NEWSFLASH: Lofton Injured, Exits Game

With two men on and nobody out in the bottom of the 3rd inning of tonight's game, center fielder Kenny Lofton fouled an 0-1 pitch from Fausto Carmona off of his right foot. After hobbling around in pain for several seconds, trainer Jamie Reed came out to help escort Lofton off the field into the clubhouse.

Needless to say, this injury does not look good at all, and it appears Lofton may have broken his foot. If that's the case, you can kiss the decent return that Lofton would have brought at the trade deadline good-bye. Ughhhhh.

Desi Relaford came in to replace Lofton with an 0-2 count, and promptly grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to kill the Texas rally.

Yep, same old Rangers baseball.

UPDATE: Everybody can breathe a big sigh of relief. Victor Rojas on the KRLD radio broadcast just reported that the X-rays on Lofton's foot came back negative, and that he's been diagnosed with a "bruised big toe." Assumedly, he's day-to-day.

I guess this was one of those injuries that looked much worse than it actually was. Thank goodness.

Rangers Fall Short In Disappointing 7-5 Loss

OK. Let's play a hypothetical game for a moment here.

Pretend that you're Ron Washington, and your ballclub is down three runs in the bottom of the 9th. Pitching for the opposition is Joe Borowski, a right-handed closer who has 26 saves for the Indians this year, but also has a less than sparkling 5.15 ERA in 36.2 innings. His WHIP is a mediocre 1.39 coming into the game, and opposing batters are hitting .299 off of him. In short, he's been one of the worst closers in baseball in 2007.

Your leadoff hitter, Kenny Lofton, just dropped down a beautiful bunt single with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning. That means that the potential tying run is approaching the on-deck circle, in the person of Mark Teixeira, with just one man out. The bottom line is, you've got to find a way to get at least one more guy on base, so that you can bring that potential tying run to the plate.

Scheduled to bat next is Jerry Hairston; despite the unbridled and somewhat endearing emotion he's shown on the field this year, the fact remains he's not a good hitter. Hairston is batting .218/.279/.347 on the year overall, and a horrific .167/.256/.318 against right-handers. I'm sure Buck Showalter would love his grit.

On your bench is Frank Catalanotto, a guy who had a rough start (like most of the Rangers) this year, but has slowly come around offensively. For his career, Catalanotto is batting a more than solid .299/.362/.462 against right-handers. He's the best left-handed bat on your bench by a mile, and his ability to make contact makes him an excellent pinch hitting weapon for a situation just like this.

Batting in the cleanup spot behind Teixeira is Sammy Sosa, who got the start against left-hander C.C. Sabathia tonight. That's certainly not a problem; Sammy's been very good against left-handed pitching this year. Unfortunately, he's hitting a miserable .213/.248/.404 against right-handers. He also hasn't homered since June 30th in Boston.

If you're Ron Washington here, what should you do? Well, it would make the most sense to pinch hit Catalanotto for Hairston; after all, there's a pretty decent chance that Catalanotto reaches base, which would make Teixeira the tying run at the plate with nobody out.

Having Sammy batting behind Tex really isn't the greatest thing in the world, but with Michael Young absent from the team and the Rangers down to a 24-man roster, it's probably the best you can do. Your other pinch hitting options are Desi Relaford and Adam Melhuse, both of whom leave much to be desired.

One big advantage to letting Catalanotto bat for Hairston - since you're probably not feeling comfortable with putting Cat at a position (2B) that he hasn't played since 2002, you can easily slot in Relaford at second in the event the game goes to extra innings. That's a long way off, though, and you're concerned at the moment with just tying the game.

Batting Catalanotto for Sosa isn't quite as great of an idea, but hey, it's not like Sammy can hit right-handers much better than Hairston anyway. So, yeah, it would make sense for Ron Washington to use Catalanotto at some point in the 9th inning, both from a logistical and statistical standpoint.

Too bad I didn't have Ron's cell phone number during the 9th inning.

Washington let Hairston bat, who weakly popped out to right field. Lofton stole second base, and Teixeira lined a sharp single to right field, putting the tying run at the plate with two outs. Once again, Washington passed up Catalanotto and opted for Sammy, who rewarded Ron's confidence in him with a swinging strikeout to end the game. Queue several seconds of deafening silence in the FSN TV booth from Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve.

You know, I really like Ron Washington. I think he's a quality guy, and I believe he's got the knowledge and talent to become a very good major league manager someday. But his failure to pinch hit Frank Catalanotto in the bottom of the 9th inning for either Hairston or Sosa, two downright lousy hitters, is just mind-numbing. And while Ron's in-game management isn't near as bad as Buck's was near the end of his tenure, it still needs quite a bit of work.

To be fair, I probably wouldn't have written this long diatribe had one or both of Hairston and Sosa reached base, and Ron Washington certainly wouldn't have looked as clueless. But even if they had, it was still a bad decision to leave a good left-handed hitter on the bench against Borowski, who has a 1.47 WHIP allowed against left-handers this season.

And while I'm at it, let me say this: I really like Sammy Sosa, too. I was stoked when he clubbed home run #600, and I've always been a fan of his style of play and personality. I've grown so sick of the steroids talk surrounding Sosa and others from his era that I just don't care anymore about the whole media-driven steroids debate. I find it much more fun and relaxing to just watch a game and not wonder if a certain player is on some kind of performance enhancing substance. But I digress.

The bottom line is, Sammy is no longer an everyday, major league caliber baseball player. I think he can still be a nice lefty masher for some club out there, but he does not need to be hitting against right-handed pitching - ever again. The Rangers need to move on here sooner than later, and while I'm sure Jon Daniels dreads the thought of humiliating Sammy and his family by outright releasing him, he may have no choice but to do so. Something has got to give here.

To be honest, though, this game was lost by poor starting pitching, not poor in-game management. Kameron Loe gave up four runs in an ugly 2nd inning, which immediately put Texas in a big hole. The Rangers responded in the next half inning; with two outs, Brad Wilkerson doubled, Gerald Laird homered, Ramon Vazquez doubled, and Travis Metcalf singled to reduce the deficit to 4-3. Lofton lined out hard to third base to end the threat.

The Rangers tied the game in the bottom of the 4th, after Metcalf hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field with the bases loaded and nobody out. With men on 1st and 2nd and one out, Lofton hit a bullet up the middle that second baseman Josh Barfield managed to snag and turned into an 6-4-3 double play, denying the Rangers a lead. They never got to hold one in this game.

Loe ran into more trouble in the top of the 5th, surrendering a leadoff home run to Grady Sizemore and a triple to Casey Blake. Cleveland left the inning with a 6-4 lead, and tacked on an insurance run against Frankie Francisco in the 8th inning. Don't look now, but the Snake has now turned in two pretty bad starts in a row. I'm going to assume these last two starts have been a fluke, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a bit nervous.

In the end, this game was all about missed opportunities. Texas had men on base all night, seemed to hit the ball hard all night, and came away with only four runs. This was a very winnable game, but hey, that's baseball I guess.

The DMN's Tim Cowlishaw has a new piece out tonight, and he believes Jon Daniels should make dealing Teixeira his top priority, while holding on to Eric Gagne and Aki Otsuka. I don't necessarily disagree, but it sounds like Cowlishaw is in a "We've gotta deal him no matter what" state of mind concerning Tex, and that's a rather dangerous mindset to be in. Needless to say, I'm glad Cowlishaw isn't the Rangers GM. He'd have us trading Tex for Tony Gwynn Jr. or some mess like that.

Tim also has includes this paragraph concerning Lofton and Sosa:

Getting something for Sosa or Lofton ranks farther down the list than moving Teixeira. There's something kind of fun about seeing Sosa winding down his career with the team that initially signed him.

Again, it's been fun having Sammy here this season. The fun begins to wear off when he starts costing you wins.

Texas will look to turn their fortunes around on Friday night, as Cleveland's Fausto Carmona takes on Brandon McCarthy.

Let's hope the dreaded "Curse of the Four Run Inning" doesn't strike the Rangers' starting pitching for a third straight game.

Friday, July 20th Game Preview

Cleveland Indians (56-39) at Texas Rangers (41-54)

F. Carmona (11-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. B. McCarthy (4-6, 5.59 ERA)

7:35 PM CST in Arlington, Texas (Rangers Ballpark in Arlington)

TV: FSNSW | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

NEWSFLASH: Otsuka To DL; Feldman Recalled

Per T.R. Sullivan, the Rangers have placed reliever Aki Otsuka on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to July 9th), and have called up right-hander Scott Feldman from Triple-A Oklahoma. An MRI performed today revealed that Aki still has inflammation in his sore right elbow, but that there is no structural damage, which is a very good sign.

Otsuka would be eligible to return from the disabled list next Tuesday against Seattle, but it doesn't appear he'll be returning by then, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting the Rangers will rest Aki until Monday. He'll play catch that day, and then progress to bullpen sessions and a rehab assignment if all goes well.

Aki was pleased with the results of the MRI:

"I'm relieved," said Otsuka, who is 2-1 with a 2.51 ERA and four saves and has been the subject of recent trade speculation. "The ligament is a big problem but this is just a muscle and it needs rest."

There's also a quote from Jon Daniels in the FWST story, with Daniels saying he doesn't believe Otsuka's injury will hurt his trade value. I wouldn't count on that, Jon.

Feldman has a 6.67 ERA in 28.1 innings for the Rangers this year, and hasn't been much more successful in AAA, accumulating a 6.33 ERA in 21.1 innings for the Redhawks. Texas couldn't recall Wes Littleton because they wouldn't have been able to backdate the DL assignment, as Littleton was optioned just two days ago to make room for Robinson Tejeda on the 25-man roster.

Thursday Afternoon Rangers Notes

Things certainly could have gone better for the Rangers on the West Coast this past week, but a 3-3 road trip isn't too bad.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get much easier for Texas over the next week, as the Indians and Mariners lie ahead during a seven game homestand in Arlington that begins tonight. Cleveland leads the AL wild card race at 55-39, while Seattle sits just a game back of Cleveland and two games behind the division leading Angels.

Of course, the biggest topic of interest concerning the Rangers right now is the approaching trade deadline. ESPN's Jayson Stark wrote about the latest rumblings out of Arlington this morning, and he doesn't seem to be particularly optimistic that Texas will completing any major deals:

What team has the biggest names to sell off this month? Everyone agrees it's the Rangers. But the Rangers' asking price for Teixeira, Eric Gagne, Akinori Otsuka and everyone else has been so off the charts, an official of one team predicts: "The way they're going right now, I don't think they'll make a trade -- any trade."

There's several other comments from rival executives, who seem to be particularly frustrated at the high price tags being placed on the Rangers' main trade commodities by GM Jon Daniels. This isn't the first time we've heard rumors of Daniels being labeled as difficult to deal with around the league, but it's hard to say what percentage of those rumors are truly accurate, and how many of those spring from resentment by rival GMs who tried unsuccessfully to pull a fast one on Daniels.

T.R. Sullivan has a lengthy article on "Postcards from Elysian Fields" that seems to echo some of these sentiments, but Sullivan doesn't agree with the idea that Daniels is simply difficult to deal with:

Yes, he has some people around the league fuming. One scout said the Rangers were being "completely unrealistic" when it comes to their relievers, and another said his team was backing off Teixeira because Daniels was "asking for the world."

He has to. Daniels only answers to Tom Hicks and he can't miss on the return package if he does trade Teixeira. Daniels knows it's better to take a highly-motivated Teixeira into his walk year in 2008 rather than get fifty cents on the dollar in return on a trade.

I'm still really hoping to see the Rangers deal Teixeira, but there's no arguing with Sullivan's logic: accepting a less than spectacular package of players for Tex doesn't really help the Rangers, and given that this will be considered the signature trade of Jon Daniels' career, he can't really afford to miss the mark here.

T.R. also comes right out and says that Sammy Sosa will be dealt, but that the Rangers "have to find the right buyer first." Whatever that means. It certainly wouldn't look good from a public relations standpoint to deal Sammy to a non-contender, but something has to get done here, since Ron Washington continues to insist on batting him against right-handers. Sosa's hitting a miserable .213/.248/.404 against RHP this year, a major dropoff from his .348/.450/.606 line against LHP.

On a related note, Sammy will be honored for hitting his 600th home run with a pre-game ceremony before Saturday's game. Rangers PA announcer Chuck Morgan was on BaD Radio earlier this afternoon, and said that Van Diesel, Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou and others would be in attendance. Yeah, don't look for Sosa to get dealt before Saturday.

Jason Botts was placed on the seven-day disabled list Wednesday with a lacerated finger, which he injured on Tuesday night when a fly ball glanced off his right ring finger, tearing up the nail and fracturing the end of his finger. I imagine that's a pretty painful injury, and let's pray this DL trip doesn't slow down Jason's scorching hot bat.

Aki Otsuka was set to be examined today by team orthopedist Dr. Keith Meister before the Rangers were to make a decision on whether or not to place him on the disabled list. Otsuka suffered a setback while warming up in preparation for a relief appearance on Tuesday night, forcing him to end his warmup session after just 10 pitches due to soreness in his troublesome right elbow.

Otsuka will likely have a precautionary MRI performed on his elbow, although Texas doesn't believe he has structural damage. The Rangers can only backdate a potential DL assignment ten days, meaning he wouldn't be eligible to pitch again until July 24th. At this point, Aki's very likely headed for the disabled list, which would pretty much cripple the chances of him being dealt before the trade deadline. And that's probably for the best.

The Rangers are now hoping Vicente Padilla can make his next rehab start on Friday night in Frisco, which would put him on schedule to rejoin the rotation sometime next week. I wouldn't hold my breath on that happening, but Robinson Tejeda is probably in the most danger of losing his rotation spot if Padilla does return.

Michael Young will miss Friday and Saturday's games against Cleveland to attend the funeral of his wife's grandmother in Los Angeles.

Speaking of Young, Jamey Newberg has the newest installment of his "Swapping Stories" column out, detailing the history of the Doug Melvin trade that brought Young to the Rangers in July 2000 in exchange for Esteban Loaiza. Jamey left this part out, but as you may recall, John Hart nearly dealt Young away several years later, citing concerns over his offense. Uh huh.

Ian Kinsler was expected to begin jogging today, with the hopes of returning from the disabled list on July 27th against Kansas City. It'll be nice having Kinsler back, as that means not having to get spared to death on a nightly basis by Desi Relaford and friends.

And finally, the DMN's Evan Grant had his weekly chat session yesterday. There's far too much great stuff there to begin to try summarizing it, so instead, I'll simply advise you to check it out if you haven't seen it yet.

Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia will face Kameron Loe about 40 minutes from now; on April 25th, the Rangers roughed up Sabathia for five runs in six innings, but lost 8-7 in 11 innings.

Texas needs to finish the job tonight.

Thursday, July 19th Game Preview

Cleveland Indians (55-39) at Texas Rangers (41-53)

C.C. Sabathia (12-4, 3.78 ERA) vs. Kameron Loe (5-7, 5.49 ERA)

7:35 PM CST in Arlington, Texas (Rangers Ballpark in Arlington)

TV: FSNSW | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

DiNardo Puzzles Rangers In 6-0 Shutout

Back on May 29th, Oakland's Lenny DiNardo gave up just one earned run in 5.1 innings to the Rangers back in Arlington.

Unfortunately for DiNardo, he also surrendered three unearned runs, courtesy of fielding errors committed by Shannon Stewart and himself in a disasterous 6th inning. Texas would go on to win that game, 4-0.

On Wednesday afternoon, Lenny got his revenge.

DiNardo pitched seven innings of shutout baseball against Texas, allowing just three hits in perhaps the most dominant outing of his major league career. He only needed 84 pitches to get through those seven innings, and you can sum up the Rangers offense on Wednesday in one word: nonexistent. Then again, Texas was in trouble the moment Ron Washington turned in his lineup card - with Adam Melhuse batting fifth. Ugh.

Kevin Millwood suffered a similiar fate to that of DiNardo during his May 29th outing, as Millwood gave up four runs (only one of which was earned) during a brutal 2nd inning. With men on 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Mark Kotsay hit a grounder right back to Millwood, who threw to Michael Young at second base in the hopes of turning a 1-6-3 double play.

Michael Young had to leap to snag Millwood's high throw, but apparently came down on the bag before Mark Ellis slid in. Unfortunately, second base umpire Marvin Hudson ruled Young's foot wasn't on the bag, loading the bases with nobody out and opening the floodgates for Oakland.

Both Young and Millwood acknowledged Hudson had blown the call, but didn't seem too upset about it:

"I came down on the bag, but he's got a tough angle," Young said. "Sometimes that stuff happens. The umpire has a tough job, and that's not an easy angle. It would have been nice to get that out, but it's no big deal."

[...]

"It wasn't a good throw, but he was still out," Millwood said. "But even if he's still out, they probably still score one or two, and that would have been enough today."

Putting aside that ugly 2nd inning, Millwood faced the minimum of 15 batters during the 1st and 3rd through 6th innings on Tuesday. Not bad, considering the Rangers were frustrated with home plate umpire Chris Guccione's strike zone.

On the minor league front, Bakersfield's Chris Davis had his 35-game hitting streak snapped after going 0 for 4 with a walk against Single-A Stockton, meaning he'll have settle for a share of the California League record with Brent Gates. Also, Nelson Cruz went 3 for 5 with a home run for Triple-A Oklahoma, putting his batting line for the Redhawks this year at .338/.408/.669 in 133 AB.

Work prevented me from being able to watch the Rangers on Wednesday, but in retrospect, that's probably not such a bad thing.

Rangers Roll To 3rd Straight Win

Despite yet another miserable start from Robinson Tejeda, the Rangers keep on rolling.

Tejeda went just 4.1 innings on Tuesday night, giving up three earned runs on four hits and six walks. Incredibly enough, Tejeda surrendered just one run through the first four innings to Oakland, before leading off the bottom of the 5th inning with a Shannon Stewart walk and a Jack Cust home run. With Texas well out of contention, expect to see the Rangers stick with Tejeda as he tries to work through his ever growing problems on the mound.

Even though Tejeda was lousy, the bullpen stepped up yet again with a brilliant night of work. Willie Eyre had a run charged to his ledger in the 6th inning after C.J. Wilson allowed an inherited runner to score, but Wilson and Ron Mahay combined to shut out Oakland for the final four innings of the game.

The A's finally scored more than three runs in a game for the first time since July 2nd, but that doesn't do you much good when your pitching staff gives up 11 runs. Every single Ranger in Monday night's starting lineup reached base at least once; Michael Young led the way with a monster 5 for 5, two double night, while Kenny Lofton went 3 for 5 with a walk and a triple. Mark Teixeira went just 0 for 1, but with four walks. Very impressive.

Evan Grant has his latest edition of the DMN Rangers newsletter out, with Grant echoing Ken Rosenthal's thoughts from yesterday on why contending teams aren't beating down the Rangers' door for Mark Teixeira. He also fields questions on Jamey Wright, divisional realignment (which is never going to happen), Torii Hunter's possible future as a Ranger, and much more. Excellent stuff as always, and definitely worth checking out.

T.R. Sullivan writes that trade talks concerning Mark Teixeira have increased considerably during the last few days, with the Red Sox, Angels, Braves, and Yankees showing the most interest. Ron Mahay, Joaquin Benoit, Brad Wilkerson and Jamey Wright are also drawing interest, in addition to the familiar names of Lofton, Otsuka and Gagne.

Sullivan also notes that Marlon Byrd will start in center field on Wednesday afternoon for Texas, in what appears to be an early audition for the center field job in case Lofton is dealt. That's something I definitely expect to happen.

MLB.com's Drew Davidson has a real nice article out on Frisco's Eric Hurley, while Marlon Byrd has a great "Player Perspectives" piece on his road to becoming a key player for the Rangers in 2007. This paragraph from Byrd, in particular, seems to contrast just a bit with Teixeira's comments last week:

Having played for three different teams the past three years, I would love to find a more permanent home here in Texas. I love playing here. I think we do have a very good team and our manager, Ron Washington, has unbelievable energy. We have a smart and young GM and we have an owner who really wants to win. With the talent we have, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

On the minor league front, Edinson Volquez has been promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma after going 8-1 with a 3.55 ERA at Frisco. The most encouraging sign here is that Volquez only walked 19 in 58.1 innings, while striking out 62. Assistant GM Thad Levine is not ruling out the possibility of Edinson pitching in the majors this year, although that doesn't seem like the greatest idea.

Single-A Bakersfield's Chris Davis went 1 for 5 with a double to extend his California League hitting streak to 35 games, tying the previous record set by Brent Gates in 1992. The Blaze won easily, 15-3. Congratulations to Chris on his remarkable achievement, and hopefully he can make the record his own with one more hit on Wednesday.

The red-hot Kevin Millwood will look to lead the Rangers to a sweep on Wednesday afternoon against Oakland's Lenny DiNardo.

Keep those good times rollin', Kevin.

Wednesday, July 18th Game Preview

Texas Rangers (41-52) at Oakland Athletics (44-50)

Kevin Millwood (6-7, 5.77 ERA) vs. Lenny DiNardo (3-6, 2.78 ERA)

2:35 PM CST in Oakland, California (McAfee Coliseum)

TV: KDFW/Ch. 4| Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

Wright Dominates Athletics; Otsuka/Padilla Injury Updates

It's nice to finally see Ron Washington smiling.

On March 16th, I put forth the theory that Jamey Wright was the 2007 version of Pedro Astacio, a mediocre retread veteran who had nowhere to go but down. I hated the decision to make Wright the #5 starter out of spring training rather than Kameron Loe or Bruce Chen, and I still question some of the logic behind that organizational decision.

Jamey Wright may still be a mediocre veteran pitcher, but I'll be danged if he wasn't great tonight. Spreading just four hits and three walks across seven shutout innings, Wright pitched his finest game as a Texas Ranger, and dominated a struggling Oakland lineup in a 4-1 Rangers win.

Wright has now thrown four consecutive starts where he has given up two runs or less in at least five innings of work. With Vicente Padilla's health failing (more on that in a moment), Jamey's spot in the rotation seems secure. Well, for the time being at least.

As for the Rangers offense, Michael Young collected his first extra base hit since June 15th with a 1st inning double, Mark Teixeira helped his trade value some more with a nice 2 for 4 effort, and Marlon Byrd and Jerry Hairston Jr. teamed up with a pair of two run doubles that put Texas up for good. Even the struggling Sammy Sosa had a big night, going 1 for 2 with a double and two walks.

All in all, a very satisfying game.

Aki Otsuka threw 30 pitches before Monday night's game in Oakland, with pitching coach Mark Connor, bullpen coach Dom Chiti, manager Ron Washington and assistant GM Thad Levine all in attendance. Otsuka reported no discomfort in his right elbow, and it appears he'll finally be available on Tuesday night.

The same good news can't be reported on Vicente Padilla, who has been scratched from his second rehab start that was scheduled for Tuesday in Frisco. He'll throw a bullpen session instead, and could make his start on Thursday or Friday if things go well. Pitching coach Mark Connor said that if Padilla experiences another setback, it could be September before he returns. Right now, that scenario seems much more likely than a July return.

Tommy Hunter, who was signed earlier today by the Rangers, is expected to receive a "slot-money" signing bonus of $585,000. He will be assigned to Spokane, and will likely be used out of the bullpen the rest of this season, even if his future role may be as a starter.

Single-A Bakersfield's Chris Davis went 1 for 4 tonight in a 6-4 win to extend his California League hitting streak to 34 games, coming within just one game of the 35 game record held by Brent Gates since 1992. They say the last one is always the hardest.

Robinson Tejeda makes his not-so-grand return to the Rangers rotation on Tuesday night, facing off against one of the better starters in the American League this season in Chad Gaudin. By comparison, Tejeda has been one of the AL's worst starters this year.

But if Oakland's recent streak of 11 straight games without scoring more than three runs continues, this could turn out to be a much closer game than we think.

Tuesday, July 17th Game Preview

Texas Rangers (40-52) at Oakland Athletics (44-49)

Robinson Tejeda (5-8, 6.70 ERA) vs. Chad Gaudin (8-4, 3.18 ERA)

9:05 PM CST in Oakland, California (McAfee Coliseum)

TV: KDFI/My27 | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

Monday Evening Rangers Notes

Per Pete Aldrich of the Dallas Morning News, supplemental round pick Tommy Hunter has been signed by the Rangers. The 21-year-old right-hander was selected with the Rangers' fifth pick (54th overall) of the 2007 MLB Draft, which Texas obtained when Type B free agent Mark DeRosa signed with the Chicago Cubs this past offseason.

Hunter's large 6'4", 250 pound frame has drawn comparisons to the Dodgers' Jonathan Broxton, who Texas nearly obtained for Alfonso Soriano in December 2005 before the Brad Wilkerson deal went down. His fastball can touch 93 MPH, and he has a power slurve that works from 82-84 MPH; he profiles as either a setup man in the Tyler Yates mold, or a back of the rotation starter.

After the draft, Hunter was regarded as perhaps the Rangers' biggest reach among their top five picks, as well as perhaps the toughest sign in that group. Of course, that title has since gone to Blake Beavan. Texas has now signed 25 of their 54 draft picks.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com writes that the cost of giving up top prospects shouldn't deter contenders from making a deal for Mark Teixeira. For all the bad things I have to say about Teixeira, I can't knock the way he's been hitting since his return from the disabled list: he went 4 for 12 with two walks over the weekend against Anaheim, with three doubles and one HR. I continue to pray there's something resembling a James Loney/Clayton Kershaw package floating out there.

The Chicago Tribune includes these two blurbs in their "Trade Whispers" segment from today:

The Tigers also are studying Houston's relievers along with Texas' Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka and Kansas City's Octavio Dotel. Gagne says he would like to stay with the Rangers in 2008, however, so it's possible Texas will extend the righty rather than deal him.

[...]

Mark Teixeira's recent criticism of management makes it more likely Texas will move him before the deadline, assuming he returns from the disabled list hitting well enough to bring significant young players in return. Baltimore would love to add Teixeira and extend his contract beyond 2008, currently its final year. The Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, Braves and Giants are following this situation closely. It wasn't lost on Texas GM Jon Daniels that the Rangers went 16-11 as Teixeira nursed a strained left quadriceps muscle.

In addition, Daniels appeared on the Bob and Dan Show on KTCK 1310 AM The Ticket this afternoon, and commented on Teixeira's remarks to the media from last week, saying that they were "a distraction that we didn't need." For those who are still big Mark Teixeira fans, enjoy him while you can.

Bob Hersom of the Daily Oklahoman talks about the growing comparisons between Travis Hafner and Jason Botts, who went 2 for 2 with another three walks last night. Botts is now hitting .324/.439/.563 in 339 AB for Oklahoma; in July, he's hitting a ridiculous .415/.554/.976 with 5 HR in 41 AB, so his power stroke certainly seems to be coming around. Hersom also includes some great quotes from Botts, who seems to be handling the entire situation with incredible class:

"They have told me they don't want me to go up there and only play every three or four days,� Botts said. "I'm very grateful to go up there. It was a great experience. But at the same time I don't really want to do that again.

"I'd much rather be here playing every day and continuing to learn and work. I feel like I'm a major league hitter, but I want that everyday opportunity. I just need to stay patient and wait for it.�

Of course, to clear room for Jason Botts, Texas will first have to get rid of Sammy Sosa, who is just barely keeping his head above water at this point. T.R. Sullivan wrote on Saturday that the Rangers were willing to be "more than reasonable" in discussing a trade for Sosa, which is basically the equivalent of begging for some team to take him off their hands just to avoid the clubhouse, media and fan backlash that would result from designating him for assignment.

Best case scenario here: Texas deals Sosa to a playoff contender for a fringe prospect, and calls up Botts immediately afterwards. It keeps everybody happy, and gives Sammy another shot at that elusive World Series ring. Needless to say, if Botts isn't getting regular at-bats with the Rangers by August 1st, something went very, very wrong with that plan.

Kenny Lofton is attracting significant trade interest from Cleveland and Milwaukee, with several unnamed clubs showing interest as well. Lofton's had a very nice year for Texas, batting .309/.391/.443 with an OPS+ of 117 in the leadoff spot, so you'd like to think he might bring back a decent prospect or two. Unfortunately, rival GMs will probably catch on to the fact that his OPS is just .756 on the road.

And to make matters worse, Lofton has decided to publicly agree with Gary Sheffield's accusations against Joe Torre; Sheffield claims that Torre treated white players and black players differently during his three year stint with the Yankees. Sometimes, I wish Texas players would just keep their mouths shut.

Aki Otsuka was scheduled to throw a bullpen session today in Oakland, and could finally make his return on Tuesday. If he experiences another setback, the Rangers may be forced to place Otsuka retroactively on the disabled list in order to make room on the roster for Robinson Tejeda, who will be activated for Tuesday's start against the A's.

If Otsuka's good to go on Tuesday, Wes Littleton will be optioned, once again, to AAA. Texas can only backdate a DL assignment ten days, meaning that Aki would be unavailable for at least five days if the Rangers placed him on the disabled list now.

Vicente Padilla did not throw his planned bullpen session on Saturday, and the Rangers are uncertain if he will make his next scheduled rehab start for Frisco on Tuesday or not. Texas had hoped to activate him for a July 22nd start against the Indians, but that's beginning to look like a long shot now.

Former "All-Star" pitcher Mark Redman opted out of his contract with Triple-A Oklahoma on Saturday, after going 2-4 with a 5.34 ERA in nine starts. He could have pushed his way into the starting pitching equation with a nice run for the Redhawks, but that obviously didn't happen.

Single-A Bakersfield third baseman Chris Davis extended his hitting streak to 33 games on Sunday with his 6th grand slam of the season. Davis is now hitting .314/.356/.598 with 21 HR in 338 AB for the Blaze. The California League hitting streak record is 35 games in a row, set by Brent Gates in 1992.

Jamey Wright and Dallas Braden will square off in a little over an hour from now, as the Rangers and Athletics kick off a three game series in Oakland.

Monday, July 16th Game Preview

Texas Rangers ( 39-52 ) at Oakland Athletics ( 44-48 )

Jamey Wright ( 2-2, 5.55 ERA ) vs. Dallas Braden ( 1-3, 6.08 ERA )

9:05 PM CST in Oakland, California ( McAfee Coliseum )

TV: KDFI/My27 | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

Will Teixeira's Return Help Or Hurt Texas?

As Mark Teixeira belted his eventual game-winning solo home run in the top of the 11th inning off Anaheim's Justin Speier in Sunday's 5-4 win, something struck me which I found quite unnerving: I could muster virtually no emotion over it.

Normally, a dramatic extra innings home run that gives Texas the lead, or even a walkoff win, will send me into a frenzy. But as I listened to Eric Nadel's call of Teixeira's blast, I quite literally couldn't get excited about it. At first, I thought perhaps it was because I was having to listen to the radio broadcast instead of watching it on TV, thanks to Suddenlink Cable blacking out the game in Tyler, but that wasn't it.

The real answer is what disturbs me so much: Mark Teixeira is dead to me. I can't forget Teixeira's comments to the media last week, in which he was more than happy to rip club ownership and management, and not-so-subtly hinted that he didn't want to be a part of the Rangers organization anymore.

Some of his remarks were more than accurate, particularly those concerning Tom Hicks, but his refusal to take any responsibility for the club's poor start has really gotten under my skin, and quite possibly some of his teammates, as well. And while the Rangers' hot streak during Teixeira's absence was fueled more by the turnaround of the starting pitching than anything else, there's no denying the fact that they went 16-11 while he was gone, and 23-41 otherwise.

Part of this seems inherently bizarre, because normally, the incapacitation of a great player is going to hurt his club significantly. And heck, let's face it: Mark Teixeira is a great player. His batting line for the year is at .303/.406/.568 in 234 AB, and his adjusted EQA of .319 is tied with Vladimir Guerrero for 7th in the AL this year. Throw in his above average defense at first base, and you have a guy who can be considered a legitimate superstar.

But instead, the Rangers' resurgence began virtually the same day he went on the disabled list, which was on the memorable date of June 9th. Like I said, this hot streak began with the revival of the starting rotation, particularly Kameron Loe and Kevin Millwood. You wouldn't think there'd be any kind of correlation between Teixeira's injury and the pitching improving, but hey, you never know.

What it all really comes down to is this: if Marlon Byrd, or Michael Young, or even Brad Wilkerson had hit that game-winning home run, I would have been ecstatic. But all I could manage after Teixeira's blast was a weak "Yeah!" Even Eric Nadel, who usually goes berzerk over a big moment like that, didn't seem as overly enthusiastic as usual.

And I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit scared in the days leading up to Teixeira's return. For one thing, I was concerned that Tex, gone for over a month and having played only one rehab game, would be rusty at the plate and in the field. A poor start following the All-Star break could have put a rather large dent in his trade value as the July 31st deadline approaches - then again, there's a lot of uncertainty as to how big the trade market is for Teixeira, anyway.

But there was one other thing that kept gnawing at the back of my skull, a question that I couldn't seem to shake off:

What if this team goes back into the toilet when Teixeira returns?

Traditional baseball logic would call this line of thought several less than flattering words, such as "idiotic." After all, the return of a great player from an injury, regardless of the sport, is typically going to help you win more games. And on the surface, it's silly to blame the shoddy play of an entire team on a single, highly productive player. Then again, these aren't your normal, everyday circumstances.

But with the exception of Kevin Millwood's brilliant performance on Friday night, the Rangers looked like that same hapless club from April and May during the first two games of this weekend series, committing three sloppy errors in Saturday's 9-4 loss.

Even in Sunday's victory, it seemed like Texas was outplayed; they were probably lucky to win a single game. There are a lot of variables here that make it difficult to say whether or not Teixeira's absence actually helped this team, such as the limited sample size and the fact that Texas played 14 interleague games during his DL stint against the weaker NL.

And I hate to go down this clich�d baseball road, but you can't measure for the - *gulp* - intangibles that could have possibly come into play. I remember hearing at least once the line of thought that Teixeira's absence inspired the rest of the lineup to step up their game at the plate, since they could no longer rest on their laurels and let their big offensive star take care of things. A similiar idea was put forth when the Rangers won 89 games in 2004, a year after A-Rod's departure.

To put this theory to the test, I calculated the average number of runs per game that the Rangers scored with and without Teixeira in the lineup:

With Teixeira (23-41, 313 R) : 4.89 runs/game

Without Teixeira (16-11, 138 R): 5.11 runs/game

An improvement of around .22 runs per game during the 27-game stretch without Teixeira; not a whole lot, but more than negligible. After adjusting for league and park factors, they're probably about the same. Despite the limited sample size here, this does prove that the Rangers, and their offense, can survive without Teixeira.

And you can be certain that Jon Daniels is well aware of that knowledge with the trade deadline looming just two weeks away, as he tries to find a suitable package of players to deal for.

As for myself, I really wish I could shake off the feeling that Teixeira's dead to me. After all, he's an amazing baseball player, and I should feel privileged to have him on my favorite team in the world.

But I don't. Not anymore.

Rangers Waste Brilliant Outing By Millwood

As a Rangers fan, I find nothing more maddening than watching an AL West rival celebrate a walkoff win on their home turf.

Yeah, this was one of those nights.

Texas squandered a brilliant start by Kevin Millwood, and lost in the bottom of the 9th inning to the Anaheim Angels on Friday night, 2-1. Millwood pitched seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits and three walks, striking out seven.

Not only did tonight mark his 300th career start, but he also notched his 1500th career strikeout. It's probably his finest 2007 effort to date, topping his start last Sunday against the Orioles when he gave up one run in six innings of work.

After throwing a no-hitter through the first 3.1 innings of the game, shortstop Orlando Cabrera rapped a hard single past Michael Young into left field to break up Millwood's no-hit bid. Vladimir Guerrero followed with an infield single off Millwood's leg that landed in fair territory down the third base line. After a brief visit by manager Ron Washington and trainer Jamie Reed, Millwood gave up an RBI single to Gary Matthews Jr. to give the Angels an early 1-0 lead.

Texas responded in the next inning, with a leadoff double by Gerald Laird coming around to score after a sacrifice bunt by JHJ and an RBI single by Ramon Vazquez. Unfortunately, Kelvim Escobar was dealing, and it would be the last offense that the Rangers could muster for the night.

The Rangers got their last big chance to score in the top of the 8th inning, when Kenny Lofton hit a one out double down the left field line. Michael Young grounded out, Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked, and Sammy Sosa flied out to end the threat.

Joaquin Benoit surrendered a leadoff double to Matthews to begin the bottom of the 9th inning, after pitching a solid 8th inning. Ron Mahay came on in relief of Benoit, and although he induced a Garett Anderson groundout, Casey Kotchman hit a sharp single past Desi Relaford at second base to score Matthews and end the game. A string of expletives began shortly after that, along with the TV remote being thrown across the room.

Very, very frustrating loss, and although Texas was going up against one of the best pitchers in baseball this year in Escobar, that doesn't make this one sting any less. One run is unacceptable, bottom line. Most of the blame goes towards Michael Young, Sammy Sosa and Marlon Byrd, who went a combined 0 for 12 at the dish tonight. Two of those performances are somewhat unexpected, while one of them really isn't. I bet you can guess which one that is.

Speaking of Sammy, he is now 3 for 27 during the month of July, with all three of those hits being singles. T.R. Sullivan writes that the Rangers have had little trade interest in Sosa, but also that they have no intentions of releasing him. If he doesn't pick things up dramatically very soon, I don't know how the Rangers will even have a choice in the matter.

By the way, Jason Botts went 1 for 3 tonight for the Redhawks with four walks. Nelson Cruz went 3 for 5 with a pair of walks himself, including a walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning to give Oklahoma a 9-8 victory over Round Rock.

Ron Washington had a pre-game meeting with Brad Wilkerson to explain why he wasn't in the starting lineup tonight, as Teixeira's return creates another logjam in the outfield. Needless to say, Bad Brad isn't real happy:

"I don't know what to say," Wilkerson said. "I think my performance over the last month kind of speaks for itself. It's not my decision who is going to play, and I'm not going to dwell on it, but I think I've had some big at-bats and big hits. It's kind of a change. Somebody was going to get hurt from [Teixeira's activation]. I guess it's me tonight."

I think I sense a bit of resentment on Wilkerson's part concerning Teixeira's return, but then again, can you really blame him? The guy finally has a little bit of success for the Rangers, and he's back on the bench. Washington hopes to put a "balanced rotation" in place in the outfield, but much of the problem could be solved by not playing Sosa against right-handers, period. Too bad that won't happen.

There's mixed news on the Vicente Padilla injury front; the bad news is that he departed yesterday's start in Frisco with tenderness in his right forearm, but the good news is that he reported feeling "significantly better" on Friday.

Padilla only threw 57 pitches in what was originally planned to be a 65-pitch outing before exiting the game. He'll throw a bullpen session on Saturday, and will make an 80-pitch rehab start on Tuesday if that goes well. Texas still hopes to activate him against Oakland on July 22nd.

Aki Otsuka was still not available tonight, with his sore right elbow still bothering him:

"It's better than it was four days ago, before the All-Star break," Otsuka said. "Today was much better. But I still have some feeling when I'm on the mound. I'm hoping either [Saturday] or Sunday."

Jim Leyland apparently tried to apologize to Michael Young after Tuesday's All-Star Game for not playing him, but Young wouldn't allow him to do so, saying that it wasn't a big deal and that it was "just an All-Star Game." Pretty classy move on Leyland's part, and my frustration with Leyland earlier this week has more or less worn off by now. Instead, I've moved on to other people to get mad at, like Blake Beaven.

And finally, Jean Jacques-Taylor of the Dallas Morning News ripped Mark Teixeira in his Friday morning column, saying that he's a chronic complainer who doesn't want to accept responsibility for the club's struggles in 2007. Personally, I think Taylor brings up some pretty valid points. It's probably best for all parties involved that Teixeira be traded sometime in the next three weeks.

Here's to hoping the Snake can turn around the Rangers' fortunes on Saturday night.

Saturday, July 14th Game Preview

Texas Rangers (38-51) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (54-35)

Kameron Loe (5-6, 5.36 ERA) vs. John Lackey (11-5, 2.91 ERA)

8:05 PM CST in Anaheim, California (Angel Stadium of Anaheim)

TV: KDFI/My27 | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

Diaz Optioned To AAA; Padilla Suffers Setback?

Lots of stuff out there on Mark Teixeira in the news today, just hours after his bombshell comments to the media in which he ripped Rangers' management and ownership.

But first thing's first: Teixeira will rejoin the Rangers for Friday night's game in Anaheim, with T.R. Sullivan reporting that Victor Diaz will be optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma to make room on the 25-man roster. Diaz has a very odd batting line this year, going .240/.259/.538 with 9 HR in 104 AB. Ron Washington's sporadic usage of Diaz over the last few weeks seems a bit odd, but nice power numbers can only mask an terrible on-base percentage for so long, I suppose.

Evan Grant has a real nice article out tonight on Teixeira's remarks yesterday, and not surprisingly, the front office is less than pleased:

Owner Tom Hicks and general manager Jon Daniels on Thursday acknowledged disappointment in Teixeira's criticism of management before a one-game rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco. But, Daniels said, Teixeira's comments won't have an impact on whether the team trades him. The Rangers are listening to offers, but they aren't soliciting them.

Grant also includes perhaps the most definitive list to date of the teams interested in Teixeira, which includes the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Orioles and Giants. Even though Jon Daniels says the Rangers aren't actively shopping him, I think Tex is as good as gone.

Jennifer Floyd Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram also believes that to be the case, although she seems to be on Teixeira's side.

On a related note, Tom Hicks says that Texas will not be having a fire sale as the trade deadline approaches. There's also this snippet, which makes it sound like he's a lot angrier at Teixeira's comments yesterday than Evan Grant let on:

"I was very disappointed with his statements, but I'm not going to talk about it publicly," Hicks said.

First round draft pick Blake Beaven has signed a letter of intent to pitch for Navarro College, in an apparent attempt to show the Rangers he's "serious about his contractual demands." He's also signed a letter of intent with the University of Oklahoma. I don't have a problem with this latest negotiating tactic by Beaven, but I'm starting to wonder if Daniels wishes he had selected a player that would have been less of a headache at pick #17.

Vicente Padilla made his first rehab start with Double-A Frisco tonight; needless to say, things didn't go real well. Padilla surrendered four runs in 2.2 innings to Corpus Christi, giving up two hits and three walks while striking out four.

The account of Padilla's performance over at Lone Star Ball is even more frightening, with Padilla's fastball apparently topping out at 91 MPH during the first two innings. He struggled badly in the 3rd inning, throwing "50% junk balls" in the low-60's range. Frisco's trainer visited with Padilla on the mound before he was yanked from the game. Needless to say, this sounds like a very bad development, and the path towards Tommy John surgery may have just been reopened.

Aki Otsuka played catch in Anaheim on Thursday for about 10 minutes, and while his sore right elbow is feeling better, he's still not 100% yet. The Rangers aren't expecting to place him on the disabled list, and he'll likely pitch sometime this weekend.

The DMN's Richard Durrett did a chat session today, including the usual barrage of questions on Teixeira.

Mike Heika writes about Marlon Byrd's unexpected season, with Byrd crediting hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo for fixing a hole in his swing that left him vulnerable to the inside fastball. With Byrd now 143 AB deep into the season and still toting an OPS of .976, it's starting to appear that this is just more than a really long hot streak.

The second half of the Rangers season begins on Friday night, with Kevin Millwood and Kelvim Escobar squaring off against each other.

Let's just hope the All-Star break hasn't killed all of our momentum.

Friday, July 13th Game Preview

Texas Rangers (38-50) at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (53-35)

Kevin Millwood (6-7, 6.16 ERA) vs. Kelvim Escobar (10-3, 3.19 ERA)

9:05 PM CST in Anaheim, California (Angel Stadium of Anaheim)

TV: KDFI/My27 | Radio: KRLD 1080 AM

The Blake Beavan Conundrum; Teixeira Digs Deeper Hole

Ah yes, the slowest sports day of the year. At least there's plenty of Rangers news out there.

Evan Grant's latest edition of the DMN Rangers newsletter came out last night, with the usual load of excellent information. Grant believes that the Rangers may hold on to both Eric Gagne and Aki Otsuka, with aspirations of resigning Gagne after season's end.

The idea of bringing Gagne back both excites and worries me; he's one of the best relievers in baseball when healthy, but his lengthy injury history, combined with the fact he'll almost certainly demand a multi-year commitment at around $10 million per year, scares the heck out of me. Regardless of where he ends up signing, Gagne is the very definition of a major high risk/high reward player. Nightmare scenario for Texas? They resign him at 3 years, $30 million, then he pulls a Jeff Zimmerman.

Grant also touches on the Otsuka for Tony Gwynn Jr. trade rumor, which I covered extensively earlier this week. Evan doesn't think it'll happen, but Bill Hall's injury seemed to have killed the potential deal anyway, so that's not a real difficult call to make. Additionally, Grant discusses the the erroneous Doug Davis/John Koronka comparisons, defends pitching coach Mark Connor, and much more.

The one major thing I'd like to focus on from Grant's newsletter is the topic of the Rangers' 2007 first round draft pick, Blake Beavan. As you may know by now, Beavan is holding out for a signing bonus of what appears to be slightly above $1.5 million, or a difference of about $100,000 from MLB's slot number of $1.4 million. Indeed, it's beginning to appear that Beavan will take things right down to the wire, that being the August 15th deadline.

There's also this notable quote from Grant:

Beavan has already ticked off some of his potential future teammates by demeaning their pitching skills on draft day ("I could do as bad as them," he said). His refusal to sign for slot money and get his career started is beginning to frustrate the Rangers a bit.

To add even more fuel to the fire, Beavan's older brother, Stephen, e-mailed local Metroplex sports talk radio station KTCK 1310 AM The Ticket on Monday with an angry letter, ripping the Ticket for their criticisms of Beavan's behavior and claiming they had lost "50-60 listeners" in the process. "The Orphanage" show, filling in for Norm Hitzges, read the e-mail out loud on the air.

For the record, Stephen accused the Ticket in the e-mail of calling Beavan "cocky" and "arrogant," among other things. But can you really disagree with those remarks? While he was pitching for Irving HS, Beavan went through a period where he would form the letter "K" with his hands after each strikeout. At least he matured past that pathetic little display of superiority, but GM Jon Daniels had to publicly apologize for Beavan's post-draft remarks on the Ticket, saying that he hoped Beavan would be humbled along his path to the major leagues.

The Orphanage's Danny Balis noted that it showed a lack of accountability on the end of Beavan's support network of family and friends, in that they were defending Beavan after his less than professional conduct thus far. And you know what? He's dead on correct. Judging by this e-mail from Beavan's older brother, everybody surrounding Blake seems to be more interested in coddling him along and jumping on his gravy train than trying to set him straight.

Somebody needs to step up and tell this kid to chill out and have some humility, because even though the Rangers thought highly enough of his baseball talent to use their first draft pick on him, the fact remains he hasn't done a damn thing in a Texas uniform yet. And with the way things are going right now, he might never do anything.

Look, I want to see Beavan succeed as much as every other die-hard Texas fan out there. I hope he turns into a star pitcher for the Rangers, and helps lead us to some meaningful October baseball. But all the talent in the world can't make up for a 10 cent head, and at the moment, that appears to be what young Blake has on his shoulders. Here's to hoping he signs with Texas soon, begins to mature as a young man, and becomes what the Rangers are hoping he can become.

MLB.com's Tom Singer has an AL West first half recap (giving the Rangers a grade of C-), while T.R. Sullivan has a first half Rangers recap of his own, as well as an article looking ahead to the second half of the season.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Jennifer Floyd Engel thinks the Rangers should rebuild by trading everybody that won't be playing a major role on the club in 2009, including Aki Otsuka. I'm not sure she's aware that Otsuka's under club control through 2009, but whatever. In any event, I doubt Michael Young is too enthused about her plan.

And finally, the DMN's Richard Durrett has a piece on Mark Teixeira, who went 0 for 2 with two walks in his rehab start tonight with Double-A Frisco. Tell me, do you see any thinly veiled hidden messages within his remarks?

"Everybody wants to win," said Teixeira, a two-time Gold Glove first baseman. "I don't know any competitor who doesn't want to win. It gets old. Our fans deserve better, and there are a lot of guys in the clubhouse who want better. We've put our heart and soul into this organization, and it's a tough pill to swallow to be at the bottom of the league every year."

"We're a big-market team that's playing like a small-market team," Teixeira said. "Unless you hit with some young players and pitchers, it's tough to play that way.

"I know the business better than anybody. I go to the union meetings, and I keep up with what's going on in the off-season. I know this is a business. But when the Yankees go out and get all-stars every year and the Red Sox go out and get all-stars every year, it shows you they want to compete and win."

[...]

"No doubt about it; I want to dogpile on Michael Young and Hank Blalock at The Ballpark," he said. "I'm hoping it will happen this year or next year, but the window is closing."

Teixeira kind of beats around the bush, but it's pretty easy to read between the lines and decipher what he was actually saying here: "Tom Hicks is a crummy, cheap owner, I'm sick of losing, and I want out." That may be the truth, but Tex really seems to be burning some bridges through his comments to the media, and I think stuff like this only increases the odds he's traded in the next three weeks.

Well, it was nice having you here Mark. There's some lovely parting gifts on the table next to the front door on your way out.

Young, Pujols Snubbed In All-Star Game

One position player on each league's All-Star roster didn't get to play in tonight's 78th All-Star Game. And I'm pretty miffed about both players getting snubbed.

American League manager Jim Leyland played starter Derek Jeter at shortstop for the first four innings of the game, and substituted in his own player, Carlos Guillen, for Jeter during the 5th inning. Fine, no problems there.

Fast forward to the top of the 9th: Guillen, who has already played four innings, is supposed to lead off. Trevor Hoffman is coming in to pitch. Seeing as how Jeter and Guillen have already gotten a nice share of playing time on the night, it would logically make sense to let Michael Young, the 2006 All-Star Game MVP, have a chance to play, right? And remember, Young won that MVP award with a pinch hit, game-winning RBI triple off Hoffman in the 9th inning last year. You'd think he'd deserved a shot, right?

Apparently, Jim Leyland didn't think so. He left Guillen in to bat, who promptly grounded out, and then left Guillen in the field for the bottom of the 9th inning.

You know, I like Jim Leyland. I wanted the Rangers to hire him after the 2005 season in place of Buck Showalter. But that doesn't mean I can't criticize his managerial decisions.

And I think leaving Michael Young on the bench, especially under these circumstances, was a really sorry thing to do.

It would have been one thing if the game had been tied, and Leyland was thinking that he might need Young as a pinch hitter in extra innings, or perhaps as a defensive replacement. But the National League was trailing 5-2 at the time, and it appeared as though the AL had the game all but wrapped up, so I'm not buying into this excuse.

And if the circumstances hadn't been lined up so perfectly for Young to get an opportunity to play, I probably wouldn't be quite as upset. But Guillen had already played nearly half the game, and it would have been really nice to have just let Young get one at-bat, considering what he did for the AL in last year's All-Star game.

I might ordinarily feel like I'm blowing this whole thing out of proportion; after all, it's only a glorified exhibition game. But Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News appears to be even more frustrated than I am with Leyland's refusal to play Young:

At least AL manager Jim Leyland didn't let Michael Young have a shot at becoming the first repeat All-Star MVP in history. The award ended up in the hands of Ichiro Suzuki, whose inside-the-park homer turned the eventual 5-4 win in the AL's favor.

No reigning All-Star MVP should be treated the way Young was.

That last line pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole situation. Shame on you, Jim Leyland.

The other notable snub from tonight's All-Star Game was Albert Pujols, and I have a feeling you're going to be hearing a lot more about this over the next few days.

With two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Dmitri Young singled and Alfonso Soriano homered, cutting the AL's lead to 5-4. J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez combined to walk the bases loaded, leaving a fairly obvious opportunity for National League manager Tony La Russa to pinch hit Albert Pujols in place of Aaron Rowand, and perhaps deliver the NL their first All-Star win in 10 years.

Instead, La Russa let Rowand bat, who harmlessly flied out to right field to end the game.

Let's be clear about one thing here: this was complete and utter stupidity on La Russa's part. But hey, let's be fair here and let Tony have a chance to explain why he left the best player in baseball on the bench during the most critical at-bat of the entire game:

La Russa explained that he held Pujols out in case he needed a player to fill in should the game have gone more than nine innings.

Oh, ok. So he doesn't really have an explanation. First of all, in a one run game, a base hit to the outfield probably wins it, so barring a walk, HBP, error or some bizarre infield hit, the game was either going to be won or lost on that final at-bat. In other words, that final at-bat was much more likely to decide the final outcome of the game than it was to tie it.

Of course, now Pujols is angry at LaRussa for leaving him on the bench:

"It's the All-Star game. He can do what he wants," Pujols said Tuesday night. "He does whatever he wants. If I wasn't expecting to play, I wouldn't have come up here."

And La Russa has fired back:

"If he wants to get upset, he can get upset," La Russa said. "Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It's America. That wasn't the most important thing tonight."

So not only did Tony fail to give his team the best chance to win tonight and tick off his star player, but he cheated the game of baseball and its fans with that ending. Heck, I was rooting for the AL, and even I feel cheated.

You're an idiot, Tony La Russa. A complete joke. And that isn't based solely off of what happened tonight, either.

Some other assorted (non) highlights of the evening:

- FOX's mind-numbingly long and pointless pre-game show. The Willie Mays tribute was pretty cool, but the pink Cadillac bit was really over the top.

- The "Taco Bell Swing For A Million" batting contest, where a contestant named John Groff got 30 seconds to hit three balls off a tee. Hitting the ball 230 feet would have won $100,000, 255 feet $250,000, and 280 feet $1,000,000.

His first swing barely knocked the ball off the tee, his second swing carried just past the pitcher's mound, and his third swing fell well short of the 230' marker. Not only was he loudly booed by the crowd, but FOX didn't even acknowledge that the segment happened, with the ditzy Jeanne Zelasko immediately cutting to a skit involving the Simpsons. What a trainwreck.

- Cal Ripken's very awkward reading of the AL starting lineup. Either he was having trouble with the teleprompter, or he had been having a bit too much fun at the ballpark pub before going on the air.

- The botched National Anthem.

- Eric Byrnes and his bulldog in a kayak out in McCovey Cove. Heck, that was probably the best part of the whole broadcast.

- Tim McCarver's typically useless commentary.

Oh well. At least the game didn't end in a tie.

Monday Evening Rangers Notes

Happy trails, John Koronka.

Per Jamey Newberg, the 27-year-old lefty has been claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians and optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. Koronka was designated for assignment July 1st to make room for Desi Relaford on the 40-man roster, leaving John Rheinecker as the only player left from the three-way Juan Dominguez trade on March 31st of last year.

Koronka was 0-2 with a 7.84 ERA in two starts this season with the Rangers. Best of luck to you, John.

The Rangers have set their starting rotation for the second half of the season, with Kameron Loe getting the promotion to the #2 spot in the rotation. Texas will roll out Kevin Millwood on Friday night, followed by Loe, Brandon McCarthy, Jamey Wright and Robinson Tejeda. I'll be curious to see how Ron Washington juggles the rotation when Vicente Padilla comes back, and whether Wright or Tejeda will get bumped. Of course, that's assuming he does come back this year, and nothing's guaranteed.

Mark Teixeira is still on pace to rejoin the Rangers on Friday, as he will make just one rehab start on Thursday with Double-A Frisco. Everything we're hearing out of Tex seems to indicate he's swinging the bat well and feels healthy, but Evan Grant includes this slightly unsettling note:

Teixeira is, however, a historically slow starter for the season. And after his previous trip to the DL, which included that one-game rehab after 15 days off, he hit .200 over his first month back with a .395 slugging percentage.

In addition, Adam Morris apparently heard some rumors over this past weekend in the Metroplex that the Rangers aren't real thrilled about Teixeira's refusal to make more than one rehab appearance in the minors. If that's true, you can tack on another item to the list of things that are currently aggravating the Rangers about Teixeira. I very much doubt that Teixeira's comments to the media earlier this week expressing his desire to play for Baltimore are sitting well with the front office.

Evan Grant also discusses some possibilities for the outfield situation when Teixeira returns, suggesting that Sosa should get less playing time against right-handed pitchers. One quick glance at his batting splits should tell you why.

For what it's worth, he has been quite good against left-handed pitching this year, something that I thought would be the case as far back as February. Unfortunately, Ron Washington probably won't completely phase Sosa out against right-handers, and that will probably cost the Rangers a few runs the rest of the way, or until Sosa is traded or released. Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath on that.

Akinori Otsuka will be available immediately following the All-Star break, according to Washington:

"Each day he says he's better," Washington said. "I think he got the rest he needed and he'll come out in the second half and get going again."

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Gil LeBreton has a piece out praising Texas for not giving up when they were 23-42, and Mercedes Mayer talks about how the turnaround by the starting pitching has fueled the rebirth of the Rangers.

Mayer has a less pleasant article out as well, highlighting former Rangers who are having good years. There are some on that list that I don't really have a problem with, since they're either overpaid now or weren't that great when they were with Texas, such as Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee, Doug Brocail, and Francisco Cordero. Of course, there's also the obvious few that make me cringe, like Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez and Travis Hafner.

In the Dallas Morning News, Jean-Jacques Taylor gives Ron Washington some credit for the Rangers' turnaround, saying that his managerial philosophies are beginning to rub off on the players. With Jon Daniels recently receiving a one year contract extension, I don't think that Washington's job was in a whole lot of danger, but the 15-8 run has certainly given him some much needed cushioning from the hot seat.

Kevin Sherrington has an excellent interview out with Rangers owner Tom Hicks, which is definitely worth a read. He admits that the A-Rod/Chan Ho/Juan Gone/Jay Powell/Todd Van Poppel type signings of the early 2000's were "bad ideas," which leads me to question the validity of that Bergen Record report the other day which stated Hicks was interested in resigning A-Rod.

Hicks also says that he was against the Chris Young trade when it happened, and doesn't regret letting Kenny Rogers walk after the 2005 season. There's also this interesting note:

Hicks says Daniels has admitted to him that trading Young was a mistake. But he also notes that he didn't overrule his young GM, something he's never done.

He's come close. Daniels went to Hicks last winter and asked if he'd be interested in Barry Bonds. Hicks said no.

Johnny Whittleman, who's hitting .288/.405/.529 with 14 HR in 278 AB for the Class-A Clinton Lumberkings, hit a solo home run for the U.S. in a 7-2 loss to the World Team during Sunday's All-Star Futures Game.

Knock 'em dead tomorrow night, Mike.

Texas Rolls Past Orioles To Another Series Win

For all the disappointment during this first half of the 2007 season, at least the Rangers can say they went into the All-Star break on a high note.

Kevin Millwood pitched his 4th consecutive quality start on Sunday afternoon, and Texas squeaked past the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1. Not only have the Rangers gone 6-0-1 in their last seven series, but they've won 15 out of 23 games dating back to June 14th, and six out of their last nine.

And to think, they've accomplished all of this without the services of their best player, Mark Teixeira, or their starting third baseman, Hank Blalock. Not too shabby.

Things didn't start real hot for Kevin Millwood on Sunday, though. A leadoff single by Brian Roberts came around to score after a Corey Patterson sacrifice bunt and a Nick Markakis RBI single, and Millwood followed that up by issuing a walk to Kevin Millar, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with one out in the 1st inning. However, Aubrey Huff hit into a double play to end the scoring threat, and as it would turn out, Baltimore had scored their last run of the game.

The Rangers responded quickly against Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera, with three out of their first four batters picking up base hits. Marlon Byrd's RBI single to drive Kenny Lofton home knotted the score at 1-1, and with two men on and one out, Frank Catalanotto stepped in.

On a 1-1 pitch, Catalanotto was called for a check swing strike by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale, who did not ask for help from third base umpire Tim Welke. Cat and manager Ron Washington both began complaining to Barksdale for not asking Welke's opinion. Certainly a valid complaint, considering that TV replays showed it was a very close check swing call that could have gone either way, and that Welke was in a much better position to make a call than Barksdale.

After throwing another ball (which, according to MLB Gameday, was probably a strike), Cabrera threw a borderline pitch that was called as strike three by Barksdale. A disappointed Catalanotto put his head down momentarily, then turned to Barksdale as he made a mild protest.

In perhaps one of the more bush league umpiring moments of the season, Barksdale almost immediately ejected Cat for arguing balls and strikes. Tom Grieve was audibly upset as he ripped Barksdale, saying that "you can't get kicked out for what he [Cat] just did." Indeed, Barksdale's strike zone seemed to be all over the place throughout the game, with Ramon Vazquez showing some frustration during the middle innings on a questionable called strike three.

A few innings after Cat was ejected, roaming FSN ballpark reporter Jim Knox talked to Mavericks play-by-play radio announcer Chuck Cooperstein, and Cooperstein's son pretty well summed up everybody's opinion of Barksdale, yelling "He stinks!" into the microphone when Knox asked what he thought of Barksdale. Just a real pathetic display of umpiring all around.

Although both clubs would piece together several more scoring threats on the afternoon, neither team could capitalize on their opportunities. Millwood got into one more big jam during the 6th inning, as he loaded the bases with two outs, but managed to escape without any damage.

Millwood's was done after that inning, having thrown 93 pitches and given up five hits and three walks. He also struck out four, and managed to lower his 2007 ERA from 6.54 to 6.16. After his latest string of successful starts, it appears Kevin is finally healthy, and he could be good for a nice, solid 4.50 ERA or better the rest of the way. Thanks to Kenny Lofton's solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning, Millwood would also earn the victory to improve his record to 6-7 on the year.

Of course, C.J. Wilson did everything he could to render Millwood's strong performance as a no-decision, just like he did with roommate Kameron Loe's six shutout innings on Friday night. After a shutout frame by Joaquin Benoit in the 7th inning, Wilson came on as the setup man for the 8th in a 2-1 ballgame, and the results weren't pretty.

Corey Patterson flied out, Nick Markakis singled, Kevin Millar reached base on a Travis Metcalf throwing error, and Aubrey Huff walked to load the bases with one out. Thankfully, Ron Washington yanked C.J. in favor of Frankie Francisco before he could completely blow the game. It's beginning to get to the point where I don't even want to see Wilson pitching in close games anymore.

Washington's pitching change worked perfectly, as Francisco forced Jay Payton to ground into an inning ending double play on one pitch, bailing out C.J. in the process. Closer Eric Gagne came in for the save in the 9th inning, and quickly retired the side in order, notching his 12th save of the year.

Texas may still be 38-50 and 15 games out of first place, but I don't think this team really cares about that right now. Ron Washington's postgame remarks are living proof of that:

"If we come out in the second half and pitch like we have been and if we continue to play baseball, anything is possible."

And if nothing else, this past month of Rangers baseball has been really, really fun.