett.

Make the plays you should, and a handful that you shouldn't (which in pre-K T-Ball basically amounts to every play), and you give yourself a much better chance to win. If Vicente Padilla, Scott Feldman, and Brandon McCarthy are going to match the one career road start each has made game against the Yankees - the trio is 3-0, 2.04 in those three starts (albeit in the vacant version of Yankee Stadium across the street) - it will likely take a whole lot of lockdown defense. New York has won 15 of 19, and you have to limit the mistakes if you expect to beat those guys. Not unlike the Da Vinci Dragons.

It can be a simple game, and winning with solid fundamentals is as good as it gets, no matter what level you're playing at. If Texas takes the series opener from the Yankees tonight, I doubt we'll see Ron Washington running out to the field after the 27^th out and standing across from Jackie Moore, Mike Maddux jogging out and facing Andy Hawkins, Gary Pettis opposite Dave Anderson, and Rudy Jaramillo paired up with Johnny Narron, all raising both hands and joining them with their partners to form a tunnel for the players to run through, on their way to snacks and drinks, but the game's still going to be a stopdown not only for me but for my wife and kids, too. We'll be glued in from the couch - Max likely sporting his Rawlings LS95B - and we'll have the postgame oranges sliced and Gatorade on ice.