Once again, we wake up to find that the Rangers are the First Place Texas Rangers, despite the efforts of Francisco Cordero.
I was looking around on the internet for a picture of Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross, yelling at Jack Lemmon or Ed Harris or someone, so I could see if I could get zywica or someone to Photoshop Francisco Cordero's face on the yellee, and caption it, "Put that coffee down, CoCo!!! Coffee is for closers!!!"
I couldn't find a good picture, though. But the point still holds. No coffee for CoCo right now, because coffee is for closers, and CoCo has been a gascan so far this season, not a closer. I still think he can get things back on track, but he needs to do that pretty damn fast.
What makes things worse is that the Ranger prospect often identified as a potential dominant major league closer -- Thomas Diamond -- suddenly can't throw strikes, walking 7 last night for Frisco in 1 1/3 IP before getting yanked.
The Rangers bullpen has to be a strength for this team to succeed, and right now, the lynchpin of the bullpen is performing terribly. It isn't time to yank the plug on Cordero as the closer yet, but he needs to get it in gear.
A few other things...
Jan Hubbard has a piece on the whirlwind that was the leadup to John Rheinecker's major league debut. Rheinecker wasn't great, but he got the job done.
As Jamey noted in the comments in the previous entry, it sounds like Rheinecker will be sent down on Monday, which is the first day that Scott Feldman can be recalled from the minors. I was guessing they'd want another lefty, but I apparently was wrong...or else, Buck has decided he can use Fabio Castro as a LOOGY.
Gerald Laird, Adam Hyzdu, and D'Angelo Jimenez will all supposedly start today, with Rod Barajas, Brad Wilkerson, and Drew Meyer getting days off.
Richard Durrett has a few notes this morning in the DMN, saying that Kam Loe was suffering from a chest cold on Friday that kept him home from the game on Saturday, and that Mark DeRosa may be going on a rehab assignment at the beginning of the week.