This weekend's series?  Kind of a big deal...

Jeff Wilson said the Rangers badly needed a win and a long outing from their starting pitcher yesterday, and got both.

The Rangers are probably sending Doug Mathis down today to get another position player up, but Ron Washington says it won't be a catcher, and the team is hopeful Jarrod Saltalamacchia will be back on Saturday.

Wilson also has a depressing story up about the Ranger offense, that includes this "get real" quote from Washington:

"All I hear people asking me is, 'Can we take more pitches? Can we start working the count?’ " manager Ron Washington said. "That’s not something that happens just by talking. We have to have the personnel. And it’s not going to happen at this time of the year.

"At this time of the year, if you’re not in shape, you’re in trouble. If you haven’t figured things out by now, you’re in trouble."

Josh Hamilton thinks that his hitting will improve, particularly now that he's stopped taking some medication that he thinks was having adverse effects.