Mark

DeRosa

He went 0-for-3 against the Cardinals.

Both DeRosa and Johnny Estrada have hit in that spot this spring. It currently appears that Estrada will hit seventh, which is good news for his value. DeRosa probably won’t score or drive in many runs out of the eighth spot.

DeRosa will miss today’s game, but he should be fine in a couple of days.

They came away impressed by DeRosa’s quick recovery from a torn ACL. The Rangers need a utilityman, and DeRosa could be their choice.

With 14 hits, two homers and and 11 RBI in six games, DeRosa has broken out of his slump in a big way. He’s upped his OPS from 830 to 890 during the stretch. The Rangers’ wins the last two nights have moved them a half-game ahead of the Angels in the AL West. They’re still 2 1/2 games behind the A’s.

All four hits were off southpaws. DeRosa is hitting .400 with six homers, 10 doubles and 21 RBI in 95 at-bats against left-handers this season. In his career, he has 18 homers in 426 at-bats against lefties and 18 in 1,040 at-bats against righties.

DeRosa has really slowed down against right-handers, but he’s still doing a number on left-handed pitching. Both doubles tonight came off Mark Redman. He should be getting occasional days off when the Rangers are facing a right-hander -- at the very least, it would help keep him fresh -- but it doesn’t figure that he’ll lose significant at-bats anytime soon.

DeRosa went 3-for-4 with a homer and a double. He could have had seven RBI, but Hank Blalock was thrown out trying to score on the double in the second inning. As usual, most of the damage DeRosa did came against a lefty, Jake Woods this time. He has been decent enough against righties, but seven of his 12 homers have come against left-handers, even though he’s had fewer than 30 percent of his at-bats in those situations.

DeRosa has also seen time in the infield, so he’s essentially become an everyday player for manager Buck Showalter. As long as he keeps hitting .320 with power it’ll be hard to take DeRosa out of the lineup, but the offense is well above his career norms.

DeRosa continues to impress, but he’ll be bumped back into a utility role with Ian Kinsler set to return on Thursday. He’ll probably still be worth using in AL-only leagues for a little while longer.