Well, the 5 game losing streak was broken, which is a good thing. It is also a good thing that it is September and the rosters have expanded...otherwise, there would be some serious issues with the bullpen right now, given how much the relievers had to be used this weekend. The pen threw 21 1/3 innings during the 4 game set in Oakland, including 4 innings from John Rheinecker and 3 from Mike Wood.
Evan Grant's game story focuses on Vicente Padilla, and whether the Rangers can afford to bring him back next year, given his flakiness and tendency to throw at batters.
Personally, I don't think the Rangers have much choice...moving him now would mean giving him up at his lowest value, when you'd have to eat much of his remaining contract and get little back in return. The Rangers would be better off bringing him back, even if they eventually want to dump him...if he has a solid first half of next season, you could probably get something decent for him at the July 2008 trade deadline, and if he is bad next year, you're really no worse off dealing him then than dealing him now.
Kevin Sherrington runs through an evaluation of the 2007 Rangers, and among other things, says that Jason Botts' window of opportunity is shutting.
I think it is worth noting that, after his awful start, Botts is up to .240/.338/.360 on the season, and he has a 979 OPS in September. He's looked better at the plate of late, and that, along with the praise from Ron Washington this weekend, has me encouraged that he'll be the DH to start 2008.
And T.R. Sullivan says that Kam Loe is likely done for the season.