Very nice game last night. Another solid start from the Kronkster. A big hit from Hank Blalock. A three game lead on the Oakland A's. Although the good news for A's fans is that Seattle lost last night, at well, so the A's still have sole possession of second place.
Cordero vultured another win last night. With Swisher, Kotsay and Chavez coming up, and Koronka at 102 pitches, I thought Koronka should have started the 8th, rather than Cordero. Fortunately, the Rangers came back and won anyway...
Richard Durrett has some injury updates. He says that Antonio Alfonseca is supposed to go on a rehab assignment at the beginning of the week, and then should be activated soon thereafter, meaning that Scott Feldman will probably be heading back to AAA.
Durrett also says that Josh Rupe threw an inning at extended spring training, and Frankie Francisco is supposed to have one more outing in extended spring before starting a rehab assignment.
Durrett also says that John Rheinecker will start Monday against the Mariners, rather than Sunday against the A's, and Vicente Padilla will start on Sunday.
Kat O'Brien has a snippet from Buck on the subject:
It's still a few weeks away, but the Rangers could soon have several pitching reinforcements. Right-handed starters Adam Eaton and Josh Rupe, right-handed reliever Frank Francisco and left-hander Brian Anderson could all be options within the next two months.
"You're talking about four guys that were going to make our club [if they were healthy]," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said.
Really, though, if all four guys were healthy, Eaton, Rupe and Anderson probably wouldn't have all made the team...with Millwood, Padilla and Loe in the rotation, there wouldn't have been room for all three of those guys.
Finally, Jeff Passan has an article on MLB's stupid blackout policy. This, of course, is something near and dear to my heart, and I'm going to drop Passan an email and tell him I appreciate someone finally saying something about it.