Napoli's return to Texas

Tonight starts a 3 game set against the Texas Rangers where Mike Napoli aka Big Napi, aka Hacksaw-courtesy of Dustin Pedroia, returns to his old stadium for the first time as a Boston Red Sox. Napoli began his first 11 seasons of his career with the Angels before being traded to the Rangers in 2011 where his bat came alive and where he believes his career really took off.

“They were probably the two best years of my career, it was awesome, I loved every single minute of it,’’ said Napoli before last night’s series finale against the Blue Jays. “I had a great time there, made a lot of great friends on and off the field, the city’s great, it was a good time.’

At the end of this contract last year, the Rangers were only willing to give Napoli a two year contract even though they knew he was looking for a longer deal. Napoli might be looking forward to going back there because he had a lot of fun, but he is also going there to show the Rangers what they missed out on this year. Napoli is tops in the league in several major hitting categories including RBIs, extra base hits, and total bases. Simply put, he's killing the ball. Which is great for him and the Red Sox heading into tonight's series. Napoli also stated the ball flies at the Ballpark in Arlington, I wouldn't doubt if we saw another 470ft blast fly out of Arlington this series. There aren't many things that can make a player be more competitive and want to dominate than playing against an old team, especially a team that chose NOT to re-sign him. Over/under 1.5 homeruns this series in Texas, I'm putting my money on the over. How bout you?