And as the season draws to a close, the Rangers notes get scarcer and scarcer, with the team just playing out the string...
Kathleen O'Brien in the S-T talks about Francisco Cordero's struggles this season, although it doesn't hit on much more than, last year he was great, this year he's been not great. Buck does say, though, that Cordero's slider hasn't been as sharp this year, contributing to the problems.
Meanwhile, in the DMN, we have a following note:
Manager Buck Showalter said he'd like to see Jason Botts in the outfield but wasn't sure when that might be.
Hmmmm...well Buck, how about, maybe, seeing Jason Botts in the outfield instead of Mark DeRosa? Or how about giving GMJ a day off, putting Mench or Dellucci in CF, and playing Botts in the outfield then? See, that's not so hard, is it?
With R.A. Dickey, the reviews on his knuckleball were generally pretty good -- I couldn't watch the game, since it wasn't on TV down here, and thus I can't speak of it firsthand -- although there was apparently a comment on Buck's pre-game show that was worrisome. This is secondhand, but supposedly, when asked why Barajas was catching Dickey, instead of Gerald Laird (who caught Dickey, and his knuckleball, all season in AAA), Buck said something along the lines of, if Dickey is going to be here next season, Barajas needs to start getting used to the knuckler now.
That sentiment I find pretty troubling, since it suggests that 1) Buck is already planning on Rod Barajas being the starting catcher next year, and 2) Buck is already planning on R.A. Dickey being on the Ranger pitching staff next year. Neither of those things makes me feel very good about 2006...
Meanwhile, on the young pitcher front, Josh Rupe is apparently likely to get the start on Friday, in what would be his major league debut. And despite the reports that Chris Young would have a "side session" yesterday, there were slightly different reports on him today between O'Brien and Richard Durrett of the DMN. O'Brien says he actually just played catch, and that he could throw a bullpen session on Thursday. Durrett says that Young threw from 90 feet, should throw from a mound in the next few days, and if all goes well, could pitch late next week.
Personally, I'm guessing Young's done for the season.