Okay, that sucked yesterday. Rangers in 2nd place, Mavs look like crap. Bah.
A few brief things...Kat O'Brien has this on Fabio Castro:
Left-hander Fabio Castro is scheduled to start Saturday for Triple A Oklahoma. His 30-day rehab assignment for a minor groin strain ends Sunday, and the Rangers must then decide whether to bring him back to the majors or offer him back to the Chicago White Sox, who he was taken from in the December Rule V draft. Rangers assistant general manager Thad Levine said no decision has been made on Castro.
That's a bit of an oversimplification. The Rangers can just leave Castro on the disabled list, if they choose. And they can't offer him back to the White Sox without waiving him, which would likely result in another team claiming him. Most likely, if the Rangers decide not to keep Castro, they'll activate him and trade him to another team.
O'Brien says Frankie Francisco and Josh Rupe are continuing to progress, and will throw for Mark Connor on Tuesday.
Evan Grant says that the Rangers have struggled against the best teams, which isn't that surprising. But he also points out -- and I hadn't realized it until he did -- that the killer 38 game stretch that the Rangers started in early May, the one that we feared would knock the team out of the playoff race, is now over. The Rangers went 18-20, which isn't real great, but they are just a half-game back, and are entering a stretch of the schedule which should be easier.