You know how I know I'm not used to rooting for a good baseball team?
Because on May 1, I was scoreboard watching, following the A's/Angels game to see how big the Rangers' lead was going to be today.
Weird, huh?
Incidentally, that awful route Joey Gathright took last night on the GMJ triple last night is a perfect indicator of how speed doesn't always equal great defense in centerfield. Laynce Nix, for example, probably makes that play, despite not having nearly the speed of Gathright.
And yes, Popup and Dumpmaster came up big last night, and were major parts of the victory. I still think Laird should be the starting catcher, and Jimenez should be starting at second base against righthanders.
Not much exciting in the papers this morning on the Rangers front...although Evan Grant does bust out a Kurosawa reference in his game story this morning.
I mentioned last night that Evan Grant identified the likely roster casualty when Robinson Tejeda comes up as either Drew Meyer or C.J. Wilson. However, Grant updated his article last night, and now also lists Fabio Castro as a possibility, with Castro being a candidate to head to the disabled list.
Kat O'Brien says that the Bank was the Rangers player of the month for April, while Kevin Mench was the co-A.L. player of the week last week.
Of more importance, O'Brien also says that Frankie Francisco threw an inning in extended spring training, which is a pretty good sign. If Francisco is back and ready to go sometime in June, it would put the Rangers in a position of having to make a call on what to do with the pen. Rick Bauer would seem to be the obvious cut, but there's no guarantee he'd even still be around at that point.
In any case, the good news is that, so long as the bullpen performs, Francisco doesn't have to be rushed. The Rangers would have the luxury of letting him work his way back in the minors, and keep him in reserve until he's needed. With Scott Feldman, Wes Littleton, and Francisco, the Rangers shouldn't be needing to try to go out and acquire a reliever mid-season.
Finally, thanks to shroom for pointing out the ugliness that is Juan Dominguez's line in Sacramento right now. I thought going to a new organization would help him get things straightened out. Doesn't look that way, so far.