And The Beat Goes On: March 11th

This morning's song probably doesn't range too far in the direction of "jams that make you want to pop out of your chair and spastically dance around the room," but I imagine you'll recover from that disappointment in due time:

● ESPNDallas.com's Master Tesfatsion writes about yesterday's 3-2 loss, which comprised four perfect (albeit squandered) innings from Colby Lewis, and featured another 0-for from Mitch Moreland, a late-game cameo by Jurickson Profar, and more. MLB.com's Scott Merkin also writes about the game, as does Jeff Wilson.  

● Behind the DMN paywall, Gerry Fraley writes that the Rangers are happy to have an insurance policy like Scott Feldman behind their projected Opening Day starting rotation. Jeff Wilson has a similar non-paywalled story. 

● Randy Galloway has a column up peering at five different questions relevant to this year's team, including Derek Holland's chances of developing into an ace (which, according to Rangers people and scouts employed by other teams, resides in the 75 percent range), the probability of Josh Hamilton remaining on the straight and narrow, and some lingering questions on Mike Napoli and Yu Darvish, as well as this curious exchange on Neftali Feliz:

No. 3. Is it realistic to think Neftali Feliz can be effective as a new member of the rotation?

"He will fail again for the same reason he failed last spring. No secondary pitches to consistently depend on," said one member of the Rangers' family. *

"I like his chances," countered another. "He is showing no hesitation this spring to use the changeup or the slider. As long as that happens, and his stamina continues to build in the starting role, Nefty will be fine."

Washington's answer: "Put it in concrete. Nefty is in the rotation to start the season. This isn't a tryout this spring. He's in the rotation because we think he will do it. Not can do it. That he will do it."

If Feliz does indeed "fail" (and do bear in mind that "failure" is a very, very relative term here), I imagine there will be some type of contingency plan in place whereby Feliz is shuttled down to Round Rock to continue working on the deficiencies in his game in a lower-leverage environment, with Alexi Ogando or Scott Feldman stepping in to cover for him. Or Davis/Simpson will approve an over-budget expenditure to bring Roy Oswalt aboard as a mercenary. Or they won't want to, but Nolan will put them both in a headlock to force their cooperation because headlocks are symbolic of a man's power and hey remember that one time Nolan put Robin Ventura in a headlock wasn't that awesome hahahaha /gunshot

[* "One member of the Rangers' family?" Who -- or what -- is that supposed to mean?]

● Gerry Fraley writes about Mitch Moreland's struggles at the plate since he launched his Cactus League campaign with a home run, and what he's trying to do to reverse the current trend. 

● Jeff Wilson wrote yesterday about Ian Kinsler, and why the people who believe he's an inadequate lead-off hitter because of the batting average and pop-up "problems" are terribly misguided.

T.R. Sullivan also had a cool article yesterday detailing Gary Pettis's dedication to maximizing the Rangers' baserunning efficiency, and indicating that the Rangers are literally as good as it gets when it comes to taking extra bases. 

● Kevin Turner and Joseph Ursery both have posts up over on WFAA.com on Julio Borbon and Miguel De Los Santos, respectively. Joe Siegler recently authored a long, wide-ranging season preview post, which I'm just now getting around to linking because I have the attention span of a moth. 

● The FWST has a piece up interviewing Charley Pride. MLB.com's notes include stuff on Mike Napoli sitting out yesterday due to some nagging injuries, Conor Jackson's fielding mishap on Friday, and Craig Gentry's tight hamstring.