That was a nice little four game series the Rangers just wrapped up. I still don't think that the Rangers are still really in the playoff race, but they are at least trying to keep it interesting, and are staying close in case Oakland stumbles.
Gerry Fraley says that, if the Rangers want to get back in things, they need to apply lessons learned in 2004. In particular, Fraley suggests that the manager needs to ease up a little bit, and references the infamous chair-throwing episode as a team reflecting how tightly wound it was, a reflection of the tightly wound manager.
Fraley also says the Ranger pen in 2006 is weaker than the 2004 pen, putting more pressure on the rotation, but in fairness, the 2006 Ranger pen has been pretty good. The pen has a 3.96 ERA for the year, compared to a 3.46 ERA for the pen in 2004. And Kat O'Brien notes that the Rangers are getting significant contributions from some young pitchers, particularly Wes Littleton and C.J. Wilson.
Jan Hubbard has a piece on Kevin Millwood's struggles at TBIA, although Millwood continues to say that it isn't the park causing the problems.
Richard Durrett says that Kip Wells has been scratched from his Thursday start. With the off-day today, the Rangers can slide him back until Saturday, but if he can't go by then, the Rangers will have to d.l. him and call up John Koronka, John Rheinecker, or Robinson Tejeda to take his place. All of them have been pitching well in AAA...