The Rangers are in first place. The Yankees are coming to town for a three game set. And yeah, it is just early May, but that is still a pretty neat confluence to occur. Hopefully, TBIA will be full the next three days.
Shocking news...the Yankees arrive in town, and Gerry Fraley has a column about how Alex Rodriguez isn't doing enough...
Someone named Pete Alfano, meanwhile, has an odd article in the S-T about how the Yankees aren't intimidating anymore, in part because they don't bunt or play "small ball."
Jan Hubbard says that Brad Wilkerson left yesterday's game with a "slight concussion." Hopefully, he won't miss much (or any) time...Wilkerson is posting a .255/.321/.422 line, which still isn't very good, but represents a significant improvement over where he was a couple of weeks ago.
Gil LeBreton has a column on John Koronka...one of the interesting things in there is a quote from Jon Daniels about how the Rangers having him in camp a couple of years ago as a Rule 5 selection impacted their decision to get him. Daniels says that they learned then that Koronka was a smart, adaptable player who they felt could handle the stresses and challenges of being a major leaguer, which made them more willing to take a chance on him.
Steve Smith has been suspended for five games for the altercation where he got ejected a week or so ago. I don't know that it really makes much difference, but the S-T and DMN both seemed to think it was important...
In the meantime...remember how confident I was yesterday that Ian Kinsler would get his starting second base job back? Buck Showalter apparently wants to jack with me...from the DMN today:
2B Ian Kinsler (dislocated left thumb) took a big step in his rehab by taking batting practice in Arizona. If Kinsler doesn't feel sore today, he could be playing in extended spring training games by this weekend and could go on a rehab assignment, likely to Oklahoma, next week. He's still probably at least a week away from returning.
When asked if Kinsler would get his starting spot back, manager Buck Showalter didn't say yes or no. "We have to feel like he's back to where he was coming out of spring," Showalter said.
Sigh. I am going to just hope for now that Showalter doesn't want to tell DeRosa that he's going to lose his starting job as soon as Kinsler is back, although if it were, say, Rod Barajas who were on the d.l., I don't doubt that Buck would tell anyone in earshot that he would be getting his starting job back.
Kat O'Brien has a piece on DeRosa taking over at second base, which features this quote:
"I've always been under the assumption that you never lose your job to injury," DeRosa said. "Ian was named the starting second baseman, and he was playing great before he got hurt."
Someone will have to tell Dumpmaster that it doesn't always work that way in Buck's World...T.R. Sullivan writes:
Asked whether a player could lose his starting job to injury, Showalter said that in the case of an established All-Star such as Michael Young or Teixeira, probably not. Left unsaid was that a rookie second baseman with two weeks in the big leagues won't necessarily be afforded the same courtesy, particularly if DeRosa stays hot.
Again, I think Ian Kinsler gets his job back when he returns. I certainly hope that's the case.