Rangers prevail in opener

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- With Game 7 winner John Lackey on the mound, ThunderStix in the stands and the Rally Monkey on the scoreboard, the Anaheim Angels started this season the same way they began last year -- with a thud.

Alex Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Michael Young homered, making manager Buck Showalter a winner in his Texas debut as the Rangers beat the World Series champion Angels 6-3 Sunday night in the major league opener. Most teams begin their seasons today.

Lackey was hit hard as the Angels dropped their fourth straight opener. Last year, they started off with a 6-0 loss to Cleveland and fell to a franchise-worst 6-14 before coming back.

After rousing pregame ceremonies that included the raising of the Angels' first World Series championship flag in their 42-year history, Young quieted the crowd with a three-run shot over the center-field wall off Lackey to give Texas a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning.

The Rangers rocked Lackey for five runs on eight hits in five innings. In his last outing, the 24-year-old right-hander became the first rookie to win the seventh game of a World Series in 93 years when he gave up one run in five innings of the Angels' 4-1 victory over San Francisco on Oct. 27.

Ismael Valdes made his first start in an opener and got the win against his former teammates, allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings.

Ugueth Urbina, signed as a free agent over the winter, pitched the ninth for the save. He had 40 last season for Boston last year.

Texas relievers combined for one-hit ball over four innings.

The Angels' runs came on an RBI single by Brad Fullmer in the first inning, another run-scoring single by Garret Anderson in the third, and Darin Erstad's RBI groundout in the fifth.

Rodriguez, hampered by a herniated disk in his neck this spring, made it 5-2 with a solo homer in the fifth. He began trotting almost as soon as the ball left his bat, and the ball landed deep in the left-field seats.