Well, it's nice, of course, to see the Rangers pull out a win. Brandon McCarthy put up 5 innings with 5 strikeouts, and Frankie Frank would have mowed them down in the 9th except his fingers were all sticky from donut residue.
LSB fave Tim "Poochie" MacMahon eulogizes Coco's triumphant return to Arlington, saying "Blake Beavan, who is pretty much all the Rangers have to show for that trade, could have done just as bad." Except, you know, we also got Carlos Lee during a playoff push. And Beavan. Oh, and also Julio Borbon. And, though Nelson Cruz's athleticism hasn't translated to making contact with breaking balls, I'm sure it will help if the front office decides to boost payroll by publishing beefcake calendars.
Or, I guess, we can just say that Beavan is all we got out of that trade.
Evan Grant has some comments from Teixeira on the end of his streak, and some parting shots towards the A's from "Crash" Melhuse, who, in reference to his now-former team said, "I'd have to think anywhere would be better than here," adding "We gotta play 'em one day at a time," "I just hope I can help the ball club," and "I just want to give it my best shot and, good Lord willing, things'll work out." Grant also talks about Loe getting sent down, with Loe commenting that he "didn't exactly look like Cy Young out there." That's true, Kam. But I feel like I've failed you, as your lucky midget. Stay strong, buddy.
Down in AAA, Botts and Nate Gold continue to light it up, with Nate Gold being named the PCL's Batter of the Week. I made a neat little graph scientifically proving, in poorly rendered MS Paint, how the likelihood of Botts getting a look is inversely propotional to the number of people blocking him, using such funny statistical lingo as "A Chinaman's chance" and the like. However, since I have no idea how to include it in this post, I need you to just imagine it. And, like, imagine it really funny. If you had any doubt that Jason Botts is totally off the radar, read this triumphant heralding of his ascension to the big league ranks last year, and this corresponding prospect list from two days ago (notice who's missing? Besides John Danks and Nick Massett, I mean). You don't need to have had Grady Fuson refer to a good pitch to hit as a "cookie" in your presence to deduce that my friend Mike doesn't think Bottsy's got a future with this organization.
Looks like Hurley got tossed in the fourth inning, with Danny Ray Herrera (who I pretended to be at the Newberg Book Release event) throwing 2 hit relief for the win. I love short pitchers!
Jim Reeves really wishes we had drafted Porcello. There's this bon mot: "Let me give you another example, though it's apples and oranges. The Cowboys just cut guard Marco Rivera after paying him an $8.5 million signing bonus for two injury-plagued seasons. That's a team that's doing whatever it takes to win." Hey, the Rangers ate most of Nevin's contract while he spared the Cubs to death! We could have tried to get our money out of him by feeding him to Kam Loe as fiber supplement. We're paying A-Rod to play for the Yankees! If putting money in a pile and taking a big steaming poop on it is doing what it takes to win, we should have won the division at least 3 times now.