I’m gonna play Will Carroll for this one.

The protagonists of tonight’s Rangers-A’s game were four players who had injury-plagued seasons last year. They all look healthy now. Mark Mulder and Chan Ho Park dueled it out, and both pitched fabulously. It helped that the home plate umpire, Brian Runge, had a far more generous strike zone tonight than last night’s ump, Dana Demuth.

Jim Mecir took over for Mulder in the eighth. He is quite noticeably thinner; he lost over 20 pounds to take pressure off his troublesome knee. He also pitched great; his screwball seemed to have much more bite than it did at any time last year.

And then there’s Jermaine Dye. Dye won the game with a homer in the sixth off Park. I’ve seen Dye four games in a row now, and he is a monster. The last two years, with his legs hurt, you could blow fastballs by him at will. Now, his hips are rotating quickly; he is getting around on those fastballs, and crushing them.

On Saturday, he took two fastballs off the plate inside and yanked them for a homer and a double. Yesterday, he singled and doubled to right. He’s smoking the ball all over the field. Everything is hit hard, even his outs. Yadda yadda sample size, but unless he hurts those legs again, he looks to me like he’s going to destroy all of those conservative projections for him. This isn’t the Jermaine Dye of 2002-03.

I’m going to the game tomorrow; Colby Lewis vs. Barry Zito. Should be fun.