PrevSearchNext Opening Day, and that which cannot be believed.

On the first day of the 2010 Major League Baseball season, five years and a day ago, Scott Feldman got the start for Texas.

Rich Harden started Game Two.

C.J. Wilson, who hadn’t started a big league game in five years, started the third game, followed by Colby Lewis, who hadn’t pitched in the United States, at any level, in three years.

The season-opening rotation for the Rangers, who had never won a playoff series in their 38 years of existence, was rounded out by 24-year-old Matt Harrison, whose two-year big league ERA was 5.76.

Let me repeat: Rich Harden started Game Two.

Frankie Francisco headed up a bullpen that included 39-year-old Darren Oliver in his third tour with Texas, Darren O’Day in his first year after his Rule 5 odyssey, and rookie Neftali Feliz. The rest of the relief corps: Dustin Nippert, Doug Mathis, and Chris Ray.

Julio Borbon’s first Opening Day in the big leagues saw him leading off. Andres Blanco (acquired by trade a week earlier) was the starting second baseman, and was lifted for pinch-hitter Ryan Garko (claimed off waivers four days earlier) in the eighth, which led to Joaquin Arias playing defense in the ninth — and one if not two of those three probably wouldn’t have played in that game (or even made the club) if Khalil Greene hadn’t announced a month after signing as a free agent that he wouldn’t be reporting to Surprise.

On April 5, 2010, Jarrod Saltalamacchia made four trips to the plate. He’d make one more as a Ranger.

That Texas club was coming off a camp in which it had posted the worst spring training record (10-19) in the American League and in Arizona, and the third-worst in baseball. It was also a camp in which the manager announced he’d failed an MLB drug test the summer before.

But what we couldn’t have expected that day in early April 2010, hours before Duke tipped the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game off in Indianapolis (against Butler), was that Josh Hamilton would boost his OPS by more than 300 points, and win AL MVP.

We couldn’t have expected that Nelson Cruz, in his age 29-30 season, would increase his own OPS by nearly 100 points and record what remains his career season.

We couldn’t have expected 115 RBI from Vladimir Guerrero, a year after it looked like his career was winding down.

We couldn’t have expected that rookie Mitch Moreland, a little more than a year after being given the opportunity to convert full-time to the mound as a minor leaguer, would come up to Texas late in the year and, over a little more than a quarter of the schedule, contribute nine bombs and drive in 25 runs with an .833 OPS.

We couldn’t have expected Wilson to win 15, Lewis to win 12, or Tommy Hunter to join the rotation and win 13 himself. We couldn’t have expected the 22-year-old Feliz taking the ninth over from Francisco and saving 40 games, or Alexi Ogando, eight and a half years after entering pro ball as outfielder Argenis Benitez, reaching the big leagues for the first time and putting up a 1.30 ERA.

In April 2010 we couldn’t have expected Cliff Lee and we couldn’t have expected Bengie Molina, let alone the moment they would give us three months after they arrived.

In April 2010, we couldn’t have expected October 2010. Never, ever, ever.

Understand that I’m not predicting a World Series for Texas in 2015. That’s not the point here.

The point is that none of were predicting anything close to a World Series in 2010 either, given the franchise’s history and especially after such a brutal spring training, on the field and off, and a regular season that started with Ian Kinsler, one of the club’s two or three best players, parked on the disabled list, and not just for a couple weeks.

That fourth of Saltalamacchia’s five 2010 Texas at-bats was also the one that ended that Opening Day.

Toronto brought closer Jason Frasor on to nail things down in a 4-3 game that the Jays — who had no-hit the Rangers until the seventh inning — had never trailed.

Michael Young doubled to right center.

Hamilton watched strike three, low and away.

Guerrero hit an infield single.

Cruz doubled the other way on the first pitch he saw, tying the game and sending Guerrero to third, where he’d pass the baton to pinch-runner David Murphy.

Cito Gaston decided he’d rather pitch to Saltalamacchia than Chris Davis, with Texas needing only a medium-deep fly ball to win the game, and he put Davis on with four wide ones.

Frasor to Saltalamacchia:

Ball one.

Foul ball.

Ball two.

Foul ball.

Foul ball.

Slider down and in, lasered to right center field.

Murphy dashed home, and after he and Cruz and Davis had advanced their 90 feet each they joined 21 of their teammates and dashed toward Saltalamacchia, who’d just rounded first in what nobody would have ever believed would be his final act as a Ranger (save a pinch-hit strikeout looking against Frasor two days later).

But then again, on Opening Day 2010 nobody would have ever believed much of anything as far as where the 2010 Texas Rangers season was headed.

Look: Don’t go anywhere.

Open the book.