An ugly win for the Rangers yesterday. 4 Ranger errors (and Mark Teixeira made a great diving play to save Akinori Otsuka from what probably should have been the team's 5th error on the game), a passed ball, 2 wild pitches...and the Rangers still pulled it out, 6-4, thanks to a Michael Young home run and a Brad Wilkerson grand slam.
And I went to sleep last night assuming that the A's were going to beat the Royals (they had come back to go up 7-6, the last I had seen), but the Royals won 8-7 in 10 innings, meaning that the Rangers are now up 5 games on the Angels and the A's.
The Angels catch a break in the schedule the next couple of weeks...after closing out the series today against Seattle, the Rangers play 11 of 14 against the ChiSox and BoSox, while Anaheim, after playing three at Cleveland, gets to beat up on some weak teams.
Evan Grant has a new Rangers newsletter up, with his lead item being his thoughts on Francisco Cordero's struggles, and how it is much a mental thing as anything right now, particularly at home, where he's getting booed.
I don't understand Rangers fans booing Cordero when he comes into the game, as they have been doing lately.
Grant also says that the Rangers still haven't made a decision on John Rheinecker, although if they want to send him down, they'll have to do it today...otherwise, he won't be able to be recalled until after the June 10 doubleheader in Boston, where the Rangers will definitely need him.
I can understand wanting to reward Rheinecker for his solid start Monday by keeping him in the majors, but with the offdays coming up, trying to shoehorn in a 5th starter between now and the Boston doubleheader is just going to create long layoffs for the rest of the rotation. And if Rheinecker isn't sent down today, it is going to present a problem in getting Robinson Tejeda (or whomever is going to get the other start in the June 10 doubleheader) on the 25 man roster.
So I'd be surprised if the Rangers didn't option Rheinecker to AAA today.
T.R. Sullivan says Brad Wilkerson's wrist has been bothering him for a month, but that he's feeling fine at the plate, and the wrist problem hinders him more with his everyday activities than playing baseball.
The Chicago Tribune has a brief item on Fabio Castro, although it basically just says that the writer doesn't think the Rangers will offer Castro back to the ChiSox.