Padilla tip-toes through a tricky 28-pitch inning that could have easily gone south...in other news, I posted some comments regarding last night's game over here...

And Young goes yard to right field off what appeared to be the very top of the wall...I presume the jet stream is in full effect tonight...

Regarding Darin Erstad being in the "mother of all slumps," as described by Josh: Is it really a slump if you're not a good baseball player anymore?

With respect to Padilla's 61 mph curve last inning, it wasn't nearly his slowest offering of the season...he dialed it down to 56 mph in his fifth start of the season, per FanGraphs...

And Chris Davis goes yard to put Texas up 2-0, representing his first homer since May 26th...of course, it came on a down-and-away change-up, so that doesn't count as strong evidence that he's faring better against fastballs...

Fun fact of the night from Enhanced Gameday: Chris Davis's OPS vs. fastballs (89 AB) in 2009 is .537. That's virtually unfathomable.

Not a good night for Humberto Quintero, who pulls the lazy act after a ball skips away from him and then fires errantly as Cruz swipes third base, enabling him to trot him and put Texas up 3-0...

Padilla yields a two-out run out of nowhere in the top of the fifth, but otherwise continues to roll along...3-1 Texas...

Andrus is yet again doubled off first base as Hunter Pence makes a great catch near the base of the right field wall...I'm not quite sure why he elicits such vitriol, but whatever...

New Clubhouse post up about how some ex-Rangers are performing in NPB thus far in 2009: http://www.bbtia.com/the-clubhouse/2009/6/18/the-japanese-leagues-ex-rangers.html

Oh good, another Twitter/FSNSW plug during the middle of a potential Astros rally.

And Keppinger evades Teagarden's tag at home plate following Lee's base hit into right field to slash the Rangers' lead to 3-2...

The sudden collapse of Padilla continues on a very questionable ball four to Berkman...Houston can break the game open right here with a shot into the gap...

Padilla comes storming back with five consecutive strikes after the Maddux visit, including the no-out strikeout of Hunter Pence...

And the game is knotted on an apparent passed ball by Teagarden, who doesn't appear to be having the greatest game...

Well, if there's anybody you're going to face in a bases-loaded one-out jam, it's Erstad, who whiffs on 94 mph heat in on the hands...

Regarding Teagarden, that would be my suspicion dirty (that is, that his perceived defensive struggles are the product of rust...he has played in just three other games this month, which can't be conducive to getting into a groove)...he's probably still the best defensive catcher the Rangers have, but Saltalamacchia has clearly diminished the gap...as far as a trade is concerned, Teagarden would probably be the one to go if either was to go anywhere, but he has been recently credited as a "steadying" presence in getting Padilla back on track and I wonder if his value still isn't greater to the Rangers than it would be via trade...

Farm developments: Francisco and Nippert both logged scoreless appearances at Frisco (one suspects that Jason Grilli's days might be numbered, although Nippert would probably clear waivers), MaxRam is still faltering, Borbon is hitting .355/.403/.403 this month and is 3-for-4 tonight, and the absurd Boscan/Castillo tandem finally got roughed up tonight at Hickory...

Andruw pinch-hits as the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth...